Soccer coach Karen Hoppa announced Jan. 31 the appointment of Amy Berbary as associate coach.
"I was humbled," said Berbary, who is in her fifth year coaching.
Hoppa said Berbary's responsibilities will not change because she feels like Berbary was already filling the role of associate coach before her promotion.
"With how much I rely on her and how much she does, I think the title finally caught up with the job she was doing, to be honest," Hoppa said.
In addition to her role as recruiting coordinator, Berbary is the liaison between academics, media relations and marketing, and she deals with training and coaching during games.
"Amy has been with our program for four years, and during her four years, first and foremost, she has grown tremendously as a coach," Hoppa said.
"Secondly, her contributions to our program have been significant, specifically her contributions in recruiting."
Berbary expanded soccer's recruiting geographically, particularly in California. Before Berbary arrived in Auburn in the spring of 2008, Auburn's soccer team had never signed a player from California, Hoppa said.
"In her first recruiting class, which was 2010, we signed four kids from California," Hoppa said. "And we are continuing that in all of our recruiting classes."
Berbary has also played a significant role in coaching the offense, whose 50 goals last season marked the highest in 10 years in Auburn soccer.
"Our offense was one of the best in the country this year and one of the bigger reasons we won the SEC Championship," Hoppa said.
Junior forward Mary Coffed said Berbary makes an effort to connect with her players on a personal level.
"I can walk in (her office) and tell her just about anything," Coffed said.
"She pushes you as far as she knows you are capable of going, which I think is a great attribution of a coach."
Berbary said she was happy to return to the Southeastern Conference and coach at Auburn after spending four years coaching at the University of Dayton.
"It has been a fantastic four years (at Auburn), and I'm really looking forward to the years to come," she said.
Although Berbary played soccer at the University of Georgia in the late '90s, she said she doesn't want to be anywhere else but Auburn.
"However, it was tough putting on that orange when I first got here," Berbary said.
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