Michigan State Women’s Soccer: Jeff Hosler named new head coach

Following the announcement at the end of April that longtime Michigan State Women’s Soccer head coach Tom Saxton was retiring, the athletic department announced earlier today that Jeff Hosler will be taking over at the helm as the new head coach.

Hosler comes to East Lansing following seven seasons in Allendale, Michigan as head coach of the Grand Valley State University Lakers (obligatory yuck from a former Hillsdale Charger in their Great Lakes Intercollegiate Conference, GLIAC, days). Hosler has an impressive resume during his tenure with GVSU.

During his tenure with Grand Valley State, he posted the highest winning percentage of any coach in Laker history, led GVSU to three NCAA Championships (overall GVSU now totals six, an NCAA record), appearances in five NCAA title games overall, and reached at least the Elite Eight in six seasons (the exception being the year the tournament was canceled due to COVID-19).

Hosler leaves Grand Valley with an overall record of 144-12-6 and a 63-2-2 mark in GLIAC play. He holds the highest win percentage (.9074) in all of NCAA soccer during his tenure in Allendale. The Lakers won six conference regular-season titles and seven GLIAC Tournament championships during Hosler’s time with the team.

As for individual players, under Hosler, 32 Lakers captured All-America honors while 43 earned All-Region, 12 different Lakers were honored as CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, and 56 Lakers received All-GLIAC honors. Three players were named National Player of the Year under him, and Marti Corby earned a spot in the U-23 US Women’s National Team camp in 2016.

Prior to GVSU, Hosler was head coach at Alma College, leading the Scots to a 91-55-12 overall record and their only Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) regular season title in 2010. The Scots also won the 2011 MIAA Tournament title, which earned the first ever NCAA tournament bid for the program.

Hosler is also a graduate of Alma, where he was a two-sport student-athlete. Hosler was a four-time All-MIAA honoree, and earned All-Mideast Region and All-NCAA Tournament honors in 1999 when the Scots’ men's team made its first Final Four appearance. He also holds a United States Soccer Federation (USSF) National “B” License and USYSA National “Youth” License. Hosler earned a bachelor of arts degree in business from Alma in 2002.