James Dempsey joined the Hood College coaching staff in the summer of 2023.  

Dempsey hails originally from Galway, Ireland and comes to Hood College after a successful playing and coaching career in Mississippi and Colorado. Dempsey made the move over to the United States in 2017 to play for Pearl River Community College men’s soccer program under head coach Drew Gallant. In 2017, Dempsey and the team won the Mississippi state championship and advanced to the national tournament. The following season Dempsey made the move to Belhaven University in Jackson, Mississippi under the leadership of head coach James Gledhill, a previous Temple University women's soccer coach. Dempsey went on to be a pivotal part of the Blazers’ attack, starting as a center forward for the three seasons that followed, helping the Blazers qualify for the American Southwest Conference playoffs three years in a row, posting winning records each year and ranking No. 25 in the nation in 2019.  

Throughout Dempsey’s collegiate playing career, he also coached multiple Mississippi Rush soccer club youth teams while pursuing his degree in Sports management.

After graduating Dempsey made the move to Colorado Springs where he coached at Colorado Pride soccer club and was the head boys coach at Vista Ridge High School. Dempsey returned to Mississippi the following year to begin a master's degree in business administration from Belhaven University, where he joined the staff as a volunteer assistant coach. That same year, Dempsey became the assistant boys' soccer coach at Hartfield Academy, helping the program win their first Division 1 Mississippi state championship.