Northern Illinois University Athletics

Eddie Garza begins his fifth season as a member of the NIU women's soccer staff, his first as associate head coach in 2021, and his fourth year working with current head coach Julie Colhoff. 

In Colhoff’s first season in 2018, Garza helped lay the foundation for the program under Colhoff, introducing a more possession-based style of soccer. NIU’s youthful roster saw the freshman and sophomore classes make a combined 92 starts. Off the field, 11 Huskies earned Academic All-MAC honors, the second-highest total of any program in the conference. 

The building process continued in 2019, highlighted by an overtime victory at Marquette, NIU’s first win over a Big East foe in 14 years, while NIU once again fielded 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. 

In his first year with the Huskies in 2017, NIU recorded eight victories and Garza helped mentor Haley Hoppe to Second Team All-MAC and MAC All-Freshman Team honors.

Garza returned to the college ranks at NIU after guiding the Ashford University women’s soccer program to a highly successful campaign in 2015. He led Ashford to a 14-5-1 record and an Association of Independent Institutions (A.I.I.) Tournament Championship, which earned Ashford a spot in the NAIA National Tournament. 

During his tenure at Ashford, Garza coached five all-conference honorees along with the A.I.I. Player of the Year (2015), A.I.I. Goalkeeper of the year (2015) and A.I.I. Defender of the year (2015). In addition, Ashford had three United Soccer Coaches Midwest All-Region honorees and a NAIA honorable mentioned All-American (Alicia Tamburro, 2015).  Garza was named the 2015 Association of Independent Institutions Coach of the Year. 

Prior to taking over the women’s program at Ashford, Garza was an assistant coach for the men’s team at Ashford from 2010 through 2015. During his time with the men’s program, Garza helped guide Ashford to four NAIA national tournament appearances, which included three Round of 16 appearances and a semifinalist finish in 2013. 

Before arriving at NIU, Garza had been the Youth Academy Director for the Rockford Raptors Soccer Club, a position he began in early 2016. Garza has been an active staff coach with Illinois ODP since 2015 and currently holds a National B License from the United States Soccer Federation. Garza earned his bachelor's degree in sports and recreation management in 2010 and his master's degree in organizational management in 2012 from Ashford University.