Intercollegiate Coaching Overview

COACHING BIOGRAPHY ON DR. COLLEEN M. HACKER

Dr. Hacker began her collegiate coaching career at the University of Arizona where she served as an Assistant Coach to the NCAA Division I field hockey program. Her next coaching position was at Pacific Lutheran University where she guided the women's field hockey team to their first winning season in 13 years. In only her second year as head coach of that program, Hacker's team qualified for the National Field Hockey Tournament for the first time in Pacific Lutheran University history. When PLU dropped the program the next year, Hacker began one of the earliest intercollegiate women's soccer programs in the United States,

In 1995, she retired from coaching women's collegiate soccer at Pacific Lutheran University after 15 years at the helm.  Under Coach Hacker, PLU's women's soccer team played for the NAIA National Championship game five consecutive years.  Her team won the National Championship in 1988, 1989 and 1991, and was runner-up in 1990 and 1992. In her 15 seasons (1981-95), Hacker guided PLU to an enviable 232-59-18 (.780 percentage) record. The win total at that time ranked her first among all coaches in NAIA women’s soccer history. The Lutes' championship record under Hacker is impressive: 10 Northwest Conference titles and five straight NAIA District 1 and NAIA West Regional crowns. In addition, the Lutes qualified for postseason play 11 straight years.

Pacific Lutheran's first national championship in 1988 marked the first time that a woman head coach led a collegiate soccer program to a national title. By winning the 1989 crown, Pacific Lutheran earned the distinction of being the first program to win back-to-back NAIA national women’s soccer titles. The 1991 win marked the first time an NAIA team had won three National Championships in women's soccer.

She served as the President of the NAIA Women's Soccer Coaches Association from 1989-1991, the first woman to hold that position, and was a member of the NAIA Women's Sport Development Committee. She also served as Northwest Conference Women's Soccer Chair, ISAA Scholar-Athlete West Region Coordinator, advisor to the NSCAA Women's Soccer Committee and a member of the NSCAA All-America Committee. In 1994, she coached the West All-Stars in the first-ever NAIA Women's Senior Bowl soccer game. Coach Hacker is a seven-time NAIA District 1 Soccer Coach of the Year, a five-time Northwest Conference of Independent Colleges Coach of the Year, a four-time NAIA/NSCAA West Regional Coach of the Year and three-time NAIA/NSCAA National Coach of the Year.

For the past 28 years, Coach Hacker has also conducted the Colleen Hacker Success Soccer Camp for boys and girls ages 6-17. Held in Pierce Country, WA, that camp has been host to generations of soccer players from youth clubs to Junior and Senior High school players throughout the west region. Success Soccer Camp has also been selected as an Olympic Day Host Site where Olympic and Paralympic athletes have inspired players with Olympic dreams and experiences.  Dr. Hacker is on the National Advisory Board for the Positive Coaching Alliance, the premier coaching education program in the USA.

Dr. Hacker earned special honor in January of 1994 as the first woman recipient of the NSCAA/NISOA Merit Award. The award was instituted in 1982 to recognize coaches whose relationships with fellow coaches, soccer officials and players is reflective of the highest ideals as set forth in the NSCAA/ISAA Code of Ethics. In 1995, she was the recipient of a special commendation from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (now the United Soccer Coaches) for “a career of exceptional service to the sport of soccer.”  She is a member of the NSCAA Women’s Soccer Committee and a member of the Board of Governors for the NSCAA.  Most recently, Dr. Hacker was awarded the prestigious Award of Excellence, a national award recognizing an individual for their “contribution towards the improvement and advancement of the women’s game of soccer in the United States”. As a member of the 2004 Olympic Coaching Staff, Dr. Hacker was recognized by the NSCAA with a Letter of Commendation.  In 2005, Dr. Hacker was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame (NAIA), the Pierce County Hall of Fame and the Pacific Lutheran University Hall of Fame (as a coach & three National Championship Teams). Her three National Championship Soccer Teams were inducted into the PLU Hall of Fame in 2010. Dr. Hacker was selected into the Lock Haven University Hall of Fame (in the 4th class in University history) and was selected in the once per decade Hall of Fame class for the State of Washington. Most recently, Dr. Hacker was selected as the first female coach in the United States to be inducted into the United Soccer Coaches National Coaching Hall of Fame in 2019. That induction marked her 7th Hall of Fame induction.

She was selected for the National Coaching staff of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America in 1994 where she served for six years. Dr. Hacker was named to the US Women’s National Team Coaching Staff in 1995 where she served as the Mental Skills Coach for three Olympic Games and three World Cups (1996, 2000, 2004; Olympic Games, 1999, 2003 and 2007 World Cup Teams).  For the Sydney Olympic Games, Dr. Hacker was named as an Assistant Coach for the USA Olympic Soccer Team. Dr. Hacker has also served as the coaching staff as the Mental Skills Coach, for the Under 21, the Under 19 (World Champions) and the Under 16 United States National Soccer Teams.  In 2007, Dr. Hacker was selected for the United States National and Olympic Field Hockey Team staff, where she served as the Mental Skills Coach in the 2008 Olympic Games. Switching to a winter sport, Dr. Hacker served as the Mental Skills Coach to the US National Ice Hockey Team from 2010-2018 including 6 World Championships, a silver medal in the Sochi Olympic Games and the first Gold Medal in 20 years in the 2018 Olympic Games in PyeongChang, S. Korea. She has also been a member of the Performance Enhancement Team for the United States Olympic Committee and the United States Soccer Federation and on the Medical Advisory Team for US Soccer. The Gold Medal in 2018 represented Dr. Hacker’s selection for a 6th Olympic Games Coaching Staff for Team USA (’96, ’00, ’04, ’08. ’14, ’18), four in the Summer Olympic Games and two in the Winter Olympic Games. Dr. Hacker continues to work with Olympic and Professional male and female athletes including the PGA, LPGA, MLS, NWSL, MLB, NFL and both team and individual Olympic athletes.