Leaving her mark on USU soccer history
With Friday’s win against Eastern Washington University, Heather Cairns, head coach of the soccer squad, became the winningest soccer coach in USU history for total victories.
Modest about the title, Cairns said she doesn’t care much about it; she wants to leave her mark on the program in a different way.
“The title I want is the conference-tournament title,” Cairns said. “I will keep saying that. It’s great, don’t get me wrong. I hope that I’m doing good stuff with the program and I hope that’s what that means. But we have a bigger goal for the season that we all have our sights set on.”
In just her fourth year as head coach, Cairns has won more games than any other soccer coach at USU and has a higher win percentage than any other soccer coach.
Cairns grew up playing soccer in Erie, Pa., as a center midfielder. She played throughout elementary school and high school and continued her play at Canisius College in Buffalo, N.Y., where she moved to outside midfielder. While in college, she was a four-year letter-winner and captain of the team for two years.
Earning her undergraduate degree in biology, Cairns said she wanted to become a science teacher. A teammate at Canisius introduced Cairns to a graduate assistant position.
“You go to a school and you’re an assistant coach and they pay for your schooling,” Cairns said. “And I’m like, ‘Oh, what a great way! I can keep doing soccer and get my teaching certificate.'”
Cairns accepted the position at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa, and worked as a graduate assistant coach from 1994-1996. While there, she earned her bachelor’s in education.
After receiving her teaching certificate, Cairns said she accepted a full-time teaching job. Fifteen days before the start of school, she received a job offer as an assistant coach for the University of New Mexico and took it.
“It was kind of like, ‘Teach soccer or science? We’ll teach soccer now.'”
During her two-year stay as an assistant coach at UNM, Cairns racked up a .487 win percentage. In 1999 she moved to Creighton University as an assistant coach. She left her mark at CU by helping the team qualify for the 2002 NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history.
“Yeah, I’m a small-school person,” Cairns said. “New Mexico was huge and a big commuter school. I love Albuquerque.”
Reviewing news from the NCAA, Cairns said she learned of an empty head coach position at USU, so she applied for the job and went through the interviewing process.
“When I interviewed for the job here, I was a little weary,” Cairns said. “It’s a big state school and I didn’t know what to expect. Once I got on campus, they toured me around and I met with a gazillion people on campus. The campus is beautiful. I like that it’s a residential campus. All these things are what I liked about a small school. I thought that I would be able to sell this school to potential athletes, which is why I took this job.”
Cairns said the most rewarding thing about being a head coach is winning and seeing the girls progress and meet their dreams. On the other end of the spectrum, she said the toughest thing about being a coach is losing. Everything considered, Cairns said she loves Logan and USU.
“I love it here,” Cairns said. “I think the school is a great product to sell to potential student athletes. The biggest thing is our team. Our team is just the neatest group of people to work with, and they’re a big reason I like it so much here. This team is just the best group of girls to work with.
“When at first I moved here I thought, ‘This is small.’ I was craving Target. The more and more I stay here, I love it. I wouldn’t trade it.”
-sethhawkins@cc.usu.edu