The winningest coach in program history, the 2026 season will be the sixth for Hunter Gray as head coach of the Illinois College women's soccer program. 

The program continued its upward trajectory under Gray’s leadership in 2025 as the Lady Blues posted a 6-2-0 record in Midwest Conference play and qualified for the league tournament for the first time in school history. IC also won 10 matches overall, which was tied for the second-most in program history. Under Gray’s direction, IC has won 20 contests in the last two seasons – the winningest two-season stretch in program annals. A pair of Lady Blues – Katy Adler and Aliza Rodriquez were named first-team all-conference, while Olivia Ralston was picked to the second team.

In 2024, the Lady Blues finished the season with a 10-6-3 overall record, including a 2-4-2 slate in the Midwest Conference. The 10 victories marked just the second time in program history that IC has recorded double-digit wins in a season. Individually, Haley Sommer was a first-team All-Midwest Conference pick, and Ralston was named second-team all-conference. 

In 2023, IC won seven matches, which exceeded the program’s win total from the previous three seasons combined.

Gray brings an extensive coaching background to the Hilltop, having coached for more than a quarter of a century while accumulating nearly 400 victories. 

A Division I soccer player at the University of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB), Gray began his coaching journey at Indian Springs School in Birmingham in 1993. He collected 343 victories, making him the active leader in coaching wins in Alabama girls' soccer. His teams were state champions in 2003 and 2005 and runners-up in 2004 and 2008. Additionally, the program made seven additional appearances in the Final Four under Gray’s guidance.

Gray began coaching at the Division III level in 2018 with a stint as a volunteer women's coach at Birmingham-Southern College. In his first season with the program, the Panthers recorded the most wins in program history. Gray also served as a men's assistant coach and a men's and women's goalkeepers coach at Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk, N.C. 

Gray holds a United States Soccer Federation (USSF) "B" license and a United Soccer Coaches (USC) Goalkeeping Level I certification.