In her 27 years of coaching field hockey, Linda Arena never cut a player from the team. She never received a technical or warning card from an official, and she never forgot her motivation for coaching at Wittenberg.

“Our student-athletes have worked so very hard to bring pride to the university and their parents. Throughout the years, they have not had the size and strength of Division I athletes, but what is huge of about them is their hearts,” Arena said.

Now, though, after a career filled with North Coast Athletic Conference championships, state titles from Ohio and New York, three National Field Hockey Coaches Association Coach of the Year awards and 266 career victories, Arena is stepping down.

“There is never really a good time to walk away, but we have had a strong recruiting year, and the team I leave behind will be very competitive next season,” Arena said.

“There is no doubt in my mind that they will carry on what has become a strong Tiger field hockey tradition.” Wittenberg field hockey has captured the past three consecutive NCAC Championships and has been selected to compete in four of the past five NCAA National Championships.

But Arena also remembers her first season at Wittenberg. Driving a Wittenberg van back from a game in 1982, Arena listened to two players, Tori Tower Fowley, ’84, and Jill Skaff O’Neil, ’85, discuss the state of field hockey at Wittenberg.

In essence, they said: “We just want to win sometimes, coach.” Arena took their words seriously; the Tigers have not had a losing season for the past 17 years. Four Arena-recruited players have also been named All-America five times.

Amy Kraus. ’99, was selected first team in 1995 and 1997; Linda Iantuono, ’96, was third team in 1995; Jo-El Miller, ’99, was first team in 1998; and Sara Hamilton, ’99, was third team in 1998.

Arena also remembers the early days of women’s athletics at Wittenberg when Title IX goals “were still in works-in-progress.” As Wittenberg’s director of women’s athletics from 1982 to 1992, Arena advocated for equality in athletics.

She recalls when the in-season volleyball team practiced on the old field house stage so that preseason men’s basketball could use the gym from 4 to 8 p.m. Women’s basketball practiced from 8 to 10 p.m.

In addition, all nine women’s teams shared one set of warm-ups and lacked assistant coaches. But Arena lobbied for change, and she is now credited with building a program that has become one of the finest in the NCAC.

Furthermore, because of her career field hockey record of 266-136-45, Arena ranks among the top five active field hockey coaches in NCAA Division III.

Arena also won three New York State titles, a regional championship and appeared once in the AIAW final four while serving as the head field hockey coach at her alma mater, SUNY-Brockport.

She is a member of Brockport State’s Athletic Hall of Fame, and during her career has served on NCAA field hockey and softball committees, chairing national championships in both sports.

“Linda Arena has meant a great deal to the athletic program at Wittenberg University,” President Baird Tipson said. “She has influenced a great number of women through the years, and she will be difficult to replace.”

Her players agree. They recall that she never put an “I” in “T-E-A-M.” Sara Hamilton, ’99: “For Dr. Arena, the team always came first. Her coaching methods on and off the field made us the team that we are.”

Fellow teammate and first team All-American Jo-El Miller, ’99: “She is a really caring coach and definitely a team player.” Arena also treated her players like adults. “She didn’t spend time yelling at us,” said Shannon Selby, ’99.

“You always wonder if you are going to get a fair chance, and she is very fair.” Former field hockey Olympian Yasser Khan, who worked with Arena in the USFHA Futures Program, thinks Arena’s personality is what made the difference.

“She instills a great sense of pride in her student-athletes. She has great patience and will work tirelessly to help a student-athlete who is willing to learn and excel.”

Arena has also encouraged her players to push themselves in the classroom, too. Ten of Arena’s players have been named NFHCA Academic All -America since 1992.

“The high academic standing of our student-athletes allows us to execute a very creative and advanced strategy,” Arena said. “You don’t call time-outs and send in plays in field hockey. The players learn to be decision-makers.”

Although Arena will remain at Wittenberg as an associate professor in the department of health, fitness and sport, she will now sit on the stands with other fans cheering the team to victory.

“Athletics provides unique opportunities for individuals to feel good about what they have been able to accomplish,” Arena said. “Championships aside, it is all about personal bests.

It is about those smiles on the face of each and everyone on the team regardless of skill level. I truly admire our students for the physical pain they endure and the mental applications they make in the heat of the game.

You can be very proud of how the students on the field hockey team have represented Wittenberg.”