Brandon Bonilla is entering his eighth season as the head coach of the Nebraska Wesleyan University men's soccer program in 2025. in 2024, under his leadership, the Prairie Wolves achieved a historic milestone by reaching the A-R-C Tournament Final for the first time in program history. This season also marked the first back-to-back campaigns with 10 or more wins since 2008, reflecting the team's consistent growth and success.
Bonilla's coaching record at Nebraska Wesleyan now stands at 50-48-15 across seven seasons. The 2023 season was particularly noteworthy as the team went undefeated at home during the regular season, concluding with a 10-3-4 record and climbing to No. 8 in the Region IX rankings, the highest since 2001.
In 2022, the Prairie Wolves made a significant leap to the A-R-C semifinals for the first time since 2017, with the fewest conference losses in a regular season in program history.
Over his tenure, Bonilla has seen ten players receive American Rivers Conference first-team honors. His leadership also led to academic recognition, with Zach Weis earning CSC First-Team Academic honors in 2021.
Prior to his role as head coach, Bonilla served as a full-time assistant for both the men's and women's soccer teams at NWU, contributing to one of the men's team's highest win totals in a decade and their first postseason win in over 20 years.
He came back to Lincoln in 2017 after spending time coaching in his home state of Texas. He has spent two seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Houston where he helped turn around the Cougar program after only having three wins the previous two combined seasons.
Before his time at Houston, Bonilla spent four years at Houston Baptist University as an assistant coach. He was part of HBU’s transition from NAIA to NCAA Division I and helped them to double digit wins in three of the four seasons. In his final season, the program reached new heights as they won the Southland Conference Tournament and became the first team in school history to reach the NCAA Tournament.
Prior to Houston Baptist, Bonilla was a volunteer women’s assistant coach at the University of Nebraska for two seasons. He worked with the attackers and helped lead the 2009 Cornhuskers to their best scoring output since 2002. During his time at Nebraska, he also coached at Omaha Football Club, leading the U11 and U12 girls to three tournament finals and one championship.
From 2003-07, Bonilla was the team manager for Texas A&M while completing his undergraduate degree in leadership and development. His duties included helping the head coach train the goalkeepers and be in charge of on-field operations. He was the voice of Aggie Soccer from 2007-09, providing play-by-play in the broadcasting booths. He coached the Texas A&M club team in 2008-09 as the Aggies finished with a record of 14-0-1.
Bonilla has his USSF “C” license and NSCAA Advanced National, Goalkeeper “Level 1 and 2” badges. He also led a mission trip for a Christian soccer camp in Belize in the spring of 2009, where he taught faith through the game of soccer.
Brandon and his wife, Tami, have four children Nora, Brayden, Jay and Oliver.
Coach Bonilla's Record at NWU
| Year |
Overall Record |
Conference Record (Finish) |
| 2018 |
8-8-1 |
3-5-0 (6th, A-R-C) |
| 2019 |
7-8-3 |
1-6-1 (8th, A-R-C) |
| 2020* |
2-4 |
2-4 (7th, A-R-C) |
| 2021 |
5-8-3 |
2-4-2 (6th, A-R-C) |
| 2022 |
7-8-3 |
4-2-2 (5th, A-R-C) |
| 2023 |
10-4-4 |
3-3-2 (6th, A-R-C) |
| 2024 |
11-8-1 |
5-3 (4th, A-R-C |
| Career |
50-48-15 |
20-27-7 |
*2020 Season Was Limited To Five Matches Due To The COVID-19 Global Health Pandemic
