After the most successful season in Mississippi State soccer history, now-former Bulldog head coach James Armstrong is moving on to Auburn for the same position.
Armstrong became the program’s all-time winningest head coach after a 19-3 campaign in 2024, which included a perfect 10-0 mark in SEC play, the school’s first SEC soccer championship, and a run to the NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen.
The shimmering campaign captured the attention of soccer fans across America, but especially in Starkville. Eight consecutive top-10 crowds, four of them beating previous top attendance records, watched the maroon and white accomplish what had never been done on the MSU Soccer Field. The second-largest crowd in the program’s record books (3,772) filled the stands in what turned out to be Armstrong’s final match leading the team.
The dawn of a new era
Please welcome the fourth head coach in program history, James Armstrong!
https://t.co/mQhLLhMW5K#WarEagle pic.twitter.com/hs86uKuTyI
— Auburn Soccer (@AuburnSoccer) December 3, 2024
“Coaching is such a reward when you’re surrounded by incredible people… These girls put so much effort and hard work into what they do every day,” Armstrong said after the Bulldogs final match, a 2-0 loss to Notre Dame to end the season in the national tournament. “It’s an honor to coach them, and the big thing for our staff is that we get to prepare them for life.”
While Armstrong is moving on, the glass ceiling in Starkville was broken and the standard soared to new heights over the course of the historic season. Now, athletic director Zac Selmon is tasked with finding the next head coach to carry on the torch lit by the 2024 Bulldogs.
