Northwestern State University

Northwestern State Athletics
468 Caspari Drive Natchitoches, LA 71497

Division 1 Louisiana South

Public Medium National competitor

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Coaches

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Ian Brophy

After being hired in February, Ian Brophy finished his first season in Natchitoches.

Despite losing 16 players from the 2022 team and inheriting no recruits committed to Northwestern State when he took over, Brophy led the program to its fourth appearance in the Southland Conference Tournament semifinals in the last five seasons.

NSU was playing its best down the stretch, not losing in regulation in any of its final five contests, going 2-0-3 during that span, earning a No. 4 seed in the SLC Tournament.

In his first year, he coached all-conference selection Taylor Spitzer, who scored four goals and recorded nine points.

Brophy came to NSU from Mount Olive (NC) where he led the Trojans to a 13-5 record and the Conference Carolinas regular season crown in his only season as the person in charge, going 11-1 during league play.

He led the Trojans to the championship despite the team losing its top two goal scorers from the previous season as well as the Conference Carolinas Defensive Player of the Year.

Brophy coached eight all-conference selections in his one season at Mount Olive, the most of any team in the conference.

Prior to his time at Mount Olive, he was an assistant for Division II Florida Southern for five seasons, where he led the Mocs to 18 wins after the school won just nine games combined in the previous three seasons.

In his first season, he helped guide the Mocs to an 8-3-4 mark in 2017, despite operating with the lowest scholarship total in the conference. That 2017 campaign was their best mark since 2010.

Brophy spent one season as an assistant at Knox College in 2016, Brophy helped lead the Prairie Fire to an unblemished 19-0-1 overall record after the team recorded just one winning season in the previous eight years.

The only season at Knox was the first NCAA appearance in program history, along with the first conference regular season and tournament titles. The team also earned its first top-25 ranking in school history.

He began his career as an assistant coach for both the men’s and women’s soccer teams at Treasure Valley CC.

Inheriting a team who posted a 2-14-4 mark the year before, he helped guide the women’s team to an incredible turnaround, going 28-9-5 in his two seasons there. Among those two seasons was a 16-3-3 mark in his first season, a 14-win turnaround.

In that historical first season, it was the school’s first ever appearance in the Northwest Athletic Conference quarterfinals and best season in school history.

During his tenure, the women also found the national rankings in the NSCAA top 25 for the first time in school history.

In his second season with the women, the team went 12-6-2, while setting a school record eight-game unbeaten run and returned to the NWAC playoffs.

The men’s program went 8-7-5 in his first season, narrowly missing the NWAC playoffs by a single point after finishing last the season before.

Brophy graduated in 2012 from Emerson College in Boston.

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Jessica Nei

Jessica Nei finished her first season with Northwestern State, earning a promotion to associate head coach in October 2023.

Working with the goalkeepers, Nei has mentored Libe Banuelos into one of the top goalkeepers in the Southland Conference.

Under Nei’s tutelage, Banuelos finished second in the conference with 90 saves, as the NSU defense posted five shutouts overall.

Banuelos helped lead NSU to another appearance in the Southland Conference Tournament semifinals, allowing just two goals in 220 minutes during the tournament.

Prior to NSU, Nei was an associate head coach at UND. She contributed to a team that more than doubled its win total in both the overall and conference seasons in her first full season.

Nei aided in guiding the Fighting Hawks to their second conference postseason appearance in the Division I era in 2022.

She mentored a starting forward to an All-Summit League Second Team selection and another to the Summit All-Newcomer Team.

Before her time at UND, she was at Wyoming for a season, where she primarily coached the midfielders and goalkeepers.

Nei came to Wyoming after a five-year stint at Toledo, where she was the recruiting coordinator and responsible for the defenders and goalkeepers.

She helped lead the Rockets to a MAC conference tournament championship and trip to the NCAA Tournament in 2017. In that season, she mentored redshirt freshman goalkeeper Madison Perrin to MAC All-Freshman honors, who helped lead the championship run.

While with the Rockets, she coached a player who played in the Olympics & Women's World Cup.

She was hired at Toledo following a successful stint at Arkansas State from 2011-14.

While with the RedWolves, she mentored starting goalkeepers to its lowest goals against average in school history (1.19), fewest goals allowed (11) and most wins (8).

As an assistant at ASU, she helped guide the school to its first winning seasons in school history in her second and third years with the program.

In 2012, Nei earned the Assistant Coach Spirit Award for recognizing outstanding service,

commitment to excellence, going above and beyond expectations in advancement of the Arkansas State athletic department.

She began her coaching career as a graduate assistant at St. Cloud State (2008-10), where she was a part of a program that posted 28 victories, recording its first winning conference season in school history and first winning record in 13 seasons.

Nei also has coaching experience at seven non-collegiate stops.

As a player, Nei was a goalkeeper for North Dakota State (2003-07) and helped the Bison post 46 victories.