On Jan. 23, Ohlone College announced its selection of Eddie Hernandez to lead the Women’s Soccer team as head coach for the 2025 Fall season.
Hernandez is a Fremont native, graduating from Washington High School and attending Ohlone College where he began his own collegiate soccer journey as a Renegade. “It feels really good to be back home,” said Hernandez.
Ohlone College was Hernandez’s introduction to collegiate soccer where he says he made a lot of good memories and grew as a player before transferring to Warner Pacific University of Portland, Oregon.
The path Hernandez took has created the coaching perspective that he has now. “As a prior community college athlete I think that development for these young women, and community college athletes in general, is more important than wins and losses because they have an opportunity to go on and play after,” he adds, “I understand that everybody is on their own path.”
In Oct. 2024, Ohlone announced its decision to halt the Women’s Soccer program just after the season began due to “unforeseen circumstances.” Dean of Kinesiology, Athletics and Performing Arts Chris Warden said in the press release, “Our goal is to have the program back, rebuilt and ready to compete next fall.”
The rebuilding has already begun as Hernandez has attended local high school games searching for talent to shape the new team. This is where being an East Bay native has its advantages for the new coach. Hernandez shared, “Growing up in the area, I understand which clubs to recruit from and the demographics of the kids in the area.”
However, building from the ground up will be a challenge, especially when last season’s team only had the chance to play two games before its cancellation. Hernandez admitted it would be an uphill battle for the new team. “Other teams got to have about 15 to 18 more games than our group would have had last fall. Since the spring is still a rebuild, we will most likely not have games in the spring which will allow other teams to add another 4 or 5 games,” explained Hernandez.
Along with recruiting, “bringing in a quality staff,” is another factor on the new coach’s mind. He shared that within the first three days of the announcement of his selection, seven people wanted to volunteer their time to be assistant coaches and help out. He credits the outreach to his 13 years of experience.
“My philosophy is, ‘People don’t care about how much you know until they know how much you care,’” said Hernandez. “Through my coaching career I’ve shown everybody that I care and now everybody wants to be able to return the favor.”
While looking toward the future, Hernandez shared a message to players in the area: “If people are looking for a place to play, they should come out. We’re going to be a brand new team; it’s a chance for individuals to really carve their name in the stones that are going to be left behind.”
While Hernandez’s coaching journey—which started at 16 years old—has taken him from youth clubs to professional organizations, returning to Ohlone is giving him the chance to return the knowledge and experience the institution had once given him. He shared, “I’m glad I get to give back to my community as a coach.”
Visit Ohlone Athletics to keep up with the team’s 2025 season.
