March 20, 2018
Lauren Hanson, who coached San Jose State University to a pair of Mountain West women's soccer championships in the last three years and a 2015 NCAA Tournament appearance, signed a five-year contract extension with the Spartans. San Jose State University Director of Athletics Marie Tuite made the announcement.
Hanson completed her fourth season with the Spartans in 2017. San Jose State was the Mountain West regular season champion, only the third time in the program's 23-year history the Spartans took the spot in any conference standings. The team's 9-1-1 Mountain West win-loss record was the best single-season conference performance in school history and earned her Mountain West "Coach of the Year" honors for the second time.
"The success of our women's soccer program with Lauren Hanson as head coach the last four years is remarkable. She's a gem. We've won conference championships, played in the NCAA Tournament and been equally successful academically. What you don't always see is the way she `leads' her team by being such a strong role model. She's the best, and I'm thrilled she's a Spartan." Tuite said about Hanson's San José State head coaching tenure.
Hanson has a head coaching win-loss record of 40-28-13, all with the Spartans, and an even better 29-12-3 mark in conference competition. The two-time Mountain West "Coach of the Year" earned her first conference honor in 2015 when San Jose State won the Mountain West Tournament and played a first-round NCAA Tournament match.
With Hanson at the helm, San Jose State has 10 or more wins in each of the last three seasons. Her conference winning percentage of .693 is fourth best among all Mountain West women's soccer head coaches since the conference was formed. Her 29 conference coaching victories ties her for fourth most in Mountain West history heading into the 2018 season.
"For me, it shows the administration and the school believes in what we're doing and is willing to continue supporting us through this extension with our amazing staff and our amazing team," Hanson said.
"I'm excited to continue building our program. Our future goals are to continue winning Mountain West titles, go far into the playoffs and win a national championship.
"We have a culture here that our players have bought into and really want to build something special. That's what it takes -- creating a great culture that's competitive and has a good mix of fun and people enjoying being with each other. That starts with the support of our administration and Marie all the way down to our coaching staff, our support system with everyone involved in our program and to our players."
The Lake Forest, Calif., native is a 2003 University of Portland graduate. She was the team captain of the Pilots' 2002 NCAA Women's College Cup championship team. She was a University of Portland assistant coach when the Pilots won the 2005 NCAA Women's College Cup and the associate head coach at the University of Oregon for three seasons.