Following last fall's best conference finish in program history, Upstate head soccer coach Amy Heywood has signed a contract extension through the 2027 season, athletics director Doug Gillin announced Friday. The extension was approved by President Sheri Everts and the Appalachian State University Board of Trustees.
“We are very excited about the direction of App State Soccer under Amy,” Gillin said. “After achieving the best conference finish in program history, we look forward to our football student-athletes continuing their pursuit of excellence in the classroom, community and competition.”
In 2023, Haywood led the Mountaineers to their most overall and conference wins since 2018 and a program-record third-place finish in the conference. The team posted a program-best eight shutouts in the process and allowed just 16 runs on the season, the fewest in program history for the season. App State finished with his RPI, his highest since 2015.
App State's 15 wins under Haywood are the most in a head coach's first two years leading the program.
“I would like to thank the Board of Directors, Chairman Everts, Doug Gillin, and Jonathan Rieder for their continued confidence in my leadership of this program,” Haywood said. “I am grateful for their work and leadership in providing the resources and opportunities this program needs to grow over the past two years and for years to come.
“There's a lot of momentum in our football program and the university as a whole at this mountain, and I'm very grateful and excited to be a part of it. Last, but certainly not least, I would like to thank our team and staff for working hard every day to improve themselves and our program.”
Since taking over the program in December 2021, the Haywood Mountaineers have far exceeded expectations. App State, picked 13th in the Sun Belt in 2022, finished seventh in the league standings and finished third in 2023 despite being eighth in the league preseason poll.
Under Haywood's guidance, senior forward Izzy Wood earned All-Sun Belt honors in 2023, becoming the first Mountaineer to earn that honor since 2018. Haywood's first recruiting class also saw Summer Bowman record four goals and three assists in 15 games, followed by Olivia Simon. He had four goals and one assist in 18 games, including his first hat trick as an App State player since 2014.
Off the field, Haywood has demonstrated a commitment to developing well-rounded student-athletes by incorporating “Mind Gym” and “Culture Classes” as ongoing team efforts. App State's soccer student-athletes also excel in the classroom, with 11 team members earning Dean's List honors and seven earning Dean's List honors this fall. The team maintained her cumulative GPA of at least 3.45 throughout her tenure.
Haywood and her team will host three spring games in Boone over the next few weeks. On Sunday, March 24th, App State will play Western Carolina at 1 p.m. and Lees-McRae at 3:40 p.m. Then, on Wednesday, April 3, App State will face North Carolina, which has qualified for each tournament in the NCAA Tournament. They have won 21 national championships over the past 42 seasons.