Coaches

Jim Harkness

Jim Harkness begins his third season as head coach of the Saint Xavier University women's soccer team. In 2023, he guided SXU to an 8-4-5 record and their second consecutive appearance in the CCAC Tournament. The Cougars defeated St. Francis (Ill.), 1-0, in the quarterfinals for their first CCAC Tournament win since 2010. Saint Xavier had two players earn All-CCAC (one first-team and one second-team), along with a pair of CCAC Player of the Week winners.


Coach Harkness led the Cougars to the postseason in 2022, earning a quarterfinal appearance in the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) Tournament, the team's first trip to the CCAC Tournament since 2018. Overall, SXU finished 6-9-4 with two players earning All-CCAC Second Team honors and one player claimed CCAC Women's Soccer Player of the Week.


He became the sixth head coach for the program that started play in the Fall of 1997 after being hired prior to the start of the 2022 campaign. Harkness was assistant coach for the Cougars' men's soccer team from 2005-12 and helped SXU win back-to-back CCAC Tournament championships in 2010 & 2011, as well as NAIA Opening Round appearances in those respective seasons.


Before joining the Saint Xavier men's soccer staff, Harkness was the head coach for the Moraine Valley Community College (Ill.) women's soccer team from 2000-04. He was an assistant coach at Brother Rice High School from 1996-2000, where he graduated from in 1990. Harkness played soccer collegiatly at Eastern Illinois University from 1990-94 before turning pro and playing for the Chicago Power and Detroit Rockers of the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL). He also played for the Chicago Stingers of the United Systems of Independent Soccer Leagues (USISL).