Dirk Bennett knew a thing or two about Eastern before taking the women’s soccer head coach job. 

Bennett is a native of Charleston and graduated twice from Eastern. He completed his bachelor’s degree in 2010 and went for his master’s, completing that in 2012. 

Bennett said that it meant a lot to him to get to coach in his hometown. 

“It’s just really cool,” Bennett said. “It’s a privilege.” 

After completing his two degrees, Bennett thought he would make his mark in the business world. After a couple of years, he realized he enjoyed soccer too much, and it was too important in his life to abandon.

“You find your way back to the game in funny ways,” Bennett said. “I get to tell people that I don’t really feel like I have a real job sometimes because I get to coach soccer every day.” 

Bennett moved in first grade from Windsor to Charleston. He played all kinds of sports including recreational soccer. 

By fourth grade, Bennett was ready to start travel sports. He was drawn to soccer because of Eastern Illinois FC, a youth soccer club based in Charleston. Back when Bennett tried out, it was called Panther Soccer Club and has since rebranded. 

Bennett was so impressive during his tryout that he earned a spot on a team older than him, so he could play up with the older kids. 

Bennett’s way back into the game of soccer later in life was through the same youth soccer club that got Bennett into the game to begin with. He took over EIFC and became the director of the club for around a year. 

While involved with EIFC, Bennett became a prominent figure for Charleston youth sports, moving up the ranks and earning a new role as athletic supervisor of the city of Charleston. 

By the time Bennett become the head coach for Eastern, he had already served as a volunteer assistant coach for the Panthers from 2016-2019, with him officially hired as an assistant coach in 2019. 

It was at this point Bennett left his position as athletic supervisor to fully focus on coaching, but he stated it was a blessing to have his foot-in-the-door opportunity be with the same club that he played with as a child. 

Bennett said coaching at that level comes with a completely different set of challenges, like teaching the fundamentals and how the game should be played, aspects of teaching he doesn’t need to worry about as head coach of Eastern. 

“Anytime you work with kids, you have to think about things that you don’t consider when you coach college kids,” Bennett said. 

When a vacancy at the head coach position opened for the women’s soccer team in June of 2023, Bennett stood out during the interview process, but it was an uphill battle once he got the job. 

Being picked to finish last in the 2023 Ohio Valley Conference preseason poll, only a few people had high hopes for Eastern in Bennett’s first season. After picking up his first career win as head coach, a 3-1 win against University of Illinois-Springfield on Aug. 20, 2023, the team managed to defy expectations. 

Eastern picked up a few results along their conference slate and finished 4-9-4, including a 3-4-2 conference record, which after tiebreakers, was good enough for sixth place and a berth to the OVC Tournament. 

While results do matter for Bennett, he says that coaching means so much more to him than who won the game. 

“I’m always going to try to win, but when I recruit kids, [I’m] always recruiting families,” Bennett said. “I think one of the reasons we have a team that’s growing and becoming more successful and made up of good players is because families just have a lot of security with how our staff and even better our whole school operates.” 

Gabe Newman can be reached at 581-2812 or at ghnewman@eiu.edu.