Bio

Methembe Ndlovu is entering his second season as the associate head coach of the CMS Women’s Soccer program in 2022.

Ndlovu joined the CMS staff after spending the 2020-21 season as an assistant men’s soccer coach at Penn State University, where he helped the Nittany Lions to a 9-2-2 record and an appearance in the NCAA Sweet 16. Penn State also reached the championship game of the Big 10 Tournament, before falling to Indiana on penalty kicks after playing to a 1-1 tie.

Ndlovu has had ties to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps over recent years as a co-founder of Grassroot Soccer, Inc. The Athenas have been actively involved since 2017 with Grassroot Soccer, an international adolescent health organization that educates, inspires, and mobilizes young people to overcome their greatest health challenges and live healthier, more productive lives. Ndlovu joined former Dartmouth teammate Tommy Clark, the son of then-Dartmouth head coach Bobby Clark, as founders of Grassroot Soccer in 2002, where Tommy remains as the CEO. Ndlovu was reunited with Bobby Clark in 2004 as a volunteer assistant for Clark's Notre Dame team, when the Fighting Irish finished with a 13-3-3 record and was the No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Prior to joining the staff at Penn State, Ndlovu founded the Bantu Rovers Football Club in 2008 and had a 10-year stint as the CEO and technical director. He also served as the head coach of the Highlanders Football Club in Zimbabwe from 2006-08, rejoining a club which he played for in the 1990s, leading them to a CAF Africa Champions League qualification in his rookie season.

A four-year member of the men’s soccer team at Dartmouth College, Ndlovu was a first-team All-Ivy League selection in 1993 as a freshman, Clark's final season at the helm, and earned second-team honors in 1995 and 1996, while earning Team MVP honors in 1996. He played professionally for almost 10 years, including stints in the United States with the Albuquerque Geckos and the Boston Bulldogs, and made 12 appearances with the Zimbabwe National Team between 1997 and 1999, including in the 1998 COSAFA Cup, when he served as an assistant captain.

Ndlovu then began his coaching career in 2002 as an assistant coach while playing with the Cape Cod Crusaders of the Premier Development League. He took over as Cape Cod’s head coach the following year, and led the Crusaders to a national title, before joining the Indiana Invaders in 2004 as the general manager and head coach. He concluded his playing career with the Invaders with 27 games played over the 2004 and 2005 seasons, and was named the PDL National Coach of the Year, while also volunteering with the staff at Notre Dame.

After the 2005 season, he retired as a player and returned to Zimbabwe to coach in 2006, where he remained until joining the Penn State staff in 2020.

In 2010, Ndlovu was honored by his alma mater with the Dartmouth College Martin Luther King Social Justice Award for his work with Grassroot Soccer in 2018. He graduated from Dartmouth in 1997.