Just a month after head coach Alison Foley resigned, Boston College women’s soccer completed its search for a new head coach—and it didn’t have to leave its conference to find one. On Wednesday afternoon, Director of Athletics Martin Jarmond announced the hiring of Wake Forest associate head coach Jason Lowe.
“We are thrilled to have him join our BC athletics family,” Jarmond told BCEagles.com. “He has shown the ability to recruit in the ACC at a high level and everyone nationally we spoke to holds him in high regard.”
Lowe will be stepping into big shoes as he’ll be tasked with replacing Foley, the winningest coach in program history. He’s worked his way up the rungs of college soccer since graduating from Wake Forest in 1998 after four years as a goalkeeper. Lowe returned to the familiar black-and-gold of the Demon Deacons in 2014 as an assistant coach, and was promoted to associate head coach prior to the 2017 season.
His recruiting abilities and focus on defense have earned him high marks, especially from Wake Forest head coach Tony da Luz, who hired Lowe after five years as an assistant coach at Alabama. Lowe’s promotion was described by da Luz, per godeacs.com, as the result of “[making] a tremendous impact on our recruiting efforts and [showing] strong leadership in a very short period of time.”
Since returning to the ACC, Lowe has helped elevate the Demon Deacons across the board. His work with goaltenders—which was well-documented at Alabama, where he helped Justine Bernier set six program records in net—was particularly noticeable. Wake Forest keepers posted a 1.63 goals against average the year before he arrived and haven’t come close since, conceding less than 1.25 per game three years in a row. The offense has also taken steps forward, seeing its goals per game average climb from 1.06 per game to 1.55 this past fall.
His hiring was described by Senior Associate Director of Athletics Jocelyn Gates as the “perfect fit,” citing his recruiting experience in the SEC and ACC, two of the premier conferences in college soccer. He’ll inherit a roster with plenty of depth and talented incoming recruits, but one gaping hole—reigning ACC Midfielder of the Year Sam Coffey opted to transfer to Penn State after the fall semester. Replicating a season with a national seeding and an 11-0 start will be difficult, but Lowe had a strong impact in his first year with Wake Forest and will now have the keys to a program all to himself.
“I’m eager to get started building a culture and a brand of soccer that our players, fans and alumni will take pride in and enjoy,” Lowe said. “The program has a long history of success and I’m humbled that I’ve been trusted to lead the next era.”
It’s been 22 years since BC women’s soccer has had somebody other than Foley running the ship, but if Jarmond’s hires of Jason Kennedy and Joanna Bernabei-McNamee are any indication of things to come with Lowe, the transition could be relatively seamless.
Featured Image by Kaitlin Meeks / Heights Senior Staff
