Mississippi State women’s soccer adds Allison Whitworth to staff

STARKVILLE (Via Mississippi State University) – Head coach James Armstrong has added another former professional player to the Mississippi State soccer coaching staff with the addition of Allison Whitworth as a volunteer assistant. Whitworth will work primarily with the Bulldogs’ goalkeepers.

A native of Birmingham, Alabama, Whitworth played three seasons in the Women’s Professional Soccer League with the Atlanta Beat, Chicago Red Stars and FC Gold Pride. She comes to Starkville after serving as the head coach at Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama, for the last three years. She was promoted to senior woman administrator in December 2017.

“We are thrilled to add coach Whitworth to our staff,” Armstrong said. “She has played at the highest level collegiately and professionally and has familiarity with the SEC. She has national reputation as being an elite goalkeeper coach, but her head coaching experience also demonstrates her tactical acumen for all positions. Having her join our bulldog staff is a real coup and we couldn’t be more excited!”

Whitworth had a highly successful career both athletically and academically at Auburn University where she graduated summa cum laude with a degree in psychology and minor in exercise science in 2007. She set the Tigers’ career record with 356 saves, which still ranks second in school history. Her 132 saves in her senior season led the SEC and still stands as Auburn’s single-season record. She collected 22 career shutouts, which is second in school history, including eight in each of her final two seasons on the way to All-SEC selections as a junior (Second Team) and senior (First Team).

For her career, she won six SEC Defensive Player of the Week honors and saw the field in 73 matches with a 1.13 career goals against average. She was Auburn’s women’s sports nominee for the H. Boyd McWhorter Scholar-Athlete Post-Graduate Scholarship presented to the league’s top scholar-athlete and  completed her master’s degree in health promotion on the Plains.

“MSU with Coach Armstrong at the helm is continuing in the rich tradition in the SEC,” Whitworth said. “I could not be more thankful and thrilled to be able to join the tremendous staff already assembled and work with the State goalkeepers. Having known Coaches Armstrong and Zimmerman for years and seen not only their coaching abilities but also their passion for building teams with character, I knew MSU was a place I wanted to be a part of.”

Whitworth began her coaching career at Middle Tennessee in 2011 and spent two years with the Blue Raiders. The program won a share of the Sun Belt Conference regular-season title in 2012 after finishing with the second-best record in school history. Whitworth recruited goalkeeper Kelsey Brouwer who finished her career holding school records for wins and shutouts. Brouwer was second in school history in career saves and won the C-USA Spirit of Service Award in 2013.

Whitworth then headed to Ohio where she was the Bobcats’ goalkeeper coach and recruiting coordinator. In her three years at Ohio, Whitworth’s keepers recorded 322 saves and 10 shutouts. In 2014, she served on staff with the Region II Olympic Development Program.

Her recruiting led to the signing of MAC All-Freshman Team selection Steph Rowland who led the team in five offensive categories in her freshman season while setting the Bobcats’ freshman record with five goals. She also drew Vanessa Cordoba to Athens. Cordoba won a gold medal at the Bolivarian Games in 2015 as the goalkeeper for the Colombian U-20 National Team.

MSU is coming off its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 2018 after finishing with a 9-7-2 record. Armstrong is looking to lead the Bulldogs back to the SEC Tournament for the first time since 2004 in his first season at the helm.

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