Penn State women’s soccer head coach Erica Dambach announced the addition of Declan Doherty to the program’s staff on Wednesday, June 12, 2024, completing the Nittany Lion coaching roster ahead of the team’s 2024 campaign. Doherty enters his second year in Happy Valley in 2025.
Penn State booked a strong 2024 campaign in Doherty’s inaugural season with the Blue & White, with the first-year assistant helping guide the Nittany Lions to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament for the 15th time in program history while extending the nation’s longest active streak of Sweet 16 appearances to six consecutive. PSU secured its 30th bid to the NCAA Tournament to mark the second-longest national postseason streak in women’s college soccer history behind North Carolina. The Blue & White landed their 66th all-time victory in the national postseason and now boast a 66-28-3 record in the NCAA Tournament since the program’s initial tournament run in 1995. The Nittany Lions published a 15-7-3 overall record in 2024 and racked up a 5-4-2 finish in Big Ten Conference regular season action, adding the program’s 41st all-time victory in the B1G Tournament after reaching the quarterfinals with a win over Minnesota on the road.
Doherty arrived in Happy Valley with a wealth of experience at the professional, collegiate and academy levels, both in the United States and his native Northern Ireland. In the collegiate ranks, Doherty served as a performance analyst for the Louisville women’s soccer program from 2019 to 2023, helping the Cardinals make an NCAA Tournament appearance in his inaugural campaign while leading multiple student-athletes to All-ACC accolades. Doherty played a key role in the development of 2021 ACC Player of the Year and fifth overall NWSL Draft choice Emina Ekic during his time with the Cardinals, marking both the first ACC Player of the Year and NWSL Draft selection in Louisville program history.
During his stint with the Cardinals, Doherty also served as an academy coach and performance analyst with the NWSL’s Racing Louisville FC. From 2021 to 2024, Doherty maintained an Assistant Director of Coaching title, helping develop the next generation of women’s soccer stars as a key contributor to Racing’s academy efforts in Kentucky. He also served as a key contributor to the senior club’s strategy and performance analytics in 2024, working alongside head coach Beverly Yanez’s staff in their inaugural season at the helm in Louisville.
He began his career at Louisville after spending three seasons with the University of Evansville as an assistant coach and graduate assistant. While working with the Purple Aces, Doherty helped guide the team to a 2016 appearance in the Missouri Valley Conference Championship match, in addition to a 2018 appearance in the MVC Semifinals. Prior to his stint at Evansville, Doherty spent one season at the University of Buffalo, helping the men’s program post an 8-7-4 overall record, marking the organization’s first winning season since the 2008 campaign.
Doherty, a native of Belfast, Northern Ireland, was the head coach of the Ulster University Jordanstown women's team in his native country, leading the squad to a 7-3-1 overall record and a National League championship in 2013. After that, he moved on to an assistant role with the Queens University Belfast men's team, helping the squad post a 19-5-6 record in the process. Doherty, who also played for the Rosario Youth Football Club before pursuing a coaching career, graduated from Ulster Jordanstown in 2013 with a degree in sport and exercise science. Doherty also boasts a pair of Master’s Degrees, including a Master’s in Public Service Administration from the University of Evansville and a Master’s in Sport Administration from the University of Louisville.