A new head women’s soccer coach has officially been hired after the resignation of Head Coach Dominic Doty last year.

Cole McCool, formerly the assistant coach for women’s soccer, was officially offered the position on Feb. 11, after an interview process with Athletic Director Scott Carnahan and Assistant Athletic Director Doug Hire.

“I had hoped for the past few years that when [Doty] decided to move on in his coaching career that I would be a natural replacement,” McCool said in an email. “[Doty] and I spoke a lot about how best to transition the girls and the program, and it went very smoothly.”

McCool has always had a passion for soccer, and began coaching youth soccer clubs in his hometown when he was in high school. McCool later received a full-ride scholarship to play soccer at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

After graduating in 2007 he continued coaching boys and girls youth club soccer, and in 2010 began coaching women’s soccer at Linfield after Doty, a childhood friend of McCool, asked McCool to be his assistant.

“I am not planning on making many changes, because [Doty] basically did everything right,” McCool said. “The culture is great in the program, and the players are as talented as any team in the country.”

Many of the players were nervous once Doty announced his resignation, as many of them didn’t want someone completely new to the program coaching them. However, many players were pleased with the smooth transition from Doty to McCool.

“I couldn’t be happier that [McCool] got the job,” junior Ellie Schmidt said. “Now that they have hired someone, especially within the program, the tide has calmed and I think the team is really coming to terms with the situation.”

McCool is looking forward to being able to “put [his] stamp and playing philosophy on the program,” as well as tweaking certain aspects of how the team trains and play games.

“I just hope to keep the ball rolling and hopefully motivate and push the girls to achieve even more success and continue to love the game,” McCool said.

Samantha Sigler/Editor-in-chief

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