AJ Madero comes to USF as an Assistant Coach on George Kiefer's staff after serving in the same position for two seasons under Kiefer for the Grand Canyon men's soccer team.
In 2025, he helped guide the Lopes to a Western Athletic Conference championship and an NCAA Sweet 16 appearance, finishing the season with a 14-4-5 record, the second-most wins in program history. GCU captured the WAC Tournament title with a victory over San Jose State before advancing past UCLA and San Diego in the NCAA Tournament.
Following the campaign, the staff was named the 2025 United Soccer Coaches Men's College Soccer Far West Region Staff of the Year.
The 2025 Antelopes were led by freshman forward Junior Diouf (17 goals and six assists), who earned the WAC Freshman of the Year and WAC Offensive Player of the Year. Lopes midfielder Martin Luala was selected 28th overall in the first round of the MLS SuperDraft. Luala came to GCU out of a local junior college, recruited by Kiefer and his staff.
In his second season with GCU (2025), Madero worked with goalkeeper Daniel Ibarra, who went on to earn a spot on the All-WAC Tournament Team and earned WAC Co-Goalkeeper of the Week for the week of October 21. Ibarra finished the season with 70 saves (83.3 save percentage), 11 wins, and only 14 goals allowed, on 220 shots faced, playing in 20 games.
In his first season in Phoenix (2024), Madero worked with goalkeeper Leon Schmidt, who ended his career as the Lopes D-I era leader in total saves. Schmidt totaled 76 saves and five shutouts, with eight games with at least five saves to his name. Schmidt's total save count ranked 18th in the nation in 2024, while his 4.22 saves per game ranked 29th.
Madero previously worked under head coach George Kiefer at North Carolina State and brings ACC- and WAC-level experience after also previously serving as assistant coach at UT Rio Grande Valley.
Beginning as a volunteer assistant coach in the spring of 2021 at UTRGV, Madero was named a Vaqueros assistant prior to the 2021 fall campaign and helped lead them to a 21-18-5 record. During that time, Madero was a part of UTRGV's first-ever national ranking in the United Soccer Coaches Poll and the No. 2 seed in the 2020-21 WAC Tournament.
In 2022, Madero joined the staff for the U.S. Virgin Islands National Team. Madero led the national team to its first home game – a CONCACAF Nations League win. He oversaw goalkeeper development and sports performance preparation and recovery. From November 2020 through October 2022, Madero was the technical director for RGV Toros MLS/USL Academy.
He also served as the goalkeeper coach for USL Championship RGV Toros and was the head coach for the U15 and U19 boys.
Madero started his career at his alma mater, Liberty, in 2010 as an assistant coach/director of performance analysis. During his time with the Flames, he was also the recruiting coordinator, coaching 12 All-Americans and 11 national team players.
Madero has been a part of three NCAA Tournament appearances, 13 conference postseason appearances and five conference championship games. He also coached four conference players of the year. Overall, Madero has coached 27 student-athletes who have signed professional contracts.
As a player at Liberty from 2007-09, Madero was an all-conference selection and compiled a 16-4-6 record as a goalkeeper. He set program records with a 0.52 goals against average and eight home shutouts. Madero finished his career without giving up a goal at home, going 10-0-2 at Osborne Stadium.
Madero holds a master's degree in sports administration and a bachelor's of science from Liberty. Last year, he completed the professional diploma in workload management from FC Barcelona. He holds a USSF C License and is a candidate for B License. Madero is originally from Tampa, Fla., and returns home to the area after nearly 20 years away.
