Hard work, teamwork, passion and courage are the core coaching values that newly-appointed KSC Field Hockey Head Coach Leslie Smith lives by, according to her. Smith, who currently serves as an assistant coach to the University of Maine’s program, joins the team following the retirement of former Head Coach Amy Watson, who headed up the program for over 35 seasons and 16 Little East Conference titles.
Although Smith has held various coaching positions within the sport throughout her professional career, her passion for the sport began in kindergarten when she played for her town’s youth program, dubbed the “Weed Whackers.”
“[I] just got really fortunate to be in an area where field hockey was big and had a lot of people to look up to and a lot of great coaches,” Smith said. “It was called the Weed Whackers, and it was mostly because we were whacking the weeds, not even the ball.”
Having fallen in love with the sport from a young age, Smith said she aspired to be like the strong role models she had growing up and to take on a coaching position herself later in life, beginning her journey with what used to be known as the USA Field Hockey Futures team, now called Nexus.
Following her experience with Nexus, she coached for a local club in Ann Arbor, Mich., named Pinnacle. At Pinnacle, Smith said she ended up finding herself leaving her then-corporate job early to coach the club on several occasions.
“I had a long conversation with one of my supervisors and he was so supportive and he was like, ‘Do it, like quit, like go find a coaching job,’ and that’s what I did,” Smith said.
Then, the rest was history, so to speak. Smith held assistant coachships at Middlebury College in Vermont, Colby College in Maine, Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania, Providence College and finally UMaine before taking on her new position at Keene State.
Now tasked with stewarding and fostering continued success for the back-to-back LEC champs, Smith said she could not be more excited to start.
“There’s something really fulfilling about Division III and the Division III model for student athletes that I have missed and so when Keene reached out, I was just pretty excited,” Smith said. “Obviously, we want to continue the success, but I think success comes from playing a great game of [field] hockey, and so it’s less for me about talking about winning and losing and more about talking about how we can play a great game of [field] hockey.”
While Smith said she has not had the opportunity to speak to Watson, she said she appreciated the former coach’s impact on the team and looks forward to getting to know her once she arrives at KSC.
“It sounds like she’s definitely going to be around and she’s going to be still supporting the program, which I absolutely love,” Smith said. “Whether you’re currently on the team, or you’re 30 years post the team, I value so much that involvement from friends, family, alumni, former coaches, all those people, I think it’s what makes a program really special.”
Junior Captain and forward Meghan Daileanes said the team is prepared for a new chapter under the leadership of Smith.
“It’ll definitely be like a wake-up call, but I think a lot of people I know are ready to step up, and I think as a team [and] as a whole, if we’re going to do it, we’re going to do it together,” Daileanes said.
Daileanes was included in the hiring process for the new coach and said Smith stood out to her as a top-tier candidate.
“[Smith] was very clear and honest and she had a good vision for our program,” Daileanes said. “As a program, we didn’t want to lose the opportunity of [hiring] her because she just seems like she is going to make an impact from the start.”
Daileanes also said Smith’s experience and younger age were contributing factors in her hiring.
“I feel like that is huge because she’s gotten to see so many different athletes, so now that she is here, I think she’ll be able to bring a lot to our team,” Daileanes said.
With Daileanes being the only returning team captain next year, she said there is a lot on the line in terms of the team’s success.
“I’m excited to have a team that’s going to push themselves and hopefully finish our, at least for our seniors, career on a high note,” Daileanes said.
Smith’s first day at KSC is set for Feb. 16, with practices starting the following week.
Nathan Hope can be contacted at
