2000
Linda Nixon
Springfield Township High School, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
"Linda
Nixon iis an outstanding example for successful high school field
hockey coaches," NHSCA executive director Bob Ferraro said. "SThey place
a high value on the teamwork skills players learn for success in the
classroom and on the field, and we are proud to be honoring her." A
33-year coaching veteran, Nixon led the Lady Raiders to a 17-4-2 record
and the Pennsylvania District 1, Class AA title last season, quite a
turnaround from the previous season, when the team lost in the first
round. Springfield Township also won the District 1 title in 1993.
2001
Bob Derr
Lititz High School, Warwick, Pennsylvania
Under
Derr's direction, Warwick High has become a field hockey powerhouse,
winning Class AAA state championships in 1999 and 2000 and losing just
one of 55 games over that span. Derr's 2000 squad finished the season
with a perfect 28-0 record, and its current winning streak stands at 32
straight over two years. The 1999 team finished 26-1-1. Derr's teams
were outstanding defensively; in their title runs in 1999 and 2000, they
allowed a total of one goal each year in four state tournament games.
In 1998, Derr led Warwick to the state quarterfinals, and his three-year
record is 77-5-1.
2002
Diana Walker
Sanford High School, Sanford, Maine
Walker
has been the head coach at Sanford High for 19 seasons. She led the
team to back-to-back state titles in Maine's big-school Class A in 1999
and 2000, the first school in nearly a decade to win consecutive Class A
titles. This past season, Sanford reached the state title game for the
third consecutive year, and built a 50-match winning streak over the
three seasons before seeing it come to an end in this year's state
final.В Sports IllustratedВ magazine also recognized Walker's
distinguished career with a mention in its "Faces in the Crowd" section
this year.
2003
Debby Watson
Villa Duchesne High School, St. Louis, Missouri
"Debby
Watson is clearly among the best high school field hockey coaches of
all-time," said NHSCA executive director Bob Ferraro. "The NHSCA is
proud to honor her as the National High School Field Hockey Coach of the
Year." Watson has coached field hockey at Villa Duchesne for
the past thirty years and her career record now sits one victory shy of
500 wins at 499-69-17. Watson's teams have collected eight state
championships and have finished as runners-up another 17 times.В When
Villa Duchesne gets its first win next season, Watson will become only
the fourth prep field hockey coach in U.S. history to get her 500th win.
During her impressive career, Watson has coached over 50 athletes that
have gone on to play field hockey at NCAA Division 1 institutions.
2004
Paula Doughty
Skowhegan Area High School, Skowhegan, Maine
Longtime
Skowhegan Area High School coach Paula Doughty is the NHSCA selection
in the sport of field hockey, after leading the Indians to a third
straight Maine state title. This marked the team's ninth trip to the
state championship game since 1991, and its sixth title in that span.
2005
Amy Longley
Hathaway Brown School, Shaker Heights, Ohio
A
27-year coaching veteran with a career record of 273-43-57, Longley has
continued the tradition of excellence at the Hathaway Brown School. Her
2002 team was the Ohio state champion, and she was voted Field Hockey
Coach of the Year by the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Her 2003 and 2004 teams
advanced to the state semifinals. A member of the Ohio High School
Athletic Association (OHSAA) Field Hockey Advisory Committee, Longley
received the OHSAA's Sportsmanship, Ethics and Integrity Award in 1996.
The NFHS named her its Field Hockey Coach of the Year in 2004.
2006
Diane Chapman
Garden City High School, Garden City, New York
Chapman's
teams at Garden City have established a standard of excellence during
her 14 seasons as head coach. This year's team finished 19-0 and
dethroned two-time defending state champion Setauket Ward-Melville High
en route to the state title, her fourth at the school. Chapman has led
Garden City to a 224-21-21 record and state championships in 1995, 1998,
1999 and 2005. She was named Coach of the Year by Newsday, and the
National Field Hockey Coaches Association named her its North Region
Coach of the Year.
2007
Sue Butz-Stavin
Emmaus High School, Emmaus, Pennsylvania
The
year 2005 was memorable in the 31-year coaching career of Butz-Stavin,
who stands No. 2 on the sport's all-time victory list. Her Emmaus team
finished with a perfect 28-0 record and won its state-best eighth state
championship; Butz-Stavin recorded her 600th career victory; three of
her players earned high school All-America honors; and she was named a
finalist for the United States Olympic Committee's Developmental Coach
of the Year award. Her career record stands at 638-69-33. This year's
team shut out its first 19 opponents, finished 24-2 and advanced to the
state semifinals. A member of the National Field Hockey Coaches Hall of
Fame, Butz-Stavin's FireStyx club team won the gold medal at the
National Hockey Festival, winning pool championships in the event five
of the last six years.
2008
Robin Chandler
The Hotchkiss School, Lakeville, Connecticut
A 1987 Hotchkiss graduate who became the first girl to earn 12 varsity
letters in three sports - field hockey, ice hockey and softball - at the
school, Chandler, who still owns several of Hotchkiss's softball
records, has built its field hockey program into a Northeast powerhouse.
Last fall, the Lady Bearcats finished 19-0 and won an unprecedented
sixth consecutive New England Class A title while sweeping all three
postseason tournaments, the Class A meet, the Western New England
Championship and the Founders League Championship, for the second
straight year and the fourth time in her career. In 11 seasons, her
teams own a record of 159-9-11 and have won seven Class A crowns, five
Western New England crowns and nine Founders League crowns. Chandler is
the school's co-athletic director and also serves as assistant ice
hockey coach. The National Field Hockey Coaches Association voted
Chandler its Mid-Atlantic Region Coach of the Year the past three
seasons.
2009
Karen Klassner
Wyoming Seminary Upper School, Kingston, Pennsylvania
Klassner
became Wyoming Seminary's head coach in 1972. Her team posted a 23-1
record and won its third Class 2A state championship last fall. She also
has guided the Knights to five district titles, eight league titles and
22 district playoff appearances since the school joined the
Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association in 1985. Her career
record 503-129-42, and she is a seven-time Coach of the Year. The
school's field hockey field is named Klassner Field in her honor.
Klassner chaired for the National Field Hockey Coaches Association High
School All-America selection committee from 1998-2002, and is president
of the state coaches association and chair of its All-State selection
committee. Named the Developmental Coach of the Year by the U.S. Field
Hockey Association in 2006, Klassner also has coached swimming,
basketball and softball at Wyoming Seminary.
2010
Danyle Heilig
Eastern Regional High School, Voorhees, New Jersey
Eastern
was a field hockey powerhouse before Heilig arrived, and she has
elevated that tradition. In 12 seasons as a head coach, one at Haddon
Heights High School and 11 at Eastern, Heilig’s teams have compiled an
overall record of 275-8-9, the best career winning percentage of any
high school coach in any sport, and once owned a 153-match unbeaten
streak. At Eastern, Heilig is 255-2-5 against New Jersey opponents,
including a 57-1 playoff mark. She was named United States Coach of the
Year by TopOfTheCircle.com in 2009 after leading the Vikings to a 26-2
record, its 11th consecutive Group 4 state championship and its third
Tournament of Champions title in four years. One of the two defeats came
on penalty strokes to Kingston (PA) Wyoming Seminary Preparatory
School, coached by the NHSCA’s 2009 National Coach of the Year, Karen
Klassner. An offensive juggernaut, Eastern outscored its eight state
playoff opponents by a combined 63-4 margin, and the Vikings led the
nation in scoring with 206 goals, becoming just the second high school
team ever to pass the 200-goal mark. Eastern received the Newark
Star-Ledger Trophy as the state’s top program for the ninth time in 10
years.
2011
Wendy Wilson
Tabb High School, Yorktown, Virginia
One
of the most respected offensive minds in the sport’s coaching ranks,
Wilson has turned Tabb into a small-school Virginia powerhouse since her
arrival in 2004. In 2009, the Tigers became just the sixth team in the
nation to score more than 150 goals in a season, while posting its
second consecutive 24-0 season. That team, which included the first
group of seventh-graders she recruited in building Tabb’s program,
graduated with back-to-back state championships and the nation’s longest
winning streak. Wilson’s 2008 team allowed just six goals all season,
earning her Bay Rivers District, region and state Coach of the Year
awards, along with South Region Coach of the Year honors from the
National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA). The Tigers’ 2009
title earned Wilson the NFHCA’s National Coach of the Year award. Last
fall, rebuilding a team that graduated its goalkeeper and its entire
defense, Wilson led the Tigers to a 22-3 record, and her team didn’t
allow a goal in the state tournament for the third straight year. A
standout field hockey and lacrosse player at Christopher Newport
University (CNU), Wilson once scored nine goals in a game and holds the
school single-game, season and career records in goals and points. She
also scored 73 goals in two lacrosse seasons, and is an assistant
lacrosse coach at CNU.
2012
Lillian "Lil” Shelton
Severna Park High School, Severna Park, Maryland
Shelton’s
37th and final season concluded last fall with her 20th state
championship, more than any other coach in National Federation high
school history. Severna Park’s 3-1 victory over Bethesda-Chevy Chase
High in the 4A final capped a 17-2 season and lifted Shelton’s final
record to 544-60-10, with 31 Anne Arundel County and 29 regional titles.
She built those numbers despite Maryland being restricted to playing
the shortest regular-season schedule in the United States – just 12
regular season games, plus one in-season tournament – the latter
requiring Shelton’s lobbying efforts before the Maryland state
legislature to be added to the schedule. Shelton, who retired from
teaching in 2000, started the county’s first program with sticks found
in a broom closet, and was instrumental in the addition of youth leagues
and Bermuda-grass fields to strengthen the sport. Shelton was named the
Dita/National Field Hockey Coaches Association South Region Coach of
the Year this season, and she also received national Coach of the Year
honors from TopOfTheCircle.com and VarsitySportsNetwork.com.
2013
Eileen Donahue
Watertown High School, Watertown, Massachusetts
Donahue
ended the 2012 season by guiding Watertown to its 13th Massachusetts
state field hockey championship, which was also the school’s 92nd
straight game without a loss; going 90-0-2 during the streak. The win
streak is tied for the fourth longest all-time in America. In her 27th
year as head coach of the program, Watertown finished a perfect 23-0 in
2012 while wining the MIAA Division 2 title. Donahue’s lifetime record
is 528-30-45.
2014
Tara Worley
Lakeland High School, Suffolk, Virginia
Coach Worley, who retired at the end of the 2013 season, built Lakeland High School field hockey program into one of the best in the State of Virginia during her 15-years as head coach of the Lady Cavaliers. Worley’s lifetime record stands at 250-46-3 with her 2010 squad winning Virginia’s Class AAA state title. In addition to the 2010 state title, Worley coached her girls to two regional championships, 13 regular season Southeastern District titles, 12 district titles and one conference championship.
2015
Laurie Kerr
Warren Hills High School, Washington, New Jersey
Laurie Kerr, who has been the head field hockey coach at Warren Hills for 15 years, led the school to its first state title in 2014. Warren Hills captured New Jersey’s Group 3 title. Kerr, who is a Warren Hills alum, is a member of the New Jersey Scholastic Coaches Association’s Hall of Fame. Kerr’s lifetime record is 265-71-12. Coach Kerr is the second coach from New Jersey to be named NHSCA National Field Hockey Coach of the Year. Eastern Regional’s Danyle Heilig won the award in 2010.
2016
Linda Kreiser
Lower Dauphin High School, Middletown, Pennsylvania
Kreiser has had an incredible career with a lifetime record of 738-104-35 with six state titles in 1993, 1998, 2006, 2009, 2012 and 2013. She began her coaching career at her alma mater in 1978. Kreiser has been inducted into the National Field Hockey Coaches’ Hall of Fame, the USA Field Hockey Hall of Fame and into the Millersville University Athletics Hall of Fame. Not only is Kreiser a great coach, she was also an excellent player. She played on Team USA from 1972 through 1979 and participated in the 1975 World Cup.
2017
Sue Butz-Stavin
Emmaus High School - Emmaus, Pennsylvania
Sue Butz-Stavin, who was the NHSCA National Field Hockey Coach of the Year in 2007, led her school to its second straight Pennsylvania Class 3A state title this last year. The Green Hornets finished undefeated for the second straight season and now own a 55-game win streak. Butz-Stavin, who has been coaching for over 40 years and is America’s all-time winningest field hockey coach, is now seven wins away from 900 lifetime coaching victories. This year’s state title was the 12th for Emmaus under the legendary coach. The other two coaches to be honored twice by the NHSCA are Bob Ladouceur, former head football coach at De La Salle High School in Concord, California, who was named National Football Coach of the Year in 2001 and 2004 and Joe Newton of York Community High School in Illinois, who won the award in 2000 and 2003.