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University of Houston

University of Houston Athletics
 3204 Cullen Blvd. Athletics/Alumni Center Houston, TX 77204
Division 1 Texas South
Public Very Large Competitive team
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Coaches

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Jaime Frias

Jaime Frias was named Houston Soccer's head coach on Feb. 16, 2022. The 2024 season will be his third with the Cougars.


In his second season in the program's inaugural Big 12 Conference season, Frias led the Cougars to an 8-8-2 record with a pair of Big 12 wins as midfielder Aryanna Jimison was named to the Big 12 All-Freshman Team.


Frias’ first season as head coach at Houston, saw the Cougars finish with a 6-7-3 record including a 4-2-1 record at home. Two student-athletes received All-American Athletic Conference honors, including Emma Clarke with a Second-Team selection while Alex Whitcraft made the All-Freshman Team.


Before coming to Houston, Frias spent 10 seasons at Virginia serving as an assistant coach from 2013-2016 and 2019-2022, and as the director of operations from 2010-2013.


Frias helped the Cavaliers to seven NCAA Tournaments, including three College Cup appearances highlighted by a runner-up finish in the 2014 season (23-3-0) as well as reaching the semifinals in the 2013 (24-1-1) and 2020 (14-4-3) seasons.


He also helped Virginia secure its second Atlantic Coast Conference Championship title in 2012 (18-5-1) and assisted the Cavaliers to three ACC Regular Season Championships in the 2013 (24-1-1), 2015 (19-1-3) and 2021 (18-3-2) seasons. Additionally, over 20 players have gone on to play professionally either in the United States or abroad during this time.


In addition to his time with Virginia, Frias has coached at various levels of U.S. Soccer. He served as head coach of the U18 Women's National Team and assistant coach with the U20 Women's National Team in two separate stints (2014, 2017-2019).


He was the head coach of the U16 Youth National team (2016-2017) prior to assuming his duties with the U18 and U20 teams. In addition to his national team head coach experience, Frias participated in three FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cups (2012, 2014, 2018) where he helped the U.S. secure the 2012 FIFA World Cup title as a World Cup scout/performance analyst.


Prior to Virginia, Frias served as head coach at Nevada for the 2008 and 2009 seasons, leading the program to 2009 WAC Tournament final and the most conference wins in school history.


He also spent three seasons as head coach at Stephen F. Austin (2005-2007) including being named the 2005 Southland Conference Coach of the Year. In six total seasons with the Lumberjacks (2002-2007), including three as an assistant, the program won four Southland Conference titles and advanced to two NCAA Tournaments.


Frias earned his Bachelor of Science in health and physical education from the Centenary College of Louisiana where he played soccer four seasons and was a two-time team captain. Centenary was also the first stop on his coaching career, serving as an assistant coach from 2000-02.


He and his wife, Ta, have two children, Azari, and Jaime Dhani.

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Fleur Benatar

Fleur Benatar was named Houston Soccer's assistant coach on June 4, 2022. The 2024 season will be her third at Houston.


Benatar comes to Houston after serving as the head coach for Coppell High School girls soccer, leading the squad to a 15-5-2 record and a third-place finish in Region 3 6-6A during the 2021-22 season. The team advanced to the first-round playoff game.


While at Coppell, Benatar was an assistant coach for the NPSL Denton Diablos, who won the 2021 National Championship.


In 2015, Benatar joined North Texas as an associate head coach. In her first season, the Mean Green won a program-best 19 games and shut out a program-record 15 opponents. They won the C-USA regular-season and tournament championships to earn an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. During her time with North Texas, she helped guide the Mean Green to four consecutive C-USA titles and three regular-season titles.


In 2001, Benatar was named as the first women's soccer head coach for Texas Woman's University. She led 47 women to All-Conference honors and six to All-Region Honors.


Prior to her tenure with the Pioneers, Benatar began her collegiate coaching journey as an assistant coach for North Texas in 2000, when the program captured its first conference title as it won the Sun Belt Conference regular-season crown.


Benatar has more than 25 years of experience coaching club soccer, working with Liberty FC, Sting Soccer Club, Solar Soccer Club and Liverpool FC America. She previously served as a coach for Region III of the Olympic Development Program, where she evaluated, coached and mentored top soccer players in the region.

Benatar has coaching experience across Texas at the club level, with the Olympic Development Program (ODP) and with U.S. Soccer. She also served as youth national team training coach at U.S. Soccer's Training Center in Dallas.


She is currently a U.S. Soccer National Talent ID Scout, holds a U.S.S.F. National "A" coaching license and is a state-level course instructor. Benatar has also attended U.S. Soccer National Team camps and is also a U.S. Soccer "C" course instructor.


A graduate of Richardson High School, Benatar played college soccer for two seasons at Arkansas before transferring to North Texas in 1996. She received her undergraduate degree in kinesiology from North Texas in 1999 and her master's degree in exercise science in May 2002.


Benatar and her husband, Will, have a daughter, Gabrielle and two sons, Fletcher and Phillip.

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Jaelyn Cunningham

Jaelyn Cunningham was named Houston Soccer's assistant coach on January 9, 2023. The 2024 season will be her second at Houston.


Cunningham joins the Cougars after spending two seasons as an assistant coach at Toledo. During her first season, Cunningham helped Toledo to a 10-6-4 overall record, its best since 2017. The Rockets finished sixth in the MAC with a 5-4-2 mark and reached the MAC Tournament for the first time since winning the championship in 2017.


She worked primarily with goalkeepers, including Emma Boutorwick, who recorded nine solo shutouts and one combined shutout with Adrianna Brewer, good for the second most shutouts in a single season by a Toledo team.


Prior to Toledo, Cunningham served as an assistant coach at NCAA Division II Queens (N.C.) University. During her time with the Royals, sophomore Erica Turner earned first-team all-conference honors after posting a 5-1-1 record and a .903 save percentage. Turner also was named the conference's Defensive Player of the Week on three occasions.


Cunningham also worked with goalkeepers at the Charlotte Soccer Academy and the No. 1-ranked Providence Day High School's girls' soccer team during her time in Charlotte, N.C.


The Reynoldsburg, Ohio, native played collegiately at Illinois (2016-19) where she earned second-team All-Big 10 honors as a junior. During that season, she posted an 11-7-1 mark, a 1.02 goals-against average and career-best .772 save percentage en route to posting six shutouts. Cunningham was also named Illinois' Team MVP in 2017 and 2018 and ranks second in Fighting Illini history with 106 saves.


Cunningham spent two years in the Women's Premier Soccer League. She played for two league champions, the Seattle Sounders (2018) and the Chicago Red Stars (2019); and won the WPSL's Golden Glove award in 2019.


A Columbus, Ohio native, Cunningham graduated with her bachelor's degree in marketing from Illinois in 2019.

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