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Back-to-Back Champion: On and Off the Field
Field hockey coach, Missy Meharg has led the
Terps to back-to-back titles in 2005 and 2006.
MISSY MEHARG M.A. ’90 has a lot to be proud
of—back-to-back national championships, four
NCAA titles and six-time National Coach of the
Year. Entering her 20th season guiding one of the
top field hockey teams in the country, she proves
to be a great coach on and off the field.
No stranger to competition, Meharg’s playing
career was almost as illustrious as her coaching
career. She was an All-American forward at the
University of Delaware, where she not only
excelled at field hockey, but was also a lacrosse
player. She led her field hockey team in goals,
assists and points, and was named MVP of the
East Coast Conference in 1983. Meharg was a
seven-year player with the U.S. National Team, a
member of the 1986 World Cup team and an
alternate to the 1987 Pan American and 1988
Olympic teams.
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Over the years Maryland has
seen many accomplishments
in women’s athletics.
1929: Virginia Peasley
becomes the first University
of Maryland Women’s
Athletics Director (for the
Women’s Athletic Association
created in 1924).
1981, 1986 and 1987: Sue
Tyler is the only Division
1A coach to win NCAA
championships in two different
sports (field hockey and
lacrosse).
1994: Deborah A. Yow
becomes the first female
athletic director at
Maryland and in the Atlantic
Coast Conference (ACC).
2000: Sports Illustrated for
Women ranks Maryland as
the No. 10 school for women’s
athletics (ranking discontinued
after 2000).
2004: Cindy Timchal, former
Maryland coach, is the first
woman in collegiate women's
lacrosse history to compile
300 victories.
March 2006: Brenda Frese
leads the women’s basketball
team to the NCAA
National Championship on
her first trip to the final four.
She is also the first Maryland
women’s basketball coach to
win 34 games and a national
championship.
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Being a “go to” star as an athlete helped her
to develop her winning coaching style. Her
experiences gave her compassion for her players
and the realization about what you can and cannot
control.“I know, as do all the Terp hockey
players, that controlling your attitude (enthusiasm)
and work rate are constants,” Meharg
explains. And it’s those attitudes that helped the
field hockey team earn the ACC Sportsmanship
Award last season. More commonly given to the
team with the lowest winning percentage for a
season, the team, with its back-to-back championships,
was awarded the honor based on the
players’ good character and sportsmanship displayed
throughout the season.
As remarkable as Meharg’s stats are, her offthe-
field contributions are just as impressive. She
believes that staying in the present and taking the
time to care for each team player and staff member
has been her greatest achievement throughout
her career at Maryland. “I try not to look
back or forward too much so I don’t miss what’s
right in front of me … listening, mentoring and
coaching 24 women between the ages of 17 to
22 is serious full-time work.”
The relationships she has developed over the
years with her players is built on respect, trust
and pride in themselves as well as in Maryland.
Meharg is confident in saying,“The women
would say that I sincerely care about them
because we are serious about developing the
complete champion on and off the field.” —MB
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