By Dave Johnson
W&M Athletics
William & Mary field hockey coach
Tess Ellis knows what's being said about her program. And she likes it.
Over the last four seasons, three of her assistant coaches have been plucked away for head coaching jobs. Mark Egner, who served on Ellis' staff from 2015-19, was the first when Dartmouth hired him in 2020. Next came Martu Loncarica (2017-18), who took over at La Salle in '21.
Then it was
Hillary Fitts, Ellis' trusted right hand the last five seasons, which included last fall's CAA championship run. She's now the head coach at Hofstra.
"People are saying, 'If you come work for Tess, your next job might be a head coach,'" Ellis said with a chuckle. "It's a nice compliment when they think I can train people to be good hockey players and good coaches."
Interestingly, Ellis will coach against Loncarica and Fitts this fall. Loncarica is heading into her first season at Richmond, which is scheduled to visit Busch Field on Sept 1. Fitts' first season with the Pride will include an Oct. 18 conference game against the Tribe on Long Island.
Ellis coached against Loncarica's La Salle team last year at Busch Field. The pupil defeated the teacher 3-2.
"So it's been done before," Ellis said of coaching against a former assistant. "I can handle it."
The Tribe also has several former assistants and/or players on Division I coaching staffs.
Lauren Curran '23, the Most Outstanding Player of last season's CAA tournament, has joined Fitts at Hofstra. Loncarica's staff includes former Tribe players Erin Menges '18 and Chaney Eldridge (née Manganello) '14.
After Fitts departed for Hofstra, Ellis filled her sideline vacancies with Christina Walker, formerly the head coach at Virginia Wesleyan, and Mimi Smith, an All-American forward on Old Dominion's 1998 national championship team.
In addition to her time at Wesleyan, Walker spent six seasons as an assistant at Wake Forest. In her playing days, she was a goalie who helped lead Maryland to back-to-back national championships in 2005 and '06.
Walker also will be working with Deidre Connelly, director of performance psychology at W&M, toward becoming a sports psychologist.
At ODU, Smith won the Honda Broderick Award as national player of the year for the 1998 season. She played on the national team's roster from 1999-2004. As the head coach at Garrison Forest School outside Baltimore, she led her team to conference championships in each of her two seasons.
Smith serves on the National Field Hockey Coaches Association Board of Directors and has been a college field hockey official.
Although Walker and Smith are new to the W&M program, Ellis goes back several years with each.
"Christina came into work the other day and said, 'Oh, my god, I just had a memory pop up that 11 years ago I was working summer camp here,'" Ellis said. "I've known her since she graduated out of college, and I probably looked at her at some point for the junior national team when I was the coach.
"I've known Mimi since she played at ODU. I coached her with the residency program in Virginia Beach and she's an elite official here, and she used to do a lot of games.
"It's very calming to me because it's not like I have to create a relationship with these new coaches. I already have that relationship."
While the staff has fluctuated recently with assistants moving on, Ellis believes Walker and Smith will be around a while.
"The first disclaimer that Mimi and Stivo (Walker's nickname) put down was that they don't want to be head coaches," Ellis said. "They said they're moving here because of their families and this is where they want to settle in.'"
