How former BYU soccer coach Chris Watkins has found a new home at rival Gonzaga

PROVO — Chris Watkins walked on to the grass at South Field and immediately went to the bench Thursday night before the BYU women’s soccer team faced Gonzaga.

He’d done it so many times before, like in a 21-year career as head coach of the BYU men’s soccer team, plus a handful more as associate head coach of the women’s program.

But Thursday was a little bit different, as he set down his bag, filled with notes, schemes, roster charts and other tools.

The bag was blue and red — and had a Gonzaga logo on it.

So, too, did Watkins’ shirt, clad in the usual Zags’ red with white "Zags soccer" scribed across the front of it.

After nearly three decades at BYU, Watkins was playing his first match overseeing the visiting team at South Field. Last year, he faced the Cougars in Spokane, which was awkward enough — staring across the field at BYU coach Jennifer Rockwood, his friend, colleague and mentor in many ways.

Now he was back in Provo — only Provo wasn’t home.

So yeah, it felt a little weird.

“Stepping out on Haws Practice Field this morning was weird enough for a walkthrough,” said Watkins, whose Bulldogs lost 3-1 to BYU in the West Coast Conference opener for both teams. “But the weirdest thing was setting my bag down on the visitor’s bench when I walked out. That just hit me.

“I have so many great memories. Jen and I were friends and colleagues before, and now she’s a great friend. Life is good, progressed for both of us, and it’s good.”

Fortunately for Rockwood, the Cougars' bench is separated by the press box and raised public-address booth on the north side of South Field. Were it not, she might have been able to stare directly at Watkins, like she did a year ago when BYU went to Spokane and won 6-3 in 2017.

Instead, she was able to laugh off the encounter — and for 90 minutes on the pitch, the Zags (5-3-2, 0-1 WCC) were just another team.

Luckily, she admitted again.

“We chatted before, and it was fun to see him,” said Rockwood, who owns a 368-11-33 record in 24 seasons with the Cougars. “He’s a big part of this program and all of the success we’ve had, and I’ve known him for so long. We’re happy for the success that they are having.

“But it’s lucky I couldn’t see him too much on the bench over there.”

After the Cougars (6-3-1, 1-0 WCC) took a 2-0 halftime lead on goals by Elise Flake and Lizzy Braby, Gonzaga battled back. The Bulldogs scored in the 55th minute through Sophia Braun, who one-timed her saved penalty kick to cut Cougars’ lead to 2-1.

But Makaylie Moore put the game away with a sensation long-range shot in the 72nd minute, and BYU took the 3-1 win to open WCC play.

A lot of these were players Watkins coached at BYU. If not that, he recruited them to Provo as the team’s associate head coach and primarily recruiting contact.

Now he was lining up a side to try to take them down — something few teams in the West Coast Conference have done before last year’s slide in Provo.

Watkins is in charge of bringing down the program he helped build for 23 years. But he’s also in charge of much more as a first-time head women’s soccer coach.

“I think I was really well invested with the women’s program (at BYU), so wins and losses affect me the same way now,” he said. “There’s no difference there. But there is a little more stress day-to-day. At Gonzaga, we don’t have the support staff we do here — the marketing, the communications; this is a machine that we’ve built here.

“In some ways, that is hard — and in some ways, it’s very invigorating and gives me life that I didn’t have before.”

Watkins left Provo about two years ago on good terms, but felt the move was the right one to take. After all, he had never been the head coach of a women’s program, and being a career assistant can only take one so far.

His foray as a men’s soccer coach had gone well — Watkins went 305-103-75 in 21 years with the Cougars’ club team. But the program was on its way out of the semi-professional Premier Development League where the team played, and it was obvious that BYU’s administration didn’t see much of a future in the men’s program outside of the collegiate club ranks, Watkins admits.

So Watkins, a Kansas native who starred at Drake before playing professionally for the Salt Lake Flamengo and Utah Blitzz, packed up his family, sold his home and made the move to Spokane.

When he arrived in the Pacific Northwest, Watkins immediately began tapping his roots — recruiting the clubs and players he knew to BYU’s in-conference rival.

He immediately drew a commitment from former Maple Mountain goalkeeper Kayla Thompson, who is currently a freshman for the Zags. Watkins also added Alta’s Isabel Jones, a transfer from Utah who started between the pipes Thursday night in Provo.

Also on Gonzaga’s young roster is freshman Bryanna Carson, a former all-state midfielder from Pleasant Grove.

There’s no lack of talent from the Beehive State on the Zags’ roster. But it’s still early in Watkins’ tenure, and he still gets emails from Utah high school and club soccer coaches, almost every week.

“It’s been nice; we have really, really good recruiting classes coming in,” Watkins said. “Next year will be our first true recruiting class, and it’s a great class.”

The local flavor even spread to his coaching staff.

Shortly after Watkins took the job at Gonzaga, he brought along former Utah Valley women’s soccer defensive standout Lexi Brown and Josh Patino, who played for Watkins at BYU, graduated in December 2012, and went on to a coaching career that included three seasons as the head coach at Division III Southern Virginia.

He didn’t know Brown very well when she was a student-assistant coach at her alma mater in Orem, despite being just a few miles away on University Parkway. But Watkins believes she has a bright future in coaching — and is quick to recognize that may come as a head coach sooner than later.

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In Patino, he has a familiar face, and a former player who help start the Knights’ soccer program to lean on in Watkins’ first attempt as the man in charge.

And even though Chris Watkins spent more than two decades calling Utah home, he perceives a bright future at Gonzaga. In his first season, he helped the Bulldogs reach the 10-win mark for the first time since 2007, and only the sixth time in program history.

Gonzaga scored the most goals (39), recorded the most assists (30), and took the most shots (312) in a single season in program history in 2017.

And Watkins and his staff are just getting started.

“The future is good,” Watkins said. “Gonzaga has a really good name, a great brand, and Gonzaga really knows who we are. They recruit a certain kid, and that kid can excel — and we just wrap our arms around them and help them develop. It’s a great spot for me, and it fits my philosophy.

“It’s home.”

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