Matt Wackerly currently serves as an assistant coach for the cross country and track and field teams, moving into that role ahead of the 2023 season.
Wackerly was previously Nebraska's head cross country coach, as well as distance and middle distance coach for the track and field program. Wackerly had served as the Huskers' on campus recruiting coordinator since 2016 and took over the cross country program following the retirement of David Harris in 2021.
In 2023, the women's cross country team won three team titles and claimed their best finish at the Big Ten Championship and NCAA Midwest Regional since 2011, placing seventh at both meets. NU was led by a freshman in each meet in 2023. A year prior, the women won the Joe Piane Invitational and placed 10th at the Big Ten Championship and 11th at the NCAA Midwest Regional.
Wackerly helped coach three distance athletes that climbed Nebraska's all-time list in 2023. Bailey Timmons closed the season with the sixth-best indoor 3000m time (8:09.01) and the fourth-best outdoor 5000m (14:03.40) in school history. Brynna McQuillen ran the No. 4 outdoor 5000m time (16:23.31) and the No. 8 indoor 3000m time (9:34.58), while Taya Skelton clocked a 10:18.86 in the 3000m steeplechase to post the No. 6 time.
In his first year as the Huskers' cross country coach in 2021, Wackerly coached senior Erika Freyhof to a 86th-place finish at the NCAA Championships. Freyhof was also an All-Big Ten runner for the second year in a row after finishing sixth at the conference meet. The Husker women won the team title at the Bradley Pink Classic.
In his first track season as the Husker distance coach, Wackerly coached Dais Malebana to become the second Husker ever to run a sub-4:00 mile on a standard 200-meter track (3:59.88). Additionally, eight Husker distance runners cracked the all-time top-10 charts at NU in 2022. Freyhof highlighted the performances with the No. 2 10,000 meters time of 33:50.38.
Before coming to Nebraska, Wackerly was the head cross country coach at NCAA Division III Ohio Wesleyan. He coached eight All-Americans and two NCAA Division III all-time top-10 performers, in addition to the first men's and women's NCAA qualifying teams at Ohio Wesleyan in 25 years. Wackerly coached his athletes to 29 school records and 12 conference records in cross country and distance events.
Over the last seven seasons at Nebraska, Wackerly has led recruiting efforts and he played an instrumental role in signing one of the best men's recruiting classes in Nebraska history in 2018 and 2020.
Before Ohio Wesleyan, Wackerly was at Stonehill College, where he was an assistant coach for the men's and women's cross country and track and field teams. During his three years at Stonehill, he helped the Skyhawks win a pair of conference championships, the school's first ever in men's cross country. He coached five NCAA Division II All-Americans and three NCAA qualifiers in cross country.
Wackerly is a 1998 graduate of Ashland University. During his undergraduate career, he was a three-time national qualifier in cross country and a three-time conference champion in track for the Eagles. He majored in English and earned a master's degree in sports management from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2003.
Wackerly is a native of Lexington, Ohio. He is married to Angela Palmer-Wackerly, who is an assistant professor of communications at Nebraska. They have one son, Luke.
