After taking Kansas to a Big 12 tournament title and a Sweet 16 appearance in his first two seasons at the helm, head soccer coach Nate Lie has signed a contract extension.
Athletic director Travis Goff announced the new contract in a press release on Tuesday morning. It is a five-year deal, meaning that Lie is now under contract through the 2030 season.
“It’s hard to imagine a tenure starting stronger than Nate’s has here at Kansas,” Goff said in the release. “He has won a championship and elevated Kansas Soccer to the highest levels in a short time. Moreover, he and his staff have represented KU in a world-class fashion, while developing our young women both on and off the pitch.”
Lie arrived in December 2023 from Xavier following the retirement of Mark Francis. He took over a team that had gone 1-7-2 in Big 12 play the prior season and, in his first year, went 6-4-1 in the conference with many of the same players. The Jayhawks went on a four-match winning streak to close the regular season and reach sixth place in the league after they had been projected to tie for 12th in the preseason poll, but that merely foreshadowed what was to come: four more victories at the Big 12 tournament in Kansas City, Missouri, to claim a Big 12 title and automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.
KU lost in the first round of the postseason to Saint Louis that fall, but was able to make it back the following year, again with many of the same players.
This time, the Jayhawks went unbeaten for the entirety of their nonconference schedule at 6-0-2 but encountered some bumps in the road early in league play, losing three of four matches at one point. They hit their stride in late October with a pair of road wins at BYU and Utah, avenged a previous tie and loss by beating West Virginia and Colorado in the Big 12 tournament, but fell to BYU in the championship game.
Undeterred, KU hosted Cal Baptist and claimed its first NCAA Tournament victory under Lie, then beat Louisville in Durham, North Carolina, to reach the Sweet 16 for the third time in program history, before falling 2-0 to host Duke.
According to KU’s press release, the Jayhawks are first in the nation with 19 combined road and neutral-site wins over the last two seasons.
“Any on-field success that we’ve achieved is a testament to the deep, all-encompassing, foundational support of this entire department, and all those that work behind the scenes and with the student athletes on a daily basis,” Lie said. “We are very proud of our student athletes and the way they represent our program on and off the field.”
Wing back Caroline Castans and forward Lexi Watts received first-team all-conference honors after the 2025 season, while midfielders Jillian Gregorski and Kate Langfelder were second-team picks. All but Watts will be back for 2026, along with a variety of other key contributors from last season, such as goalkeeper Sophie Dawe, and KU has added transfers Sydni Fink (Kentucky) and Norah Jacomen (Butler).
The Jayhawks will look for their third straight appearances in the Big 12 and NCAA tournaments this fall.
“My family and I have loved becoming part of the Lawrence community and we’ve been overwhelmed by the unconditional support of Jayhawk Nation,” Lie said in the release. “I am so incredibly honored and humbled for this continued opportunity, and I am driven to help lead this program to new heights.”
