Jan. 20, 2017
By Joanne Norell
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – University of Notre Dame women’s soccer head coach Theresa Romagnolo announced the addition of former Liberty and Western Michigan women’s soccer head coach and Irish men’s soccer alumnus Nate Norman as assistant coach Friday, rounding out her coaching staff as the focus shifts toward the 2017 season.
“I am thrilled to welcome Nate back home to Notre Dame,” Romagnolo said of the 2007 Notre Dame graduate. “Nate was an outstanding player and student during his time at Notre Dame and knows what makes this University so special. As a head coach, Nate has seen tremendous success at both Western Michigan and Liberty. His love for Notre Dame, coupled with his coaching and recruiting experience, will allow him to have an immediate impact in our program.
“Nate knows the demands and opportunities that come with being a student-athlete at Notre Dame and will be able to relate to our players and help them reach their potential.”
“I am very humbled and excited to begin working with Theresa, (assistant coach Dawn Siergiej) and the whole women’s soccer staff and team,” Norman said. “They have had tremendous success and I can’t wait to help and contribute to that success. Notre Dame is a very special place that gives each student-athlete a fantastic experience in every facet of life and I am looking forward to being part of the university.”
Norman joins the Irish after one season at the helm of the Liberty program, where he led the Flames to a 14-8 record and a Big South Tournament Championship in 2016. He saw five student-athletes named to the All-Big South first and second teams, four selected for the conference all-tournament team and two picked for the NSCAA all-region squad.
Prior to his time at Liberty, Norman spent four seasons as head coach at Western Michigan, where he led the Broncos to a 44-27-14 record. He guided the program to two Midwestern Athletic Conference tournament titles in 2013 and 2015, and he was named the MAC Coach of the Year and the NSCAA Great Lakes Region Coach of the Year in 2015. Additionally, he saw 16 players named to all-conference squads during his tenure and placed a league-best 17 players on the MAC All-Academic Team in 2015.
The former midfielder was a four-year Monogram winner for Notre Dame men’s soccer head coach Bobby Clark from 2003-06, helping the Irish to the 2003 BIG EAST Tournament title, the 2004 BIG EAST regular-season championship and the 2006 NCAA Championship quarterfinals.
Norman was selected 21st overall by the Chicago Fire in the 2007 MLS SuperDraft and spent one season in Chicago before one-year stints with the United Soccer League’s (USL) Charleston Battery (2008) and Carolina RailHawks (2009). It was during this time that Norman began his coaching career as a volunteer assistant with the Irish men’s program for the 2007-08 season.
In 2009, Norman began as the assistant coach for the men’s program at Division III Covenant College. He also spent one season each as the women’s assistant at Western Michigan (2010) and Miami (Fla.; 2011) before taking the head coaching position with the Broncos.
Norman is a native of Rochester, Michigan, and is married to the former Rachel De Steiger.
— ND —
Joanne Norell, athletics communications assistant director at the University of Notre Dame, has been part of the Fighting Irish athletics communications team since 2014 and coordinates communications efforts for the Notre Dame women’s soccer, men’s tennis, women’s tennis and fencing programs. Norell is a 2011 graduate of Purdue University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in mass communication, and earned her master’s degree in sports industry management from Georgetown University in 2013.