Bri Garcia joined head soccer coach Naomi Kolarova’s staff at Austin Peay in July 2021.
Prior to joining the Govs, Garcia spent the 2018 and 2019 seasons as an assistant coach at Army West Point. In two seasons on head coach Adrian Blewitt’s staff, Garcia helped coach the Black Knights to a 16-13-11 record and a pair of Patriot League tournament appearances.
During her time at West Point, six cadets earned All-Patriot League honors, with defender Sydney Witham taking home first team recognition in 2018 and goalkeeper Sydney Cassalia earning first team honors in 2019. Cassalia also earned the Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Year Award in 2019 and picked up First Team National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) North Region honors in 2018 and Second Team NSCAA North Region recognition in 2019.
Prior to her time at West Point, Garcia spent four years on Blewitt’s staff at Little Rock. During her first season at Little Rock in 2014, Garcia helped guide the Trojans to an 11-8-1 mark – the program’s first winning season in its 28-year history. In 2015, the Trojans posted an 8-7-5 record and a fifth-place finish in the Sun Belt Conference – the highest finish in program history at the time.
In her third season at Little Rock, the Trojans had the best season in program history at the time, setting what were then program records with 12 wins and 6 conference wins. Tasked with coaching the defense, Garcia’s unit set the program’s single-season record for opponent goals per game (0.86) while goalkeeper Sara Small set the single-season record for goals-against average (0.83) in 2016. The Trojans went 9-9-3 and qualified for the Sun Belt Tournament for the fourth time in four seasons with Garcia on staff during her final season at Little Rock in 2017.
Before coaching at Little Rock, Garcia spent the 2013 season as a graduate assistant at Nebraska, where she helped the Cornhuskers to a 19-4-1 record, a Big Ten Conference Championship, and an opening-round win as a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Prior to her coaching career, Garcia was a defender and midfielder at Penn State from 2008-12. Garcia helped the Nittany Lions win five-consecutive Big Ten titles and the 2008 Big Ten Tournament Championship. During Garcia’s redshirt senior season in 2012, Penn State reached the Women’s College Cup, where the Nittany Lions were National Championship runner ups.
A native of Babylon, New York, Garcia was a two-time NSCAA All-American at St. Anthony’s High School. She graduated from Penn State with a Bachelor of Science in communication science and disorder in 2012, before receiving a Master of Science in sport management from Little Rock in 2017. In 2021, Garcia received an Associate of Applied Science from Cochise College.
