BATON ROUGE — LSU head soccer coach Brian Lee began to assemble his staff Monday, naming former Western Carolina head coach Debbie Hensley as the Tigers’ new assistant coach.
Hensley, who has directed the Catamounts’ soccer program for the past six seasons, has also served as the Assistant Athletics Director/Senior Woman Administrator since December of 2003.
“Debbie is one of the top female coaches in the country,” said Lee. “She has proven to be a very capable head coach and I believe she is going to be a tremendous asset to the Tiger soccer program.”
Hensley led Western Carolina to a 60-52-9 record in her six seasons in Cullowhee, N.C. Starting the program from scratch in 1999, Hensley guided the Catamounts to a 10-9-1 record and a Southern Conference Tournament appearance in their inaugural campaign.
In 2000, WCU’s record improved to 11-8-2 and the following year the Catamounts won the Southern Conference regular season title with a 16-6 overall record and an 8-2 league mark. For her team’s success Hensley was named the league’s Coach of the Year.
Hensley has coached seven players to a total of 11 All-Southern Conference honors, a total that includes three first-team selections.
Prior to her time at Western Carolina, Hensley spent three seasons as an assistant coach under Lee at Furman University where she recruited eight players that went on to earn all-conference accolades.
“I am looking forward to working with Brian Lee again. He has shown such passion and enthusiasm for building a winning tradition at LSU,” said Hensley.
Success on the field is nothing new for Hensley who was a three-time first-team All-Southern Conference selection as a forward at Georgia Southern. The NSCAA All-Region honoree led the league in scoring during both her junior and senior seasons.
A two-sport standout for the Eagles, Hensley was also a first-team all-conference selection in softball, setting Georgia Southern’s career records for both runs scored and bases stolen.
Hensley received her bachelor of science degree in education from Georgia Southern in 1996 and a master’s of arts degree in health and exercise science from Furman in 1998.