Bill Hempen - Soccer Coach - University of Colorado Athletics

Kansas State

Sep 18 (Thu)

7 p.m.

Bill Hempen

Title:
Head Coach
Years At CU:
11 seasons
Record At CU:
114-88-28 (.557)
Alma Mater:
University of Evansville '81
E-mail:
bill.hempen@colorado.edu
Phone:
303-492-4709

After 10 seasons in Boulder, head coach Bill Hempen has produced a team that battles for the Big 12 Conference championship year in and year out, and that's exactly what he strives to do moving into the Pac-12 Conference in 2011.

When he arrived in Boulder in the summer of 2001, he found himself inheriting a team that, though close, had yet to put together a winning Big 12 season. He started to put the pieces in place that would make Colorado Soccer a success.

It then took just two seasons to orchestrate the biggest single-season turnaround in CU and Big 12 history, and one of the best in the nation when his 2002 squad went 10-8-2 and finished fifth in the league just a year after his first team struggled at 3-11-1 to finish 10th.

It would take just one more year to turn naysayers into believers as the Buffs went from 10th in 2001 to first with the program's first conference title, a 15-4-1 record, nine shutouts, a 11-match unbeaten streak, the school's first national ranking in the sport, a Big 12 Coach of the Year title for Hempen and the program's first NCAA Tournament bid in 2003.

While Hempen took a leap of faith to leave a Duke program that he started in 1988, he credits others that leapt along with him for bringing Colorado its first conference crown in 2003.

Along with the efforts of his assistant coaches, he credits 2003 Big 12 Player of the Year Fran Munnelly's commitment to come to CU during that 3-11-1 season, "She must have seen my passion and commitment to make it work here," said Hempen. "My track record, the locale and University was good enough for her to come here."

Since his arrival in Boulder during the summer of 2001, Colorado soccer has reinvented itself.

He won his 50th game at CU when the Buffs topped UNC 3-0 on Oct. 10, 2005, and coached his milestone 350th game on Oct. 17, 2004. The 2-0 shutout win over Kansas in 2008 gave Hempen his milestone 250th career win in his 21st season as a head coach. Hempen became just one of 16 active Division I head coaches to eclipse the 250 win plateau and he is among the all-time winningest coaches in NCAA Division I women's soccer history. Entering the 2011 season he sits at the 15th spot on the list with 272 career wins.

"What this means is that I've been doing this a long time," said Hempen after the match. "It's really an honor and a tribute to all the kids that have put up with me over the years and to my first team at Duke (1988) who also contributed to this."

As the program enters its 15th season, one need only look at Hempen's leadership when charting its future. Since his arrival, the Buffs have gone 110-75-26 (.583) overall and 51-38-11 (.565) in Big 12 Conference play. They have earned seven top-five league finishes including being named the Big 12 Conference Champions in 2003. CU's success in 2003 also included Hempen's achievement of being named Big 12 Coach of the Year, as well as the league's player of the year Fran Munnelly and rookie of the year Katie Griffin.

Under Hempen's reign Colorado has had 25 player appearances on All-Big 12 teams, nine on all-region teams, and boasts a three time All-American in Fran Munnelly, who was also named to the Big 12 10th Anniversary team in 2005. Hempen has coached the Buffaloes to six-straight NCAA appearances (2003-08), including a program-best appearance in the NCAA Sweet Sixteen in 2006. He also coached standout player Nikki Marshall from 2006-09. Marshall holds the top spot on CU's all-time leading scorers list with 93 points (42 goals, 9 assists). She was drafted in the first round of the WPS draft and will play defense for the Washington Freedom in 2010.

In the classroom, 39 players have been named to Academic All-Big 12 teams under Hempen while the 2003 squad won the athletic department's most improved honor for a team as its aggregate grade point average rose .44 from the previous academic year. In 2005, senior goalkeeper Jessie Keller was named a CoSIDA District VII Academic All-Region Soccer Team member, the first in CU history.

When hired on June 5, 2001, Bill Hempen came to Boulder with eight NCAA Tournament appearances, three ACC Coach of the Year honors, 1992 National Soccer Coaches Association of America National Coach of the Year recognition, and one of the winningest programs during the last decade under his belt.

He came to Colorado from Duke, where he had been the Blue Devils' head coach since the program's inception in 1988.

He led the Blue Devils to eight appearances in the NCAA Tournament and had a career record of 162-100-16 (.676) in Durham. He was the NSCAA National Coach of the Year in 1992, and was also named Atlantic Coast Conference Coach of the Year three times (1992, 1994 and 1997) while directing Duke to the 16th most wins in the country (124) in the 1990s.

Hempen's Duke teams finished the season ranked in the national polls nine times with their highest finish coming in 1994, a No. 4 ranking following Duke's first ACC regular season title and a win over 13-time national champion North Carolina to snap the Tar Heels' 101-game unbeaten streak.

The 1992 season was among Hempen's finest, as he led his team to a school-record 17 wins and a berth in the national championship game in its first trip to the NCAA tournament. Since then, Duke teams have advanced to the NCAA tournament every season since 1998.

In his 13 seasons at Duke, he coached nine All-Americans, 34 All-ACC players, seven Academic All-ACC selections and three players that played professionally in the WUSA.

He also has significant experience with the United States Soccer Federation's Olympic Development Program, specifically in Region III and as the head coach of Colorado's state ODP Program.

Born June 6, 1958 in St. Louis, Hempen graduated from Bishop DeBourg High school before attending Meramec Community College in St. Louis where he split time in goal for Meramec's 1976 Junior College National Championship and 1977 Runner-Up teams.

He continued his collegiate career as a two-year letter-winner in goal at the University of Evansville for the 1978 and '79 seasons compiling a 22-11-6 mark in that span. He graduated from Evansville in 1981 with a degree in Health/Physical Education. The New Jersey Americans of the American Soccer League drafted Hempen in 1980.

Hempen got his start in the coaching profession as a graduate assistant at Northeast Louisiana before assuming full-time assistant duties at Centenary College in Shreveport, La., where he served three years prior to his start at Duke.

He was an assistant coach on the Blue Devil men's team from 1986-1991, compiling a 78-36-7 overall record and 16-16-4 ACC slate. In those six seasons Duke advanced to three NCAA Tournaments, winning the NCAA Championship in '86 with a 1-0 victory over Akron in Seattle.

He married then-Duke assistant coach and 1990 Colorado graduate Stephanie Poncher in 1999. The couple has an 11-year-old daughter, Emma, and a 9-year-old son, Lucas.

Coaching History

Year	Overall	Conference	Conference Tournament	NCAA Tournament	Postseason
Duke University (13 seasons)
1988	10-6-1	0-1-1 (4th)	0-1-0	0-0-0
1989	14-8-0	1-3-0 (4th)	1-1-0	0-0-0
1990	12-8-0	1-3-0 (4th)	1-1-0	0-0-0
1991	8-10-1	1-2-1 (4th)	0-1-0	0-0-0
1992	17-5-2	1-2-1 (t-3rd)	1-1-0	3-1-0	NCAA Tournament Finals
1993	12-6-3	2-1-1 (2nd)	1-1-0	0-0-1	NCAA Tournament First Round
1994	17-5-1	5-0-1 (1st)	1-1-0	1-1-0	NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals
1995	14-7-1	4-3-0 (t-3rd)	1-1-0	0-1-0	NCAA Tournament Second Round
1996	10-10-3	3-3-1 (t-2nd)	0-1-0	1-1-0	NCAA Tournament Second Round
1997	14-6-1	6-1-0 (2nd)	0-1-1	0-1-0	NCAA Tournament First Round
1998	7-11-2	0-5-2 (8th)	0-1-0	0-0-0
1999	13-10-0	2-5-0 (7th)	0-1-0	1-1-0	NCAA Tournament Second Round
2000	14-8-1	4-3-0 (t-2nd)	1-1-1	1-1-0	NCAA Tournament Second Round
Totals	162-100-16	30-32-8	7-13-2	7-7-1	8 NCAA Appearances

University of Colorado (6 seasons)
2001	3-11-2	1-7-2 (10th)	0-0-0	0-0-0
2002	10-8-2	4-4-2 (5th)	1-1-0	0-0-0
2003	15-4-1	8-1-1 (1st)	0-1-0	0-1-0	NCAA Tournament First Round
2004	15-6-2	6-3-1 (3rd)	1-1-0	1-1-0	NCAA Tournament Second Round
2005	12-8-4	6-3-1 (t-2nd)	2-1-0	0-1-1	NCAA Tournament Second Round
2006	14-6-4	5-4-1 (5th)	1-0-2	2-1-0	NCAA Tournament Third Round
2007	10-8-4	5-5-0 (7th)	0-0-1	1-1-0	NCAA Tournament Second Round
2008	14-5-4	6-2-2 (4th)	1-1-1	0-1-0	NCAA Tournament First Round
2009	9-10-0	6-4-0 (3rd)	0-1-0	0-0-0
2010	8-9-3	4-5-1 (8th)	0-0-1	0-0-0
2011	4-13-2	1-9-1 (t-11th)	0-0-0	0-0-0
Totals	114-88-28	52-47-12	6-6-5	4-6-1	6 NCAA Appearances
Overall	276-188-46	82-79-20	13-19-7	11-13-2	14 NCAA Appearances