Oglethorpe University

Oglethorpe University Athletics
4484 Peachtree Road NE Atlanta, GA 30319

Division 3 Georgia Southeast

Private Small National competitor

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Coaches

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Rob King

First Season as Head Coach: 2022-23

Tenure: 2023-24 is his 2nd season

Total W-L-T at Oglethorpe: 4-8-3

Total W-L-T Overall:

Alma Mater: University of Alabama in Huntsville, 1992

Rob King joined Oglethorpe's athletics staff as head women's soccer coach in January 2022. A multitime conference champion at the NCAA Division I level and national champion and national coach of the year at the Division II level, King brings with him a coaching record filled with success.

Last Season

King, in just his first season with the Stormy Petrels, led the program to unprecedented success. The team won its first Southern Athletic Association game since 2019 with a 1-0 victory at Birmingham Southern, also marking the program’s first-ever win over the Panthers.

With only four league losses, King’s team posted its fewest conference losses since 1999. In seven SAA games, the team conceded only eight goals, and only twice did the Petrels allow a team to score more than one goal.

Freshman Harlow Cregar, senior Nikki Wells and junior Haley Lowell earned spots on the all-SAA team after the season, also marking a best for representation on the all-conference team since 2012.

Prior to Oglethorpe

King comes most recently from Young Harris College where in four seasons he established the women’s soccer program into a conference and national contender within the Peach Belt Conference. Under his tenure, King led the team to its first ever Peach Belt Conference tournament semifinal appearance, and in the classroom, the team won the athletic department’s Adidas Promo Award for highest team grade-point average.

From 2001 to 2015, King served Kennesaw State University in nearby Kennesaw, Georgia, as head women’s soccer coach and ultimately assistant athletic director. In just his second season at Kennesaw State, and the second season of the program itself, King led the team to the NCAA Division II national championship, topping Franklin Pierce 2-0 in the final.

King won national coach of the year that season after leading the team to a 25-1 record, and the program won its last nine games without conceding a goal.

Kennesaw State transitioned to NCAA Division I in 2009, during and after which time King won multiple Peach Belt Conference titles, Atlantic Sun Conference titles, and participated in a pair of NCAA Division I national tournaments. Along the way at Kennesaw State, King has mentored several all-Americans for both academics and athletics and developed multiple Division I and II head coaches.

King earned a promotion to assistant athletic director at Kennesaw State in 2004. Charged with leading two special projects, he brought together community, corporate and nonprofit funding partners to design and build the $25 million Fifth Third Bank Stadium. Simultaneously, King wrote the bid to bring the 2011 NCAA Division I Women’s College Cup to Kennesaw and for two years guided each component of the project.

Prior to Kennesaw State, King served as head women’s and men’s soccer coach at University of Montevallo in Montevallo, Alabama, from 1995 to 2001. There, he led the men’s program to the 1999 Gulf South Conference title, and both teams were runners-up multiple times during the six-year span. King was the Gulf South Conference Coach of the Year in 1999 and was a 2020 University of Montevallo Athletics Hall of Fame Inductee.

King started his coaching career at Martin Methodist College in Pulaski, Tennessee, in 1992, and his men’s team won the 1993 NSCAA national championship.

Education | Personal

King graduated from the University of Alabama in Huntsville in 1991 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology after completing his studies at Brunel University in London.

Email coach

Emily Ober

Emily Ober was brought on to Oglethorpe’s athletics staff in February 2022 as assistant women’s soccer coach. Ober’s responsibilities at Oglethorpe include assisting head coach Rob King in managing the team during practices and games, and helping with camps and recruiting. Ober also oversees the team’s community service and oversees various day to day operations.

Prior to Oglethorpe

Ober coached under King for two seasons at NCAA Division II Young Harris College. Ober also served as assistant women’s soccer coach and student development coordinator at NJCAA member Richard Bland College of William and Mary.

Ober started off her coaching career as a graduate assistant at University of Louisiana Monroe, a NCAA Division I school.

Education | Personal

Ober earned a bachelor’s degree in communication with a minor in sports studies at Young Harris College. Ober competed on the Young Harris women’s soccer team for four years, during which time she became second all-time in game-winning goals, third all-time in points, fourth in goals, and tied for fourth in assists.

Ober also played semi-professional soccer in the WPSL for Peachtree City MOBA in summer 2018 and Orlando Kicks in 2017. Upon graduation from Young Harris in 2018, Ober then went on to earn her master’s degree in exercise science with a focus in sport management.

Outside of Oglethorpe, Ober is actively involved in the community. She coaches a U10 and U12 girls club soccer team with TYSA and has participated in different volunteering opportunities such as the Night to Shine, the Ronald McDonald House and helped clean up downtown Atlanta. In her free time, Ober enjoys working out, cooking, and playing disc golf.