Katherine Mertz, the former head coach at Nevada Las Vegas who most recently was an assistant at Texas, has been named the new women's soccer coach at SLU. Mertz had a 49-39-19 record at UNLV and won three straight Mountain West Conference championships and made two NCAA Tournament appearances. She left after the 2009 season to become an assistant at Texas. Mertz played goalie at North Carolina State, where she graduated from in 1998. She worked for a year as an assistant at Virginia before becoming an assistant at UCLA for five years. She also served as an assistant on the U.S. Under-20 team in 2007-08; the team won the U-20 world championship in 2008.
Mertz succeeds Tim Champion, the only other coach in the history of the program, who was fired. In 16 seasons at SLU, Champion had a record of 176-107-39 and his team went to the NCAA tournament in 2005 and '06 after winning the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament, and both times they reached the second round. But the team has had a losing record the past three seasons and the past two have been exceptionally hard ones, with records of 4-9-6 and 5-10-3 as the team failed to make the conference tournament.
Some quotes, via SLU sports information, about Mertz:
"Kat Mertz is a wonderful coach and a person of the highest integrity. She is well respected in the soccer community by coaches and players alike. Kat has tremendous knowledge of the game, and her extensive experience working with high-level players on the Youth National Team and in the collegiate ranks will serve her extremely well in attracting some of the top student-athletes in the country to St. Louis. She is excited to be a head coach again, and she will hit the ground running. I look forward to seeing what she can do in her new leadership position at Saint Louis." - Jillian Ellis, U.S. Youth National Team development director and former UCLA head women's soccer coach
"Kat Mertz is one of the outstanding young coaches in America. She was an integral part of the 2008 USA U-20 women winning the world championship in Chile, and she has worked with a number of our youth national teams to help develop our young stars. She was an outstanding player and will take lessons learned as a player, with top collegiate programs and as a Youth National Team coach to St. Louis University. I wish her and the University a long and rewarding relationship." - Tony DiCicco, former U.S. Women's National Team director of coaching
"St. Louis University has made an outstanding hire. Kat Mertz is a talented soccer coach and a relentless recruiter who is full of energy. Her future, as well as the future of the Saint Louis women's soccer program, is very bright." - Chris Petrucelli, former University of Texas head women's soccer coach
"St. Louis is getting a great coach who has head-coaching experience and a real passion for soccer. Kat's ability to identify talent will result in strong recruiting classes, and her international experience will greatly enhance the program. The current players at Saint Louis will be excited about the manner in which Kat leads them on the field and in the classroom. She also is a great fit for the University because of her longstanding devotion to community service. St. Louis University will enjoy having Kat Mertz lead its women's soccer program." - Lisa Kelleher, UNLV senior associate athletics director
