Nathan Phillips

MARQUETTE — The new head coach has named one of her assistants.

New Northern Michigan University women’s soccer head coach Erin Egolf has named Nathan Phillips as assistant coach.

He joins the Wildcats after three seasons as an assistant coach at NCAA Division III Millikin University, which competes in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin.

After Phillips joined Millikin in 2022, the Big Blue saw significant improvement each season, posting records of 5-7-3 in his inaugural season, 7-6-4 in his second, then making the jump to a 14-4-1 mark and earning the No. 3 seed in last fall’s CCIW tournament. Milliken also got to host a playoff game for the first time in program history in 2024.

“I am extremely excited that Nathan is joining our Wildcat women’s soccer family,” Egolf said in an NMU Sports Information news release about Phillips’ hire. “He has a quality soccer background, both as a player and as a coach, and will certainly add a lot of knowledge and personality to our team.

“Nathan’s arrival completes our coaching staff, and I look forward to continuing the advancement of this excellent women’s soccer program together.”

Prior to Millikin, Phillips spent three seasons as an assistant at fellow Division II member Southwest Minnesota State of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. With the 2020 season canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Mustangs combined for a 15-18-2 record in 2019 and 2021.

He holds several certifications from the United Soccer Coaches organization — national, advanced national and goalkeeping level 1 & 2 diplomas, along with being CSCS certified.

Phillips graduated from the University of Mary in 2019 and earned his master’s degree in physical education from Southwest Minnesota State.

Egolf was named head coach in late February after Jon Sandoval stepped down in December following a highly successful five years at the helm, earning GLIAC Coach of the Year the past two seasons when the Wildcats won the conference regular season and earned berths to the Division II national tournament.

The Wildcat women’s team recently hosted a scrimmage against the Marquette United Under-18/Under-16 boys team in the Superior Dome, falling 3-2 in Egolf’s first competitive match.

Northern has two more exhibitions listed on its website, www.nmuwildcats.com, a match at Wisconsin-Stevens Point on April 5 and a home rematch in the Superior Dome against the Marquette U-18/U-16 boys team at noon on Sunday, April 13.

Story contents based on Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release about Phillips. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.