Matt Levassiur was hired as the head coach of the men’s cross country and track programs in the summer of 2018, having previously served as a volunteer assistant coach since 2015.
In his six seasons at the helm of the program, the Moccasins have one Sunshine State Conference Championship (2023), a pair of second-place finishes at the championship meet (2018 & 2020-21), two third-place showings (2019 & 2021) and one fourth-place finish (2022). He has guided the team to a pair of NCAA Championship meets while taking an individual on two other occasions. In his first season as head coach, he led the Moccasins to a 30th-place finish at the NCAA National Championship, while this past season (2023) he guided the program to a 25th-place finish, the best FSC team result since 2010.
He coached former Moccasin Mason Jones (2017-21) to a pair of Sunshine State Conference Individual Championships. Both the 8K school record and 10K at an NCAA Regional Championship record have been broken under Coach Levassiur’s tutelage, while the 10K overall school record was nearly toppled at the 2023 NCAA Championship as Christian Giller missed the mark by just seven tenths of a second.
Following the 2023 cross country season, Levassiur was named the South Region Coach of the Year by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) while guiding five members of the squad to USTFCCCA All-South Region honors.
During the 2022-23 track season, Levassiur spearheaded the creation of an indoor track program with four meets on the inaugural 2023 campaign. On the track, he helped Jones become just the second Florida Southern men’s track student-athlete to qualify for the NCAA National Championships as Jones competed in the 10,000m at the 2022 Championships. He has seen eight school records set during his tenure as the track head coach including every distance past the mile.
Following the 2022 cross country campaign, the Florida Southern men's cross country team was named a USTFCCCA All-Academic Team and posted the highest GPA (3.74) among all NCAA Division II programs. Only eight programs across both NCAA Division I and Division III had a higher GPA than the Moccasins including three DI programs (Creighton, Idaho and Vanderbilt) and five DIII programs (Colorado College, Concordia University Wisconsin, Emory, Stevens Institute of Technology and Swarthmore).
- USTFCCCA All-Region XC (13): 2023 – Owen Allen, Chris Colavita, Christian Giller, Anthony Matthew, Bryson Yamnitz; 2022 - Alex Guy; 2021 - Mason Jones, Mitchell Kozik, Johsua Wagner; 2019 - Mason Jones, Josh Wagner; 2018 – Mason Jones, Josh Wagner
- USTFCCCA All-Region Track (3): 2022 - Mitchell Kozik (Steeplechase), Mason Jones (5,000m & 10,000m)
- All-SSC (19): 2023 – Owen Allen (First Team), Chris Colavita (First Team), Christian Giller (First Team), Alex Guy (Second Team), Anthony Matthew (First Team); 2022 - Bryson Yamnitz (Second Team), Anthony Matthew (Second Team); 2021 - Mason Jones (First Team), Josh Wagner (First Team), 2020-21 - Mason Jones (First Team), Josh Wagner (First Team), Mitchell Kozik (Second Team); 2019 - Mason Jones (First Team), Josh Wagner (First Team), Mitchell Kozik (Second Team); 2018 – Mason Jones (First Team), Josh Wagner (First Team), Dean McGregor (First Team), Mitchell Kozik (Second Team)
- SSC Runner of the Week (10): 2023 – Karl van Gelder; 2022 - Seth Augustynowski; 2021 - Mason Jones (2 times); 2019 - Mason Jones (2 times); 2018 – Mason Jones (4 times)
- USTFCCCA Cross Country All-Academic Athletes (15): 2022 - Caleb Brady, Chris Colavita, Alex Guy, Caden Kwiatkowski, Anthony Matthew, Nekhi Perry, Bryson Yamnitz; 2021 - Alex Guy, Mitchell Kozik, Josh Wagner, Bryson Yamnitz, Brady Zimmerman; 2019 - Josh Wagner, Bryson Yamnitz; 2018 – Josh Wagner
- CSC (formerly CoSIDA) Academic All-District (9): 2022-23 - Billy Adams, Owen Allen, Luke Dickinson, Aiden Redmond, Bryson Yamnitz; 2021-22 - Bryson Yamnitz; 2020-21 - Josh Wagner, Bryson Yamnitz; 2018-19 – Josh Wagner
- USTFCCCA All-Academic Team: 2022 (3.74 GPA), 2021 (3.24 GPA), 2018 (3.15 GPA)
Prior to Florida Southern, Levassiur was a high school English teacher at Plant City High School in Plant City, Fla.
As a student-athlete, Levassiur was an 11-time All-American (three-time cross country, three-time indoor track and five-time outdoor track) at Adams State College and was captain of the Grizzlies' 2003 NCAA Division II National Championship cross country team and posted top-15 finishes at the 2001, 2002, and 2003 national championship meets.
His post-collegiate career includes a 16th place finish at the 2011 Chicago Marathon and a 22nd place finish at the 2007 Boston Marathon. Levassiur was a member of the Team USA 2004 World Mountain Racing championship squad and competed in 2008 and 2012 Olympic Marathon Trials.
Levassiur's personal best in the 5K was 13:52 while his 10K PR was 28:53.
A certified USATF Level 1 coach, he is married to Stephanie Bylander, head coach of the Florida Southern College women's cross country and track teams. The couple has a daughter, Allie.
