Robbie Church stood smiling proudly on the field at halftime, not in the locker room where he usually would be. Close to 30 former players came back to Durham — from as far as Iceland, in the case of Thora Helgadottir — to celebrate alumni weekend for Duke women’s soccer. Some of them sported hats customized with photos of Church making what they dubbed “classic Robbie gestures,” funny mementos of their fondest memories from Duke. As each alumni stepped forward to be recognized — some joined eagerly by their children — the packed stands of Koskinen Stadium erupted into cheers.
In the 23 years between his first and last team, Church has built Duke women’s soccer into a national powerhouse, inspired dozens of young women and left his mark — not only on Duke, but also on the women’s collegiate and professional soccer world. Those cheers, really, were for him.
‘Always my dream job’
Late May, 2001.
Church, his wife, Linda, and their two children, Ashley and Kyle, lived in Franklin, Tenn., a little town just outside of Vanderbilt University, where Church served as women’s soccer’s head coach. An unexpected call from 500 miles away was about to interrupt quiet life in the town for Church and his family.
The call came from Bill Hempen, then the head women’s soccer coach at Duke. He rang to tell Church that he planned to take a new job at Colorado, leaving Hempen’s job at Duke open. He wanted Church as his successor.
“I think about it once in a while,” Church said. “I’m not sure if it wasn’t Duke, I would have ever left Vanderbilt.”
But the call did come from Duke. Church accepted Hempen’s offer, taking the first step towards a position that would last for the next 23 years and impact countless lives along the way.
One could say that Church’s journey with soccer was always destined to end at Duke. He grew up in Greensboro, N.C., less than an hour from Duke’s campus. He has always been a Blue Devil fan.
Church’s uncle used to take him to Duke football and basketball games when he was a child: This is where his love for the school began. Though it was football and basketball that Church grew to love as a fan, it was soccer that he loved as a player, and eventually, a coach.
Before Church became a head coach, he was a player. Recreational soccer in North Carolina started in Greensboro in the 1970s under the direction of Barbara Blum, whom Church refers to as “the First Lady of soccer in North Carolina.” Growing up in the “hotbed of soccer,” Church cultivated a love for the game that took him all the way through college at Pfeiffer University. After graduating, moving into the coaching sphere seemed like the logical next step for Church. He did not want “a real job”; he wanted to stay connected to the sport he had played for most of his life. With that in mind, Church enrolled in a coaching course with the United States Soccer Federation.
“I actually thought it was where we just came and played,” Church said with a chuckle and a smile across his face. “I went in there and just took my ball and my cleats. I didn’t take a notebook or pens.”
While at the course — once he learned there were actual classroom sessions involved — Church met Frank Kohlenstein, who eventually became the first of his mentors and gave him his first chance in the world of coaching college soccer.
Kohlenstein coached the men’s soccer team at what is now the University of South Carolina, Upstate and offered Church a job as his assistant coach. After a year learning under Kohlenstein, Church left for his first head coaching job at East Carolina.
“I was 23 and felt [like] I could take over the world,” he reminisced.
Church spent two years at East Carolina before “the biggest thing in [his] life” happened. John Rennie, a renowned Duke men’s soccer coach, extended Church an offer to be an assistant. Though he spent only one season in 1984 with Duke, Church credits that experience for laying the groundwork for many of the relationships he had when he returned years later. That year, he met Hempen. When Church left for the head coaching job at Belmont Abbey after the 1984 season, he passed on his job to him. Seventeen years down the line, Hempen repaid the favor.
By 2001, when that happened, Church’s coaching resume had grown lengthy. After 12 years of coaching men’s soccer, Church had shifted to the women’s game — first at Charlotte, then at Vanderbilt. Hempen founded a women’s soccer program at Duke after four years as an assistant coach for the men’s team. When it was Church’s turn, he became the second head coach in the program’s history.
“North Carolina’s home, and we always wanted to come back. I always wanted to come back to Duke,” Church said. “Duke was my dream job. It was always my dream job.”
‘A fear of failure’
Having taken over the job from Hempen in late May, the start of June meant an immediate jump into preseason for Church and his new team. His transitional year at Duke was sometimes difficult for Church and his team.
“It's always a little daunting when somebody comes in that doesn't know the well-oiled machine,” said Kasey Truman, who was a senior and a captain on the 2001 squad.
Some Blue Devils knew Church from when he had coached for the South Region at the Olympic Development Program, or from when he had attempted to recruit them at his former head coaching gigs. But to many of them, Church was a stranger.
“There was a fear of failure,” Church admitted. “It was what really motivated me.”
Despite that fear of failure, despite all of the nerves and apprehensions that came along with becoming head coach of a program with only one coach before him, Church persevered. He walked into his first preseason as he walks into all things: leading with his heart.
“Our respect for him came from how caring he was,” said Gwendolyn Oxenham, who was a freshman in 2001 and played for Church all four years of her college career. “He was like the Southern dad figure where you knew that he cared about you as a human and as a player.”
What also came along with that Southern warmth and hospitality was Church’s accent, toned by a childhood and life in the South.
“He’s got such a Southern accent,” joked Stefanie Golan, who was a senior when Church first arrived in Durham. “There were times where he’s yelling at you and you’re like, 'are you saying “step” or are you saying “stop?”'”
He quickly won over his players, but Church still had a difficult first few years. Even though he had inherited an experienced, successful roster, the team posted a losing record for in 2001 season.
“I was like, 'Oh my God, I can't get fired from this thing,'” Church said.
But the young coach and his feisty team steadily built their presence in the NCAA women’s soccer ranks. Church's struggles only provided him with more motivation to work harder as he sought to give Duke women’s soccer a national presence, especially in the ACC, a conference known for having perennial powerhouses like Tobacco Road rival North Carolina.
Perseverance eventually paid off. By the time Church’s 10-year anniversary at Duke rolled around in 2011, the Blue Devils had qualified for the NCAA tournament every year since 2003. In that anniversary season for Church, he led his team to the Women’s College Cup, setting a program record with 22 wins along the way. Although the Blue Devils eventually fell in the College Cup final to Stanford, that season set the precedent for Duke as a national powerhouse and saw Church win the ACC Coach of the Year award.
The Blue Devils again advanced to the College Cup Final in 2015, though that time they lost to Penn State. Two years later, Church won another ACC Coach of the Year award, while his entire staff earned recognition as the National Staff of the Year. The 2017 team broke Duke’s program win record with 23 victorious games, though it lost to UCLA in the Cup semifinals. Several players from that squad went on to make names for themselves as professional soccer players: Quinn, Schuyler DeBree, Imani Dorsey and Ella Stevens.
Duke made three straight NCAA quarterfinals from 2020-22. A key piece on two of those teams was Kansas City Current star Michelle Cooper, who became the first Duke women’s player to win the Hermann Trophy, collegiate soccer’s highest honor.
Under Church, Duke women’s soccer has only missed out on the NCAA tournament three times. He has coached six players who went on to receive first-team All-American honors, including Cooper, who was named to the first-team twice in her two-year collegiate career.
‘More than just a coach to player’
Putting together a group of 20-30 college-aged women into a team capable of winning championships is not an easy feat, but Church’s natural ability to form connections with his players has made it look simple over the past 23 years. A key part of that ability is the emphasis he places on turning his team into a family.
“He's just instilled this idea of we're playing for something bigger than just our individual selves,” current graduate student Maggie Graham said. “We're playing for Duke. We're playing for each other.”
Former USWNT captain Carla Overbeck has worked as an assistant coach for the women’s soccer team since before Church came to Duke. Over the years, she has witnessed Church’s ability to bring his players together as a family both on and off the field.
“He definitely preaches that we are a family first,” Overbeck said. “He gives them great examples and shows them how our Duke women's soccer team is indeed a family, and how we take care of people.”
Taking care of people has become a hallmark of Church’s leadership style. Both alumni and current players agree that he never fails to recognize that they are more than just soccer players.
“The relationships that he’s built with us — it’s more than just a coach to a player. It’s a person to person,” sophomore Cameron Roller said.
In addition to wearing Duke blue, Roller often adds red and white to the mix — the sophomore standout has played considerably with the U.S. U-19 National Team. She shared how Church has always checked on her during her trips. If he can watch the game, he always does, and calls Roller afterwards to talk about it. His first priority, however, is not how she played, but how she feels afterwards.
It’s easy to play for someone who cares so much.
“It makes you want to listen to him, want to learn from him, want to work for him,” Kasey Truman said.
‘Go through a brick wall for him’
Golan dealt with injuries throughout her college career, which ultimately kept her off the field for her senior season. That was the same year that Church became head coach, and he gave Golan the opportunity to help him develop and coach her underclassmen teammates.
“You don’t come to Duke to be a coach,” Golan said.
But Church suggested that instead of going to law school as Golan had planned, she should work as a graduate assistant to see if coaching was something she wanted to do long-term. From there, Golan’s love for coaching was born. She now heads up the women’s program at Missouri.
“What I took away was always striving to give players value in terms of whatever their role was,” Golan said. “The fact that he cares about you as a person, first and foremost, makes you want to go through a brick wall for him.”
Sarah Pickens, a senior standout on the 2001 squad, also credits Church with having influenced her career path. Pickens works as the vice president of programs for the U.S. Soccer Foundation, a job that involves overseeing youth development where she implements “tidbits of learning” from Church on a daily basis.
“Building connections with the team and the players and putting the person before the player,” Pickens said, “that’s Robbie.”
The fierce loyalty and support Church provides extends even beyond the women he has coached to those who work for him as well. For the first few years that Church was head coach at Duke, Overbeck played for the Carolina Courage of the Women’s United Soccer Association, even winning a championship with them in 2002. His flexibility defined Overbeck’s experience as she worked as a coach, a player and a mother.
“He enabled me to continue to raise my kids and be a professional athlete while still holding down my job at Duke,” Overbeck said. “I’m not sure any other coach that I worked for would have done it quite like Robbie.”
The ability to inspire people to strive to do their best can be rare, but Church has positively affected the lives of those around him through his enthusiasm for the game that has shaped so much of his life.
“Robbie’s passion was infectious,” Oxenham said. “He wanted to win and he loved the game in such an earnest fashion that it was contagious.”
‘Everything I love about Duke’
There was a smile across Church’s face after the Oct. 6 game. Duke’s 3-1 win against Louisville was part of the reason; the alumni who came back to Duke were the other part. Church’s smile only widened as he spoke about what the alumni have been up to. He enjoys following their lives and seeing the impact that they have made on the world after Duke.
They, in turn, credit Church for the impact he has made on them.
“Robbie [Church] embodies everything I love about Duke,” alumna Casey Parker, formerly McCluskey, said. “We expect excellence on the field and in the classroom and as people. He embodies that and expects that of us.”
Just as Church inherited a veteran roster brimming with talent from his predecessor, he will pass down an exceptionally talented roster to his successor, current associate head coach Kieran Hall.
But as Church was quick to emphasize, his time at Duke has not run out quite yet.
“I would love to take this team to a Final Four,” Church said. “I’ve been to a Final Four. It’s this special College Cup as we call it. And I think they’re special.”
Church has been to a Final Four three times. His last team could make it four.
The 2024 team has already started the hard work of ensuring its beloved head coach’s wish for his last season comes true. The Blue Devils have carried him over the threshold of winning 300 games and crossed one key item off of Church’s head coaching bucket list: beating North Carolina in Koskinen Stadium, something the program has never done in the 36 years of its existence. Church and his No. 1-ranked team in the country now look to the homestretch of its season with the hopes of a College Cup appearance in sight.
“I am the luckiest person in the world,” Church said of the 24 teams he has coached along the way. “It changes their lives. Duke changes people’s lives.”
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