Robert Battisson joined the Prairie Fire staff as the head women's soccer coach in April of 2022.
Battisson comes to Knox from the University of Akron, a NCAA Division I school located in Akron, Ohio. At Akron, Battisson was the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for the women’s soccer program. During his time at Akron, Battisson assisted the Zips to new heights and expanded their recruiting efforts globally. He helped in leading the program to a Mid-American Conference (MAC) East championship and 5 MAC tournament appearances. In his efforts, his players earned 18 All Mid-American Conference selections, as well as their first ever MAC Freshman of the Year and first ever All-Midwest Region honors. Battisson comes well equipped with experience from winning programs, as he assisted Akron to back-to-back undefeated seasons in the MAC East and recorded the most single-season conference program wins in history.
Prior to Akron, Battisson was the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Slippery Rock University in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania. He assisted their program to a .649 win record and supported recruiting for the nationally ranked NCAA Division II program. Prior to Slippery Rock, Battisson was an assistant coach at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois. He assisted in scouting, team practices, video analysis, game management, and return to play fitness development of players of a Big Ten NCAA Division I women’s soccer program.
Before entering the Division I world, Battisson spent time at Chowan University in Murfreesboro, North Carolina. Battisson was the head coach for the NCAA Division II men’s program. He led the program through their transition from NCAA Division III to NCAA Division II, and stabilized the program with an incoming class of 14 players. Prior to leading the program at Chowan, Battisson was an assistant coach at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri where he coached 3 All-MIAA selections.
Along with his collegiate coaching experience, Battisson has been involved as a head coach and camp director for multiple club teams and camps, as well as a regional staff coach for the Region II Olympic Development Program (ODP) in Ohio North, Kansas.
A native of England, Battisson played soccer and graduated from Lock Haven University in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in English. He went on to earn a master’s degree in English Literature from Northwestern Missouri State in 2005. Battisson added two more master’s degrees from the University of Akron, with a sports science and coaching master’s in 2009 and a master’s of exercise physiology in 2011.
Battisson was a two-time first team All-PSAC performer at Lock Haven and a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-American. He was a three-year team captain. He holds national licenses from the United States Soccer Federation, the National Soccer Coaches Association of America and the English Football Association.
