Coaches

Mike Regan

Mike Regan (REE-gan) heads into his sixth season at the helm of the North Dakota State women's soccer program in 2023 after he was named the fifth head coach in NDSU program history on Jan. 19, 2018.


Regan made an immediate splash in Fargo as he guided the Bison to a spot in The Summit League Championship Semifinals in his first year at the helm, and has continued to develop the program with multiple trips into the postseason tournament and semifinal appearances.


The Bison have had seven All-Summit League selections in Regan's tenure, including four first team selections. NDSU has also had five All-Summit League Freshman Team/All-Newcomer Team selections and three Summit League All-Tournament Team picks.


Under Regan, the Bison have garnered 11 Summit League Players of the Week, along with Elyse Huber being named the United Soccer Coaches National Player of the Week. In 2018, the Bison had 15 Summit League Academic Honor Roll selections and 10 players selected to the Summit League Commissioner's List of Academic Excellence. In 2019, Monica Polgar was named to the United Soccer Coaches Scholar All-Region Team and was picked for the Summit League All-Academic Team. In 2020 and 2021, defender Ellie Schneider was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District Soccer First Team. In 2022, Bison soccer had student-athletes selected to the CSC Academic All-District Team; Lavin Douglass, Paige Goaley, Jess Hanley, Dani Stuber, Loretta Wacek and Olivia Watson. Goaley was also named to the United Soccer Coaches All-Region Team.


Regan came to NDSU after two seasons as a Big Ten assistant coach at Indiana University in Bloomington. Prior to Indiana, he was an assistant coach at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, for four seasons where he was part of the 2015 Missouri Valley Conference championship team and the 2015 MVC Coaching Staff of the Year. Drake made four consecutive MVC tournament appearances.


At Drake, he coached 22 all-conference team members, seven MVC All-Tournament Team selections, two NSCAA all-region picks, in addition to a MVC Player of the Year, a MVC Defensive Player of the Year and 2014 Haitian National Team member Generve Charles.


Drake earned three NSCAA College Team Academic Awards, posted the highest GPA in the athletic department in the spring of 2013 and had a pair of MVC Scholar-Athlete selections during Regan's tenure.


Before joining Drake, Regan was the head coach for the North Iowa Area Community College men's soccer team for five seasons, where he posted an impressive record of 74-17-6 and was named the NJCAA/ICCAC Men's Soccer Coach of the Year three times.


In his five seasons as the head coach, Regan coached four NJCAA All-Americans, 41 all-region honorees and 35 NJCAA All-Academic selections.


Regan also has extensive coaching experience at the youth level. He is currently a staff coach with the U.S. Youth Soccer Region II Girls Olympic Development Program and served as the head coach of the Iowa ODP '98 age group for three years. Regan holds a National 'A' Coaching License from the United States Soccer Federation.


Regan earned a bachelor's degree from Waldorf College in 2009 and a master's degree from California University of Pennsylvania in 2011.


He and his wife, Maradee, have two sons, Kieran and Liam.

Allison Mack

Allison Mack is in her fourth season with the Bison in 2023 after she joined Mike Regan's coaching staff as an assistant coach in February of 2020.


During her time in Fargo, Mack has aided in the development of the Bison in several facets, including training and scouting, as well as assisting heavily in the recruiting of Bison student-athletes. In her time with the Bison, Mack has aided in the development of two all-league players, three all-newcomer team honors, two all-academic team recipients and four player of the week honors within the Summit League, as well as one United Soccer Coaches All-Region Team player in Paige Goaley.


Prior to joining the Bison, Mack spent three seasons as an assistant coach at NCAA Division II Bloomsburg University in Bloomsburg, Pa. During her time with the Huskies, Bloomsburg advanced to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight twice, in 2018 and 2019.


The Huskies won back-to-back PSAC regular season titles in 2018 and 2019, while finishing the season ranked in the top six in the country both years. The Bloomsburg coaching staff was named the Atlantic Regional Coaching Staff of the Year in 2018 and 2019.


Mack ascended to the coaching ranks after wrapping up her playing career at as a starting defender at Binghamton University. She appeared in 69 matches over her career with 62 starts. She tallied a goal and two assists in her career as a Bearcat.


The Hanover, Pa. native is a 2017 graduate of Binghamton University. She graduated with a masters of exercise science from Bloomsburg in 2019. Mack has USSF D, E & F Licenses and a United Soccer Coaches National License.

Chris Higgins

Chris Higgins is in his second season as an assistant coach with the Bison after joining Mike Regan's coaching staff in May of 2022. A former All-American between the sticks, Higgins works primarily with the goalkeepers.


In his first season with the Bison, Higgins guided the development of Abby Wilkinson, as the junior earned all-league honors for the first time in her career and also scooped up a pair of Summit League Defensive Player of the Week honors. The Bison defense saw it's save percentage climb over six percent and the goals against average drop over a full goal per game from 2.42 to 1.38.


Higgins joined the Bison from Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, as he helped guide the women’s program to the NCAA Division III Final Four in 2021. While in Dubuque, Higgins served as an assistant for the men’s and women’s programs for two seasons. He also served as the recruiting coordinator for the Duhawks. Higgins helped guide Loras to a double American Rivers Conference Championship, as both the men’s and women’s programs claimed conference titles in 2021. The women’s program reached the Final Four and the men reached the second round in the 2021 NCAA Championships.


With Loras, the Glasgow, Scotland native oversaw the development of two All-ARC Goalkeepers and an All-American as he was a part of the American Rivers Coaching Staff of the Year and NCAA Midwest Region Coaching Staff of the Year in 2021. His goalkeepers combined for 15 shutouts in 24 games as the women’s program went 21-1-2. Duhawks goalkeepers combined for six ARC Defensive Player of the Week honors.


Prior to joining Loras, Higgins coached Xavier (Cedar Rapids) High School Girls Soccer to an Iowa High School State Championship in 2019. Higgins coached Xavier from 2017 through the spring of 2022. He was named the Mississippi Valley Conference Coach of the Year and Private School Coach of the Year following the championship season.


Before leading Xavier, Higgins was a graduate assistant and recruiting coordinator for the women’s soccer team at Mount Mercy University from 2016-2018, including a year as the acting head coach in 2017.


While in Iowa, Higgins also coached with the Olympic Development Program from 2019 until the Spring of 2022, working as the head coach with the girls’ program. Higgins as obtained his UEFA C Coaching License in 2021 and is a UEFA B Coaching License Candidate in 2022.


Prior to his coaching career, Higgins was an NAIA Academic All-American goalkeeper for Ashford University, where he was also the AII First Team and Goalkeeper of the Year. Higgins helped lead Ashford to the NAIA Final Four in 2013. He would go on to lead the Quad City Eagles to the NPSL Midwest Conference Championship in the summer of 2014.


Higgins graduated from Ashford in May of 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in Physical Education and endorsements in coaching and health. Higgins received a master’s degree in Strategic Leadership in June of 2018.

No Men's Soccer Program