Heather Cairns Hired To Coach Women's Soccer Team

Heather Cairns (pronounced "care-Ns") was named Utah State head women's soccer coach Tuesday. She has served as an assistant coach at Creighton University for the last four years, and is the third coach in the program's history.

"The search for Heather was exhaustive and complete," said Kevin Dustin, Utah State associate athletic director for external operations. "We're excited to have someone of her background to lead our soccer program. She has an unbelievable enthusiasm for the game and was mentored by an excellent head coach in Bruce Erickson at Creighton, where she has been instrumental in recent success. We're confident she'll do the same at Utah State. I know the community, especially the soccer community, will enjoy working with her."

At Creighton Cairns worked with all aspects of the program. In her time at Creighton, the Bluejays went from a 7-13-1 record in 1999 to a 2002 Missouri Valley Conference championship 12-8-2 record. Additionally, Creighton qualified for the 2002 NCAA tournament for the first time in the program's history. From 1999-2002, the Bluejays produced a National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) regional All-American, 18 all-conference players, six freshmen all-conference honorees, 13 academic all-conference honorees and 11 NSCAA regional scholar-athletes.

"I'm so excited to get to Utah State and get going," Cairns said. "I was sold by the school - it is a great product to present to student-athletes - and the people I met. There is a great dynamic already in place with the women on the team. I think we just need to work to get over the hump, raise our standing in the league and get to that winning season. Things will come from there."

The Erie, Pa., native spent two years as an assistant at New Mexico and
worked as a graduate assistant coach for three years at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa.

"Heather is more than ready to be a head coach," said Creighton head coach Bruce Erickson. "She has worked as an assistant for nine years, and since the moment she arrived, it's been like having a second head coach on staff. She's worked towards this position, put in the time and taken the lead on several things. Heather has a great eye for talent, a great way with the players and energy and passion not only for the game, but also for what she does."

Cairns earned her B.A. in biology from Canisius College in Buffalo, N.Y., where she was a four-year starter and two-year captain. She completed her B.Ed. while at St. Ambrose. She holds a B license from the United States Soccer Federation and an NSCAA Advanced Diploma.

Cairns replaces Jen Kennedy Croft, who resigned in December to devote more time to her family. The Utah State soccer program's first year of play was 1996. The Aggies return 18 players from last year's squad that finished with an overall record of 8-9-3 and was 2-6-1 in the Big West Conference.