Missouri State University Director of Athletics Kyle Moats announced Monday, Dec. 6, 2021, that Kirk Nelson has been named as the new women's soccer head coach for the Bears, effective January 1, 2022.

Nelson, who was the team's associate head coach from 2014-2021, replaced Rob Brewer, who retired at the end of 2021 after 26 seasons as head coach of the MSU women's program he founded.

In only his second year at the helm, Nelson recorded another 12-win season with a final record of 12-2-5. In Missouri Valley Conference play, the Bears were undefeated with a 7-0-3 mark and a four-game winning streak to end the regular season. Nelson's Bears finished second in the MVC and set new records in shutouts (13), consecutive shutouts (8) and road wins (6). Missouri State led the MVC in goals allowed (8), goals against average (.42) and shutouts. Senior goalkeeper Camielle Day broke the record for most solo shutouts in the season (10) and goals against average (.45).

That same season, the Bears were named staistical champions by the NCAA in goals against average (.452) and shutout percentage (.684). Day was named the statistical champion in goals against average.

In the 2023 season, Missouri State players earned: back-to-back MVC Defensive Player of the Year (Carly Raunig) and MVC Goalkeeper of the Year (Day) honors. Nine Bears were selected to all-conference teams with four being first team. Nelson also had two Bears selected to the United Soccer Coaches All-Midwest Region Team (Raunig, Grace O'Keefe). The Bears also brought home a spread of academic awards in 2023 as well. For the second year in a row, Nelson had a player named MVC Scholar-Athlete of the Year (O'Keefe). Six more Bears were honored with MVC Scholar-Athlete selections for the most from any school in the Valley.

During his first year as Missouri State head coach, Nelson led the Bears to a victory in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Championship, earning MSU a spot in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2017. Nelson guided the Bears to a 12-7-2 overall record, including a 7-2-1 mark in The Valley, and a second-place finish in the MVC regular season. That year, Missouri State tied its all-time record for shutouts in a season (11), and freshman Hailey Chambliss broke the Bears' all-time record for individual game-winning goals in a season, racking up five total.

In 2022 under Nelson, Missouri State players earned: MVC Player of the Year (Grace O'Keefe), MVC Defensive Player of the Year (Carly Raunig) and MVC Freshman of the Year (Chambliss) honors. The Missouri Valley Conference selected eight Bears to all-conference teams and four MSU players to its all-tournament team. Nelson also guided three MSU players to United Soccer Coaches All-Midwest Region Team selections (O'Keefe, Chambliss and Raunig), and one of Nelson’s players was honored with the Elite 17 Award (O'Keefe). Academically, two MSU players were selected to the MVC Scholar-Athlete First Team in 2022 (O'Keefe and Camielle Day), with one of them being named MVC Co-Scholar Athlete of the Year (O'Keefe). In addition, all 30 Bears made the MSU Athletic Director’s Honor Roll for the fall 2022 semester and six MoState players were selected to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District team.

During his time as associate head coach, Nelson helped the Bears garner numerous accolades during the 2020-21 season, including three All-MVC selections, in Jacqueline Baetz, Anna Durnin and Isabel Burke. The Bears recorded thrilling wins over Drake and Southern Illinois down the final stretch of the season.  MSU recorded three shutouts with Katherine Montgomery and Kaitlyn Maxwell at the helm. Maddie Augustine, Baetz, Sierra Fury and Durnin all garnered MVC Scholar-Athlete selections.

He helped guide the Bears to an 11-5-2 record in 2019, recording six home wins and a 4-2-1 MVC mark. MSU strung together a six-game undefeated non-conference streak, highlighted by a 5-1 thumping of Tulsa on its home field. The Bears reached the MVC tournament semifinals and boasted seven players to all-conference awards, with Kaitlin Maxwell collecting goalkeeper of the year for the second-straight season.  

Originally from Annapolis, Maryland, Nelson has acted as a coach for the Midwest Region Olympic Development Program (ODP), where in 2019, his ODP squad went undefeated and advanced to the national championship in Boca Raton, Fla. He has recently been invited to be a coach for the ODP National Team with the ‘04 girls team for January of 2022.

In 2017, Nelson was instrumental in the Bears' run to the MVC Tournament title and the program's first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2000. The Bears also boasted seven MVC postseason award winners along with two all-region picks.

In 2015, he helped the Bears reach the MVC Tournament for the 19th time in 20 seasons. As the three-seed, MSU hosted an opening round match in the MVC Tournament.

In 2014, Nelson assisted in the Bears advancement to the MVC Tournament semifinals after a road victory as the five-seed.

Nelson came to Missouri State in 2014 after four seasons at the University of Nevada where he guided the Wolf Pack to back-to-back Mountain West Conference Tournaments in his last two seasons. In 2013, Nelson was promoted to associate head coach after spending his first three years in Reno as an assistant coach.

Prior to joining the Nevada staff, Nelson spent a season as an assistant coach at Washington State University. While in Pullman, he served as the recruiting coordinator for the Cougars and helped secure the 37th-ranked recruiting class in the nation that season.

Nelson also excelled in the high school ranks with stints at Hamilton High School in Chandler, Ariz., as the head girls varsity soccer coach, and at Mountain Pointe High School in Phoenix where his teams competed for a pair of 5A state championships titles and recorded 175 wins.

Nelson’s career has also included stints as an assistant coach for the W-League's Arizona Heatwave, the WPSL's Cheetahs from 2004-08, and as the associate head and assistant women's coach at Scottsdale Community College and Mesa Community College.

Nelson played collegiately at Virginia Tech and earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland in 1993 with a degree in Finance. He also earned two post-graduate degrees, one in Secondary Education and one in Mathematics, both in 1997 from University of Phoenix.

He is certified as a USSF National "A" License coach, one of the highest coaching certifications given out by the federation, and holds both an NSCAA Premier Diploma and a Goalkeeping Diploma. He has served as the Lead USSF Coaching License Instructor for Nevada, Missouri and Kansas, where he instructed the "D" & "E" coaching license courses. In 2012, he was honored with the first-ever Nevada Coaching Educator of the Year Award.

Nelson and his wife, Michele, have two children, Brock & Brynn.