In just three seasons as the head coach at the University of South Alabama, Graham Winkworth has transformed the soccer program from an also-ran in the Sun Belt Conference to an emerging national power.
Since he was hired prior to the 2013 season, Winkworth has guided the Jaguars to three NCAA Tournament appearances, three Sun Belt Tournament titles, back-to-back regular-season crowns, including an unblemished 9-0 mark in 2015, and a final top-25 national ranking.
Winkworth led South Alabama to conference regular-season and tournament titles in 2014, and a second league double in 2015 led to the program hosting an NCAA Tournament game for the first time in school and conference history, a 4-0 victory over LSU in front of 1,173 fans that put USA into the round of 32.
In the last two seasons, USA has claimed five of the six individual end-of-season awards given by the Sun Belt, including consecutive coach-of-the-year honors for Winkworth, with 14 players named to the all-league teams.
South Alabama enters the 2016 season unbeaten in 29 consecutive games against Sun Belt schools, including regular-season and postseason contests, dating back to the 2013 season.
After taking North Alabama to the NCAA Division II Tournament each of his last four years, Winkworth was named head soccer coach at the University of South Alabama on Nov. 26, 2012 and continued his run of success.
In his first year, he wasted little time in leading the Jaguars to the top of the Sun Belt Conference.
All he did was guide USA to its most wins (14) since 1997, a Sun Belt Tournament title and an appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
The 14 wins his first year were second most in school history and the tied-for-second-place finish in the regular season was the program’s highest since winning the league in 2000.
South Alabama’s biggest improvement came on offense, as the Jaguars led the conference in goals (2.35) and assists (2.39) per match, ranking 18th and sixth in Division I, respectively.
Individually, freshman Lauren Allison, who claimed both the Sun Belt Freshman and Player-of-the-Year awards, paced the league in goals (.727), assists (.500) and points (1.95) per match, ranking in the top 30 in the nation in each category.
In addition to Allison, who received First-Team all-Sun Belt recognition, three others earned spots on the all-conference teams, the most by the program since 2002. Senior Clarissa Hernandez was tabbed to the first team, and classmates Jess Oram and Shelby Owen were voted to the second.
Hernandez also capped off her career with a third-straight CoSIDA Academic All-District honor.
The Jaguars opened the year with seven wins in their first nine matches, beginning with a 3-2 upset of Mississippi State that set the tone for the season. But the highlight of the year was USA’s 1-0 victory over Western Kentucky in the SBC championship game to earn the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, where the Jags fell to overall No. 1 seed Florida State.
His second season in charge was even better. He led the team to a school-record 19 wins, a second consecutive SBC Tournament championship, and a return trip to the NCAA Tournament, earning the league’s coach-of-the-year honor in the process.
South Alabama lost to FSU in the NCAA Tournament again the next season but not before winning the program’s first non-shared regular season conference title since the league started sponsoring the sport in 2000, and becoming the first Sun Belt school to outright sweep the major individual awards.
In addition to Winkworth claiming the coach-of-the-year honor, Chardé Hannah become the second consecutive Jaguar to win both the league’s freshman and offensive player-of-the-year awards, and Nini Rabsatt-Smith was named the defensive player of the year.
Hannah and Rabsatt-Smith were two of five USA players named First-Team all-Sun Belt—Sophie Haywood, Rio Hardy and Steffi Hardy were the others—with two more, Danielle Henley and Monique Autmon, tabbed to the second team. The seven all-conference players and five first-teamers were a new school record, and the last Sun Belt school to place five on the first team was Denver in 2010.
USA set numerous school records, including highest win percentage (.848), longest unbeaten streak (18), consecutive games scored (22) and shutouts (12), while tying the fewest losses (3) and longest win streak (9) marks.
The Jaguars once again led the conference in goals (2.96) and points (8.00) per match and was third in assists per match (2.09). Defensively, the team was third in goals allowed (0.96) and goals against average (0.93), and second in shutouts per game (0.52).
Hannah paced the Sun Belt in six different categories, topping the list in goals (0.87) and points (2.04) per game, and game-winning goals (7), while Rio Hardy ranked in the conference’s top 10 eight times.
Year three saw the Jags repeat as regular-season and tournament champions, becoming the first Sun Belt school since 2010 to post a perfect league record (9-0), and earned a final national ranking (No. 25) for the first time in school history.
In another first, USA advanced to the second round in the NCAA Tournament, following the shutout win over LSU, before dropping a 5-0 decision to No. 1 seed FSU.
Seven Jaguars were voted to the All-Sun Belt teams — five on the first team alone for the second consecutive year — while Winkworth repeated as the coach of the year. Steffi Hardy was named the defensive player of the year, and Jemma Purfield became the third straight Jag to receive freshman-of-the-year honors.
Hannah, Rabsatt-Smith and Steffi Hardy repeated on the first team, and were joined by Henley and Chelsea Followwell. Purfield received second-team honors, as did Autmon.
USA placed a school-record four players on the NSCAA All-South Region Team, and Henley became the third USA soccer student-athlete to be selected to the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-District™ Team.
Winkworth came to Mobile after 10 seasons leading the Lions, during which time he posted a 111-81-8 overall record — the most wins for a coach in school history — while helping UNA to its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance and Gulf South Conference championship. He had a 65-18-3 mark over the last four years.
Winkworth’s run of success began during the 2009 campaign, when he led UNA to a 19-4-1 finish — a program record for victories in a season — the school’s first berth in the GSC Tournament since 1999 and the first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance for the Lions, where they would win their opening match. After leading the team to an increase of 11 wins from the previous season that fall, the biggest improvement in the nation, he was voted the Gulf South Conference Coach of the Year.
In 2010, the Lions finished 16-4-1 with a 6-1 record in the league while returning to the NCAA Tournament, and the next year UNA posted a 17-4 mark while going 6-1 in the GSC to earn a share of the regular-season title. Winkworth led the program to the conference tournament title with victories over Alabama-Huntsville and Valdosta (Ga.) State; the Lions also ended West Florida’s 54-match league win streak late in the year that fall.
His final season at UNA saw the Lions go 13-6-1 — which included a 6-2-1 mark in the Gulf South — and advance to the title match of the league tourney and win its NCAA Tournament first-round match against Valdosta State.
During his 10-year tenure in Florence, Winkworth helped produce the first two All-Americans in school history as well as 33 all-Gulf South selections. Fifteen Lions were named to the GSC all-tournament team in his last four years, while UNA student-athletes were chosen to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America all-region squad 15 times under Winkworth; that included a third-team NSCAA All-American who was also named by Daktronics as the NCAA Division II national player of the year in 2011.
A native of Reading, England, Winkworth is a 2000 graduate of the University of Central Lancashire. He completed his master’s degree in 2005 at North Alabama, and has his United States Soccer Federation A (2011) and NSCAA Premier (2015) licenses.
He began his coaching career in England with the Preston North End Football Club as an assistant with the Center of Excellence before serving as assistant men’s and women’s coach at Cumberland (Tenn.) during the 2000 season. Winkworth was an assistant at Central Arkansas for two years before taking the position at UNA, where he helped the Bears to a 10-9 finish and their first-ever berth in the Gulf South Tournament in 2002.
Winkworth is married to the former Jonna Fortenberry. They are the parents of Lucas (b. Aug. 25, 2015), Caden (b. June 2, 2014) and Darbi (b. May 16, 2013).
