Baylor Soccer Adds Assistant Coach Fleur Benatar to Staff

WACO, Texas – Baylor soccer added a new member to its coaching staff as Fleur Benatar left her post as assistant coach at Houston to become an assistant coach for the Bears, BU head coach Michelle Lenard announced Friday.

“I am thrilled to add Fleur to our coaching staff,” Lenard said. “She brings over 25 years of experience of coaching at all levels of the game, from elite youth soccer to all levels of the NCAA, to the US youth national team. She is a relentless recruiter who excels at building meaningful relationships and finding players that are a perfect fit for the program. She is an excellent trainer and tactician and will help elevate our game. It is an honor and privilege to add her to our team!”

Benatar, who is filling the role after three-year assistant coach Lea Sedwick-Caffey moves to a personal development coach role on staff, will be the Director of Player Development.

While at Houston, Benatar spent three years on the coaching staff including leading the program to its best start during the 2023 season while coaching a pair of student-athletes to All-Conference freshman honors, including Alex Whitcraft and Aryana Jimsion being named to the American Athletic Conference All-Freshman Team and the Big 12 All-Freshman Team, respectively.

In April 2024, Benatar was tabbed as the head coach for the US Women's Open Team that will participate in the Maccabi Games in Israel in 2025.

The Richardson, Texas, native is fresh off a UEFA Friendship Tournament Championship in Riva, Turkey, in April 2024, where she served as an assistant coach for the USA U-16 Women's National Team and most recently served as an assistant coach in the U16 National Team Domestic training camp in Chula Vista, California.

Benatar comes to Houston after serving as the head coach for Coppell High School girl's soccer, leading the squad to a 15-5-2 record and a third-place finish in Region 3 6-6A during the 2021-22 season. While at Coppell, Benatar was an assistant coach for the NPSL Men’s semi-pro Denton Diablos, who won the 2021 National Championship.

Before her time at Coppell, Benatar joined North Texas as an assistant coach in 2015 and was promoted to associate head coach in 2019. In her first season back with the Mean Green as an assistant coach, UNT won a program-best 19 games and shut out a program-record 15 opponents. They won the C-USA regular-season and tournament championships to earn an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. During her time with North Texas, she helped guide the Mean Green to four consecutive C-USA titles and three regular-season titles.

In 2001, Benatar was named the first women's soccer head coach for Texas Woman's University. She led 47 women to All-Conference honors and six to All-Region Honors.

Before her tenure with the Pioneers, Benatar began her collegiate coaching journey as an assistant coach for North Texas in 2000, when the program captured its first conference title as it won the Sun Belt Conference regular-season crown, where she coached BU head coach Michelle Lenard the same year.

Benatar has over 25 years of experience coaching club soccer, working with Liberty FC, Sting Soccer Club, Solar Soccer Club and Liverpool FC America. She previously served as a coach for Region III of the Olympic Development Program, where she evaluated, coached and mentored top soccer players in the region.

Benatar has coaching experience across Texas at the club level, with the Olympic Development Program (ODP) and U.S. Soccer. She also served as a youth national team training coach at U.S. Soccer's Training Center in Dallas. She has also served as a National Scour for the US Soccer Talent ID Program for the last 11 years in addition to attending several regional and national team camps.

She is currently a U.S. Soccer National Talent ID Scout, holds a U.S.S.F. National "A" coaching license and is a state-level course instructor. Benatar has also attended U.S. Soccer National Team camps and is also a U.S. Soccer "C" course instructor.

A graduate of Richardson High School, Benatar played college soccer for two seasons at Arkansas before transferring to North Texas in 1996. She received her undergraduate degree in kinesiology from North Texas in 1999 and her master's degree in exercise science in May 2002.

Benatar and her husband, Will, have a daughter, Gabrielle and two sons, Fletcher and Phillip.