Today was a fun one in the studio. If you've been around the game much in Iowa, you probably know Matt Kennedy, who has coached locally on and off for almost 30 years. He's coached high school (Hoover, Roosevelt and Waukee) and club soccer (Iowa United, Des Moines Menace and Vision Soccer Academy), plus provided goalkeeper training to nearly every decent 'keeper that has come through Iowa whether as a youth or an aspiring professional.

What people sometimes forget is that Kennedy, first and foremost, was a player. After falling in love with the game in his teenage years, he left college early to sign with the Philadelphia Fury of the North American Soccer League in 1979. Kennedy, a goalkeeper, went on to play throughout the country in the North American Soccer League, American Soccer League and Major Indoor Soccer League. Prior to retiring from the game due to injury, he began his coaching career, founding the Bangu Soccer Club in Minneapolis before being lured south to begin his work with Iowa United in the early 1990s.

Again, if you know Kennedy, his passion for the game is rarely rivaled and today's conversation is a great reminder of this fact.