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UNC hires 22 year old field hockey star player as next head coach!?!?

AppfaninCAALand
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UNC hires 22 year old field hockey star player as next head coach!?!?

Unread post by AppfaninCAALand » Wed Feb 01, 2023 1:05 pm

I know no one here particularly cares about field hockey, and many here do particularly dislike all things about the baby blues in Chapel Hill, but I found this story interesting and thought I share with others interested in college athletics.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/c ... 157438002/

UNC replaced the recently retired 42 year veteran field hockey coach Karen Shelton by hiring 22 year old star player Erin Matson. Matson just graduated from UNC a month ago and finished her final season playing for the Holes two months by winning her 4th national championship in 5 seasons.

Obviously, this would never happen in a sport like basketball or football or another high profile sport with any form of professional level. But field hockey only has the national team (for which Matson has played since she was 16), so most stars only have coaching as a career path to keep them in the sport. Matson is arguably the most decorated field hockey star of her generation and was very early to embrace the NIL system - my youngest field hockey obsessed daughter has an Erin Matson t-shirt she purchased about 2 weeks after NIL went into effect.

My question is how common is this? Has anyone ever heard of a school hiring a star player so soon after their playing days end? Especially at a powerhouse program like UNC? It seems odd to me for a defending champion in any sport to hire a head coach with no coaching experience.

To add an App St angle, I had long suspect our prior FH coach Meghan Dawson, a former UNC player, had a career goal of taking over the Heels and was biding her time in Boone until the chance arose. She left App, essentially retiring from coaching, a few weeks after Shelton retired. I wonder if she knew UNC was planning on going this route and decided to hang it up?
Last edited by AppfaninCAALand on Wed Feb 01, 2023 5:13 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: UNC hires 22 year old field hockey star player as next head coach!?!?

Unread post by BambooRdApp » Wed Feb 01, 2023 1:57 pm

She was their GOAT in that sport. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Really young to be coaching that sport for them given they have been really good in that sport.
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Re: UNC hires 22 year old field hockey star player as next head coach!?!?

Unread post by AppfaninCAALand » Wed Feb 01, 2023 2:24 pm

BambooRdApp wrote:
Wed Feb 01, 2023 1:57 pm
She was their GOAT in that sport. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Really young to be coaching that sport for them given they have been really good in that sport.
According to my daughter and her teammates, she isn't just UNC's GOAT, she is everyone's GOAT. It was funny to go to my daughter's practice last night and hear twenty five 10 year old girls giddy with excitement. They all think they will be playing for her in 10 years.

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Re: UNC hires 22 year old field hockey star player as next head coach!?!?

Unread post by T-Dog » Wed Feb 01, 2023 3:10 pm

I thought Dawson resigned because she and her husband have three young children and that he is the new men's tennis coach at Lehigh. He was the men's tennis coach at App when the program was dropped.

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Re: UNC hires 22 year old field hockey star player as next head coach!?!?

Unread post by AppfaninCAALand » Wed Feb 01, 2023 5:11 pm

T-Dog wrote:
Wed Feb 01, 2023 3:10 pm
I thought Dawson resigned because she and her husband have three young children and that he is the new men's tennis coach at Lehigh. He was the men's tennis coach at App when the program was dropped.
Yes, you are correct about Dawson and I didn't mean to imply otherwise. Thank you for pointing that out.

I was just thinking out loud, so to speak, that perhaps such information would make her otherwise very understandable family decision easier. I have not met Coach Dawson (though I have met her sister Rachel) and have no idea if she would have been interested in the UNC job at all - only that it might make sense as an alum doing a good job at App, a traditionally weaker nearby school. And I was grasping for straws to relate my post to App in some way, since this is an App board.

I will leave that part in the original post for posterity but it was intended as a random thought not intended to imply anything more serious.

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Re: UNC hires 22 year old field hockey star player as next head coach!?!?

Unread post by EastHallApp » Wed Feb 01, 2023 5:38 pm

She's an exceptional player, so if you're making the hire based on the assumption that greatness as a player translates into greatness as a coach, I guess she's the one you'd take a chance on. I've heard her in interviews, and she does come across as probably thoughtful and mature beyond her years.

That said, it's certainly a risk. #1, a lot of great players don't make great coaches, and needless to say she has no college coaching experience. More importantly, it has to create a bit of an odd dynamic going directly from a peer to the head coach of all those players who were her teammates just a couple months ago. And if it doesn't work out, you could find yourself in the awkward spot of having an all-time great and beloved alum being on the hot seat as a coach.

I'm sure they considered all that, though, and both parties decided it was worth the chance.

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Re: UNC hires 22 year old field hockey star player as next head coach!?!?

Unread post by asu66 » Wed Feb 01, 2023 8:21 pm

She'll get more $$$$ than she can spend in that position and will use her playing credentials for invitations into the living rooms of the top eligible players in the western world! Look for her to get well more than UNC's fair share of those kids. For a couple of recruiting cycles, anyway. After a couple of seasons, a lot of "input" from all over blue he** will be in the ol' "suggestion" box.
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Re: UNC hires 22 year old field hockey star player as next head coach!?!?

Unread post by bcoach » Fri Feb 03, 2023 2:37 pm

I heard she couldn't skate.

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Re: UNC hires 22 year old field hockey star player as next head coach!?!?

Unread post by huskie3 » Fri Feb 03, 2023 3:05 pm

I’m sure Coach Shelton had some say and will be around to offer advice. After all Shelton was only 23 when she took over 40+ years ago.
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