Kevin Sherry begins his first season as assistant coach at Grambling State University after spending 14 years as the head women’s soccer coach at Louisiana Tech.
Sherry, who amassed a 229-123-46 overall record in 20 years at Graceland, Western Illinois and Louisiana Tech over, saw the Lady Techsters play 13 road matches after the home facility was destroyed by a tornado on April 25.
While at Louisiana Tech, Sherry inherited a program that went 2-14 overall and 0-6-1 in league play in his first season and turned around the following year, winning eight matches as the Lady Techsters went 10-5-5 overall in 2008.
Shortly after the conclusion of the 2008 season, Sherry was selected to serve as U.S. Youth Olympic Development coach. Sherry was given the responsibility of coaching the Louisiana U-16 team and was also selected to instruct a coaching clinic for all high school coaches in the state of Louisiana.
In 2010, Sherry's Lady Techsters finished with a record of 15-6 overall, a school record for most wins in a single season, and a third-place finish in the WAC. That same year, LA Tech qualified for the WAC Tournament for the first time in the program's young history with the event held at the Lady Techster Soccer Complex.
After an 8-8-4 year in 2011, Sherry guided LA Tech to a 12-5-4 mark and a 3-3-2 conference record, resulting in another league tournament appearance.
In 2014, Sherry led the Lady Techsters to one of the most memorable season, a 13-6-3 overall record and a 5-4-1 Conference USA mark as La. Tech finished the year losing in the conference tournament semifinals.
The 2014 season kick-started Louisiana Tech’s program to six straight league tournament appearances as Sherry’s squad reached the semifinals in 2017 and 2018, when the program went 14-6-1 and 14-3-5, respectively.
In his 14 years at LA Tech, he has coached 12 players who were selected All-Conference, three of which also earned Louisiana Player of the Year honors. The most recent is Autumn Woodard who made an immediate impact as a transfer in 2019, breaking single-season program records for most points (39) and most goals (17).
Sherry spent 2005 and 2006 as head coach at Western Illinois. He inherited a program that was 24-111-7 over its history, having never experienced a winning season. Between the two seasons, he compiled a 20-13-4 record, and the program was recognized as one of the NCAA's most improved.
He led Western Illinois to its first Mid-Continent Championship finals in 2006. Even though the Westerwinds lost the conference championship, they finished with an 11-7-1 record. Their 11 wins were the most victories in a season in school history.
Sherry turned around another losing program as head women's soccer coach at Graceland University. Prior to his arrival, the Yellowjackets never had a winning season in its history. That changed as well. He coached Graceland to records of 12-7-1 and 16-2-3 before he led the team to an 18-0-5 record in his final season. Their success equated to the school's first undefeated season, the school's first-ever Heart of America Athletic Conference (HAAC) Championship, an appearance in the NAIA Final Four and its highest national ranking of seventh by the NSCAA.
For Sherry's efforts, he was named HAAC Coach of the Year, NSCAA Central Region NAIA Women's Coach of the Year and Region V Coach of the Year.
While being head coach at Graceland, Sherry also served as head coach of the Des Moines Menace U-15 Boys Super Y League and worked with the Iowa Olympic Development program.
Sherry has international coaching experience as well as he was the head men's soccer coach at Nagoya Gakuin University and the Aichi F.C. Nagoya junior youth head coach in Japan prior to his four-year stint at Graceland. He also worked as the director of soccer coaching and player youth development for the Al Nahda national schools organization in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates from 1992-93.
Most recently, he served as the lead assistant coach for the Guyana Women's National Team "The Lady Jaguars" as part of the 2018 CONCACAF Women's Championship qualification.
Sherry got his first-ever head coaching job at Burlington Danes High School in London in 1987. During his five years at the institution, the school won the West London Area Cup at every age level and also won the prestigious London Championship two straight years. One of his former players, Danny Dichio, formerly played for the MLS club Toronto FC from 2007-09. Sherry also headed the West London Schools F.A. select teams from 1989-92. He served as the head coach for the U-16 select team from 1991-92 and the U-15 select team from 1989-90.
As a student-athlete, Sherry played for the West London Institute of Higher Education and won the British National College Championship in 1987. He was selected to play for the FISEC Great Britain U-18 team and went on to play for Bangor City in the United Kingdom and Morning Star in Hong Kong.
Sherry earned degrees in physical education/sports science and sociology from Bangor University in Wales, along with his master's from Leicester University in England. He possesses the United States Soccer Federation's "A" license and the U.E.F.A. "International" coaching license from England.
