On the sideline of the pitch this season, Mackenzie Hyer is doing something no one else in Utah has done — again.

In her sixth season leading Alta High’s boys soccer program, Hyer is guiding her team to an undefeated season (as of press deadline), with the goal in mind to win a state championship: “We got the players; we got the skills. We just need to execute.”

It’s a testament to a culture she has built over years with steady leadership. Hyer is the first female to coach boys and also, to win a boys state soccer championship — twice.

Now, Hyer has added another milestone — being named the 2025-26 National Federation of State High School Associations’ Boys Soccer Coach of the Year.

It’s been a story that has been decades in the making.

 “I knew her long before she came to Alta,” said Lee Mitchell, the legendary former Alta coach who spent 36 years coaching the boys program and 29 with the girls. “She came to my goalkeepers camp at age 9 or 10. She was very coachable and although she wasn’t the most talented, she was one of the hardest workers you’ll ever find. She’s that way as a coach, too. Coaching beside her was great. She would give me her opinion — that's what I expected from her. She was my right hand.”

Hyer’s journey has never been about intending to break barriers. It has been about preparation, consistency and belief, values instilled in her long before she stepped up as head coach.

She grew up playing goalkeeper for Alta, being named an All-American player, then was a member of Utah State University’s women’s first team. She returned to Alta in 2001 as assistant coach for the boys and girls teams and spent more than two decades learning from Mitchell before taking over the head job of both programs. This is her 50th season coaching.

“I remember talking to coach Mitchell one day,” Hyer said. “I told him, ‘I’m coming for your job.’ He laughed at me, but here we are, years later.”

When she stepped into the role, the transition was seamless for her players. To them, she wasn’t a novelty, but to outsiders, there was some friction.

“People would ask them, ‘how do you like being coached by a girl?’” Hyer said. “My players would say, ‘What do you mean? That’s just coach Kenzie.’”

Her father, Todd Hyer, remembered the concern about her being the boys head coach.

“Those who didn’t know her questioned if the boys are going to listen to a woman coach and how she was going to take care of them in the locker room,” he said. “It was some of those old concerns people come up with when they want to hold somebody back. When the boys won the state championship, she put those to rest.”

Even as an assistant boys coach, she faced flak: “The other team was like, ‘I can't believe Alta doesn't even have coaches for their JV team; they have a team mom out there.’ My response was, ‘We just won, 5-1.’ It fueled my motivation.”

Her team reflects her approach: disciplined, structured and unified. 

Utah High School Activities Association Executive Director Rob Cuff sees that: “Her teams are very disciplined. They're very structured. You see that when postseason rolls around because they have been conditioned to do that, and they may lose a game or two during the season, but they're mentally and physically prepared for tournament time.”

Hyer credits her players.

“The players have bought in,” she said. “They've decided they're going to control the things they can control. You can't control who you’re playing, but they can control how they treat each other, how they play, how they respond. That's a lesson I learned from coach Mitchell; we are a family without the soccer. I care about them as human beings way more than I care about them as players.”

The idea of family isn’t just a metaphor for Hyer; it’s literal. On the same fields where she is building champions, her father, Todd Hyer, has spent four decades shaping the game from a different perspective. As a constant presence in the pitch with his whistle, Todd Hyer was honored by the NFHS and UHSAA for guiding games and mentoring officials across the state for 40 years.

“I started refereeing when Mackenzie was 5 years old,” he said. “They needed volunteer coaches and referees and because I was working firefighter shifts, I couldn’t coach, but I could referee, including those high school games that start at 3:30 in the afternoon on weekdays. We’ve been a soccer family; when we'd go into tournaments, I'd be refereeing, the kids would play. My wife was a volunteer coach, too.”

Todd Hyer’s passion has continued long beyond his three children’s games. Since officiating his first high school match in 1986, he has refereed more than 2,800 games, including 170 playoff games and several state championships — in addition to officiating football for 31 years. He has refereed youth soccer through college games and also, served more than 20 years as Utah High School Soccer Officials Association president.

The secret to the art of refereeing, he said, is to shape not just the games, but people.

“I enjoy working with the kids and being able to hopefully make the game as safe and fair as it can,” he said. “High school soccer is an extension of the classroom. If I'm approachable, they can ask a question and will get an answer; it calms any tensions down. We’re not enemies; we’re referees.”

Those qualities — calmness, fairness and integrity — are exactly what others see in him.

“Todd has been a legend and a staple in the high school soccer community for as long as I've been in the association, 25 years,” Cuff said. “He helped me with the rules, the relationships, and guided me through the clinics. I’ll always be grateful.”

Having her dad be honored for the integrity of the game he came to love was meaningful to his daughter.

“Seeing my dad get recognized for the service he’s done for high school sports throughout his life made me happiest,” she said.

Together, their stories are intertwined. Todd Hyer’s honors represent the foundation of the sport while his daughter’s reflects the present and future of soccer, Alta High Principal Ken Rowley said.

“Kenzie has changed the lives of generations of young men and young women in our Alta community, by the way she coaches. If you could write a book about what the ideal coach would be like, you’d take those characteristics of how Kenzie coaches and use that as an action plan to be successful,” he said. “She and her dad are both honest, disciplined and have integrity. He is a first-class human being; he treats people with respect.”