LA Galaxy II today announced that the club has named Matt Taylor as Head Coach.
Taylor, 42, joins Los Dos after spending the past three seasons with Real Salt Lake (2021-23) as Assistant Coach. Before joining RSL, Taylor was an assistant coach at his alma mater UCLA for three seasons (2018-20). During his four-year career at UCLA (2000-2003), Taylor, who grew up in Irvine, Calif., recorded 33 goals and 20 assists in 87 career games played (55 starts) and notably helped the Bruins win the 2002 NCAA Championship.
“Matt brings a wealth of valuable experience from growing up in the Southern California soccer landscape, to playing in Germany and most recently coaching in MLS,” said LA Galaxy General Manager Will Kuntz. “We view Matt as an extension of our first team coaching staff who will play an integral role bridging our professional development pathway and our first team.”
Following his collegiate career, Taylor was the 4th overall pick in the 2004 MLS SuperDraft. Taylor played four seasons in MLS with the Kansas City Wizards (2004) and Chivas USA (2005-07), totaling six goals and four assists in 64 career MLS regular-season matches played (20 starts). Taylor played for the Portland Timbers (2007) in USL-Pro and for Hollywood United (2008), before playing abroad in Germany for nine seasons. The Columbus, Ohio, native played for TuS Koblenz (2008-09), FV Frankfurt (2009-10), Rot Weiss Ahlen (2010-11), SC Paderborn 07 (2011-12), Preußen Münster (2012-14), 1. FC Saarbrücken (2014-16), before ending his professional career with Kickers Offenbach (2016-17).
