Northeastern State Elevates Women’s Soccer; Hires NCAA Division I Coach Chase Wooten

Northeastern State Elevates Womens Soccer;
Hires NCAA Division I Coach Chase Wooten

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. Northeastern State University announced it will hire Chase Wooten as womens soccer head coach, according to Athletic Director Jeff Konya.

Wooten leaves his current position as womens head coach at NCAA Division I Centenary College and will begin his duties at Northeastern State in January. Wooten is a former assistant coach at the University of Alabama, another NCAA Division I institution.

I am really excited about coming to Northeastern State, said Wooten. Its a great opportunity and Im looking forward to getting started.

Its a pretty warm and pleasant place (Northeastern State) and the town is wonderful. It seems to have an absolutely great environment for getting a great education.

Konya said Wooten was clearly the choice as the University seeks to elevate its womens soccer program.

We had so many quality candidates for this hiring, but Chase Wootens credentials clearly separated him from the others in contention, said Konya. When I spent time with Coach Wooten, and got to know him as a person, his interpersonal skills made him the ideal choice.

Administrators often use the adage of hitting a home run with loose lips, but we truly feel as an administrative team at Northeastern State that Coach Wooten can meet our lofty expectations for our womens soccer program. Those expectations stem from a commitment to academic excellence, attracting high-character student-athletes, service to the community, and of course, excelling in athletic performance on the pitch.

This is a great day for RiverHawks soccer, but more importantly, it is also a great day for our university community as we add another individual of high character and vision into the Northeastern State family.

Wooten believes the RiverHawks have an opportunity to become a power in womens soccer on the NCAA Division II level.

I think the upside at Northeastern is really, really high, said Wooten. Its a situation where the (Lone Star) Conference is really good, but I think we can reach that level quickly in a year or two. Then we can be at a place where we start setting new goals, like winning the conference championship. I think thats realistic and then we put ourselves in a situation where teams are historically really, really good.

He inherits a program that faltered in 2009, winning only five of its 17 matches and one LSC contest. Wootens first order of business is to evaluate the program from the inside-out.

The first thing we have to do is identify the talent thats here (Northeastern State), and then bring in the talent we need to compliment them, he said. Well recruit the Tulsa area right away, then look in Dallas, St. Louis and any other areas where we can bring in quality players.

During his interview process, Wooten met with the current RiverHawks squad and came away with an impression of a team that is hungry to win.

The student-athletes had great questions and I was really impressed with them, said Wooten. They werent really concerned about themselves, but more interested that the program was moving in the right direction.

They were concerned about how we can turn this around and win. I was impressed with that.

Wooten, who served as head coach of the womens program at Centenary for six years (2003-2009), led the Ladies to two Summit League semifinal appearances and had three players named Summit League Players of the Week this season. He also had several All-Conference and Freshman All-Conference selections.

While at the Shreveport, La., campus Wooten was in charge of travel, academics, budget, recruiting, community service, and served as camp director for over 400 children during the summer.

During his tenure at Centenary Wooten placed a high priority on academics and during his Ladies coaching stint, every team obtained a 3.25 grade point average or higher.

While at the University of Alabama from 2001-2003, Wooten served as assistant womens coach. He was the Crimson Tides recruiting coordinator and served as the goalkeeper trainer. The Tides 2001 team had the sixth most improved record in the nation.

Also at Alabama he was the boys head goalkeeper trainer for the Alabama Olympic Development Program.

Wooten has also served as the Shreveport Futbol Club head coach, which included a U18 Dallas Cup participant and coached the Shreveport United squad, where three teams were Louisiana Premier State finalists.

Wooten coached high school soccer at Caddo Magnet High School in Shreveport from 1996-98, where he served as head coach and assistant coach of both the boys and girls programs. His girls program placed second in the Class 5A State Championship in 2001, won district titles and Wooten earned District Coach of the Year in 2000 and 2001. They were listed among the Top 50 girls teams in the nation in 2001 by Fox Sports.

Wootens boys teams were District Champions three consecutive years from 1999-2001. He was also selected District coach of the Year in 1999 and 2001.

The new RiverHawks coach has held coaching licenses with the USSF B (University of Oklahoma), NSCAA Advanced National (University of Notre Dame), NSCAA National (Trinity University) and USSF National D (Houston) and is a candidate for 2010 USSF (A) at the University of Tampa.

His camp coaching experience includes Centenary College, University of Texas, Challenge Soccer Club in Houston and the University of Alabama.

Wooten played at Centenary College from 1995-98 where he was a goalkeeper and the 98 male student-athlete of the year. He also played at Lindsey Wilson College from 1994-95 before transferring to Centenary, where the Columbia, Ky., school reached the NAIA Final Four.

Wooten is a graduate of Taylor High School in Katy, Texas, where he was captain and selected MVP of the team. He was also a first team All-District selection, second team All-Region and was a member of the Texas Senior All-Star Team. He was also a member of the Classic Soccer Club in Houston. Wooten was also a member of the South Texas Olympic Development Team, and was a USA Cup Bronze Medal winner, a Dallas Cup participant and a member of the 1991 South Texas State Champions.

12/17/2009

Published: 2009-12-17 00:00:00