Kendall Ayers Named New Head Soccer Coach At Texas Southern

Texas Southern University has named Kendall Ayers as the fifth women’s soccer head coach in program history as it was announced today by Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics Dr. Kevin Granger.

“I’m pleased to welcome Coach Ayers to the Texas Southern family,” said Dr. Granger. “Coach Ayers’ familiarity with the state of Texas as a coach and student-athlete should prove beneficial to us in addition to her contacts internationally which is a plus considering we’re located in a diverse city such as Houston. Her enthusiasm and vision for TSU Soccer should bode well for the future.”

Ayers arrives in Houston after spending the last two seasons at Louisiana Christian University, where she compiled an 18-10-4 record. The all-time winningest head coach in school history, Ayers guided the Wildcats to postseason play in both seasons as it marked two of three postseason tournament appearances for the program in over two decades. In the fall of 2023, three student-athletes earned All-Red River Athletic Conference honors under Ayers.

“The previous coach, Coach Vera, did very well in growing the program and my goal is to immediately come in and continue to build off the great work she has done,” Ayers said. “I can’t wait to get started and become familiar with the current group of student-athletes while also utilizing the contacts I’ve developed both domestically and internationally once I hit the recruiting trail.”

Before her time at LCU, Ayers spent two seasons (2021-22) as an assistant at Navarro College in Corsicana, Texas. Ayers played an important role in helping Navarro reach consecutive Region XIV Championship matches and an at-large berth in the 2021 NJCAA Championships at Daytona, Fla. Multiple student-athletes recruited by Ayers earned NCAA Division I scholarship opportunities while she also developed several players who earned either All-American and All-Region honors.

As a student-athlete, the Bastrop, Texas native spent her first two collegiate campaigns at Cisco College helping the Lady Wranglers become Region 5 conference champions and district finalists in 2013. Predominantly a defensive player, while at Cisco she scored 12 goals, including three game-winners, and had 15 assists. She was named to the 2013 NSCAA Junior College Division I All-West Region Team and nominated for All-American.

Ayers then competed for two seasons at Louisiana Tech University, helping the Lady Techsters advance to the Conference USA tournament in 2015 and 2016. During her time there she scored 1 goal and had 4 assists in 30 appearances.

After graduation, Ayers spent two years playing professionally in Greece where she also served as the sports psychologist for the AO Trikala professional men’s soccer team, was head goalkeeper coach for the Ambilakia club team, and was the assistant coach for the U11 boys club team.

Ayers graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Louisiana Tech University in 2017 and was awarded her master’s degree in Exercise and Sport Psychology from the University of Thessaly in 2019.