Ed Matz, the 2009 Colonial Athletic Association coach of the year, is the new women's soccer coach at the University of Massachusetts.

The hiring of the former Northeastern coach was announced on Thursday.

"I was disappointed that Northeastern didn't put the same emphasis on my program that I personally did," Matz said in explaining his decision to leave for the UMass job. "When that didn't happen, I had think about my future at Northeastern.

"What made my decision easier was that I knew the emphasis and expectations that UMass puts on their program, the funding and the commitment," he added. "So when things didn't turn out at Northeastern the way I had hoped, I went to a program that will allow me to do everything I want to do in the sport of soccer.

"I want a program with high expectations that puts emphasis on winning and demands the best from its coaches," Matz said. "That's why I came to UMass. I want to take UMass back to the level of success it enjoyed nearly a decade ago."

He succeeds Angela Napoli, who led the Minutewomen for one season as an interim replacement for Jim Rudy after he announced his retirement in May. UMass finished 6-11-2 in 2009.

Matz is leaving after two of the Huskies' best seasons. He led Northeastern to the Colonial Athletic Association tournament championship and into the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2008.

A year later the Huskies were 12-4-3 overall and won the CAA regular-season title with a 7-1-3 league record, earning Matz coach-of-the-year honors.

Matz started at Northeastern as an assistant men's coach in 1994 and became the head coach two years later.

He had an 83-74-16 record with the men's team over nine seasons, including an America East title in 2002.

He became the coach of the women's team as well in 1999 and went 99-91-25 in 11 seasons.

Matz, 43, a native of Woodsville, N.H., now lives in Milford with his wife and three daughters.

"We are very excited to welcome Ed and his family to the UMass Athletics family," UMass athletic director John McCutcheon said in a statement. "Ed is a proven winner and brings a great amount of experience to the Minutewomen soccer program. He has a wealth of knowledge in terms of the New England region and has had success on the field as well as in the classroom with his players. We look forward to great success with the women's soccer program."

Matz spoke to several former Northeastern employees who went on to work at UMass, including Ian McCaw, who was the athletic director at both schools, Minuteman assistant basketball coach Adam Ginsburg and several assistant football coaches.

"They all said #If you come to UMass, there's a deep commitment to athletics. They want to win,'" said Matz. "When you couple those two things with a great education, it makes for a good environment.

"UMass has the infrastructure, the field and support from the administration," he added. "They have outstanding education and a great campus. When you put all those things together the next thing you need is someone to attract kids to the program that want to be coached and pushed to their potential."

Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Follow UMass coverage on Twitter at twitter.com/GazetteUMass. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at http://www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage.