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Chris Cissell
Chris Cissell is in his fourth season as the GCU women's soccer head coach for the 2023 season after being named to the position on Dec. 23, 2019.
Cissell has done nothing but win in his time as a Lope, collecting 46 wins and four straight WAC Tournament appearances. The 46 wins by the Lopes since 2020, Cissell's first year, match the program win total from 2014-19.
The GCU offensive numbers have also been off the charts as the first four seasons under Cissell are the four highest scoring seasons in the program’s Division I era. Under Cissell the GCU soccer program has scored 186 goals with 194 assists since 2020, which is more scoring than the program saw from their first season in Division I in 2014 to 2019.
In conference play, Cissell has guided the Lopes to a 25-10-7 (.679) mark during his tenure that includes four straight appearances in the WAC Tournament, including the program's first No. 1 overall seed in 2021.
In just his second season, Cissell guided the team to a program-record 16 wins that included the first WAC regular-season and tournament championships. The Lopes defeated Utah Valley in the WAC Tournament championship 3-0 to advance to the NCAA tournament for the first time in program history. Cissell was named WAC Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season and fourth overall. Under Cissell's leadership, the Lopes earned 11 All-WAC awards, a program record, and swept the WAC Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year awards with forward Marleen Schimmer and defender Hannah Edwards, respectively.
Schimmer, who transferred to GCU after Cissell was hired, became the Lopes' first professionally drafted player as she was taken ninth overall in the 2021 National Women's Soccer League Draft by expansion team San Diego Wave FC.
The 2022 season was another successful campaign, as Cissell guided the Lopes to a second straight double-digit winning season and a third straight appearance in the semifinals of the WAC Tournament. Junior forward Gianna Gourley, who transferred to GCU in 2021 to join Cissell's program, broke out with 18 goals and 42 points. Both marks were program records and ranked in the top 10 nationally. Five other Lopes earned All-WAC awards, and Gourley was the first Lope to be named an Academic All-American.
In his first year with the Lopes, Cissell earned his third WAC Coach of the Year honor after leading the Lopes to a dramatic midseason turnaround. GCU was 1-7 before finishing the year with a 7-2-1 mark over the last 10 games in the 2020 season that was delayed to spring 2021. The Lopes earned the WAC Tournament's No. 3 seed, the highest seed in program history. The Lopes also set offensive records in goals and assists and had five players earn All-WAC honors.
Cissell came to GCU after nine seasons at Kansas City, where he claimed 102 victories, three WAC regular-season titles and two WAC Coach of the Year honors.
Cissell's Kansas City teams posted three first-place finishes, two second-place finishes, a third-place finish and a fourth-place finish in seven WAC seasons. Kansas City was a member of the Summit League for Cissell's first two seasons, when he improved the Roos from a last-place finish prior to his arrival to a third-place finish in his first season. The seven-spot improvement earned him the 2012 Summit League Coach of the Year nod.
In the 2017 and 2018 seasons, Cissell's Roos went 14-1 in conference play en route to back-to-back WAC regular-season championships. In a 2018 season when the Roos set a program record for wins with a 16-5 record, Cissell led Kansas City to impressive wins over the likes of Kansas State and Iowa State. The Roos made their program debut in the Pacific Region rankings and climbed as high as eighth. He finished his Kansas City career with a record of 102-63-22 (.604).
Cissell was responsible for recruiting outstanding talent to Kansas City. In seven WAC seasons, the Roos had the conference's goals leader four times. The Roos claimed the WAC Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year in 2017 and 2018 and featured the conference's Freshman of the Year in 2018 and 2019.
Prior to his arrival at Kansas City, Cissell coached at his alma mater, Division II William Jewell, for 12 years. He took the reins of the women's program in 1999 before adding the men's program to his duties in 2002. The women's team went 168-57-12 (.734) in his 12 seasons while the men posted a mark of 114-49-10 (.688) in nine seasons and Cissell was named the National Coach of the Year in 2006. He was inducted into the college's Hall of Fame in 2015.
Overall, Cissell owns a 430-193-53 career combined record in men's and women's soccer in 34 seasons at a .675 win percentage.
As a player at William Jewell, Cissell was a four-year starter and the team MVP in his final three seasons. The team captain earned first-team all-conference recognition as a junior and a senior, and was conference player of the year as a senior.
Cissell and his wife, Heather, who teaches kindergarten, have been married for 27 years. They have four children, who share his passion for soccer. Their oldest son, Mitchell, works for Missouri Youth Soccer Association as Director of Communication. His younger sons, Trevor and Zach, played college soccer. Their youngest daughter, Sophie, plays soccer at Northwest Missouri State.
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