Imagine for a moment Shane Battier winning the 2001 NCAA Tournament title in his senior season, being named national college player of the year to boot, and instead of moving on after graduation, replacing his legendary head coach as the leader of the program. The stakes and details aren't exactly the same, but a reasonable facsimile of that scenario just played out in NCAA field hockey.
Erin Matson is regarded as one of the greatest field hockey players in American history. She was ACC Player of the Year five times at North Carolina (COVID year and everything) and national Player of the Year thrice. Her Tar Heels won four NCAA titles during her time in Chapel Hill. She's a member of the U.S. national team. And now, after UNC defeated Northwestern in a penalty shootout on Sunday to win their fifth title in six years, she's a national champion coach.
Legendary Tar Heel coach Karen Shelton resigned in December 2022 after 42 years at the helm of the nation's all-time winningest program. While still a student at UNC (but after her final season) Matson approached UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham and expressed her interest in succeeding her mentor. To his credit, Cunningham took her seriously, though he admitted in an interview, it was "...an idea that you probably do have to sit with for a while to say, ‘OK, am I really going to consider this?’ After an interview process, Matson was named the head coach of the UNC program in January 2023.
Her teammates (and in one case, roommate) went from friends hanging out on Franklin Street with her to players dealing with her demanding standards. Romea Riccardo (who happens to be nine months older than her coach), said “Right away she did a great job of kind of separating herself from us. We respected her right away. We always respected her as a player. But now obviously it’s a little bit different when she’s our coach and our person that we kind of look up to as a mom figure.”
Kinda mean to do this to your mom, though:
Had to know that was coming 💦 pic.twitter.com/X9CMU1hEWO
— UNC Field Hockey (@UNCFieldHockey) November 20, 2023
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10 comments:
hit a five-way moneyline college hoops parlay last night. new way to piss away money gambling just dropped.
From previous comments section, Tim and whomever else are interested: Jason Whitlock is regarded as quite the douche. His misogynistic and often tone-deaf takes under the guise of speaking truth have earned him eyeballs and clicks in right-wing eco-system.
yeah, that dude is a cynical motherfucker. couldn't get along with colleagues and employees at multiple places (allegedly) and so now shitposts for fun and profit.
But he sometimes does it with a stylish hat!
Bored with the missus, watching the new Name That Tune show with much pomposity and indignation. It doesn’t become me, I’m sensing strongly. But I’m faring pretty well playing at home.
I should have phrased that differently — the missus and I are bored.
This is a pretty remarkable story. I assume the coach has to manage a budget and a staff, in addition to designing plays and motivating players, and has to worry about invoking the ire of the AD or the school's board. It sounds like this is the best field hockey program in the country and they turned it over to a 23-year-old kid. That's preposterous. Can you imagine if a major company handed control of a successful division to someone who just graduated from college? Good for Erin Matson (who I never heard of until I read this post).
didn’t realize we were taking the day off for the holiday
Happy Turkey Eve!
I’m on my way out for dinner with my very large (in numbers) family. We’re all quite slim. I look forward to TJ’s annual Thanksgiving post. Happy Thanksgiving eve, Gheorghies. Enjoy the basketball. Always one of my favorite things this time of year.
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