Mount Vernon soccer coaches are a father-daughter combo

The boys' soccer coach at Mount Vernon sees a lot of familiar traits in the school's girls' soccer coach. She stresses communication while embracing discipline. She can be tough yet understands the need to be flexible in certain circumstances.

If Kevin Murray sees a bit of himself in daughter Katelyn's coaching, it's not an accident.

Sons have followed fathers into coaching forever. But it's really only been since the advent of Title IX that daughters have begun to trod the same path. After helping her father as a boys' assistant for one year, Katelyn Murray became head coach of the girls' varsity this year.

'She's just thrilled to be back at her alma mater where she played high school ball and helping that program,' Kevin said.

Coaching was just part of the milieu in which Kate and twin sister Meegan grew up.

'I'm divorced from their mother, and when they were little that was kind of our time together,' Kevin said. 'We'd go on trips with the Marion soccer club all over the Midwest.'

Murray also is an assistant wrestling coach at Xavier.

'We were kind of a coaching family. They got used to seeing that,' he said.

Kate was a speedy high school forward at Mount Vernon and played at Iowa Central Community College and Mount Mercy.

'I wanted to coach because I have such a passion for it,' Kate said. 'I don't feel like I can be away from the sport. I can't really continue to play at the level that I'd like, and coaching is the next best thing because you can help younger athletes become better and go where they want to go.

'I really love being around kids. It's kind of like a proud-mom moment whenever one of my girls does something right. It really makes coaching worth it.'

Murray's commitment to her position includes an hour and a half commute each way. She lives in Cedar Falls and holds a management position at Hy-Vee. Her ultimate goal is to teach and coach and she will attend graduate school this fall to begin that process, but in the meantime she's a corridor commuter.

Father and daughter share an approach.

'The way she communicates with kids,' Kevin said. 'We're both very competitive. I think that's probably a family trait. Just handling people.

'We have similar coaching techniques and with the background she has in the Army, she's a pretty tough coach.'

Oh yeah, Kate is about to make sergeant in the National Guard.

'When she came back from basic training she did take on a great leadership role,' Kevin said.

'It's definitely influenced the way I coach,' Kate said. 'I love the strictness of being in the military and doing things on time and doing it the right way.

'As a team you're one unit. It's very similar. It kind of molded me as a coach. I expect a lot from my players. I think they understand that and they do a great job of meeting those expectations.'

Another goal the two share is to provide some stability in the two programs. Kate is the third girls' coach in four years. When Kevin took over the boys' program three years ago he was the third coach in four years.

'It makes it hard to build a program,' Kevin said.

The two started last summer meeting with players and parents in the lower grades. They attended AYSO games. They plan to run camps together this year and plan off-season training.

While they are coaches on equal footing as far as the school district is concerned, in the minds of some, Kevin is still the father figure.

'I'm the person in the building,' he said. 'Sometimes there's grumbling. People ask me questions all the time, and I tell them to talk to Kate. It's not my team. It's hard not to wear that (father) hat.

'I want her to be successful. I want her to do it on her own.'

Not a likely issue.