Illinois State head soccer coach Pete Kowall has hired former Fresno State head coach Stacy Welp as an assistant coach. Welp will assume her duties on July 1.
Im excited about working in the Illinois State Athletic Department and about working for Pete, Welp said. This is really an up-and-coming program, and I look forward to helping build on the great success that the program has already achieved.
Welp was the head coach at Fresno State from January, 2001 until March, 2004. She was responsible for all aspects of the program including recruiting, budgeting, fundraising and administration. Prior to serving as head coach, Welp was as an assistant coach for nearly two years during which time one of her players received National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) All-West accolades.
While at Fresno State, Welp served as the Western Athletic Conferences (WACs) representative on the NCAA Western Region Ranking Committee and as the site representative for rounds one through three of the NCAA Womens Soccer Tournament.
We feel really good about Stacy, Kowall said. Stacy has a lot of experience marketing soccer programs and administering academic goals for student-athletes, so she will help our program both on and off the field. The teams she worked with competed at the highest level and her experience will help us continue building a winning tradition here at Illinois State.
Welp played soccer at Tulsa from 1990-93, where she graduated with a bachelors degree in anthropology in 1994. Her playing experience also includes one year with the South Team at the U.S. Olympic Festival in 1994.
The St. Louis native was also a student assistant coach at Tulsa, where she was directly in charge of training, conditioning and game preparation of both the mens and womens team goalkeepers. She has worked with both the Oklahoma and Utah Olympic Development Programs (ODP). Welp was a graduate assistant coach at Utah for a year, primarily working with the goalkeepers. She was also an assistant coach at Clemson, where two of her players earned NSCAA All-South Region honors.
Since 1999, Welp has worked as a goalkeeper coach for the United States Youth Soccer Association (USYSA) 16 and under Olympic Development Program in Region IV. She has steadily moved up the ladder, working her way from staff coach to head coach and head goalkeeping coach in 2003.
Welp holds a U.S. Soccer Federation A License as well as a NSCAA Advanced National Coaching Diploma. She succeeds Mike Bristol, who took an assistant coaching position with the Maryland womens soccer team.
In 2003, Illinois State enjoyed its best season in the history of the womens soccer program. The Redbirds won a share of the regular season conference title for the fourth time in just eight seasons of womens soccer. They also earned the Missouri Valley Conferences automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament with a 5-4 shootout win over Creighton in double overtime in the Valley Championship Game. It marked the first time that the Redbirds had ever won the Valley Tournament, and the first time that they had ever participated in the NCAA College Cup.
