MSUM’s new women’s soccer head coach career shaped by international experience and tragedy

MOORHEAD (KVRR) – Recently Minnesota State University Moorhead’s athletic department made the decision to go with Scott Forster as their new head coach of the women’s soccer program. Forster, who is from England, surprised the team with the announcement on a Zoom call.

“Told the team, hey you need to be on a Zoom call when we make this announcement so the whole team joined that and he kind of dropped me in without them knowing. Very bold of him because all of their faces lit up and I could see across the board the excitement in their eyes.” said Forster.

Forster has been a coach for many years in different programs. With stops in Montana to West Virginia, from England to Germany, Forster has been doing this for a long time. But his start in the coaching world was one due to tragedy.

“In my first jump into coaching unfortunately was through one of my coaches passing away. He got pancreatic cancer and sadly left us within weeks. And nobody else was willing to step in and take over. So my first role was almost forced upon me and me stepping in to fill that void. It was something that I just loved and it’s been part of my life since 1996.” said Forster.

Forster has a track record of getting the most out of his players. He’s had players earn professional contracts, he’s even coached a player who went on to become a Mountain West Conference player of the year. Forster is bringing his approach that has served him well over the years to a program that went 3-10-5 with a 2-7-5 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference record. The last time the Dragons had a non-losing season was back in 2011 when they went 8-8-1. But that’s all in the past, as Forster has gotten the ball rolling in getting this program to buy in on what he’s coaching.

“I’ve coached them in some spring games to start instill in them on how I want them to play. I think historically the conference is a rough and tough and a physical place to play. With direct play and a lot of strong hustle in how opponents play. My style of play is a little bit more based on possession in terms of having the ball and controlling the game.” said Forster.

Forster plans to get the region sometime this summer and is bringing a player he coached in London to be an assistant coach on his staff.