Raleigh DeRose enters her third season as head coach of Illinois State soccer, after guiding the Redbirds to new heights in 2025.

In DeRose's second year as head coach, Illinois State made a notable return to prominence within the Missouri Valley Conference, building on the foundation established during her first season. 

In 2025, the Redbirds reached the MVC tournament title game for the first time since 2019, and achieved back-to-back postseason berths for the first time since the 2018-2019 seasons. 

On their path to the MVC championship game, the Redbirds recorded their highest number of wins since 2019, finishing the season with eight victories. Illinois State secured five wins in conference play, also marking the most for the program since 2019.

In the regular season, the Redbirds matched the longest unbeaten streak since 2019 after going nine games unbeaten.

The Redbirds' success was built on their defensive prowess and one of the strongest defenses in the nation. In 2025, Illinois State posted 13 shutouts, setting a new school record and matching the conference record in the Missouri Valley Conference. The shutout total ranked as tied for the fourth most in the country. During the regular season, the Redbirds recorded a streak of six consecutive shutouts and were one of four teams in the nation to record the feat.

Under DeRose’s guidance, four Redbirds earned MVC honors, including Redshirt Sophomore Madi Valenti, who became the first Redbird since 2013 to earn the MVC Goalkeeper of the Year award. Valenti shattered the Redbird and MVC shutout record with 12 shutouts across the season. Valenti tallied 86 saves across the season and became the third goalkeeper in school history to record 80 or more saves in two seasons. Valenti also earned All-MVC First Team honors for her performance in 2025.

Senior Jade Rehberger, in her final season joined Valenti as the Redbirds' representatives on the All-MVC First team. In her senior season, Rehberger earned her first career All-MVC First Team selection after playing a pivotal role in the Redbirds' defensive line. With career best 1,929 minutes played, Rehberger started in all 22 contests and helped Illinois State secure its record-breaking shutout total.

DeRose’s first recruiting class made an immediate impact on the Redbirds' success in 2025 as rookies Grace Petrie and Rylann Law each earned All-MVC Freshman Team honors. Petrie led all Redbird freshmen with 1,934 minutes played and started all 22 matches for Illinois State as a defender. Law added 1,628 minutes played and also started in every contest for Illinois State. Law became the first freshman since Hannah Mueller to record a brace in a contest as Law scored two goals in a 2-0 victory over IU-Indy. Across the campaign, Law tallied four goals, matching the team lead with Sophomore Chloe Cline.

The Redbirds continued to excel in the classroom, as six Redbirds represented Illinois State on the MVC Scholar-Athlete Team and the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team. 

In her first season, DeRose led the Redbirds to secure their highest win total since 2019 and earned a bid to the MVC Tournament for the first time since the 2020-21 spring campaign. The seventh-seeded Redbirds secured a 1-0 win over No.6 UNI to become the first No. 7 seed to win at the conference tournament. The victory marked the first MVC Tournament win for the Redbirds since 2019, and the first clean sheet at the Valley tournament since 2018. 

Illinois State secured points in five of its last seven matches of the 2024 regular season, which included a four-game unbeaten streak from Oct. 3 to Oct. 17. 

Freshman Eiley Henderson earned MVC All-Freshman Team honors under DeRose's tutelage in 2024, after leading the Redbirds with three goals. That included a pair in conference play and one at the MVC Tournament. Henderson tallied seven points on the season (three goals, one assist), all came against MVC opponents.  

In DeRose's first campaign, the Redbirds posted five shutouts, a program-best since 2019. Redshirt-freshman goalkeeper Madi Valenti was in net for all five clean sheets, which all came on the road.

Illinois State showed strength in the classroom, as Ava Watson and Jade Rehberger landed on the MVC Scholar-Athlete teams for the first time in their careers. Rehberger and Watson, along with teammates Abby Hall and Madi Valenti, landed on the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District teams. A total of 15 Redbirds posted a perfect 4.0 grade-point average during DeRose's first season, while the team earned a 3.73 overall GPA in the fall 2024 semester. 

DeRose joined the Redbirds following an 8-year tenure on the staff at Brown, with her final three seasons serving as associate head coach. During her time with the program, the Bears won three Ivy League championships, made four NCAA Tournament appearances, recorded four undefeated regular seasons, and finished in the top 50 in the national RPI rankings for four consecutive years. She was also selected to the 30 Under 30 Program by the United Soccer Coaches for the 2016-17 course year.

DeRose and the Brown coaching staff were named the 2023 East Region Staff of the Year by the United Soccer Coaches following a vote of the region's coaches. The staff led the Bears to a 12-3-2 record, including a perfect 7-0-0 mark in the conference, and won the Ivy League regular season championship for the fourth-straight year. The Bears advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the 10th time in program history and hosted as a No. 3 seed, where they took down Quinnipiac in the first round at Stevenson-Pincince Field. 

Brown was consistently ranked in the NCAA RPI throughout the 2023 regular season, topping out at No. 5 in late October. Eight members of the team were awarded with All-Ivy recognition, including three-time Offensive Player of the Year Brittany Raphino, who was a semifinalist for the Hermann Trophy and was named an All-American for the third time.

In 2022, DeRose and the Bears secured a 1-0 win over Rutgers in the NCAA Tournament to cap off a season that also included the program's third-straight Ivy League championship after posting a 5-0-1 record in league action. She helped lead the Bears to their second straight Ivy League title in 2021, a season that also saw the team finish with a 7-0 Ivy League record for the first time since the league expanded to eight teams in 1991. The campaign saw Raphino named a Second Team All-American and the Ivy Offensive Player of the Year, Kayla Duran named a CoSIDA Academic All-American and the Ivy Defensive Player of the Year, and seven players in total selected to the All-Ivy League teams.

In 2019, she was a key part of the United Soccer Coaches East Region Staff of the Year and helped guide the Bears to a historic season, in which the team won its first Ivy League title and made its first NCAA appearance since 1994. Brown set program records for wins in a season (14), home wins in a season (11), and shutouts in a season (13). The Bears advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament after topping Monmouth in a penalty kick shootout, 4-1.

Before her stint at Brown, DeRose served as an assistant coach at Knox from 2014-15, helping the Prairie Fire set a single-season school record for wins in 2015 with a 13-5-2 record. Knox made its first appearance in the Midwest Conference tournament in 20 years in 2015, advancing to the championship game for the first time in school history. In 2015, the Prairie Fire ranked among national leaders in Division III in total goals (14th, 68), goals per game (17th, 3.4), total points (17th, 181), and shots on goal per game (14th, 11.8).

A four-year student-athlete at Knox, DeRose captained the Prairie Fire and started 47 of her 52 matches played as a defender. She acted as a SAAC representative for three years and as the organization’s vice president as a senior. A native of Peoria, Illinois, DeRose earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Knox College in 2014 in American Studies with minors in Anthropology, Sociology, and Religious Studies. She holds an NSCAA Advanced National Diploma in addition to an NSCAA National Coaching License, receiving an R1, the highest level of evaluation in the diploma program.

DeRose comes from a soccer family. Her father, Jim, is the winningest head coach in Bradley history and recently announced his retirement after 28 years at the helm of the program. Her brother, J.R., was a standout goalkeeper at Mercer before moving into the coaching ranks at Bradley, North Carolina, and Mercer.

She is joined in Normal by her husband, Phil, and their daughter, Anna.