ENMU women's soccer coach leaving for NWSL

PORTALES — Effective today, Omar Morales is no longer the Eastern New Mexico University women’s soccer coach.

Morales is resigning the position after three seasons. He will take a job as an assistant coach on the staff of Randy Waldrum and the Houston Dash of the National Women’s Soccer League.

Morales is second on the career wins list in program history. He posted a record of 16-36-2, including 8-24 in the Lone Star Conference.

“I’ve talked to a bunch of my friends in the soccer world, and to my wife and by taking this opportunity, my coaching career is advanced by quite a few years,” Morales said. “Having the opportunity to put this on my resume — I mean, it’s priceless.”

He said the decision was not an easy one, noting that he had big plans for his team and saw a bright future at the school.

“I feel like I’ve learned a lot, and worked with some great people here,” Morales said. “As for last fall, I felt we should have done better than we did, but we dealt with a lot of injuries. The building blocks to win are there, though, and I think whoever takes over will have what they need to win and progress forward.

“Looking at what we have for next fall made this decision tough.”

The university is creating a committee to review applicants for the position and help with the vetting process in the near future, according to the ENMU athletic department.

As for next year’s team, Morales said he expects all his recruits were still planning to come to ENMU for the 2017 season.

“As far as I know, I’ve called pretty much all of the incoming girls and they are all still planning on coming to Eastern,” Morales said.

Currently the Dash feature players such as Carli Lloyd and Morgan Brian. Lloyd is a two-time FIFA Women’s World player of the year, a World Cup champion and a two-time Olympic champion, while Brian is a current U.S. national team player and also a World Cup champion.