Darren Lloyd begins his fourth season as the Rams' head coach in 2018 since leading the blue-and-gold into their ninth varsity season during his head coaching debut at Suffolk in 2015.  

Lloyd’s first season featured a roster of youth and inexperience, but the first-year head coach powered through leading the squad to a 4-15 overall record and 3-8 league ledger. 

Things looked up in 2016, however, as the Rams returned to the GNAC post season for the first time under Lloyd and first since 2014. As the seventh seed, Suffolk upset second-seeded Johnson & Wales thanks to a free kick from junior Jennifer Martin to advance to the semifinals for just the third time in all of the blue-and-gold’s six post season trips. In the semis, Suffolk tangled at third-seeded Albertus Magnus, taking the Falcons to overtime, but fell with less than four minutes remaining until penalty kicks would decide the winner. Lloyd guided the Rams through their second longest season in the young program’s history, playing in 21 contests, going 11-10 overall and 5-6 against conference competition. Along the way, three Rams were recognized with All-GNAC honors in Martin (first team, all-tournament team), Alexandra Nagri (second team) and Shannon Simmons (all-sportsmanship and all-tournament team). 

In 2017, senior leadership buoyed Lloyd’s roster and helped secure a spot in the GNAC playoffs for the second straight season. Suffolk found its way into the postseason behind a 4-7 league ledger, which featured the program’s first-ever defeat of conference powerhouse Lasell, a 2-0 shutout victory over the Lasers in East Boston Sept. 27. Despite the upset win in the regular season, Suffolk could not overtake the top-seeded Lasers again in the quarterfinals to finish their season 7-9 overall. 

Senior captains Jennifer Martin and Alexandra Nagri were the main ingredients to Suffolk’s success as the pair earned spots on the conference’s second and third team, respectively. Nagri was a powerhouse on the pitch and in the classroom as the forward became the second-ever Ram to eclipse 100 points in her career and became the first-ever Capital One CoSIDA Academic All-District recipient in program history. 

The pair’s leadership helped guide the Rams to their second straight USC Team Ethics and Sportsmanship Award following up its 2016 silver recognition with a bronze honor in 2017. 

Suffolk provided Lloyd with his first collegiate head coaching opportunity, after a number of volunteering assistant positions at the Rams’ Massachusetts Division III rivals, Lesley and Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Lloyd depended upon his underclassmen during his first campaign at the helm. Scoring frenzies by its sophomore class pushed Suffolk to four victories over the 2015 season, but the Rams narrowly missed the GNAC Tournament. 

Since 2008, Lloyd has been the Curriculum Director for the Galway Rovers FC. Now in his sixth season with the Rovers, Lloyd also serves as the head coach for fourth of their teams. Along the way, he also worked as the head of HR and the Director of Curriculum for Playsoccer Corp.

Lloyd’s coaching experience in the States began with the Olympic Development Program in Long Island, New York in the Summer of 2004. As the camp director for the Champions World Series, he worked with English Premiere League teams, including Liverpool FC, Manchester United, A.C. Milan and Celtic F.C. Also that summer he developed experience mentoring and coaching youths at NOGA Camps.  

Prior to coming to the United States, Lloyd began his coach career working with the Cheltenham Town F.C. and the Sunderland AFC.