Coach's Handbook: Lacrosse associate head coach Beth Hewitt

Dec. 28, 2015

By Jerome Boettcher | Subscribe to Commodore Nation

Beth Hewitt enters her second season at Vanderbilt and first as associate head coach. A former All-American midfielder at North Carolina, the native of Syracuse, N.Y., brings a wealth of experience. She helped start a Division I program at Oregon, became a head coach before she was 30 and led Le Moyne to consecutive Division II Final Fours. She and her husband, Erik, have a daughter, Keegan (4), and a son, Kaden (1).

Was pursuing a career in coaching always the plan for you?
I knew for sure I wanted to do something in athletics. I wasn’t sure what avenue I was going to take. But I think when I went to grad school (at Oregon) as a graduate assistant and as soon as I started coaching I knew that is what I wanted to do. I like the strategy part of it and still being competitive. I like everything with athletics, the administrative part, but if I have a preference I’d rather be on the field.

Did you grow up playing lacrosse?
I didn’t. I didn’t start until ninth grade. I actually played soccer and basketball my whole life. Lacrosse was fairly new at my high school, and so if you were fast and athletic, they said, ‘Oh, come try it out.’ I did. Compared to soccer, it was pretty different. But speed was the No. 1 factor and I was pretty fast. As soon as I started playing it, I really, really enjoyed it. You grow up playing these sports and you somewhat get burned out on them. Lacrosse was so new, and there was so much for me to still learn that I think it made it more of a challenge.

How was your college experience at North Carolina?
It was awesome. I loved everything about it. I had really great experiences. I was on, until their national championship team, one of their best teams. It gave me kind of the experience I think I was missing compared to the people who grew up playing it. My coaches were great so we learned a lot. I think playing at a level like that you never want to be done. We don’t have the opportunity to do the pro end of it. I wanted to stay with the game somehow. I talked a lot with my coach (Jenny Levy) about what I wanted to do and the path she took.

Is that where you picked up a lot of strategy, at North Carolina?
I would say in college and then at Oregon I worked with (now the associate head coach) Robert Bray, Jr., who played (lacrosse in college). I feel like I learned a lot of strategy at North Carolina, but then going to Oregon I feel like I picked up a lot of the men’s game. I morphed the two with my thought process. But I really enjoy watching the guy’s game now, from him and sort of the different strategies they have. I would say I have a different thought process than some people. I really, really enjoy the men’s game probably just as much as I enjoy the women’s and trying to bring some of that to our game is exciting.

Is it neat to look back now and see that you helped start the program at Oregon?
That first four years with that original group, I think we got into the Top 20. We weren’t the Top 10 but a decent start to the program. A lot of it was these raw athletes who wanted to learn lacrosse, play it. It was fun to see how much they grew throughout their career and change. A lot of them are in coaching now. It is kind of fun to see them on the road. To their credit, they started the program and really embraced the whole idea of West Coast lacrosse and getting it started out there.

You got your first head coaching job before you turned 30, leading Division II Le Moyne College in New York. How was that experience? Did you feel you were ready?
I think you think you are ready. Then when you get in the position you realize there is still a lot you have to learn. I think between everything I had learned from being a player, playing at the highest level, my coaches (at North Carolina) were awesome and really helped me, then going to Oregon and being a part of a program from the get-go. I think I felt pretty prepared because of that. We had to create everything for the program (at Oregon). It was not like there was something in place and we were keeping it going. It was developing what we wanted and how we wanted it to go. I guess I felt like that really helped me as a young coach. I was at a smaller school so I was doing a lot of it on my own. So without that experience there is no way I would have been ready for that.

How rewarding was it to see the growth at Le Moyne from a 5-12 record the year before you got there and to two straight Final Fours in your five years at the helm?
There was one class in particular that was my senior class for the first Final Four. That was the most rewarding for me to see them go from 5-12 their freshman year, and this was a really talented class. These were kids that could have played at a lot of different Division I schools and chose Le Moyne based on location (Syracuse), based on what they wanted to study. It is always brutal to lose but to see them be in the Final Four – they never thought they were going to have an experience like that. I was happy for them that they had that chance.

How beneficial was that head coaching experience in coming here to Vanderbilt?
When you go from being a head coach, you are going to be pretty selective if you are going to go back to being an assistant coach. When Cathy (Swezey) and I talked on the phone for the first time I think it was like for an hour. So it was like, ‘OK, this is a really good fit.’ For me, and for her as well, it comes down to the relationship with the people you work with. I think we complement each other as coaches, specifically on the field. I think we have really similar thought processes. Obviously there are times we will disagree. She is someone I’ve always respected. I think she has done a great job with this program. I felt like it was the right opportunity and it has been a great transition.

Aside from lacrosse, what do you like to do with your free time?
Definitely spend time with my family. Being in a new city, everything is pretty cool to check out. We take our kids everywhere. We’re big music fans so we try to take in as many concerts as we can and big sports fans so any time we can go to a game we do that.