Aimee Haywood was tabbed as the fifth head coach in App State women's soccer program history when she was hired by Director of Athletics Doug Gillin in December 2021.
Through three seasons, Haywood boasts the best winning percentage of any coach in program history.
In 2024, the Mountaineers posted their second consecutive seven-win season, doing so for the first time since the 2015 and 2016 campaigns. The team also recorded a winning record in Sun Belt play for the second straight year, doing so in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2014 and 2015. Along the way, Haywood's team posted a six-match unbeaten streak, the program's longest unbeaten streak since 2012. Graduate student Izzi Wood was named first team all-conference, while freshman Ellie Garrison earned second team honors. It marked the first time since 2015 that the Mountaineers had multiple players earn postseason accolades. The duo also earned All-Region recognition. App State saw a significant uptick in scoring in 2024, averaging 1.42 goals-per-game, the best mark since 2016.
In her second season, Haywood led her team to third place in the Sun Belt, the best finish in program history. App State also finished the season with a program record eight clean sheets, four of them being consecutive, tying the program record. App State finished 75th in RPI, their best ranking since 2015, and third in the state of North Carolina, behind UNC and Duke. Haywood led forward Izzi Wood to be named 2nd Team All-Conference, the Mountaineers first all-conference player since 2018.
In her first season, Haywood guided the Mountaineers to a 6-9-4 record, including 5-5 in the Sun Belt, more than doubling the Mountaineers conference win total from 2021. Picked to finish 13th in a 14-team conference entering the season, App State earned the seven-seed in the Sun Belt tournament, including a win over reigning C-USA conference champion Old Dominion.
Haywood arrived at App State from Queens University of Charlotte, where she spent the previous two seasons as head coach.
Prior to joining App State, Haywood helped Queens to the second round of the NCAA Division II Championships. The Royals finished with a 16-5-1 overall record and were a No. 3 seed in the Southeast Region of the 28-team national tournament.
Including a 7-2-1 record in the abbreviated 2021 spring season, her overall mark as the Royals' head coach was 23-7-2.
Haywood coached at her alma mater, Ohio Dominican University, for seven seasons prior to arriving in North Carolina, including the final three as head coach. She compiled a 45-26-7 overall record at the helm of the Panthers' program. In her second season as head coach in 2017, the Panthers set a program record for wins with 16 and earned their first NCAA tournament win in program history.
During her first season in 2016, Haywood led Ohio Dominican to a fourth-place GLIAC regular season finish and advanced the team to the GLIAC Tournament semifinals.
In addition, Haywood served as the assistant coach at Denison University in 2013.
She has coached two NCAA tournament teams and three conference championship teams while earning nine conference tournament bids.
Haywood graduated from Ohio Dominican University with a bachelor's degree in sport management. In addition, she holds an MBA from there with a concentration in leadership.
As a student-athlete, Haywood was a two-time captain who earned a pair of all-conference awards, as well as academic honors. As a goalkeeper, she graduated as the school record holder for most shutouts in a season, games played in a season and games played in a career as a goalkeeper.
