A Q&A with Hannah Prince

On July 20, Hannah Prince was hired as the 11th head coach in the history of St. Joe’s field hockey. The Hawk met with Prince to talk about how she got to this point and what she hopes to accomplish moving forward as head coach of the Hawks. 

The Hawk: So you’re a very accomplished field hockey player, spending time on both the indoor and outdoor national teams, and serving as captain of the indoor team. How has your experience led you on the path of coaching?

Hannah Prince: I’ve always known I wanted to coach, but I also had aspirations to play on the national team. So I knew that I would do that for as long as I could before moving into a full-time coaching position. That experience has helped me to be able to coach my team at a high level, to make adjustments to know what it is like to train at the highest level and to have the highest fitness level and just that competitive mindset. 

The Hawk: You are also very well traveled as a national team player and as a coach, starting with New Hampshire, traveling here to Hawk Hill, to Louisville, [Kentucky], and now back here. How has coaching in all of those places influenced and built your coaching philosophy and style?

Hannah Prince: I think I’ve pulled things from each coach. I have had the luxury of working for some awesome coaches that have a ton of experience. I have been able to pull what I like best from each of them. So, for example, my last position at Louisville, Justine [Sowry] is amazing with building team culture and building leaders, so I have got to take a lot from that. At Princeton [University], Carla [Tagliente], the head coach, is just an amazing tactical genius, and I played for her at Massachussets as well. So just being able to embrace what I took that I liked most about their playing styles and form that into my own.

The Hawk: Your coaching style has obviously worked so far. You have played very competitive games, win or lose. How has coaching here previously had any impact in terms of having continuity?

Hannah Prince: We have a really tough schedule, which is the best way to play against the best, to help us be the best, and making that the norm so that when we hit the tournament, it is not like we have not seen a top five, or top 15 program. That is just the standard for us that we can train to compete against a top eight team in the country, as you saw on [Sept. 10] . We were up for a while, we were battling, we were able to execute, earning penalty corners under pressure, [we] obviously missed the boat on a couple of them, but just the mentality that we can train against everyone. Another piece is just the preparation we put in all week. We scout our opponents very hard, pushing our players to just do the best that they can do, and push their levels out of their comfort zones so that we can match up with these teams such as Penn State.

The Hawk: The team has been super competitive so far, and what has been your favorite part about coaching throughout your career?

Hannah Prince: The players. They are the best part. They are what makes me excited to come to work and step foot on the field every day. I mean the minutes I am at practice, that is the only thing I ever think about, and once practice is over, I remember my laundry list of to-do’s. But when I am here with them, seeing them have fun and play and improve, and really just bind together, that’s definitely the best part, and this group does an amazing job with that. Getting after it every day, enjoying it and just being really united.

The Hawk: Do you have any pregame routine or ritual to sort of get you in the zone?

Hannah Prince: It is very important to me to be super organized in terms of our team focus points. Situational things that could occur such as overtime shootouts. I am very big on rewriting things for repetitions so that they are locked into my brain. So I just sit down, take our game plan, and write a summary of those in my notebook. I make sure I have our overtime shootout stroke opportunities all ready to go. And then I like to just chill, take a deep breath and drink a Diet Coke. That is my ritual.