Cassidy Ready to Take Reins

For the first time since 2011, there will be a new face roaming the sidelines for the Fontbonne women's soccer team as Dylan Cassidy becomes the ninth head coach in program history.

"I was actually at home in Ireland when I first got offered the position," said Cassidy. "It was pretty nice since I got to celebrate the news with my family. I'm very grateful, it was easy for me to say yes since it's a great program, great players, great people around and Fontbonne has just been great to me."

Prior to joining the Griffins, Cassidy was the Assistant Coach during the 2017-18 season at the University of Illinois Springfield.

"Coach Adam Hall at UIS gave me a great opportunity to get my foot in the door and kind of learn the craft," Cassidy added. "After that, I had an opportunity to come join Fontbonne for a graduate assistant job to get my master's and coach at the same time so I couldn't turn that down."

In his two seasons with Fontbonne, the Griffins have gone 22-12-6 and dominated SLIAC play going 14-2-2 and advanced to the SLIAC Tournament in both seasons.

He's gotten to learn under Coach Hoener who finishes out his career at Fontbonne on the women's side owning a 96-69-15 overall record, led the Griffins to the SLIAC Conference Championship in 2012, and guided them to the SLIAC Tournament in eight of the past nine seasons.

"I've learned how to develop better relationships with the players under Hoener," said Cassidy. "I've learned a lot on the recruiting side, how to recruit, where to look, and how to approach new recruits."

Even though there's a new head coach at the helm doesn't mean the goals of this program will change under Cassidy.

"The vision and the goals are still the same of winning the conference and getting to the National Tournament," Cassidy said. "We still want to play an attacking style soccer, possession if we can, and make a name for ourselves."

STORY COURTESY OF FONTBONNE UNIVERSITY SPORRTS INFORMATION