‘We just needed a shift’: Women’s soccer enters a new era with a new coach

Collage by Caleb Otte, Sports Editor; Photos courtesy of Adobe Stock and Minot State

T.J. Perez has been selected as the seventh head coach in Chapman women's soccer history. The Santee, California native is the first new hire in over two decades for the program, after long-time coach Courtney Calderon decided to step away to focus on her family.

Perez, who most recently coached for Division II program Minot State University (MSU) in North Dakota, said he is excited about taking over the position, and that the athletics staff has made him feel like he could build a life here at Chapman.

“Everyone (has) been super helpful, easy going,” Perez said. “(It’s a) very welcoming, relaxed environment.” 

Associate Director of Athletics Doug Aiken spoke with The Panther on the final decision to hire Perez. 

“We had a really talented group of finalists,” Aiken said. “Tyler seemed to check all the boxes for us… he said all the right things, we felt like his experience and reputation were gonna back up the things that he said.”

Perez coached five seasons at Minot State, spending two years as an assistant before transitioning into the head coach for the last three. Under his tutelage, MSU was able to build an impressive interconference record of 19-11-13 and a conference record of 26-15-18 for an overall win percentage of 44.07%. 

Within his three years leading the Beavers, they made it to two Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference championship games. The first was against Bemidji State University in 2021, losing 2-0 in a crushing overtime defeat, then again in 2024 against Minnesota State University, Mankato once again losing 2-0.

Leaving behind your life in one state to move to another is something that would be tough for anyone. Looking back on his time in North Dakota, Perez says it’s been an honor to be a part of his players' journeys and that he wishes them all the best in their future endeavors.

“We created something very special there,” Perez said. “Our culture was a big part of what we did, and that’s a big part of what I want to do in every program.”

With 32 combined years on the pitch, Perez lives and breathes soccer. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology and earned his Masters in Education from Sonoma State University in 2017. During his time with the Seawolves, Perez earned conference player of the week twice — once in 2015 and again in 2017, led the team with seven goals his junior season and saved the Seawolves with three game winning goals through his college career.

“Sonoma State was awesome, that’s really where I dove into coaching,” Perez said. “They taught me a lot, and that kind of built my philosophy of my style and play of the game.”

In his interview with The Panther, Perez talked about a few different things he plans on implementing to help bring the team even closer together. 

Some will be small things that people in the stands will be able to see, like his “three of five” ideology where players will give one another three high fives before practice, after practice and warmups before games. Perez emphasized the importance of these connection points uniting the team together subconsciously throughout the season.

Another important form of connection Perez hopes to establish within the team is something fans might not be able to see from the stands. He spoke about his philosophy of the “circle,” which then breaks down into smaller “tribes” and finally into “great mates.”

“The circle being something you can recognize in any sport, you huddle up and cheer, it’s natural for any team typically and that’s the same for us. We’re gonna circle up before practice, in some team meetings, before and after our games,” Perez said.

Perez continued: “Within that we have our tribes, a smaller group of five to six people you get to know. And then you have the great mates which is someone you get to know who is from a different tribe, that's your one on one connection. So you have these small moments where we have one on one connection, to a group of five, to the whole team. There’s these layers built in so we truly are trying to get to know people more than just on the field.”

It seems as though no matter which way you look at it, both parties check all boxes for each other. The girls on the team want an enforcer coach who will help establish deeper bonds within the team to help them flow and mesh better on the field. Perez wants a team willing to adopt and build a culture, which he can help turn into a powerful program for the foreseeable future.. 

As for this first season, Aiken told The Panther that the Athletic Department’s biggest measure of success will not come from the wins and losses of the team, but from the feelings of the players on the field, making sure their experience stays positive during their time with the program.

With the combined help of the Chapman Athletic Department, girls on the soccer team, other head coaches and the overall Chapman community as a whole, Perez’s success will have the ability to flourish as we finish out the spring and look forward to a new fall semester of Chapman women's soccer.

Editor’s Note: A previous version of this article misquoted Doug Aiken, it has since been removed. We apologize for the mistake.