Adam McAleenan is in his second season as an assistant coach with the Saginaw Valley State University men’s soccer program in 2026.
McAleenan joined the Cardinals ahead of the 2025 season and helped guide SVSU to the GLIAC regular season championship in his first year on staff. The Cardinals opened the season unbeaten through their first eight matches and finished the campaign with an 11-3-4 overall record. SVSU’s success included Kolja Thomas earning D2CCA All-America honors, while Eoin Farrell went on to sign professionally with The New Saints FC of the Welsh Premier League.
Prior to beginning his coaching career, McAleenan completed a decorated collegiate playing career at Lipscomb University and Oakland University, helping his teams capture three regular season conference championships and three conference tournament titles during his career.
McAleenan spent his final two collegiate seasons at Lipscomb, appearing in 34 matches with 33 starts. As a graduate student in 2023, he started 16 of 17 matches and played the full 90 minutes in all but one appearance. He recorded two assists and earned ASUN All-Academic Team honors. During the 2022 season, McAleenan started all 17 matches and added an assist.
Before transferring to Lipscomb, McAleenan played three seasons at Oakland, where he became a two-year team captain. He started all 19 matches during the 2021 season, totaling 1,739 minutes while earning Horizon League All-Academic Team honors. He recorded two assists that season after also tallying two assists while starting all eight matches during the 2020-21 campaign.
McAleenan began his collegiate career in 2019, starting 18 matches for the Golden Grizzlies and earning Horizon League All-Freshman Team recognition. He helped anchor an Oakland back line that recorded five shutouts.
A native of Northern Ireland, McAleenan brought extensive international and club experience to the collegiate level. He represented Northern Ireland at the U15 through U19 levels and helped the national team reach the European Championships in 2016. His international experience included earning Man of the Match honors against Latvia.
At the club level, McAleenan competed for Glentoran FC, Crusaders FC and Ards FC. He helped his teams capture Northern Ireland Cup titles in 2014, 2015 and 2016, as well as the Foyle Cup in 2014. He was also part of the Crusaders side that won league and national championships during the 2015-16 season.
In addition to soccer, McAleenan competed in rugby, cross country and tennis during his prep career.
