Drury University Athletics

Justin Olson will enter his seventh season as the head coach of the Drury women’s soccer program in 2026. During his tenure, he has led one of the most dramatic program turnarounds in Great Lakes Valley Conference history.
 

Olson holds a 65-24-27 record through six seasons at Drury, including a 46-15-30 mark in GLVC play. Before his arrival, the Panthers had won just three games across the previous two seasons and went winless in 2018.
 

In his sixth season, Olson guided Drury to the program’s third GLVC Tournament title—and the second of his tenure. The Panthers finished 10-3-8 overall and 8-1-5 in conference play, earning the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA-II Tournament before falling to Ashland in the opening round.
 

During the 2024 season, Olson led Drury to a 16-3-4 record and a berth in the NCAA-II Tournament. The Panthers reached the Midwest Regional Championship for just the second time in program history and secured the No. 2 seed in the GLVC postseason after an 11-1-2 conference campaign.
 

Olson previously led Drury to the 2021 GLVC Championship and the program’s first NCAA-II Tournament appearance since 2007. The Panthers went 16-5-1 that season, including a 10-3-1 GLVC record, advancing to the second round of the national tournament. Olson was named the GLVC Coach of the Year, and he and assistant Melissa Kuhar earned NCAA-II Midwest Region Coaching Staff of the Year honors.
 

Under Olson’s leadership, Drury has produced 29 All-GLVC selections and 13 All-Midwest Region honorees. In 2025, Katy Fitzler became the program’s first-ever Regional Goalkeeper of the Year. Olson has coached two GLVC Goalkeepers of the Year, one GLVC Defender of the Year, one GLVC Offensive Player of the Year, and one GLVC Freshman of the Year.
 

Olson began his tenure at Drury on Jan. 10, 2020, with his first season moved to spring 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
 

The 2026 season will mark Olson’s 14th year as a collegiate head coach. Before arriving at Drury, he spent three seasons as head coach at Bethany College (Kan.), leading the NAIA program to winning records in two of his three years. In 2018, Bethany posted its most wins in school history (12-6-2), and Olson became the first coach in program history to record 26 wins over a three-year span, finishing 27-24-4. His teams set program records in goals allowed (13) and shutouts (10), and in 2019 he coached eight all-conference selections and the league’s Freshman of the Year, Julianna Lopez.
 

Olson also served as head coach at Saint Joseph’s College in 2016 during the school’s final year of operation and spent three seasons as head coach at Calumet College of St. Joseph (2013–15), where he guided the program to its best record in school history. He additionally led Calumet’s men’s program from 2012–15 after serving as an assistant from 2009–12.
 

Beyond collegiate coaching, Olson spent four years leading NWI United and Three Lions United in Northwest Indiana and served as a staff coach for Northwestern University’s Girls Academy from 2016–2020.
 

A native of Portage, Indiana, Olson played collegiate soccer at Southern Indiana from 2005–08 and earned his degree in Communications in 2008. He and his wife, Taryn, reside in Southwest Missouri.