Northern Illinois University Athletics

Julie Colhoff enters her fourth season as head coach of the Huskies in 2021 and is the fifth head coach in the history of the Northern Illinois University women's soccer program. 

In her first season leading the Huskies in 2018, Colhoff laid the foundation for the program, introducing a more possession-based style of soccer. NIU’s youthful roster saw the freshman and sophomore classes make a combined 92 starts. Colhoff recorded her first career victory on September 9 when the Huskies claimed a 2-0 win over Eastern Illinois. 

Off the field, 11 Huskies earned Academic All-MAC honors, the second-highest total of any program in the conference, evidence of the program’s commitment to success in all facets under Colhoff. 

Colhoff continued the building process in 2019, highlighted by an overtime victory at Marquette, NIU’s first win over a Big East foe in 14 years, while once again fielding a young lineup as 83 percent of the Huskies’ goals were scored by freshmen and sophomores. NIU had 10 Academic All-MAC honorees during the 2019 campaign as the Huskies continued to strive for excellence both on and off the field. 

During the 2020-21 campaign, Kierah Meier became the first Huskie named to the MAC All-Freshman Team since the 2017 season and the Huskies had another outstanding off-field school year with 13 Academic All-MAC honorees. 

Prior to coming to DeKalb, Colhoff spent four seasons as the top assistant coach at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), helping build a brand-new program with the Flames. Her collegiate coaching career began at Lewis University in Romeoville, Ill., where Colhoff spent three seasons following a stellar career as a student-athlete at Loyola-Chicago where she helped the Ramblers win three championships in four seasons. 

While at UIC from 2014-17, the Flames improved each season, and finished 2017 with a winning record in the Horizon League for the first time in school history. UIC players earned eight all-conference and six all-freshman team recognitions as well as back-to-back goalkeeper of the year honors during her tenure, which began when the school first added the women's soccer program in 2014. Her responsibilities at UIC ranged from on-field coaching to recruiting, budget management, overseeing team academic progress and leadership development. 

As an assistant coach at Lewis from 2011-13, Colhoff was involved in every aspect of the program, which posted back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in 18 years during her tenure. Flyers' student-athletes earned six all-conference honors and Lewis earned its first NCAA Division II playoff berth in 15 years in 2012 after a 10-win season. 

A four-year starter at center-back for Loyola, Colhoff was a member of three championship teams as the Ramblers won the Horizon League tournament title and advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 2006 and 2007, and claimed the league's regular season championship in 2008.  She was a two-time all-conference selection, the 2009 team captain and earned Horizon League All-Tournament honors in 2008 and 2009. The Buffalo Grove, Ill., native finished her career ranked third all-time in matches played at Loyola. 

Colhoff's international experience includes a year as international team leader for Soccer Without Borders in Sololá, Guatemala, and a summer experience with the Hercules women's professional soccer club in Alicante, Spain. She has also worked with several local clubs and soccer academies, including the Chicago Fire Juniors City.

Colhoff earned her bachelor's degree in human services from Loyola in 2010, where she was also a four-time member of the Dean's List and the Loyola All-Academic Team. She was a three-time Horizon League All-Academic honoree. She completed her master's degree in organizational leadership and higher education from Lewis in 2013.