New Soccer Coaches Start Next Week

A new era of soccer will begin for UNC Asheville next week when new men’s soccer coach Matt Kern and women’s soccer coach Michelle Demko report to work officially.

The duo will replace the husband and wife team of Steve and Michele Cornish that guided both programs for a long time. Steve coached the men’s team for 18 years, while Michele became the Big South’s all-time winningest coach in her 16 years with the women’s team.

Matt Kern is not a stranger to Bulldog Athletics. After serving as head coach of Wofford for six years, he’s helped out both Asheville programs the past two years. Matt didn’t have a lot of luck with the Terrier program but he did lay the groundwork for Wofford’s championship team this year. The Terriers won the Southern Conference regular-season and tournament title in 2009. All 11 starters were recruited to Wofford by Matt Kern. Matt knows this year’s team pretty well and it should be a smooth transition.

Demko comes to Asheville after working at Nebraska for the past three years. She was a great player at the University of Maryland and was named as one of the top 50 players in the history of the ACC a few years ago. That’s a pretty big honor when you think of all the great players who have performed in that league over the years. It will be fun to watch her develop this year’s Bulldog team and build the program back up to the top of the Big South Conference.