Mike Herman enters his fourth season with the UH women’s soccer team. Herman’s duties include recruiting, scheduling, video coordination, team tactics and helping run the program’s various youth camps.
Herman has helped UH exceed expectations both in the Western Athletic Conference and in the Big West. In 2011, the Rainbow Wahine went undefeated in their last five home matches while outscoring its opponents, 17-4. That kept UH in the WAC title race throughout until an eventual third-place finish.
UH turned heads again in the Big West, finishing better than its preseason pegging in each of its first two seasons. The 2013 season also saw UH record its first winning road record in a decade, including back-to-back wins against Pac-12 opponents.
Prior to joining UH, the Northern California native served as an assistant for the University of San Francisco women’s team for three seasons. While there, he proved to be an integral part of the Dons’ success. He guided a group of goalkeepers who lowered their goals-against-average in each season and helped the team achieve a winning record for the first time since 2004. After the 2009 season, the team was ranked as one of the top 25 most improved teams in the country. In 2010, he led a pair of goalkeepers to the lowest numbers of goals allowed in conference play in the program’s history, while also posting two shutouts in conference for the first time in more than 10 years.
Herman also guided his players to academic success as the team’s grade-point-average rose from 2.92 to 3.3 during his tenure.
Herman started his coaching career at Pinole Valley High School in 2006 as head coach for the girl’s varsity soccer team. He then spent one season as an assistant coach at Contra Costa Community College and also worked with the Bay Oaks Soccer Club as head coach of its U18 girl’s team (2007-09) and U15/16 teams (2009-11). In the spring of 2008, he served as a goalkeeper coach at San Francisco State and helped lay the foundation for a Gator team that posted 13 shutouts that fall.
Herman is a 2007 graduate of Saint Mary’s College where he earned a degree in Spanish. He played one season as goalkeeper for the Gaels before taking a year off due to injury. He then transferred to Holy Names University for one season of action before injury ended his collegiate playing days for good.
Herman holds an NSCAA Premier Diploma, USSF “A” License and an NSCAA Advanced National Goalkeeping Diploma.
Herman and his wife, Blair, live in Honolulu.
