Slippery Rock University Athletics

After 10 years as head coach of the SRU field hockey program, Julie Swiney announced that she will step down as head coach on May 31, 2020 for family reasons. Read more HERE.
 

Career Highlights

• 84 career wins (68 at Slippery Rock)

• Second winningest coach in SRU history

• 2012 PSAC Coach of the Year

• 6 NFHCA Team GPA Awards

 

Career Milestones

• First win - 8/30/07 vs. Southern Conn. (2-0)

• 20th win - 11/13/10 at Indiana (1-0)

• 30th win - 9/19/12 vs. Mercyhurst (3-2)

• 40th win - 10/11/13 vs. Seton Hill (3-1)

• 50th win - 9/7/15 vs. American Int'l (4-1)

• 60th win - 10/12/16 at Seton Hill (3-1)

Julie Swiney concluded her 10th season in charge of the Slippery Rock University field hockey team in 2019. Swiney led The Rock to unprecedented success both on and off the field since coming to SRU.
 
Slippery Rock had won just 14 games over seven seasons with three different head coaches prior to Swiney’s arrival at The Rock. Swiney has brought stability to SRU over the last decade that has resulted in prosperity in all facets of the program.
  
Under Swiney, Slippery Rock won 68 games and qualified for the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Tournament on four occasions. Swiney’s 68 wins are the second most by a Rock field hockey coach all-time. She has won at least six games in each of her first nine seasons at Slippery Rock. Conversely, SRU had just three seasons with six or more wins from 1992-09.
 
23 players have received All-PSAC recognition while playing for Swiney including eight that went on to be named All-Americans in Kayla Mack, Brittany Morgan, Kayla Ulrich, Megan McKay, Kelsey Gustafson, Lindsay Brown, Baylee Childress and Gabrielle Malischak.
 
Slippery Rock’s reputation in the classroom has been second to none since Swiney took 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 and 43 NFHCA Scholars of Distinction.
 
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 years in addition to having 129 student-athletes recognized as PSAC Scholar Athletes.  
 
Two of Swiney’s players have gone on to earn the highest accolade a collegiate student-athlete can as both Lindsay Brown (2013-14) and Liz Wolfe (2018-19) were named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America Team for their efforts in the classroom and on the field.
 
Four of the best seasons in Rock field hockey’s 41-year history have come with Swiney on the sidelines.
 
Swiney guided SRU to its first PSAC Tournament appearance since 1987 in her second season with the program in 2011 when Slippery Rock went 5-5 in conference play and knocked off three teams ranked in the NFHCA top 10 poll.
 
SRU improved on its 2011 campaign in 2012 by winning eight games, earning another PSAC Tournament bid and finishing the season ranked ninth in the nation. As recognition for one of the top seasons in program history, Swiney was named the 2012 PSAC West Coach of the Year. Two years later Swiney led The Rock to nine victories, the fourth most wins in a single-season in program history, and yet another appearance in the league tournament.
 
Two years ag,o The Rock went 10-9, qualified for the PSAC Tournament and spent time ranked in the NFHCA Top 10 poll. The 10-win season represented the most victories in a season by a Rock team since 1988 and the second most in program history overall.
 
Swiney came to Slippery Rock after serving four seasons as American International College’s first field hockey coach. She led the Yellow Jackets to two wins in each of their first two seasons before increasing the win total to five games in 2008 and six games in 2009. Included in the 2008 win-total was a 3-2 victory over No. 6 St. Michaels, the Yellow Jackets’ first win over a nationally ranked opponent.
 
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 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 a graduate of the 2018 NCAA Women Coaches Academy class No. 44 that was held in Denver, Colorado. The NCAA Women Coaches Academy, hosted in partnership between the Alliance of Women Coaches and the NCAA, is a four-day educational training available to NCAA coaches of all experience levels, and is designed for women coaches who are ready to increase their individual effectiveness by learning advanced skills and strategies that directly affect their personal and team success.
 
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.
 
Swiney is married to Westminster College head baseball coach Kelly Swiney. The couple resides in Neshannock, Pennsylvania with their two children.
 

Julie Swiney Head Coaching Career
Year	Wins	Losses
2006 (AIC)	2	16
2007 (AIC)	3	15
2008 (AIC)	5	15
2009 (AIC)	6	12
2010	6	14
2011	6	13
2012	8	10
2013	6	12
2014	9	10
2015	6	12
2016	6	12
2017	10	9
2018	6	12
2019	5	13
SRU Totals	68	117
Career Totals	84	175