SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Slippery Rock University head field hockey coach Julie Swiney has announced that she will step down from her position at the end of May following a 10-year stint as The Rock's head coach.
 
"We want to thank Julie for everything she brought to our program over the last decade," said director of athletics Paul Lueken. "She not only turned the program around on the field, but she also oversaw the best academic performance in the country over the last decade and that is something we are very proud of. Her teams have always demonstrated what it meant to be a student-athlete and have always represented Slippery Rock very well. We wish her and her family nothing but luck and happiness in their next endeavor."
 
Swiney leaving Slippery Rock is strictly a family decision. Her husband was named the head baseball coach at the University of Mary Washington and the family is relocating to Virginia.
 
"I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to coach so many exceptional young women at such an amazing institution over the last 10 years," said Swiney. "Earlier this year my family made the difficult decision to begin a new chapter together. While this is exciting for us, it is also extremely difficult because I truly love working at The Rock and coaching this program. We have worked hard over the last 10 years to create a strong tradition of athletic and academic success. I am so proud of the progress we made and thank all of the women that played for Rock hockey for making this so special. I also want to thank all of the women that served as assistant coaches over the last 10 years and the administration for supporting me and this team. I truly love this program and Slippery Rock University and will miss this greatly, but I am so thankful for the memories, relationships and experiences I gained here in the last 10 years."
 
Swiney took over the program prior to the 2010 season after moving to SRU from American International College in Massachusetts. In her first season in charge of the program, she led The Rock to six wins, matching the three previous years combined after SRU went 6-50 from 2007-09. The direction of the program was immediately apparent that fall when SRU picked up wins over three teams ranked in the top 10 in the country. Swiney's first banner victory came six games into the season when SRU upset No. 5 LIU Post 4-1. The Rock then went on to sweep nationally ranked rival Indiana (Pa.) with a 2-0 victory over No. 8 IUP at home and a 1-0 win over No. 7 IUP on the road to close the year.
 
The team won six games again in 2011 after posting a 6-13 overall record that included eight losses to teams ranked in the top eight in the national rankings. The Rock closed the regular season with another upset victory, this time over No. 6 IUP, which clinched the first PSAC playoff berth for Slippery Rock since 1987.
 
In 2012, the program took another leap by jumping into the top 10 in the NCAA Division II national rankings for the first time. SRU reached as high as No. 8 in the poll and finished the year ranked No. 9 in the final rankings. The Rock were ranked for seven straight weeks to end the season and reached the PSAC playoffs for the second straight year. Slippery Rock finished the year 8-10 with eight of those 10 losses coming to teams that ranked in the top six in the national poll, including six losses to teams ranked in the top three nationally. Swiney was recognized by her peers following that season as the PSAC Coach of the Year.
 
Over her first three seasons, Swiney's teams won 20 games, more than tripling the number of wins from the three seasons before she arrived.
 
Things all clicked in 2017 when Slippery Rock posted its first winning record since 1998 and its first 10-win season since 1988. The Rock finished the year 10-9 and reached as high as No. 5 in the Division II national rankings after picking up wins over No. 3 West Chester and No. 5 Kutztown.
 
All told, Swiney finishes her 10 years at Slippery Rock with a record of 68-117. Those 68 wins are the second most by a head coach in SRU program history and are the most victories ever recorded during any 10-year stretch in program history. The Rock combined for just 24 total wins over the 10 seasons prior to Swiney taking over in 2010. Perhaps an even more impressive statistic about her overall record is that 75 of the 117 total losses came against teams that were ranked in the top 10 in the nation.
 
During her tenure, Swiney coached a total of 23 All-PSAC selections and eight All-Americans.
 
Slippery Rock's reputation in the classroom has been second to none with Swiney in control of the program. SRU has posted the highest team GPA of any field hockey team in NCAA Division II seven times in the last 10 years (2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019), while ranking second once (2012) and third twice (2015, 2016). The program has also garnered 191 NFHCA National Academic Squad honorees (3.3 cumulative GPA or higher) and 43 NFHCA Scholars of Distinction (3.9 cumulative GPA or higher).
 
With the field hockey team's success on the national level, it should come as no surprise that SRU has also dominated the PSAC's academic rankings by recording the highest GPA of any team in the PSAC for the last eight straight years in addition to having more than 150 student-athletes recognized as PSAC Scholar Athletes. 
 
Swiney came to Slippery Rock after serving four seasons as American International College's first field hockey coach. She also served as assistant compliance coordinator at American International and was a member of the NCAA Division II North Region advisory committee from 2008-10, the National Field Hockey Coaches Association's All-American Committee and the North/South All-Star Game Committee.
 
Prior to being named as head coach at AIC in May 2006, Swiney served one season as an assistant coach under former Rock student-athlete and head coach Jenny Dumas at Washington & Jefferson College and two seasons as an assistant at Amherst College.
 
Swiney was also the director of the Revolution Field Hockey Camp in Pomfret, Connecticut from 2008-10, head coach of U-14 Action Sports in Greenfield, Massachusetts from 2006-09 and head coach for the USA Field Hockey Futures Program, Great Lakes Region, in the spring of 2005.
 
A 2003 graduate of The College of William and Mary, Swiney was a three-year starter in field hockey for the Tribe. She led the Tribe to a top-20 national ranking in each of her three seasons and a pair of appearances in the NCAA Division I Tournament. As a senior, Swiney was named to the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) All-Tournament Team and received the CAA Commissioners' Academic Award in 2002.
 
Swiney is also graduate of the 2018 NCAA Women Coaches Academy.
 
A native of Mountain Top, Pennsylvania, Swiney earned her bachelor's degree in marketing from William & Mary in 2003 and her master's in education at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 2005. Her and her husband, Kelly, are the proud parents of two children, Will and Rose.
 
Swiney will remain in her role for the rest of this semester before stepping down at the end of May. Slippery Rock is currently in the process of a national search to identify the next head coach of The Rock field hockey program.



To stay up to date with all that happens at The Rock, follow our official athletic communication accounts on Twitter (@Rock_Athletics), Facebook (RockAthletics), Instagram (RockAthletics) and Snapchat (@RockAthletics).