On Monday, WSU hosted its opening press conference for Chris Citowicki, the new women’s soccer head coach. The press conference, held on the second floor of the Gesa Field press box, officially made Citowicki the eighth women’s soccer head coach in program history.
The conference was filled with Citowicki’s wife, Aryn, and their two kids, many of the women’s soccer players, several other WSU athletics head coaches and other WSU-related personnel.
Interim athletic director Jon Haarlow came to the stage first to introduce Citowicki to the audience. He explained how, when searching for a new head coach, they had specific criteria.
“A high-energy culture builder who would foster a positive environment,” Haarlow said. “Someone who’d experienced success and had a history of strong player development. Someone familiar with the region and familiar with recruiting in the West. Coach Citowicki embodies all of that.”
Citowicki comes to Washington State after eight seasons at the University of Montana. As the head coach, he led the Grizzlies to four NCAA First Round appearances. Before that, he spent a year at the University of North Dakota as an associate head coach. From 2011 to 2016, he was the head coach at St. Catherine University.
Upon coming to the stage, Citowicki thanked the WSU community and his wife for their support.
Citowicki specifically detailed how his wife Aryn Citowicki has been with him through every stage of his coaching career since the time he was a graduate assistant at Bemidji State University in 2006. He held that role until 2007 and then coached at Shattuck St. Mary’s School club soccer in Minnesota until 2010. In 2010, he worked as an assistant coach at Augsburg University.
Later in his speech, Citowicki recognized his parents for giving him an opportunity at a better life. He was originally born in Poland in 1983, but his parents escaped with him due to internal political tension in 1985. They moved and lived in an Italian refugee camp from 1985 to 1986. From around 1986 to 1991, he lived in South Africa. From 1991 to 2001, he lived in Australia, and then came to the United States.
“This whole time all they [his parents] were looking for was a new life, a new beginning, and a better future for their kids,” Citowicki said.
When discussing his new role, Citowicki described how excited he is to lead this team for the foreseeable future.
“I understand that the past few years have been difficult, but when you go through difficult things, you grow and you become better, and that’s exactly what I see in this community … Yes, it’s new, it’s different, it’s scary, but you know what? We’re going to crush it, and I couldn’t be more excited to be here.”
WSU soccer has not made the NCAA tournament since 2021, when it was coached by Todd Shulenberger. Shulenberger coached the Cougars for 11 seasons but left this past offseason and is now the head coach at Ole Miss.
Citowicki thanked Shulenberger for the work he did at WSU and said that he was trying to build and coach Montana around what Shulenberger was doing at WSU throughout the years.
Upon arriving in Pullman, Citowicki had to put the team together. Originally, the Cougs only had 11 players set to return for the 2026 season. He also had to bring in an entirely new coaching staff.
“The most important thing was putting the team together first and foremost,” Citowicki said. “If we can do that, we’re going to have a very tremendous spring. We can actually develop a game model and instill things for the fall.”
The Cougs now have 24 players on the 2026 roster.
The past two seasons, WSU was a part of the West Coast Conference. This fall, however, the Cougars will be joining the all-new Pac-12, and with that comes a fresh start, which allows coach Citowicki to implement his playing style at WSU.
“We’ll be heavy when it comes to the defending and the pressing from the front. When it comes to the game model itself, in possession, it’s bringing it [the ball] out of the back, breaking the first line, having success in the middle-third, and then attacking space in behind,” he said.
However, Citowicki also wants the way they play to be “attractive.”
“Most importantly, it [the way we play] needs to be attractive … People are paying money to come to games; people want to be entertained. The players need to play with a certain level of love and joy that anybody who’s out there can watch and connect with and say, ‘I want to be a part of that too,’” he said.
To be successful, Citowicki stated they would need to work hard.
“There’s no sugarcoating it; what comes next is going to be extremely hard,” he said. “Success does not come easy, and we’re going to have to work for absolutely everything.”
With a new coaching staff officially in place and a roster largely established, the Cougars are ready to hit the ground running heading into their first season in the new Pac-12 this upcoming fall.
