After guiding the Lycoming College women's soccer team to one of the most impressive turnarounds in Division III in 2019, Kenny Fern has coached the squad to three straight 10-win campaigns for the first time in program history as he enters his seventh year with the squad in 2023.

The Warriors have earned the United Soccer Coaches Team Academic Award five times and he enters the 2023 season as both the longest-tenured coach in program history and as the program's all-time wins leader.

The Warriors ended the 2022 season with a historic 12-6-2 overall record, going 5-3 in the MAC Freedom to finish third in the league and earn their first appearance in the conference playoffs in the program's 29-year history. The team started the season with a program-best 5-0-2 start and set the single-season shutout record at 10, and earned the program's first regional ranking from both the NCAA and the United Soccer Coaches during the year.

The Warriors finished 11-7-1 in 2021, the second-most wins in program history. The team featured five players with at least 10 points and the defense posted seven shutouts, the third-most in program history, and Bella Green became Lycoming's first first-team all-conference performer in six years.

After a 2-16 season in 2018, the Warriors posted an 8.5-game improvement in 2019, the third-best mark in Division III, as the team finished 10-8-1. The Warriors improved their scoring offense by nearly half-a-goal per game and by more than a goal per game in scoring defense, as the team featured a young nucleus that included just five upperclassmen.

In his first year in 2017, Jordan Lazarich tied the school record for goals in a career by a men's or women's player. He came to Lycoming as an assistant coach in 2016 before being promoted at the end of the season.

Before coming to Lycoming, Fern served as the assistant manager and head of the academy with the Kaya Football Club in Manila, Phillipines, where he helped the club win the Phillipine Cup to qualify for the Asian Football Federation Cup in 2015.

Before moving to the Phillipines, he served as a girls’ coach with Oxford Soccer League in Connecticut as part of the program’s connections with UK International Soccer. He also worked with the Arsenal Football Club U-18 women’s program for four years and the Brighton Hove Albion U-21 men’s program for four years.

Fern graduated from the University of Sussex with a bachelor’s degree in business and management in 2000 and he worked in real estate for more than 15 years before becoming a full-time coach in 2010 with Arsenal. He holds level one and two coaching badges from the English Football Association (FA) and a Union of European Football Associations B license as well as a D license from the Asian Football Confederation.

Fern has also worked to grow the game of soccer in Central Pennsylvania, founding the Williamsport City Lions Soccer Club in 2022, the area's first semi-pro men's and women's teams and serving as the head coach of the men's program. Through the Lions, he also oversees a youth training program. 

Fern and his wife, Kayla, a learning support teacher at Meadowbrook Christian School, reside in Williamsport. A native of Glasgow, Scotland, Fern has three daughters, Olivia, Isla and Ellie.

The Fern File

Hometown: Glasgow, Scotland

Wife: Kayla

Daughters: Olivia, Isla, Ellie

Collegiate Coaching Experience

2016

Lycoming College

Assistant Women's Soccer Coach

2017-Pres.

Lycoming College

Head Women's Soccer Coach

Fern Year-By-Year

Year

W

L

T

Pct.

Note

2017

5

12

1

.306

Jordan Lazarich tied school's soccer record with 62 goals in career

2018

2

16

0

.111

Freshmen accounted for 72 percent of the team's scoring

2019

10

8

1

.553

Third-most improved team in NCAA Division III

2020

-

-

-

-

Season cancelled due to COVID-19

2021

11

7

1

.605

Team posts second-most wins in program history

2022

12

6

2

.650

Helped team clinch first postseason berth in program history

Total

40

49

5

.452