DAYTON – The University of Dayton women's soccer team announced the hiring of a new assistant coach on Friday, as former director of operations Mitch Hepburn returns to the Flyers program after a two-year stint at Eastern Kentucky.
 
"Mitch is a rising star in our profession, and we are excited to welcome him back to Dayton as an assistant coach," commented head coach Eric Golz. "He has proven to be an excellent evaluator of talent and recruiter in his time at EKU, and his knowledge of the youth soccer landscape and of our program will allow him to hit the ground running as we hit the recruiting trail this summer.  He is humble and hungry, and he will work relentlessly to help us continue to elevate the standards and performance of Dayton Soccer. Mitch is a connector, as well as being a great teacher and developer of talent; the women on our team will enjoy his contributions to the program and learn a great deal from his insight."
 
In two seasons with the Colonels, Hepburn helped oversee a vast improvement in overall team offense, jumping from .67 to 1.4 goals per game in his first season with EKU in the spring of 2021. In his second season with EKU in the fall of 2021, the Akron alumnae helped lead the Colonels to a berth in the Atlantic Sun Conference Championships, where they would finish as a semi-finalist. EKU also earned its highest RPI win in program history with the help of Hepburn, and earned two RPI top-100 wins in the fall season of 2021.
 
During his time with the Flyers from July 2019 to July 2020, Hepburn was involved with several aspects of the program, including team travel, film, nutrition, fitness, load management reports, assisting with yearly periodization, recruiting visits and camps/clinics.
 
He helped Dayton qualify for the Atlantic-10 Tournament in 2019. Three Flyers earned all-conference honors at the conclusion of the season.
 
Hepburn has a good pulse on the youth soccer landscape as he attended a number of ECNL events while working on the ECNL National Events staff. Hepburn has also served as an Olympic Development Program Events Administrator for the Midwest, Southern, and Far West Regions since 2016, working a number of regional, national, and international events.

Hepburn arrived at Dayton in the summer of 2019 following two years at his alma mater, the University of Akron, where he was a director of operations graduate assistant for the women's swimming and diving team. During his time at Akron, the Zips were crowned the 2019 Swimming and Diving Mid-American Conference champions and won the 2019 National Invitational Championship.

In the fall of 2016, Hepburn served as the men's soccer Director of Operations for the Zips, who were the 2016 MAC regular season and tournament champions and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Hepburn also served as an ID Camp, Day Camp, and Soccer School Camp coach for the Zips men's program from 2015 to 2018.