by: Kerry Lippold Jr.
Parkland Athletics has announced the appointment of Jason Gough as the new head coach of Parkland Women’s Soccer. Brendan McHale, Parkland’s Athletic Director, made this selection and is confident our Cobras will benefit from the new addition.
Jason Gough has worked previously as an assistant coach with both Illinois State University and Heartland Community College. At Illinois State University, Gough’s role mainly focused on goalkeeper training for the year of 2019. Heartland Community College took advantage of Gough’s skills and experience to also handle recruiting, team development, and aiding prospective four-year institution athletes‘ transition from Heartland to a four-year level.
Although this will be his first season as a head soccer coach, Gough has plenty of sports experience which happens to include a Bachelor of Science in Recreation Management and Master of Science in Sport Management. These degrees were earned in 2015 and 2019 respectively from Illinois State University. He is also currently working towards earning a U.S. Soccer Federation “D” coaching license, which is one of the first steps in obtaining licensing, according to the U.S. Soccer Coaching Education website.
Gough also spent three seasons from 2010 through 2012 at St. Ambrose University as a goalkeeper where he earned Coach’s MVP and Player’s MVP honors for his work during the 2012 season. Gough’s soccer career includes nearly six years as a goalkeeper in his hometown of Schaumburg with Schaumburg United.
Brenden McHale told Joey Gruner from Parkland College Athletics, “We are very fortunate to add Jason Gough to our talented family of Parkland College coaches. We are confident Jason will bring a style of play to our women’s soccer program that will be exciting to watch. Coach Gough’s prior experiences at both the junior college and the Division I levels have given him an advantage to help prepare our Cobras women’s soccer team for each season moving forward.”
In the past two years, the Parkland Women’s Soccer team has had results that in the eyes of some, may not have held up to their hopes and expectations with records of six wins, ten losses, and one draw as well as three losses and ten wins in 2018 and 2019 respectively. It should be congratulated though that these hardworking student athletes ended their season with three First Team All-Conference players and persevered through the ups and down of their season.
“He certainly seems to have the ethos to bring us to a higher level of soccer”
This program has had many successes including being declared M-WAC Champions for four years straight during the period of 2014 through 2017. 2016 was an especially significant season for the Women’s Soccer Team where they earned the Region 24 Championship and fifth place in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA). Previously, there are no postseason awards recorded but the program has most of its history with more wins than losses.
A member of the Parkland Women’s Soccer Team told the Prospectus that the main goal for this season is to have a better record. “… I think it is safe to say that most think the change was needed … [Gough] told us a little about his background and he certainly seems to have the ethos to bring us to a higher level of soccer. He has plenty of experience with four-year schools and knows what level we need to be at to compete,” said the player.
The team is ready to get back to playing and winning. There are high hopes for these student athletes with the help of a new head coach as we approach the 2020 season.
For more information about the Parkland Women’s Soccer Team, visit athletics.parkland.edu where you can find their background, history, awards, and news. Join us in the fall for more women’s soccer at Parkland College.
