Kara Cook enters her 12th season with the Penn State women’s soccer program in 2024 and begins her first season as the program’s newly appointed Chief of Staff this year. Cook previously served nine seasons as Penn State’s Director of Operations and Performance Leadership, working as PSU’s Director of Operations for her first three years in Happy Valley.
Cook has been in a coaching or mentoring role in collegiate athletics for over two decades, and her primary role with the women’s soccer team at Penn State includes directing the team culture, leadership and player development programming. Cook is instrumental in the year-over-year growth and development of the program, playing a crucial role in preparing student-athletes for careers in the National Women’s Soccer League, international competition and life after soccer.
Building a high-performance culture that can sustain success over time in a highly competitive environment takes a 360-degree approach. Establishing a culture that fosters growth and excellence begins with authenticity, vision, connection, ownership, and intentionality. Cook has built a unique approach to prioritizing team culture and periodizing effective leadership and player development programming throughout the year to make sure Nittany Lion student-athletes are able to perform at their highest levels on the pitch and in the classroom.
Since arriving at Penn State ahead of the 2013 season, Cook has helped create an elite high-performance culture that has led to the highest team GPA in Penn State women’s soccer history, as well as four Big Ten Tournament Championships, five Big Ten Regular Season Championships, 11-straight NCAA Tournament appearances, eight Sweet 16 appearances, five Elite Eight appearances as well as the program’s first NCAA National Championship in 2015. Through the 2024 campaign, Cook has helped extend the second-longest active NCAA Tournament appearance streak in the nation to 29 consecutive berths, while leading the Blue & White to their first National Quarterfinal appearance since 2018 last year.
Under the leadership of head coach Erica Dambach and with Cook’s assistance, the Penn State women’s soccer program has reached new heights each year while continuing to uphold three pillars of success: Attitude of a Champion, Blue Collar and United Family. PSU’s culture supports the growth of Nittany Lion student-athletes while building championship habits and fostering genuine team cohesion.
In addition to her critical role cultivating the Nittany Lion team culture each season, Cook assists in multiple aspects of PSU’s day-to-day operations. Cook also takes the lead for Penn State on handling team travel and working with Nittany Lion travel partners to ensure a consistent and memorable student-athlete experience on the road. Cook takes the lead as the liaison between the women’s soccer program and the Penn State sports camps office, also leading the charge in Penn State’s summer camp programming.
Over more than a decade of work in Happy Valley, Cook has been a part of developing 22 student-athletes that garnered National Women’s Soccer League draft selection since the organization’s inaugural draft in 2013. Multiple student-athletes have gone on to boast significant playing careers in the league, including 2021 NWSL draftee Sam Coffey, who picked up NWSL Best XI distinction in both 2022 and 2023. Cook has mentored multiple athletes that represented their home countries in both the Summer Olympic Games and FIFA Women’s World Cup, including Coffey’s appointment to the 2024 Paris Games as well as Laura Freigang, Raquel Rodriguez, Marissa Sheva and Olivia Smith’s trips to the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
Prior to joining the Nittany Lions, Cook was previously an assistant coach for the Lock Haven men’s and women’s soccer programs for three seasons. While at Lock Haven, Cook helped guide the men’s team to the 2011 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference regular season crown. The Bald Eagles earned a wide array of Daktronics All-America, NSCAA All-Region and PSAC All-Conference honors during Cook’s three years with the program.
Cook previously served as the top assistant coach at the University of Oklahoma from 2008 to 2010. As an assistant with Oklahoma, she helped direct all facets of the program and helped recruit a nationally ranked 2010 recruiting class. She also assisted in the direction of the Sooners’ summer soccer camps. Prior to her time with the Sooners, she was an assistant coach with the University of Kansas from 2005 to 2008, leading the Jayhawks to top-four finishes in the Big 12 Conference league table in every year of her tenure in Lawrence.
Before joining Kansas’ staff, Cook served as the head coach at Emporia State University in Emporia, Kansas. During her time leading the Hornets, Cook was named the 2004-05 Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association Coach of the Year. In 2004, she led the Hornets to a 10-8-2 overall record with an 8-5-1 mark in MIAA contests, marking the first winning season in the four-year history of the program. ESU placed third in the MIAA and climbed as high as fifth in the NSCAA/Adidas Central Region rankings.
From 2000 to 2004, Cook served as the head coach at St. Gregory’s University in Shawnee, Oklahoma, for four seasons. Under her guidance, the team was able to advance to the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament all four seasons and to the NAIA Tournament in 2001.
Cook got her collegiate coaching career started as an assistant at Central Oklahoma in Edmond, Oklahoma, from 1998 to 1999. She also has high school coaching experience, directing the soccer program at Mustang High School in her native Oklahoma prior to beginning her stint at UCO. She holds a United States Soccer Federation (USSF) “A” coaching license.
Cook was a four-time All-American and four-time captain at NAIA Southern Nazarene University. She helped Nazarene advance to two NAIA National Tournaments. Cook graduated from Southern Nazarene University in 1997.