Nate Ulness enters his third season as assistant women's soccer coach at Eastern Washington University, a position he has held since August 2022. He has led in the training and development of the goalkeepers, while also aiding the planning, development and running of training sessions. Ulness helped the Eagles to their biggest win improvement (+7) this past season, and would help Eastern become one of the most improve teams in the nation. He has also helped and lead four Big Sky Conference Offensive Players of the Week, two Big Sky Offensive Players of the Year, five Big Sky First Team Players, five Big Sky Second Team Players, and three Big Sky Honorable Mention Players in his time in Cheney.
Before joining Eastern Washington, Ulness was the head coach at Laramie County Community College (LCCC) in Cheyenne, Wyoming where he spent two and a half years with the Golden Eagles women’s soccer team. In his first year with the Golden Eagles, Ulness led the team to a Region 9 Championship and subsequently the NJCAA National Tournament where they went 1-1. Ulness coached 10 First Team and four Second Team All-Region athletes as well as two First Team, one Second Team, and one Honorable Mention All-American players. He also coached one Region 9 Freshman of the Year, three United Soccer Coaches West-Region Athletes of the Year and one United Soccer Coaches All-American. He left LCCC with a career record of 27-5-2, and a 58-22-5 overall record at the NJCAA level as well as two Coach of the Year honors. He was the first, and remains the only, coach in Region 9 to win Coach of the Year at two schools.
Prior to LCCC, he founded and developed the women's soccer program at Gillette College in Gillette, Wyoming leading his team in all three seasons to the playoffs. In 2019 he led Gillette to a Region 9 Championship, District Championship and an NJCAA National Tournament appearance where his team went 1-1 and he was the youngest head coach to ever reach the tournament. Ulness’ Gillette College team finished the 2019 season ranked 7th in the Nation after just three short years as a program. While at Gillette College, Ulness coached seven First Team All-Region, three Second Team All-Region, one Region 9 Player of the Year, two Scholar All-Americans, one Second Team NJCAA All-American, and one Honorable Mention NJCAA All-American.
He also has experience as an assistant coach at the University of Mary in Bismarck, ND, where he worked with the women’s soccer team for five consecutive seasons. While at the University of Mary, Ulness, oversaw recruitment, development and training of goalkeepers and development and training of field players. While at the University of Mary he coached five NSIC Players of the Week, two Second Team All-NSIC Conference Players, two Third Team All-NSIC Conference Players, and two United Soccer Coaches All-Central Region Players.
Ulness also spent nine combined seasons as the Head Coach for Century High School Patriots boys and girls’ soccer in Bismarck, North Dakota. While at Century High School, his Patriots captured four state championships, two for the boys (2012 and 2013) and two for the girls (2013 and 2016). He also coached numerous All-Region and All-State players including one United Soccer Coaches All-American, One Boys Senior Athlete of the Year, two Gatorade State Players of the Year, Two Female Senior Athlete of the Year, and multiple United Soccer Coaches Scholar All-Americans. He finished his High School career with a combined overall record of 117-26-21.
Ulness and his wife, Rhianna, reside in Cheney where they live with their small farm of animals; two dogs and four cats. He played four years of college soccer for the University of Mary Marauders from 2009-2012 and captained the team his senior year. He achieved his Masters of Education in Athletic Administration in Spring of 2021 from the University of Mary and currently holds a United States Soccer Federation “C” License.
