Yesterday, Boston College announced that Chris Watkins has been hired as the new women’s soccer head coach.
Watkins takes over for Jason Lowe, whose firing was announced on Halloween. In Lowe’s 5 years at Boston College, the Eagles went 26-45-14 overall and 4-37-8 in the ACC. They won a single ACC game every season from 2019-2022, and went winless in conference this past season. The Eagles also never made the postseason under Lowe, despite making it to the first round of the NCAA Tournament the year before he was hired.
Watkins comes to BC from Gonzaga, where he went 79-33-16 over 7 seasons. He led Gonzaga to its first conference title this season and helped them return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in nearly 20 years. Watkins was the 2023 WCC Coach of the Year and led the United Soccer Coaches College Services 2023 West Region Staff of the Year.
In his first season at Gonzaga, Watkins helped the team to earn 10 wins for the first time in 10 years. He continued to up that wins number in the following seasons.
Prior to taking the job at Gonzaga, Watkins was on the staff of both the women’s and men’s soccer teams at BYU. he played college soccer at Drake, earned his degree from BYU, and played for the semi-professional team the Salt Lake City Flamengo and the Utah Blitzz in the USL Pro Select League.