Kicking off into the spring season, the Point Park athletics department has announced John Newbery as the permanent head coach of the women’s soccer team, replacing interim coach Bethanie Moreschi.

Newbery will join the department with a record of victories.

For the last five years, Newbery served as an assistant coach for University of the Cumberlands, where he led the team to qualify for the national tournament and finish as the No. 18 team in the nation in 2019.

According to Director of Athletics John Ashaolu, this drew the department into hiring Newbery as the permanent coach.

“He’s successful, passionate about the game and is ready get right in here and get us back in the right direction,” Ashaolu said. “To qualify for nationals, you have to be the best.”

Ashaolu was also drawn to Newbery’s wide breadth of recruiting experience and hopes “to turn our low number roster to a high number, talented and well-rounded roster of at least 30 members.”

The current roster only consists of 15 to 18 members.

Faced with a challenging task of replenishing a roster, Newbery is no stranger to turning programs around with success.

During his time at the University of the Cumberlands, he transformed a struggling program, which had only won three games in the past two seasons, into a competitive program.

By the end of their fifth season, they managed to end the year in the second round of the National Tournament for the first time.

“Any success I have had in coaching comes down to three things,” Newbery said. “I don’t think my career in coaching would have been as positive or consistent without my fantastic coach mentors, Steve Hamilton and Chris LeFevre, to work for and learn under, a great group of players that I had the pleasure to coach, and a supportive wife and family that have encouraged me throughout my career.”

Although he has yet to start coaching the players, Newbery said that he looks forward to harnessing the team’s “boundless potential” to push them “to be the best possible version of themselves.”

Newbery’s wife Kaitlyn and two daughters will join his move to the Steel City, anticipating the new adventures that a larger city provides.

“There is so much to explore when it comes to sports, culture, the arts and food,” Newbery said. “The move also allows us to be closer to family, which was a great perk to coming to Point Park.”

Some team members have expressed stun at the departure of interim coach Bethanie Moreschi after the 2019 season.

“[Moreschi] was an excellent coach who really cared for our team both on and off the field,” sophomore Tia Horew said. “With the new coach, we hope to win the conference championship, as that is always our goal. Hopefully we accomplish that with our new coach.”