Head Coach Erica Demers was announced as the sixth women's soccer head coach in program history on Dec. 7, 2022.
Demers comes to Cincinnati after six seasons at UAB, where she earned 2022 Conference USA Coach of the Year honors and coached the Blazers to 23 All-Conference selections, 16 conference All-Academic honorees and an overall record of 50-38-19.
Learn more about Coach Demers and her transition below.
Describe your excitement when you first heard of the opportunity to coach at Cincinnati?
"My excitement was through the roof when I first heard about this job opportunity. The opportunity to work at the University of Cincinnati is an absolute blessing and excitement continues to increase every day."
What is most exciting about the opportunity to coach at Cincinnati, especially as we transition into the Big 12?
"The excitement to coach, especially going into the Big 12, is a challenge itself. I am a person that loves to challenge myself and that is going to help me grow as a person and as a coach, as well as a mentor for our student-athletes. The excitement is there. I can't wait to get going."
What emotions did you feel when you first stepped foot on campus as the head coach?
"The emotions of stepping on campus the first time as the head coach have been building every single day. The most excited I have felt so far was the other day when we met with five of our student athletes. Every day has been a new day of new things happening and new players reaching out so the excitement continues to build every single day."
How would you describe your leadership and coaching style?
"My leadership style is empowering and wanting players to solve problems for themselves. I am open in terms of leadership. I believe coaching style goes into the individual student-athlete. I am big into making sure that the student-athletes know who I am and I know who they are as an individual first so my staff and I can get the best out of them every single day."
As you fill out your staff, what does each new assistant coach bring to the program?
"The first and foremost for bringing in quality staff is a good person. That is the first thing that I look for. I want to make sure that the staff is representative of myself and what we are trying to build here at Cincinnati. Going into that, obviously possessing a tactical and technical sense of the game is important. But overall, we want good people here working with our great student-athletes."
Who are some of your mentors and what have you taken from them as a coach?
"Mentorship is a huge part of this. I look at it in two folds. First in terms of personal mentorship, I would look to my dad right away. He has been someone for me that talks about hard work and he has been a huge person for me in my life. Second in terms of career mentorship, the number of assistant coaches and head coaches that I have been able to work with and get mentored under to give me good ideas to make sure we are putting the best foot forward to help our current student-athletes."
What do you love about coaching?
"I am blessed every single day to have a job where I wake up and am eager to get to the office, get to the field and then figure out a way to make the best out of each day for our players."
What did you know about Cincinnati before taking this position?
"Cincinnati for me is a city that I have always loved and have heard such great things about. I think the number one thing is the amount of love for soccer that is here. I think as our sport continues to grow in America; it is exciting that it is already here in Cincinnati with the clubs, professional team, and high schools. This is such a hot bed for soccer and it is exciting to be a part of."
What has the style of play been like for your previous teams?
"Style of play is one of those things that has to be in tune with what your team is. The way that I like to play is a very possession-minded style where we want to keep the ball, beat teams on the ground, and move the ball through lines. A lot of that comes with us understanding what type of player we have here and not trying to force anything on the players, but making it a more collaborative effort to make sure we have the best foot forward to have success."
When you are not coaching, what is one thing you like to do?
"When I am not thinking about being a coach, I am a big foodie which is another reason why I think Cincinnati is going to be awesome! There are a lot of great restaurants here. I also love to travel, experience new things and meet new people."
FOLLOW THE BEARCATS
For all the latest information on Cincinnati women's soccer, please visit GoBEARCATS.com and follow @GoBearcatsWSOC on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
Get to Know Head Coach Erica Demers
