University of Tennessee Southern

UT Southern Athletics
433 W Madison St Pulaski, TN 38478

NAIA Tennessee Southeast

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Coaches

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Will Austin

Will Austin begins his 8th season as head coach of the Tennessee Southern women’s soccer program in 2023. Austin took the helm of the program in 2016. He has amassed a 127-17-11 record in seven seasons. Austin’s winning percentage of 0.855 ranks him #1 among all active NAIA coaches. He ranks #33 in the NAIA all time wins list as the only coach on the list with less than 10 seasons of head coaching.

Under Austin the team has advanced to the NAIA National Tournament final site in each of his seven seasons with seven conference championships in seven seasons while competing in two of NAIA’s most competitive conferences. They have won three conference regular season championships and four conference tournament championships. Austin’s squads have never been ranked outside of the top 14 in the national rankings. The majority of the seven seasons have been spent nationally ranked in the top five including nine polls spent at #1.

Austin led the Firehawks to the NAIA National Championship in 2021 as well as being named NAIA National Coach of Year. Austin’s staff was also named United Soccer Coaches National Staff of the Year in 2021. Freshman Keito Ido led the NAIA in goals scored with 39. Yuki Watari was named NAIA National Tournament MVP and United Soccer Coaches National Player of the Year.

The 2021 squad was named Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame Female Amateur Team of the Year. The 2021 team holds many all time NAIA Tournament Records from the magical 2021 season. Here is a list of records held:

Ido and Estelle Badoedana Ekada hold the tournament goals scored record with eight.

Adisa Amang tied the tournament assists record with five.

Ido holds the tournament point record with 20 (eight goals, four assists).

The team tied the record for most goals in a tournament game with 10 and also hold the record for most points in a game logging 31 (10 goals, 11 assists) in the opening round match with Judson.

The team also shattered the tournament record for goals scored with 25.

The team set a new mark for points in tournament play in 2021 at 79 (27 goals, 25 assists).

Austin has coached 47 All-Americans in his seven seasons (35 NAIA/12 United Soccer Coaches) including 19 1st team All-Americans. He has coached 48 All-Conference players including 37 who have earned 1st team All-Conference. At the conference level he has coached 4x Golden Boot, 4x Freshmen of the Year, 4x Offensive POY, 1x Defensive POY, 1x Golden Gloves and 4x Player of the Year.

His teams have been ranked nationally at #1 for team goals (112 in 2017 and 131 in 2021), #1 for team assists (126 in 2017) and #1 for team goals/game (4.58 in 2020). He has coached multiple players who have been ranked nationally at #1 in various statistical categories: Millene Cabral (53 goals in 2017), Millene Cabral (119 points in 2017), Riko Sagara (36 assists in 2017), Natsuna Sugishita (22 assists in 2018), Natsuna Sugishita (23 assists in 2019).

Austin has been named MidSouth Coach of the Year in 2020 as well as his staff earning 2018 United Soccer Coaches Regional Staff of the Year. Twelve players he has coached in his seven seasons have gone on to sign professional contracts and twelve players have represented their youth or senior national teams.

Academically, Austin’s teams have gotten it done in the classroom as well, earning the USC Team Academic Award (team GPA above 3.0) in every season with the current team GPA being 3.41. He has coached five Academic All-Americans and 55 Academic All-Conference student-athletes.

Prior to his tenure as a head coach, Austin served under head coach Tyson John as the team's chief assistant from 2012-15. Over these 4 seasons the RedHawks boasted a 60-21-2 overall record, won 2 conference championships and qualified for the NAIA National Tournament every season.

Prior to his time at Martin Methodist, he served as a graduate assistant coach for women's soccer and Director of Operations at Central Michigan University in 2010 and 2011. CMU was ranked nationally in the top 50 of NCAA D1 during this time, winning the MAC Championship and advancing to the NCAA D1 National Tournament as well as having the highest team GPA of any soccer program in the country.

Austin played at Limestone College for two years before going on to be an All-Region center back at Southern Wesleyan University where he graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in psychology in 2009. Austin graduated magna cum laude from Central Michigan 2012 with a master's degree in sports administration.

Austin is licensed through United Soccer Coaches, USSF and the Scottish Football Association (SFA). He has extensive club and high school coaching experience in Tennessee, Michigan and South Carolina, along with experience working for a US sports scholarship consultancy firm in Scotland and Germany.

Born in Stewarton, Scotland, Austin represented youth teams of professional clubs Queen of the South and Queen's Park in Scotland from u15 to u19 level before moving to America at 17 on a soccer scholarship.

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Zach Crownover

Crownover begins his fifth season as assistant/goalkeeper coach for the Firehawks. Since his arrival, goalkeeper Gabby Kennedy has earned a host of awards including a 2020 All-American First Team selection after seven shutouts and a .817 save percentage. Kennedy was a 2019 All-Region selection and earned a Mid-South Conference All-Conference first-team award under Crownover.

Crownover spent the two years prior to his arrival as the assistant coach/goalkeeper coach at Motlow State Community College, helping them start the program, win the TN NJCAA Conference and advance to the NJCAA Regional Tournament. He played soccer at the former Martin Methodist College from 2009-2014. He is licensed through USSF and United Soccer Coaches.