Mark Foster - Associate Head Soccer Coach - Staff Directory

Staff Directory

Mark Foster

Title:
Associate Head Soccer Coach
Email:

Mark Foster was hired as an associate head soccer coach at Mississippi State on Jan. 9, 2026, after a 12-year head coaching career, including eight seasons at the Division I level.

Foster joined the Bulldogs from UTRGV where he spent the prior four seasons leading the Vaqueros. He spent the 2018-22 seasons coaching Little Rock and began his head coaching career at Division II Trevecca Nazarene, his alma mater, from 2013-16.

In 2024, Foster led UTRGV to just the sixth year with a .500 or better record in program history, going 7-7-5 and 3-3-2 in the program’s first year as a member of the Southland Conference. The following season, he coached the Vaqueros first three matches before taking a medical leave of absence for the remainder of the year.

Foster guided Linnea Eld to WAC All-Freshman Team honors in 2023, the first all-conference performer for the program since 2020-21. His squad saw nine matches in 2022 that were decided by one goal or less.

During his tenure at Little Rock, Foster guided the program to its first Sun Belt Tournament championship and NCAA Tournament berth in 2018 on the back of a program-record 13 wins. His teams went on to reach the Sun Belt Conference Tournament again in 2020 and 2021.

Foster has made defense one of his primary focuses as his Little Rock teams posted 32 shutouts in four years while continually ranking in the top half of the Sun Belt in goals against average. He also guided seven players to All-Sun Belt honors and five to All-Sun Belt Tournament Team selections.

His Division I career began in 2017 as an assistant at South Alabama, where the Jaguars won the Sun Belt regular season and tournament titles. Prior to that stint, Foster spent the previous six seasons at Trevecca Nazarene, where he was the head coach the final four seasons and became the program’s second-winningest head coach with a 40-27-8 record.

Foster guided Trevecca Nazarene to three-straight winning seasons (2014-16), including a Great Midwest Athletic Conference championship in 2016. H was named G-MAC Coach of the Year in both 2014 and 2016.

As a player, Foster was a four-time All-TranSouth Athletic Conference selection for the Trojans, earning First Team honors in 2005 and 2008 and Second Team honors in 2006 and 2007. He was the league’s Player of the Year in 2008 and Freshman of the Year in 2005.

Foster finished his career as the program leader in goals (41) and points (95) while tied for the program’s assists record (13), and he was inducted into the Trevecca Nazarene Athletic Hall of Fame in 2017 as the only player in program history to have his number retired.

A native of Newcastle, Ireland, Foster graduated from Trevecca Nazarene in 2009 with his bachelor’s degree in sport management. He is joined in Starkville by his wife, Jessie, and their children, Campbell and Blake.