CSI to add men’s and women’s soccer programs
The Golden Eagles will begin competition in the fall of 2024
TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — The College of Southern Idaho was the only school in the Scenic West Conference without a soccer program.
On Monday, that changed. The school announced it is adding a men’s and women’s soccer program, with competition starting in the fall of 2024.
“It feels really just great and rewarding to be able to get this across the finish line and be able to announce that CSI is going to have soccer in the fall of ‘24,″ said CSI President Dr. L. Dean Fisher.
CSI Athletic Director Joel Bate says the school has been working on implementing soccer since 2015. Finding a facility was one of the main obstacles.
“It’s been a long time coming, and we’ve been watching very gifted athletes having to go other places, and (we’re) really happy they won’t have to anymore,” said Bate.
But where will the Golden Eagles play?
The conversation picked up about six months ago when President Fisher was talking with Jerome City Administrator Mike Williams about the construction of a CSI building in Jerome.
“He (Williams) mentioned that they were working on this soccer complex and that just sort of started creating this, ‘what if we did this?’ and, ‘what could we do?” that would ultimately form this partnership,” Fisher said.
Jerome is using about $2.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds and $1.5 million from the Jerome Urban Renewal Agency to build a 17-acre complex, according to Williams. KMVT covered this story in February.
In a partnership, CSI will pay for upgrades on one of the fields to make it their home pitch.
“Whether CSI was a part of this project or not, we were going to be building this facility,” Williams said.
The facility will be just about a mile south of Main Street in Jerome on East Nez Perce Avenue. So in just over a year, if all goes well with construction, Jerome will have a hometown team.
“How cool is that? Having a collegiate program in a town of our size, town of 12,000 people, and during the week, you can go out with your family, friends and go watch collegiate soccer in your hometown and watch some of those kids that you watched grow up here,” said Williams.
CSI is planning on hiring one of the two coaches this summer.
The Golden Eagles will practice at CSI’s campus in Twin Falls.
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