After leading the Cardinal women’s soccer program for 13 years as head coach, and five years as the Assistant AD, Director of Compliance, Senior Women's Administrator (SWA) and Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) advisor, Carrie (Plute) Hanna enters her third season as the school's Athletic Director in 2023-2024.
It was another big year for the Wheeling University Athletic Department under Hanna's watch in 2022-23. She oversaw six MEC Playoff runs, two Regional Tournament runs, one National Championship run, and the 10th consecutive MEC Championship for the Wheeling Volleyball program. She also oversaw the wheeling Rugby team's first two runs at the National Tournament during the 15's and 7's season and saw three different athletes head to the National Championships for the Wheeling Track & Field Team. Her athletes excelled on the field with 34 All-Conference honorees, 24 All-Region players, and five All-American award winners.
The Cardinals also saw a lot of success in the classroom with 142 student-athletes making the President's List in the Fall and 166 making it in the spring semester. They also excelled in the conference with 46 student-athlete making the Academic All-MEC team and 63 making the Commissioner's Honor Roll during the Spring semester.
In her first full year as Athletic Director, Hanna oversaw two Mountain East Conference (MEC) Championship programs, and six different MEC playoff runs. She was the host Athletic Director for the 2021 NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional Championships and oversaw two NCAA National Championship runs by the Wheeling Track and Field program. Under her watch, the Cardinals had 33 All-Conference honorees and five All-American players.
This is Hanna's second stint as the school's Athletic Director, having previously served in that role from March 2020 to December 2020, where she oversaw all Athletic Operations at Wheeling University. She has worked in several different administrative roles during her career at Wheeling University, snf looks to lead the program in a winning direction for the future.
In addition to her role as head women's soccer coach for 13 seasons, Hanna has served many administrative roles at different times, including SWA, Senior Compliance Administrator, SAAC liaison, Champs Life Skills Coordinator, Challenge for Success Program Coordinator, Director of Institutional Research, Institutional Advancement Senior Database Analyst, and Interim Assistant Athletic Director.
Along with directing the compliance and student formation responsibilities, she serves as the athletic department’s SWA, which is the highest ranking female administrative in an NCAA athletic department. Among her duties, Hanna oversees all NCAA Compliance issues and programs, ensure University and NCAA administrative requirements are fulfilled, assist with monitoring academic progress of all student-athletes, help with the coordination and communication between athletics administration and student-athletes, ensure all athletic department documents, policies and procedures are maintained, and helps the Director of Athletics with budget and financial expenditures to assure compliance and equity.
In her 13 years directing the women’s soccer program (2002-14), Hanna recorded a 136-105-15 career record. She led the team to a regular season Northern Division title, two consecutive regulars season Conference Runner-Up finishes, two-straight regular season Conference Championships, and three Conference Tournament Championships in a row. Her teams also made two NCAA National Tournament appearances, an NCAA No. 20 national ranking, and the 2007 NCAA Division II statistical scoring offense champion.
The WU veteran graduated 67 All-Conference, 11 All-Americans, eight Scholar All-Americans, two Valedictorians, and an NCAA Woman of the Year recipient. Cardinal women’s soccer squads consistently met the NSCAA Team Academic Award cumulative team GPA of 3.0 or better standard.
A 1996 Wheeling University graduate, Hanna boasts the most prolific career of any women’s soccer player in the history of the program. Upon reaching the Wheeling campus, her impact was immediate as she led not only her team, but all divisions of the NCAA in the nation in goals during her freshman campaign and led the Cardinals to their third consecutive NAIA national tournament appearance. Hanna completed her career as a four-time NAIA All-American and two-time Academic All-American capping off her collegiate play in the Umbro Select All-Star Game, where she was one of two Division II players selected in the nation to join a team of Division I seniors to play the US National Team. She wrapped up her career with 95 goals scored and assisted on 40 Cardinal goals. Hanna continued her playing career in the professional ranks with the New Jersey Wildcats and traveled to Germany for a short stint to play in the Women’s Bundesliga, Germany’s highest professional level, playing for TSV Crailsheim. Hanna’s No. 22 Cardinal jersey was retired and she was later inducted into Wheeling Jesuit’s Athletic Hall of Fame.
Upon returning to the states, Hanna retired from playing and furthered her education and pursued a coaching career. In 1999, she graduated from West Virginia University with a master’s degree in sports psychology.
Hanna, then married and moved to South Dakota, and began her collegiate coaching career at the University of South Dakota. She transformed a club team into an NCAA Division II squad for its inaugural season, and after one year at the helm, returned to the Wheeling area. In Wheeling, she continued her coaching efforts at the high school level leading the Wheeling Park girls’ team to a West Virginia state championship in her first and only season.
In 2002, WU Head Coach Jim Regan, who served as the head coach for both the men’s and women’s programs, stepped down from the women’s side and Hanna was named the Cardinal women's second head coach.
Along with her dedicated service to the University over more than two decades, Hanna continues to utilize her professional soccer coaching expertise. She is an active coach in the Wheeling area high school and for the West Virginia Olympic Development Youth Program.
Hanna, and her husband, David, reside in Wheeling with their three children, Graceylyn Mae, Lilyan Morgan, and Wilson David.
