Mizzou soccer refreshes coaching staff

Two new hirings mark a new era for HC Stefanie Golan

Ahead of the 2025 season, Mizzou soccer head coach Stefanie Golan has completely changed the look of her support staff with two new hirings and one promotion. Former assistant Kelsey Wys was promoted to associate head coach, Renee Horton was brought in as an additional associate head coach, and Austen Parker was added as an assistant.

These new hires will replace previous associate head coach Andy Stoots, who is now head coach at Ball State, and assistant Dimitri Kaliakin, who was named the St. Lawrence head coach in New York.

Here’s what you should know regarding the three coaches and their new roles ahead of the 2025 season.

Kelsey Wys

Let’s start with the in-house promotion. Kelsey Wys is entering her fourth year with Mizzou soccer, serving as an assistant coach for the first three seasons. Wys primarily worked with goalkeepers, but had a hand in helping on all aspects of the pitch. She helped several players to breakout seasons, notably Kylee Simmons’ 24-point year in 2023.

Before joining Mizzou she was the goalkeeper coach at Appalachian State, her first coaching job. She spent five years playing in the NWSL with her time split between the New York Flash and Washington Spirit. After her last year in the NWSL, Wys spent one year overseas playing for UMF Selfoss in Iceland.

Wys is one of the great young minds in soccer, promoted to associate head coach in only her sixth year of coaching. It would be no surprise if she was offered a head coach position in the near future.

Renee Horton

The first hire made this offseason by Golan was Renee Horton. Most recently she coached for one season at West Georgia as the associate head coach/recruiting coordinator. She was part of the staff tasked with adjusting UWG to the Division 1 level, as 2024 was their first year in the Atlantic Sun. Before that she spent two years as a video analyst at Georgia, helping the Bulldogs make the NCAA tournament both seasons.

She had several other key stops at the Power 5 level at USC and Xavier as an analyst and assistant coach, respectively. Her first season as a collegiate coach came back in 2016 as an assistant at Lander College. Previously she spent 14 years in the club ranks with Florida ODP, including six years as a lead staff coach.

Horton spent plenty of time in Florida, playing collegiately for USF. She started in 42 matches for the Bulls across her four years. She was a dual-sport athlete, serving as a pinch runner for the softball team. She spent three years playing in the USL W-League, which was once defunct but returned simply as USL W in 2022.

Horton has a wealth of experience under her belt; plus she has worked and learned under several elite programs, making her a perfect addition as associate head coach.

Austen Parker

The final addition to the coaching staff was new assistant Austen Parker. He will serve as the primary goalkeeper coach. Most recently Parker spent one year at North Texas, helping the Mean Green goalkeepers to eight shutouts across the 2024 season.

Before his time at North Texas, Parker spent several years with various programs across the state of Oklahoma. At the collegiate level he coached at Central Oklahoma and Southwestern Christian University, while at the club level he worked with the Oklahoma Rangers and Oklahoma Celtic.

Parker was a goalkeeper at Mid-American Christian University, earning NCCAA All-American honors in 2019 while leading his team to a NCCAA National Championship.

“We are extremely excited to bring Austen into the program,” Golan said in an MU Tigers press release. “We wouldn’t have been able to elevate Kelsey [Wys] the way we are if we didn’t find the right person to come in to work with the GKs, and Austen is definitely the right person. He has a contagious energy, an extremely high attention to detail, and a relentless work ethic and competitive drive. In addition to working with the GKs, Austen will be heavily involved in recruiting and scouting amongst other duties.”

With both Parker and Wys spending time at goalkeeper, the position group is better than the past few seasons. The goalkeepers on the roster include returning Kate Phillips, Cal Poly transfer Riley Wilkerson and talented freshman Addison Colangelo.

As her previous assistants reach new career heights, Golan’s promotion of Wys and the hirings of Horton and Parker give a fresh look for Mizzou soccer in the 2025 season. The schedule was released last month, as they open the season at home on Thursday, Aug. 14 at 7 pm.