Northern Iowa head coach Bruce Erickson departs after eight seasons

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – University of Northern Iowa head soccer coach Bruce Erickson announced his departure from the program after eight seasons.

Erickson, the winningest coach in Panther history, as well as the history of the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC), will be joined by UNI assistant coach Jami Reichenberger as they accept new coaching positions at Iowa Western Community College.

A national search for a new full-time head coach will begin immediately.

“It is bittersweet news as Coach Erickson bids farewell after eight record setting seasons with the Panthers,” said UNI Director of Athletics Megan Franklin. “Bruce’s new position allows him the proximity to lead on the field, while also being a grandfather close to his growing and thriving family near his hometown. His legacy is cemented in the record books as UNI soccer’s all-time wins leader, a mark he reached in 2022. Student-athletes were able to thrive under Bruce’s leadership, reaching heights the program had never seen before in its history.”

“Bruce has been the dean of the coaches in our league where he was excellent at representing the MVC women’s soccer coaches on national and regional matters,” Franklin explained. “He was challenging the MVC and the coaches to think bigger and strategically for the betterment of the student-athlete experience and national reputation of the league. It was my pleasure to get to work with him more closely over the last year in this new role for me. Thank you, Bruce!”

Erickson, who became the program’s sixth head coach in February 2017, compiled a 65-52-21 record at Northern Iowa, leading the Panthers to unprecedented success along the way. In his first season at the helm in 2017, UNI won a program record 14 matches and reached the MVC Tournament Championship for the first time in school history. The Panthers finished in the top five of the conference standings six times under Erickson, including a pair of third-place finishes in 2018 and 2023 and seven total MVC Tournament appearances.

Erickson’s athletes re-wrote the team’s record books over the last eight seasons, setting multiple single game, season and career records, with 26 All-MVC Team selections, including six First-Team honorees. Two Panther student-athletes earned United Soccer Coaches (USC) All-Region Team recognition under Erickson’s leadership while the Panthers as a team received the MVC’s Fair Play Award five times, given to the conference school with the fewest yellow cards.

Prior to his arrival in Cedar Falls, Erickson, who has won over 300 matches in over 30 years of coaching collegiate soccer, spent two seasons at Wayne State in Nebraska, as well as 16 years as the head women’s soccer coach at Creighton, leading the Bluejays to a pair of MVC regular season titles, as well as five MVC Tournament crowns and five NCAA Tournament appearances. He was named the MVC Coach of the Year twice during his tenure at Creighton (2002, 2010).

A former goalkeeper at Viterbo University in Wisconsin, Erickson embarked on his college coaching career as the head men’s soccer coach for the V-Hawks from 1993 to 1998, where he also spent one season coaching the women’s program and three years as the school’s Director of Athletics.

“It’s bittersweet for me, but I feel nothing but gratitude,” said Erickson. “Coaching is about relationships, and within our program we’ve had the privilege to work with outstanding young women who have lifted our program to relevance. I’ve also had the great opportunity to work with an amazing staff in Jami Reichenberger, Chris Kowalski and James Price. I consider them colleagues but more importantly, great friends. I’ve learned more from them than they have from me.”

“I’d also like to acknowledge an amazing support staff of Rachel Ronan, Troy Garrett and Shanda Davis,” Erickson added. “Lastly, I’ve enjoyed the relationships with an incredible group of coaches and administrators on staff. Learning from and working alongside the likes of Bobbi Petersen, Ben Jacobson, Nick Lakin, and the rest of an incredible group of coaches, I’m forever grateful.”

Reichenberger, a former UNI goalkeeper who joined the Panther staff full-time in 2021 after three seasons as a volunteer assistant, has coached Northern Iowa’s goalkeepers and helped strengthen them into one of the team’s strongest units. In her six seasons on the sidelines, Reichenberger helped develop Caitlin Richards, a 2022 MVC All-Tournament Team selection who set program records for career shutouts (20) and minutes in goal (6,494), along with a 1.22 goals allowed average, the second-lowest mark in team history.