Bio

A native of Orland Park, Jean was a three-sport athlete and four-year varsity soccer starter at Carl Sandburg High School.  She was a multi-year team captain who helped lead the team to a 2^nd place finish at the IHSA State Championship her junior year.  After high school she attended Moraine Valley Community College for two years, red-shirting her sophomore year due to injury.  She then received a scholarship to Eastern Illinois University where she helped them secure both conference regular season and conference tournament championships.  Gehrke finished out her college career at Robert Morris University-Illinois, where she led her team to its first conference championship and became the first NAIA All-American in program history.  She earned several other awards during her playing career and was inducted into RMU’s inaugural Athletic Hall of Fame class in 2010.

Shortly after graduation from RMU, Jean joined the staff as an assistant coach and was associate head coach from 2016 until 2020 when the school integrated with Roosevelt University.  During her time at Robert Morris, she coached players from all over the world and helped develop players into All-Americans while coaching several teams to conference championships and national tournament appearances.

After the integration of RMU and RU, Gehrke spent the 2020-21 year at NCAA Division II Purdue University Northwest as assistant coach before returning to the Lakers for the 2021 fall season.  In addition to her role at RU, Gehrke is currently a staff coach with the Illinois Olympic Development Program.

Jean and her husband, Scott Patterson, reside in Homer Glen.