Astrid Baecker was named the University of Regina's women's soccer head coach in January of 2022.
Baecker has long been associated with the Cougars, beginning as a player in 2001 and continuing as an assistant coach in 2006 and from 2016 to 2020. She was named the U of R's interim co-head coach in 2021 before assuming the full-time role as head coach beginning with the 2022 season.
The 2021 campaign saw the Cougars reel off an impressive 7-4-1 record, the second best regular season in program history. Under Baecker's direction the program continued with postseason appearances in 2022 and 2023, with the Cougars winning a Canada West play-in game and advancing to the conference quarterfinals in both of those seasons.
She was also the U of R's interim co-head coach during a 2021 campaign when they reeled off an impressive 7-4-1 record before being named the program's head coach beginning with the 2022 campaign. In between, she spent a total of six seasons as an assistant coach – in 2006 under head coach Jason Jones, and from 2016 to 2020 on Bob Maltman's staff.
One of Regina's most recognizable faces in youth sports thanks to her extensive coaching experience in the city, Baecker had been the full-time grassroots lead for Queen City United Soccer Club since 2018 and has years of coaching under her belt at the club, provincial, high school, and U SPORTS levels. Her long list of accolades is headlined by being named the Saskatchewan Soccer Association's Grassroots Coach of the Year in 2013 and the SSA's Youth Coach of the Year in 2014.
Originally from Regina, Baecker attended Usher Collegiate and started out her post-secondary playing career at the College of the Southwest in Hobbs, N.M. where she spent two seasons playing NAIA soccer with the Mustangs. She transferred home to the U of R when it started the women's soccer program, playing for the Cougars in 2001, 2002, and 2003 – the program's first three seasons as an interuniversity program.
Baecker is the fourth head coach in the history of the Cougar program, following Mike Hudson (2001-02), Jones (2003-06), and Maltman (2007-19). Baecker and Rob McCaffrey were the team's interim co-head coaches during the highly successful 2021 campaign.
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