Reign’s Cox energized by new challenge – co-coach of Gig Harbor girls soccer team

Just last year, Seattle Reign FC defender Stephanie Cox said she was playing the best soccer of her career and was having too much fun to be done.

She said Thursday — before helping the Reign beat the Washington Spirit, 3-0, on Sunday to secure its second consecutive trip to the National Women’s Soccer League finals — that this is likely her final professional season.

As long as this high school coaching thing turns around, anyway.

Cox has 89 career caps with the U.S. women’s national team, an Olympic gold medal, a World Cup silver and bronze medal, two and a half years of experience with the Reign … and three games as a co-coach of the Gig Harbor High School girls soccer team.

In her coaching debut, the Tides lost to Curtis, 5-1.

“I was joking with the Reign players, ‘Well, maybe I’ll continue to pursue my playing career’ after that game (against Curtis),’ ” the 29-year-old Cox said.

“(My teammates) were giving me a hard time about it. They were just like, ‘What happened!?’ And giving me stuff like that.”

Cox will travel with the Reign to that championship match against Kansas City on Oct. 1 at Portland’s Providence Park, but until then she’ll continue to juggle practices — both as a player and a coach — with her home life and finding babysitters for her 2-year-old daughter, Kaylee.

Just what has she got herself into?

“I thought after playing that coaching would definitely be a good avenue for me,” Cox said. “And I liked the idea of it being seasonal and not year-round and something I could really sink my teeth into for a season and put everything into it, but then have a break and balance in my life.”

Only she didn’t expect to be coaching and playing at the same time.

That’s where Gig Harbor co-coach Todd Northstrom comes in. The longtime boys soccer coach and off-and-on girls coach approached athletic director Bob Werner about the open girls soccer coach position, only he didn’t know that Werner had already struck an agreement with Cox.

Werner said he had approached Cox, who lives with her husband, Brian, near Gig Harbor High School, periodically the past three years trying to gauge her potential interest in coaching.

“I was ecstatic,” Werner said of Cox agreeing to coach. “But I wanted to keep it quiet until we got everything done because I know there were a few other programs that were interested and I know of some club soccer programs that were trying to get her involved.

“Then Todd came to me and said he would be interested in this job. He didn’t even know that I had the Stephanie thing going at the time. So I shared that with him and that I would be as excited as heck if he would be interested in mentoring her for the first year.”

Northstrom said his role is more behind the scenes — handling paperwork, equipment, and lending his more than a decade of high school coaching experience.

Werner said one player had contacted Cox about a physical examination and asked if it would be OK if she practiced even though she hadn’t had a recent one.

“Of course, Stephanie is like, ‘Yeah, sure. Come on out,’ ” Werner said. “And Todd is like, ‘No, she cannot. That is an ineligible player.’ She was just trying to be nice.”

Cox said she had wanted to find a way to become more invested in the community, and saw how much her husband had enjoyed coaching.

Brian Cox has been an assistant coach for the South Kitsap boys basketball team since 2007, shortly before he and Stephanie got married. Brian was a basketball and baseball star at South Kitsap before heading to the University of Portland where he met Pilots soccer star Stephanie Lopez, as she was known then.

“We have a good rivalry going on in the house with me at South Kitsap and her coming home in her Gig Harbor blue,” Brian said. “Good thing we have our own closets.”

Cox, who also briefly spent time as an assistant coach for the University of Puget Sound women’s soccer team, said that she will drive from Gig Harbor to Seattle Memorial Stadium or the Starfire Sports Complex for her 10:30 a.m. practices with the Reign, then hurry back for the 2:45 p.m. practice with the Tides — hopefully in time to meet with Northstrom beforehand and calm Kaylee of a temper tantrum.

“My poor husband doesn’t get as many fresh salads as he used to,” Cox said.

She said that most of her game planning is done on her drive home from practice or even a Reign game.

“At the very beginning it was pretty crazy,” Gig Harbor goalkeeper Erin Harder said. “We were all like, ‘Wow, she’s a professional.’ But she acts like a coach. She’s a very good coach. We don’t think about her as this intimidating professional. She’s very down to earth and easy to talk to.”

Cox said she was probably more nervous than her players for Gig Harbor’s season opener against Curtis.

This is the same player who has competed in intense matches across the globe.

“Yeah, I’ve played in World Cup games, I played in an Olympic final. But this is new,” Cox said. “Even though it’s the same game, this is totally new. But I’m definitely more comfortable now.”

This story was originally published September 14, 2015 at 11:17 PM with the headline "Reign’s Cox energized by new challenge – co-coach of Gig Harbor girls soccer team."