Coaches

Willy Merrick

AT OHIO DOMINICAN UNIVERSITY


In the fall of 2021, he guided ODU to the G-MAC Tournament Championship game and to the programs second NCAA Division II Tournament appearance.

Merrick had six members recognized with G-MAC All-Conference awards, including G-MAC Defensive Player of the Year and All-Midwest First Team Honoree Jaxson Szabo.

In 2013, the Panthers captured a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Championship and made their first NCAA Division II Tournament appearance.

The team won a school-record 12-straight matches leading to Merrick being selected as the 2013 National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Division II Midwest Region Coach of the Year.

In 2012, Merrick led ODU to a second-place finish in the GLIAC South Division regular-season standings.

During the 2011 campaign, Merrick guided the Panthers to a second-place finish in the GLIAC regular-season standings and a third-place finish in the GLIAC tournament.

In the team’s inaugural season at the NCAA Division II level in 2010, Merrick and the Panthers finished with a 13-5-2 overall record and went 9-2-1 in conference play. Merrick helped lead the team to a 2-1 overtime victory over fourth-ranked Charleston (W.Va.) en route to receiving 2010 GLIAC Coach of the Year honors.

Merrick spent three seasons as the top assistant to former head coach Eric Nichols before becoming the eighth head coach in program history in 2008.

OHIO DOMINICAN HONOR ROLL

13 NCAA Division II All-Midwest Region Performers

45 All-Conference Honorees

23 Conference Player of the Week selections

GLIAC and G-MAC Defensive Player of the Year (2010 & 2021 Fall)

G-MAC Freshman of the Year (2018)

GLIAC Coach of the Year (2010 & 2013)

2013 NSCCA Division II Midwest Region Coach of the Year

NCAA Division II Tournament Qualifiers (2013, 2021 fall)

G-MAC Tournament Qualifiers (2017, 2018, 2021 spring, 2021 fall)

GLIAC Tournament Qualifiers (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013)

2013 GLIAC Tournament Champions

A.I.I Tournament Qualifiers (2009)

AMC Tournament Qualifiers (2008)

128 Academic All-Conference selections

24 OCSA Division II All-Ohio Performers

21 OCSA Division II Academic All-Ohio Honorees

BEFORE OHIO DOMINICAN UNIVERSITY

Merrick spent five years as the head varsity soccer coach at Thomas Worthington High School where he led the team to the 2001 State Championship, 2002 State Runner-Up, two consecutive regional finals and earned a No. 6 ranking in the National Top 25 Boys High School Soccer poll.

In 2000, Merrick was named the Ohio Capital Conference Coach of the Year.

In addition to coaching at Thomas Worthington, Merrick held coaching positions at Westerville North High School and the Eagles Soccer Club of Upper Arlington, and is currently coaching with the Columbus Crew Soccer Club.

Merrick spent seven years playing professional soccer with stints with the Buffalo Blizzards, Columbus XOGGZ, Cincinnati Silverbacks, Lexington Bandits and the Indiana Blast of the United States Independent Soccer League (USISL).

He began playing collegiate soccer with the University of Rio Grande before transferring to Marshall University, where he was a three-year letter winner in soccer and football from 1989 to 1992. In 1992, he was a member of the Division I-AA National Championship football team at Marshall.

PERSONAL

Merrick and his wife, Joyce, reside in Columbus with his three step-children, Austin, Andrick and Ashley.