The Monroe College Department of Athletics announced Ousmane “OC” Camara as the new head coach of the Monroe College Mustangs women’s soccer program in January 2024. Camara came to Monroe after an incredibly successful tenure at Barton Community College.
Camara spent eight seasons as the head coach of the Cougars, accumulating an overall record of 98-39-13, the most wins in Barton’s program history, with a conference record of 72-21-8 in a challenging Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference (KJCCC). A strong Cougars team ranked No. 9 in the final NJCAA Div. I Women’s Soccer Rankings this past season after going 12-3-4 overall and 12-1-3 in the KJCCC. Barton earned an at-large selection into the 2023 NJCAA Div. I Women’s Soccer Championship as the No. 9 seed.
In his eight seasons as head coach for the Barton Community College women’s soccer team, Camara has built the program in a yearly contender on the national level. The Cougars earned their way to the NJCAA Championship tournament each of the past two seasons. In 2022, Camara’s squad earned the program’s first-ever Plains District Championship with a 5-4 shootout victory over No. 4-ranked Butler Community College. Since 2018, Camara has coached six student-athletes to NJCAA Div. I Women’s Soccer All-America honors, and dozens more to All-KJCCC accolades, while also earning two KJCCC Coach of the Year awards.
Camara’s teams have taken pride in their accolades in the classroom as well. The Cougars have found themselves on the list of NJCAA Academic Team of the Year qualifiers on a yearly basis, while a large portion of Camara’s roster has earned NJCAA All-Academic Team honors. The 2022 Cougars had a team GPA of 3.11, and had its best academic year under Camara’s tutelage in 2019 when they accumulated a team GPA of 3.57 to finish fifth among NJCAA women’s soccer programs.
Prior to earning the role of head coach, Camara served as an assistant coach for both the men’s and women’s soccer teams at Barton in 2014 and 2015, returning to the place his collegiate career began, as he played for Barton’s men’s soccer team in 2010. Camara then moved on to Fort Hays State University to complete his athletic career. Before coming back to Barton, Camara spent two years coaching at Thomas More Prep High School and the Hays Soccer Club before a short stint as an assistant coach for the Western Texas College men’s and women’s soccer teams, working alongside previous Barton women’s soccer coach Shawn Uhlenhake.
Camara earned his bachelor’s of science in political science from Fort Hays State University in 2013. A native of Conakry, Guinea, Camara is multilingual, speaking English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Susu. Camara holds a Level 6 Diploma, the National Diploma, and the Advanced National Diploma from the United Soccer Coaches (formerly National Soccer Coaches Association of America) coaching education system.
