Aug. 13, 2008
by Clare Lochary, Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff
Angela McMahon has an unusual distinction among Northwestern lacrosse players. She was the last one to graduate without an NCAA championship ring.
"I know what we went through, in the bad times and the good times. I was there for it all - except for the first season that they won," said McMahon, the sole senior on the 2004 team that lost, 15-11, to Virginia in the quarterfinals.
But McMahon has another singular achievement among the much-decorated Wildcat crowd: she's the first alumna of the Kelly Amonte Hiller era to land a Division I head coaching job. McMahon has the task of reviving the once-promising UConn program, which fell on hard times (11-21) during coach Meghan Cersosimo's two-year tenure.
"That's the biggest thing - changing the culture and getting them to believe in themselves. That breeds more success," said the former UMass assistant.
McMahon should know how to cultivate success. She is the newest and greenest branch on a renowned coaching tree. Amonte Hiller, the winner of four straight NCAA titles, is one of eight current Division I head coaches who played for Cindy Timchal at Maryland. Timchal, now the head coach at Navy, won seven straight NCAA titles from 1995 to 2001. Her coaching progeny includes Cathy Reese (Maryland), Kerstin Kimel (Duke), Missy Doherty (Towson), Jen Adams (Loyola) and, most famously, Amonte Hiller.
"Kelly was such a positive role model. That strong female influence, it's something that I've gotten so much confidence from. My goal is just to do the same with these girls," said McMahon.
McMahon transferred to Northwestern in fall 2001 after playing her freshman year at UMass. She became a tri-captain as a sophomore, and thrived in a leadership role in the budding program. McMahon wasn't on the roster for the 2005 championship, but she was on the sidelines when the Wildcats won.
"Kelly's always made me feel like I was still a part of it, and the players did too. It was really unreal. Just looking back on, it is so crazy to think about it. It really is," said McMahon.
"It's a huge motivation for other teams and other new programs and programs that are sort of in that building process. It gives you a lot of hope that it can turn around quickly with the right leaders and the right support."
While UConn is not her first head coaching stint (she spent a year at Division II Bentley College and went 7-8), McMahon sounds especially comfortable with the situation in Storrs. She sees some parallels between UConn 2008 and Northwestern 2001: both are fully-funded programs with great facilities in a lacrosse power conference at good academic institutions. And of course, they both have an enthusiastic young coach with a great pedigree at the helm.
For now, McMahon's goal is to be competitive in the Big East. The 2008 Huskies went 0-5 in the conference and 1-15 overall. But McMahon has been there before.
Northwestern went 5-10 in 2002, the program's only sub-.500 season of the modern era. McMahon touts the idea of "just enjoying every moment of the process," a line that comes straight from the Amonte Hiller playbook. (A sample Kristen Kjellman quote from January 2007: "The goal is to savor every moment, every practice, every game.")
Those confident baby steps eventually marched the `Cats straight into the winner's circle.
"At Northwestern, we were in a lot of games that first year that we technically probably shouldn't have been in, but because we were fighters, we never got down on ourselves," said McMahon.
The next year, they went 8-8. Then 15-3. And the rest is history.
Contact Clare Lochary at clochary@uslacrosse.org.
