The Mavericks found the woman for the job.
Shannon McHale was hired as the new head coach of Colorado Mesa University’s (CMU) Women’s Lacrosse Team in June of 2020.
McHale has twenty-two years of head coaching at the division three level under her belt and was most recently an assistant coach at Florida Southern College.
When McHale first took the job, she sent workouts to the players to help them prepare for fall practices, leaving them accountable for how well they followed her workouts. McHale also made it a point to get to know her players.
“I took about an hour with each player on the phone when I first got the job, I got to know them a little bit, just explain my philosophy a bit so they knew what they should expect,” McHale said.
One of the biggest obstacles with the transition to head coach in the middle of a pandemic has been recruiting. Typically possible recruits would be brought on campus to scrimmage with the team for “official” tryouts, but this is no longer an option.
“Really you’re assessing a five-minute highlight video,” McHale said.
To help with the process, McHale spends time on the phone with each possible recruit to get to know them.
The players and Assistant Coach Ashley Delaney said that McHale has been a good change for the team. McHale cares about the well-being of her team and makes sure that the women on her team are successful both on and off the field.
Senior attacker Kenzie Blackwell and senior defender Raquel Ruhme are both nursing students and unfortunately miss a lot or are late to many things.
“[McHale] says ‘I just need you to show up and give me your best and if you can do that for thirty minutes of our two-hour practice, that’s good enough,’” Ruhme said.
Blackwell talked about how important injury prevention is to McHale, about the first hour of practice geared towards it and the team is seeing the results.
Junior midfielder Ashton Whittle mentioned that one of the biggest differences with McHale, especially for the returners, is that they know what to expect at practices. They get the sense that McHale wants them to improve whereas, with their previous head coach, they would get immediate anxiety.
“I think she’s been handling [the transition] wonderfully, she came in with fresh ideas and a whole new concept for our team in terms of culture and where we’re trying to get the team going. She’s brought a lot of positive energy, she just brings this amazing work ethic that is rubbing off on the girls too and myself,” Delaney said.
Boutwell said that the women on the team are learning a lot quickly because McHale is good at breaking down steps and telling the players why they are doing the drills that they are. Boutwell continued saying that she’s learned more with McHale in the past three months than she has in the past three years on the CMU’s Women’s Lacrosse Team.
“We’re having so much fun at practice, I’ve never seen so many girls smiling while we’re doing these really hard drills or sprints,” Blackwell said.
The players and coaches alike are excited to see where this season takes them.
“Honestly, I don’t see any reason why we couldn’t be one of the top ten teams in the nation,” McHale said.
McHale and the team are scheduled to host their first game of the season on March 27 against Westminster College.
