OPEN Southern Illinois Air Force (retired) Northern Illinois Wisconsin Milwaukee Chicago State Louisiana Lafayette (1/26) San Jose State (2/6) Lamar (2/9) East Carolina (2/10) Filled Louisiana Tech - Steve Voltz (previous interim) Pacific - Danesha Adams and JJ Wozniak (previous interims) UK - Troy Fabiano (UW Milwaukee head) Georgia - Keidane McAlpine (USC head) Villanova - Samar Azem (Campbell head) Missouri State - Kirk Nelson (Missouri State associate HC) USC Upstate - Sharif Saber (Mount Olive HC) Maryland - Meghan Ryan Nemzer (Rutgers associate HC) Oral Roberts - Austin Risenhoover (Cal associate HC) Baylor - Michelle Lenard (Dallas Baptist HC) Austin Peay - Kim McGowan (Miami OH associate HC) Troy - Robert Lane (Georgia assistant) App State - Aimee Haywood (Queens HC) Wisconsin Green Bay - Julie Grutzner (previous assistant/interim HC) Tulsa - Jim Rhein (previous interim) Loyola Marymount - Chris Chamides (Cal State LA men's HC) Colorado College - Keri Sanchez (Illinois Wesleyan HC) UCLA - Margueritte Aozasa (Stanford assistant) Idaho State - Dustin Downey (former UIC assistant/interim) Texas A&M Commerce - Ashley Gordon (FC Dallas director/coach) Bellarmine - Paul Babba (UK assistant/interim) Saint Francis - Sara Yunez (St. Bonaventure assistant) Morehead State - Chris Fox (High Point associate HC) USC - Jane Alukonis (UCLA assistant) Campbell - Jeff Gross (UNCG associate HC) Mount St. Mary - Melissa Sherwood (Northwestern State associate HC) Lehigh - Lauren Calabrese (Lehigh associate HC) Texas State - Steve Holeman (Lamar HC) Fordham - Magnus Nilerud (Bridgeport HC) Western Illinois - Josée Primeau (associate HC) Houston - Jaime Frias (Virginia assistant) Albany - Sade Ayinde (Yale assistant) Not sure on the exact numbers for a lot of the others, but Albany went quick -- opened on 1/13 and announced hire on 2/16. Seems to be one of the quickest external hires on the women's side for this round. Men's side had one in 20 days.
interesting picks with asst coaches from two strong programs jumping into HC jobs. What are the thoughts about the picks for Albany and Houston?
Jaime is about as safe of a hire as there can be with an incredibly strong coaching background - quite a steal for Houston actually - and for Sade it is the natural progression of her coaching career. No college HC experience (not a knock on her - you can't have it until you get it) but a very defendable hire for the AD. A bit young but Albany is a big department with adequate resources and support. Hopefully she'll do fine there.
OPEN Southern Illinois Air Force (retired) Northern Illinois Wisconsin Milwaukee Chicago State Louisiana Lafayette (1/26) San Jose State (2/6) Lamar (2/9) East Carolina (2/10) SMU (2/18) Filled Louisiana Tech - Steve Voltz (previous interim) Pacific - Danesha Adams and JJ Wozniak (previous interims) UK - Troy Fabiano (UW Milwaukee head) Georgia - Keidane McAlpine (USC head) Villanova - Samar Azem (Campbell head) Missouri State - Kirk Nelson (Missouri State associate HC) USC Upstate - Sharif Saber (Mount Olive HC) Maryland - Meghan Ryan Nemzer (Rutgers associate HC) Oral Roberts - Austin Risenhoover (Cal associate HC) Baylor - Michelle Lenard (Dallas Baptist HC) Austin Peay - Kim McGowan (Miami OH associate HC) Troy - Robert Lane (Georgia assistant) App State - Aimee Haywood (Queens HC) Wisconsin Green Bay - Julie Grutzner (previous assistant/interim HC) Tulsa - Jim Rhein (previous interim) Loyola Marymount - Chris Chamides (Cal State LA men's HC) Colorado College - Keri Sanchez (Illinois Wesleyan HC) UCLA - Margueritte Aozasa (Stanford assistant) Idaho State - Dustin Downey (former UIC assistant/interim) Texas A&M Commerce - Ashley Gordon (FC Dallas director/coach) Bellarmine - Paul Babba (UK assistant/interim) Saint Francis - Sara Yunez (St. Bonaventure assistant) Morehead State - Chris Fox (High Point associate HC) USC - Jane Alukonis (UCLA assistant) Campbell - Jeff Gross (UNCG associate HC) Mount St. Mary - Melissa Sherwood (Northwestern State associate HC) Lehigh - Lauren Calabrese (Lehigh associate HC) Texas State - Steve Holeman (Lamar HC) Fordham - Magnus Nilerud (Bridgeport HC) Western Illinois - Josée Primeau (associate HC) Houston - Jaime Frias (Virginia assistant) Albany - Sade Ayinde (Yale assistant)
Air Force had two :"Qualified interested candidates on campus last week", was supposed to offer one and be announced right around now. Haven't heard if they accepted. Maybe going through approval still or they both said no. Trying to get more info from one of the players.
Colorado State U head coach, rumor has it she was interviewed last week to become Colorado College Assistant coach. 50/50 chance if offered she might accept it to get out of the drama going on at CSU from this year. Interested to see how that shakes out either way.
Can confirm this is not true. She has not interviewed at CC. I would imagine CC assistant hires will be announced soon as they are in final stages.
You would also think that a head coach wouldn’t really want to hire another head coach that is currently being investigated for abusive behavior.
that may normally be true, unless, in this case, you’re friends and previously coached together at Texas *eye roll* not saying it’s true or not, just easy to understand how you connect the dots. there are far, far worse people who have been hired/rehired than this coach in question, at least according to the allegations reported here.
They are for sure friends and worked together but the story is 100% false. CC asst coaches should be out soon from what I hear.
Air Force hired Laura Busby https://goairforcefalcons.com/news/...ura-busby-named-womens-soccer-head-coach.aspx
Why? On paper she seems to have put in her time learning the craft and was a good player. I truly don't know her or anything about her but I'd like to hear why..
Pretty sure he is referring to her time at Jacksonville University where she won 1 game in 2 years. Think the combined record was 1-26-4 or around there. Think she may be be worth a second chance given JU can be a tough place to win and her part in the success at LSU
Any word out of Northern Illinois? Sounds like interviews happened weeks/months ago. Have to have someone/several turn that down or not pass a background checks?
Interesting hire, and I am shocked. When she took over JU, she gutted her team (that's fine and her prerogative) but it was an odd move. I will concede the prior long time HC had become complacent in recruiting and was just filling the roster with bodies. I did enjoy watching her team-building antics and trying to make the best out of the situation. I think in terms of a female coach, absent a decent record, she does check the boxes in positives. She knows how young women act (and by that she can coach young women), she doesn't need to be their bestie, but she is fair amongst feedback. However, I never saw her deviate in play. She had a game plan and stayed with it even when it wasn't working. It was almost as if it was the players faults they couldn't master the plan and therefore the loss their fault. (My speculation.) Her husband is well hated in the club circuit in that prior area and because of that I like him. He bucks the system. He tells the truth and he'll call a spade a spade. I only reference him because they've pretty much been a co-coaching for a long time and I would expect the same.
Air Force is an uphill battle to win consistently but offers great job security in that the admin know it’s a tough road. So if you treat the kids well, are ok with the demands of the academy on your athletes, and don’t get in trouble, and are ok hovering at about .500ish then you can have a nice career there. It’s a cool city and campus environment and you get to coach some special kids. All in all not a bad gig.
OPEN Southern Illinois Northern Illinois Wisconsin Milwaukee Chicago State Louisiana Lafayette (1/26) San Jose State (2/6) Lamar (2/9) East Carolina (2/10) SMU (2/18) Filled Louisiana Tech - Steve Voltz (previous interim) Pacific - Danesha Adams and JJ Wozniak (previous interims) UK - Troy Fabiano (UW Milwaukee head) Georgia - Keidane McAlpine (USC head) Villanova - Samar Azem (Campbell head) Missouri State - Kirk Nelson (Missouri State associate HC) USC Upstate - Sharif Saber (Mount Olive HC) Maryland - Meghan Ryan Nemzer (Rutgers associate HC) Oral Roberts - Austin Risenhoover (Cal associate HC) Baylor - Michelle Lenard (Dallas Baptist HC) Austin Peay - Kim McGowan (Miami OH associate HC) Troy - Robert Lane (Georgia assistant) App State - Aimee Haywood (Queens HC) Wisconsin Green Bay - Julie Grutzner (previous assistant/interim HC) Tulsa - Jim Rhein (previous interim) Loyola Marymount - Chris Chamides (Cal State LA men's HC) Colorado College - Keri Sanchez (Illinois Wesleyan HC) UCLA - Margueritte Aozasa (Stanford assistant) Idaho State - Dustin Downey (former UIC assistant/interim) Texas A&M Commerce - Ashley Gordon (FC Dallas director/coach) Bellarmine - Paul Babba (UK assistant/interim) Saint Francis - Sara Yunez (St. Bonaventure assistant) Morehead State - Chris Fox (High Point associate HC) USC - Jane Alukonis (UCLA assistant) Campbell - Jeff Gross (UNCG associate HC) Mount St. Mary - Melissa Sherwood (Northwestern State associate HC) Lehigh - Lauren Calabrese (Lehigh associate HC) Texas State - Steve Holeman (Lamar HC) Fordham - Magnus Nilerud (Bridgeport HC) Western Illinois - Josée Primeau (associate HC) Houston - Jaime Frias (Virginia assistant) Albany - Sade Ayinde (Yale assistant) Air Force - Laura Busby (LSU assistant)