Mark Persson has built the SWOSU Women’s Soccer program into a consistent contender since taking over the program in 2009 and he enters his 16th season with the Bulldogs in 2024. Persson is the winningest coach in program history, bringing a 150-100-36 (.587) record into this season.
Persson is a five-time conference Coach of the Year with the Bulldogs, earning the honor for the Lone Star Conference in 2009 and four times from the GAC in SWOSU’s record-setting 2012 campaign, after the 2016 season, and after recapturing the conference title in both 2019 and 2022. His teams have won six regular season conference championships (2012, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2022) and five GAC Tournament championships (2012, 2013, 2017, 2019, 2022) after sweeping both trophies in '22.
Persson has led the Bulldogs to eight 12-win seasons including the best season in program history as he led SWOSU to an undefeated regular season and a 20-1-1 overall record in 2012 which included the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament win. He then led the Bulldogs to the Central Regional Championship match in 2017, where they fell to eventual national champion Central Missouri in Warrensburg, Mo., to end the longest postseason run in program history. The Bulldogs made other appearances in the NCAA Tournament in 2019, 2021, and most recently 2022.
In 15 seasons at the helm of the SWOSU Soccer program, Persson has seen nine All-American selections, two Academic All-Americans, two Regional Players of the Year, 41 All-Region selections, 113 All-Conference (Lone Star & Great American) picks and 20 GAC specialty award winners, including three-time Offensive Player of the Year Alimata Rabo, three-time Defensive Player of the Year Kira Bertrand, and two-time Goalkeeper of the Year Courtney Flores.
Persson took over a program that had combined to win three games in the two seasons prior to his arrival. His teams won at least six games in each of his first three seasons before breaking through with the 20-1-1 record in 2012.
Before coming to SWOSU, Persson had spent 12 years as a high school and college coach, the last eight of which were spent at Southern Nazarene University. At SNU, he initially served as the men's head coach and posted a 100-33-14 record in eight-plus years. His teams made five consecutive trips to the NAIA National Tournament and advanced to in the National Final 4 in 2005. He then served in the dual capacity as both the men's and women's head coach in the 2006 and 2007 before only coaching the women in 2008.
In the 2008 season at SNU, his team finished with a 14-2-3 record and were ranked as high as No. 13 in the final NAIA poll. The SNU women went 32-19-7 in three years under his guidance, included back-to-back winning seasons in 2007 and 2008.
A native of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, Persson is a 1996 graduate of SNU where he was a two-time NAIA All-American. He then went on to play semi-professionally with the Oklahoma City Slickers before taking over the men's and women's coaching duties at Phillips University in 1997.
He led the Phillips men to the 1997 Sooner Athletic Conference championship and was voted the league's coach of the year, the first of now seven times that he received such an award. He remained in Enid after Phillips shut its doors in 1998 coaching both at Enid High School and later Northern Oklahoma College-Enid. Persson then moved to Bethany in 2001 when he joined the SNU coaching staff on a full-time basis.
He and his wife Sheila have three children.
Coach Persson Year-by-Year (at SWOSU)
| Year |
W |
L |
T |
% |
W |
L |
T |
% |
Result |
Postseason |
| 2009 |
7 |
10 |
2 |
.421 |
4 |
5 |
1 |
.450 |
7th/LSC |
None |
| 2010 |
7 |
10 |
1 |
.472 |
3 |
7 |
1 |
.318 |
9th/LSC |
None |
| 2011 |
6 |
11 |
2 |
.368 |
4 |
2 |
0 |
.667 |
2nd/GAC |
L, GAC Semis |
| 2012 |
20 |
1 |
1 |
.932 |
9 |
0 |
1 |
.950 |
1st/GAC |
L, NCAA II 2nd Rd |
| 2013 |
13 |
4 |
2 |
.737 |
7 |
1 |
1 |
.833 |
1st/GAC |
W, GAC Championship |
| 2014 |
2 |
13 |
3 |
.194 |
2 |
6 |
2 |
.300 |
T-5th/GAC |
None |
| 2015 |
13 |
6 |
1 |
.675 |
8 |
3 |
1 |
.708 |
3rd/GAC |
L, GAC Championship |
| 2016 |
12 |
4 |
3 |
.711 |
9 |
3 |
0 |
.750 |
1st/GAC |
L, GAC Championship |
| 2017 |
13 |
4 |
5 |
.705 |
7 |
1 |
4 |
.750 |
2nd/GAC |
L, NCAA II Regional Final |
| 2018 |
13 |
5 |
1 |
.711 |
10 |
2 |
0 |
.833 |
2nd/GAC |
L, GAC Championship |
| 2019 |
13 |
5 |
3 |
.690 |
8 |
1 |
3 |
.792 |
1st/GAC |
L, NCAA II Regional Tournament |
| 2021 (S) |
4 |
4 |
1 |
.500 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
.583 |
3rd/GAC |
L, GAC Tournament |
| 2021 |
13 |
7 |
1 |
.643 |
10 |
1 |
1 |
.875 |
1st/GAC |
L, NCAA II Regional Tournament |
| 2022 |
9 |
5 |
7 |
.595 |
7 |
0 |
5 |
.791 |
1st/GAC |
L, NCAA II Regional Tournament |
| 2023 |
5 |
11 |
3 |
.341 |
5 |
5 |
2 |
.500 |
4th/GAC |
L, GAC Tournament |
| Totals |
150 |
100 |
36 |
.587 |
96 |
39 |
23 |
.680 |
6 GAC Titles |
5 NCAA II Championship Appearances |
THE PERSSON FILE
Coaching Career
2009 – Present: Southwestern Oklahoma State (Head Soccer Coach)
Record: 150-100-36 (.587)
2006 – 08: Southern Nazarene (Head Women’s Soccer Coach)
Record: 32-19-7 (.612)
2001 – 07: Southern Nazarene (Head Men’s Soccer Coach)
Record: 100-33-14 (.728)
1999 – 00: Northern Oklahoma College – Enid (Head Women’s Soccer Coach)
1998: Enid HS (Head Soccer Coach)
1997: Phillips University (Head Men’s & Women’s Soccer Coach)
Coaching Awards
2022: Great American Conference Coach of the Year
2019: Great American Conference Coach of the Year
2016: Great American Conference Coach of the Year
2012: Great American Conference Coach of the Year
2009: Lone Star Conference Coach of the Year
Education
Southern Nazarene University
Bachelor’s Degree, 1996
