Melissa Kuhar will start her fourth season as the assistant coach for the Drury women’s soccer program in 2023.

She and head coach Justin Olson were named the Midwest Region Coaching Staff of the Year in 2021 after leading the Panthers to a 16-5-1 season, a 10-3-1 record in the GLVC, and to the second round of the NCAA-II Tournament. It marked the first national appearance for the program since 2007.

The Panthers have gone 27-14-12 since her arrival and have produced 11 All-GLVC selections, two All-Midwest Region players, the GLVC Offensive Player of the Year (Elsa Gonzalez, 2022), and the GLVC Freshman of the Year (Tara Simon, 2022).

In addition to her work at Drury, Kuhar is also the head girls' soccer coach at Greenwood High School in Springfield. She guided the Blue Jays to the state semifinals, a third place finish in Class 1, and a 16-4 record in her first season at Greenwood.   

Kuhar joined the Panthers coaching staff after serving three years as an assistant at Bethany College in Kansas with head coach Justin Olson. She helped the NAIA program to winning seasons in two of the three seasons there, and in 2018,  the team posted the most wins in school history, finishing 12-6-2. The Swedes went 27-24-4 in her three years at Bethany.

While at Bethany, Kuhar also worked as a sports information assistant and was an adjunct professor teaching classes in the Exercise Science department.

Kuhar was also an assistant girls' soccer coach at Salina High School in Kansas in 2019-20, and was an assistant at Saint Joseph High School in South Bend, Indiana, and helped the team reach the Indiana 3A state semifinals.

She played collegiate soccer for St. Joseph’s (Ind.) from 2014-16 and graduated with a degree in Sport Management. Kuhar also owns a Master’s degree in Sports Administration from the American Public University System.