LA GRANDE, Ore. – Justin Wagar has been named the head women's soccer coach at Eastern Oregon University, Director of Athletics
Anji Weissenfluh announced today.
"We are excited about brining Justin on board to lead our women's soccer program," Director of Athletics
Anji Weissenfluh. "He is an established coach with a history of success, and we are looking forward to him taking our soccer program to the next level."
Wagar comes to Eastern Oregon University with 12 years of coaching experience at the NCAA Division 1 and Division II levels. He has nine years of head coaching experience, leading his teams to an 85-75-13 overall record and has helped his teams earn seven playoff bids in nine seasons.
"I'm excited to have the opportunity to build a team there that is set up to be winners," said Wagar. "The administration made me feel welcome and has established an environment to be successful in the conference and at the national level right away. My visit to campus was well received and the people were so friendly and welcoming. Coming to coach at EOU, for me and my wife, is a move closer to home for us and provides us the opportunity to build a championship team near our roots for the university and community. We're looking forward to being a part of the Mountaineer athletic family in La Grande."
Wagar comes to EOU after six seasons at the helm at New Mexico Highlands University. After taking over, in 2009, for a program that had posted 13 straight losing seasons, Wagar was able to, within two years, lead the team to the NCAA tournament, posting a 12 win season which included a 9-3-2 conference record and multiple wins over nationally ranked teams.
He helped the Cowgirls, of New Mexico Highlands, break every record in the program's 17-year soccer history including records for most goals, wins, winning percentage, attendance per game and their first-ever playoff victories. For the team's success, Wagar was honored with the RMAC Coach of the Year award. The team was also able to boast eighteen All-Conference selections during that time; including their first ever Conference MVP, Region MVP and All-American players. His teams at NMHU also finished ranked top 10 in the NCAA rankings four out of the past five years. Wagar's other honors include five straight seasons with their teams GPA above a 3.0, two Student of the Year honors from the soccer team, a record seven game winning streak, nine game unabated streak, the 21st best offense in the nation, and a record 10 shutouts, in a season.
Prior to his arrival at University of New Mexico - Highlands, Wagar served as an assistant coach for Division I Eastern Washington University, joining the Eagles coaching staff after two seasons at Brigham Young University-Hawaii. With the Seasiders, Wagar was asked to build a program from scratch and was able to lead the inaugural squad to a 12-4 record, and a second-place finish in the Pacific West conference. That season, BYU-Hawaii had the 15th best scoring offense in the nation among NCAA Division II squads and the 22nd best defense in the country. In 2007, the Seasiders claimed the conference championship with a 10-2 league record and finished 13-6-1 overall. For the team's success, Wagar was selected as the Pacific West Conference Coach of the Year.
Before his time at BYU-Hawaii, Wagar coached for NCAA Division I Utah Valley University for two and a half years before stepping in as their interim head coach in 2005. Wagar led the team, in his first stint as a head coach, to a first place seed heading into the conference playoffs and to the United Soccer Conference's Championship game and a second-place overall finish in the USC. He has become one of the top coaches at coaching offensive prodigies, helping mentor six scoring crown winners, the top scorers in the conference, in his nine years as a head coach, and three top 25 nationally ranked offenses.
Wagar played collegiately for BYU-Hawaii from 1998-99, where he captained the team as sweeper and to their most successful season in school history. After his NCAA playing days, he led the Utah Olympic Development Program Select team to its first ever West Coast title and a third-place finish in Florida at the ODP national tournament in 2005.
In 2004-2005, he played collegiate club soccer at Utah Valley University for a squad that took second in the nation where he was selected as an All-American defender on that national finals squad. A native of Kennewick, Wash., Wagar graduated from BYU-Hawaii with a bachelor's degree in exercise science in 2007. He married Jamae Feddock this past year and has a two-year old daughter, Isabelle Marie.