Texas State soccer will be under new direction this season with Head Coach Steve Holeman who has taken over as the second-ever head coach in program history. 
Prior to accepting the position at Texas State, Holeman served as the head coach of fellow Texas State University System school Lamar University from 2016-2021. During his term, he led the Cardinals to their first NCAA Division One Conference.
“I spent six years at Lamar and had some success there. Won four championships and then with the opportunity here at Texas State it seemed like a really good chance to kind of move up so here I am,” Holeman, who was named a two-time Southland Coach of the Year, said.
Holeman has been playing and coaching the sport for several years. In college, Holeman played for Wake Forest University in North Carolina and in 1993 earned his first coaching job at Auburn University where he served as the program’s interim head coach for one year, driving the program to a 7-6-3 record that season.
“I was fortunate enough to do really well as a youth and played at Wake Forest University which was a very strong program in the [Atlantic Coast Conference] and so we had a lot of success there,” Holeman said. “I was fortunate to become a division one coach at a very young age and coach at Auburn University.”
He spent the next 20 years continuing his coaching career at several Southern Eastern Conference (SEC) schools including the University of Mississippi (1994-2009) and the University of Georgia ( 2010-2014).
When offered the job at Texas State, Holeman said he had no hesitation and was more than ready to be surrounded by the culture of San Marcos.
“When the position came open and the administration contacted me, I just learned a lot more about the school and the program and I really think there’s potential to do some great things here,” Holeman said.
Since Texas State soccer’s inception in 1999, the program was led by former Head Coach Kat Conner who retired in November 2021 after 23 seasons. Conner led the team to five regular-season conference championships and five conference tournaments. Shortly before Conner’s retirement, Texas State soccer concluded its 2021 season 7-8-2 overall. 
Going into his term, Holeman seeks to change the team’s atmosphere by bringing in additional success while also maintaining high expectations from current and incoming players. Joining the team this season are seven recruits from throughout the state. 
“I’m still trying to evaluate the recruits that are coming in so as we build the program, I think we’re going to be able to attract some high-level players,” Holeman said. “I want Texas State to be a national brand women’s soccer team.”
The Bobcats recently began their spring season and played their most recent game on March 5 against the Texas Longhorns. As he continues his term with Texas State and the Sun Belt Conference, Holeman has high hopes of gearing the team up to be strong competitors. 
“Being in a strong conference in the Sun Belt and you know with the addition of four teams, the conference is getting stronger and stronger, but I think there’s an opportunity to be very successful here,” Holeman said. 
Soccer’s official season will begin later this fall. Holeman said he expects nothing but great things from the team and looks back to getting Texas State on a winning streak. 
“I know they’ve won several championships here historically. We kind of want to get back to the peak. We want to be the team to beat in the conference and I think we want to you know get to the NCAA tournament and compete to play beyond the first round,” Holeman said.
Texas State’s next spring match-up is set for 7 p.m. on March 26 against St. Mary’s University in San Antonio.