With a long history of coaching under his belt, Kevin Dempsey was announced to be the new head coach for Wofford’s women’s soccer team. The announcement brings a new excitement and energy to the team.
Originally, Dempsey was set on becoming a high school teacher and soccer coach. After realizing that teaching wouldn’t bring the same joys as primarily coaching, however, Dempsey decided to take the plunge and focus on coaching collegiate soccer.
“I knew I wanted to coach from a young age, I’ve always had great relationships with my coaches and I’ve seen what kind of an impact they can have on younger or collegiate people,” Dempsey said.
To Dempsey’s luck, Catawba College, his alma mater, had an opening for an assistant coach for their women’s soccer team. He took the job and was named their head coach the year later. He has been coaching women’s soccer ever since.
Dempsey came to know about Wofford during his time as a coach for the College of Charleston, and was able to see a glimpse of Wofford’s beautiful campus through those games.
Aside from the beauty of the campus, Dempsey was also drawn to coaching at Wofford by the potential for the team and the program as a whole to be improved.
“The potential of the program to really achieve at high levels really is what drew me to campus, and once I was here, the people were amazing,” Dempsey said.
Still new to the campus and the team, Dempsey is getting to know everyone on the team and at Wofford, which has been an exciting first step to being on campus. Bringing a new perspective to current team dynamics and playing ability, players and Dempsey alike are looking forward to the future of Wofford women’s soccer.
“I just think this group of players are really motivated to succeed, so I’m excited about that,” Dempsey said.
An important aspect of what Dempsey wants to do as head coach is to make sure that the experience of playing the game and competing at the collegiate level is worthwhile for the players, and to make sure that they actually are enjoying playing the game.
He wants to emphasize that the players feel valued and cared about, and that when they look back on their time at Wofford they would do it all over again.
This emphasis on the player experience and the culture of the team is not only important to Dempsey, but also to the players, including McKinley High ‘27, who plays as a forward on the team.
“What sticks out with this group is the team culture and how we all work so well together, and off the field we’re also really close,” High said
The strength of the culture on the women’s soccer team has influenced the decision of many of the players to not enter the transfer portal, which is an uncommon occurrence when teams get a new coach with many players typically transferring.
Many team members are hopeful that this change in leadership will benefit players on the field, with Dempsey working through weaknesses that might have been prevalent prior to his arrival.
“I really think he’s going to do good things for the program,” High said.
Under Dempseys guidance, the team will strive to be competitive and to work their way up to be at the top of the league. While every game can’t be won, the effort and drive will still be put in to continue to reach the teams full potential.
