Drury soccer assistant coach Melissa Kuhar (left) and Drury soccer coach Justin Olson pose with their Great Lakes Valley Conference trophy in 2021. Kuhar was recently hired as the head coach at Michigan Tech. (Photo courtesy of Drury University)

HOUGHTON — The first thing you should know about the new head soccer coach at Michigan Tech is that Melissa Kuhar is very busy already. She has all kinds of little coaching things to take care of, like making sure the team has all the important tools at their disposal, whether equipment-wise, or even academically. However, she already knows, despite joining the Huskies fairly late into the offseason, she likes it in Houghton.

“From the moment I got on campus for the interview portion of it, the people here on campus, but also in the community, were a big selling point for me,” she said.

While becoming a head coach was something on her long-term goal list, Kuhar was happy where she was, heading into her fifth season as an assistant coach at Drury. Still, when the Huskies came calling, she opened her mind up to the possibility.

“I wasn’t really looking for a job when Tech reached out to me about the possibility,” she said. “So, I was hesitant, because I had such a good thing where I was. But, you come here, and it’s kind of cliche to say, but, (I felt) that homey feel. I felt that, right off the bat, from just my first interaction with (Assistant Athletic Director) Rhys (Edwards) and then just all these random people I met throughout that process, the lady at the hotel desk, all that was awesome.”

Kuhar is excited about how Michigan Tech supports their athletic teams, which was a major selling point for her to make the jump.

“The resources at Tech are insane compared to previous places I’ve been,” she said. “I’m doing equipment right now. It’s like I really don’t even have to really worry about the little details, and I can actually coach, and actually produce things on the field. So, that was like a big factor as well. The resources here are awesome.”

While the extra resources being available helps, Kuhar is having to learn quickly that Michigan Tech is much, much more than an athletics school. Academics are a huge part of every student athlete’s experience, but that influence is even larger in Houghton than it might be elsewhere.

“I’m learning,” she said. “They’re a lot smarter than me on the current roster, and I’m not dumb. But, they’re a lot smarter than me, you know?

“When I took this job, I realized the academics are why people come to Tech, typically. The soccer part’s the benefit, and the added bonus, but the academics sell this place, so that’s pretty easy on my part. I don’t have to sell, like, ‘Oh, you’re going to leave here, and you’re going to make money. You’re going to leave here with a degree that means a lot.’ So, that actually makes recruiting easier, in a sense.”

While the focus at Michigan Tech is typically on the student part of student athlete, Kuhar feels that it is important to find athletes with good character and good quality, so she feels that she does not need to change how she approaches recruiting in general.

“You want a good student athlete in the whole picture, the student part, the athlete part, the human being part,” she said. “So, that has not changed my recruiting philosophy from wherever I’ve been. You want those good character, good quality kids. That’s the same here, just with a little more of the rigor of the academics.”

While Michigan Tech is a rigorous place to earn your degree, Kuhar knows that she wants to be her student athletes’ biggest supporter as well. She feels that every student athlete needs that care and support, along with understanding along the way.

She learned that from Panthers head coach Justin Olson, whom she worked alongside for multiple seasons.

“That’s kind of what I want to bring here to Tech,” said Kuhar. “These athletes, the riggers of the academics, all of that, sometimes they just need a little love in their life. Someone that they know cares about them. They’re not just athletes, they’re people, and so that’s big for me.

“That’s the foundation of why I coach, to impact these females’ lives in a positive way, help them be better people when they leave here. Hopefully there’s a change from Year One to their last year here. At Drury, and all my stops in my coaching career, that’s always been my goal.”

In sports in general, but especially in women’s sports, confidence plays a huge role in an athlete’s complete experience. Kuhar knows that there will be some growing pains both for her and for her players as she is new to being a head coach at this level, but she hopes that the experience will ultimately be rewarding for everyone involved.

“That’s a big one of my coaching values, that confidence, and instilling confidence in them,” she said. “Sadly, females have this kind of, they’re down on themselves. They always do that, and that’s, sadly, the reality of kind of what they go through. I’m definitely big on the build-them-up. I am, obviously, the coach, so there’s going to be times I have to be a little harsh, but I’m never that type of person that’s going to come at them and try to kill their confidence.”

She has had that experience herself, which helped mold her now into the type of coach she wants to be.

“In my playing career, I had some really bad coaches that killed my confidence,” she said. “I quit the sport when I was in college, actually, and then found it again. It was all because of confidence. So, for me, that’s big. As a coach, I know how much of an impact I can have on these people’s lives in a good and bad way, and I choose to do it all in a positive way.”

Taking into account the academic rigors of Michigan Tech, and the desire to put the best team she can on the field game in and game out, Kuhar is already looking ahead at ways she can keep the team motivated without trying to constantly drone in the nuances she wants the team to play with.

“I know it’s hard as a college athlete, you’re in class all day, you maybe get an hour break, and then you have to come to practice,” she said. “You’re supposed to be on your ‘A’ game at practice, I know. That’s, again, one of those reasons to interact with all of them. You cantell in a two-second interaction, sometimes they’re struggling. So, that’s one of the big reasons I plan to do that.

“I know I can’t ask them sometimes, if they’re really mentally just drained, to have a very mentally-tough practice. So, I’m going to call them like ‘brain’ practices, where we don’t use our brain, and we just play. I’ll have to mix that in there randomly, and I am aware of that.”