Coaches

Dawn Crow

Dawn Crow, a four-time national champion at Division I powerhouse North Carolina and former U.S. National Team player, enters her ninth season as the women's soccer coach at UW-Stevens Point.


In 2023, Crow coached the U19 National ODP team with games played in England and at the Dallas Cup in March and April. She also was a participant in the United Soccer Coaches 2022-23 cohort of the Coach Credentialing Program. In fall of 2022, Crow coached WIAC Co-Goalkeeper of the Year Miranda Nieman, who led the league in saves and had three shutouts in league matches.


Crow returned the Pointers to the NCAA Tournament in 2019 with an overall record of 11-5-3. She trained Meaghan Ambelang, who was named the 2019 WIAC Co-Defensive Player of the Year and third-team All-American honors.


In 2018, she guided the Pointers to the best finish in her tenure, a 12-2-4 campaign that included a 5-0-2 WIAC record. Her team reached the WIAC Tournament semifinal game and fell in penalties following a 0-0 draw. UWSP allowed just 11 goals in the 18 matches, second fewest in program history.


Crow brings a wealth of playing and coaching experience at the Division I level to the Pointers' program, one that has 14 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) championships and 15 NCAA Tournament appearances to its credit in the last 23 seasons.


Crow came to UW-Stevens Point after being the head girls' soccer coach at Plano East Senior High School, one of the largest high schools in the country, in Plano, Texas from 2007-13. There, she was a two-time District 9-5A Coach of the Year and was the runner-up for the District 8-5A Coach of the Year in 2012. Crow's 2008 team was the program's first-ever state finalist and 30 student-athletes she coached at Plano East went on to play at NCAA Division I programs. Her teams also earned the NSCAA Team GPA Award six times.


Prior to her time at Plano East, Crow spent seven seasons at the Division I level as either the head coach or an assistant. After starting as a volunteer assistant at Virginia Commonwealth (1996) and UNC-Wilmington (1997), she spent three seasons in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) as an assistant at Mississippi State (1998) and Alabama (1999-2000). From 2001-02, Crow was the head coach at Duquesne and she went on to serve as an assistant at Fairfield (2002-2003).


In addition to her collegiate coaching experience, Crow was a youth coach for FC Dallas of Major League Soccer (MLS) from 2005-14. In that role, she was the runner-up for the 2009 FC Dallas Club Coach of the Year and was recently a nominee for the Double Goal Coach Award from the Positive Coaching Alliance in 2014. She helped the FC Dallas Red 93 team move up three groups in the classic league and spent the last four seasons coaching the FC Dallas White 98 and FC Dallas 98 Premier squads. Crow also was a coach in the Region 2 Olympic Development Program system, as well as the Wisconsin ODP staff coach in 2001 and 2002.


A 1995 graduate of the University of North Carolina where she had a career record of 97-1-1, Crow played professionally for the Charlotte Speed (now the Charlotte Lady Eagles) of the USISL-W for the 1997 and 1998 seasons and was named the league's Defensive Player of the Year in 1997. Most recently, Crow was a midfielder for the Memphis Mercury of the United Soccer League and was a member of the 2001 team that went 11-2 before falling in the W-2 League championship match. In 2001, Crow ranked second in the league with nine assists and was named to the All-W-2 Team as a midfielder.


In her prep days, Crow was a two-time All-America and all-star selection at Plano High School from 1988-91 and was a member of the Texas Longhorns Youth National Championship Team in 1991.


Crow holds a National "B" Coaching and Youth National License and is a member of both the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) and the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA). She was also on Region 1 ODP staff in 2001-2003. Since 1998, she has been the owner of "Beyond the Goal," a camp dedicated to having top women's soccer players teach youth the game of soccer.


What They're Saying About Coach Crow

University of North Carolina head coach Anson Dorrance – "What I loved about coaching Dawn at the University of North Carolina was her technical and tactical platforms. Her skill set and soccer brain separated her from her peers. And on a more personal note, I loved her taste in music. I come from a family of dancers (my wife and eldest daughter) and we all know there is so much more to life than athletics. Dawn had a good balance in her life and I appreciated her for it."


Wisconsin State Director of Coaching Jim Launder —"Dawn Crow is a big time winner, on and off the field. She will be a great representative of the University and keep up the tradition of UWSP soccer. She has great versatility as a coach and has the ability to take the reins of the UWSP program."