Kent State Field Hockey Camps
Kathleen (Schanne) Wiler, Head Coach
Entering her fifth season as head coach at Kent State in 2010, Kathleen (Schanne) Wiler has returned the Golden Flashes storied program to the upper echleon of the MAC.
Under the guidance of the two-time Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year, Kent State has won back-to-back regular season league titles in 2008 and 2009 and posted a 27-13 league record. This past season the Golden Flashes earned a share the crown with an 8-2 record and led the conference with 2.85 goals scored per game.
During Wiler’s tenure, KSU has produced two All-America selections, a MAC Player of the Year and two MAC Newcomer's of the Year among the 20 All-MAC honors earned by 12 different players. More importantly the Golden Flashes have had just as much (if not more) success in the classroom. Since Wiler took over the program, Kent State has had at least nine players named to the NFHCA’s National Academic Squad, including a school record 10 players in 2008. In addition Stephanie Bernthal (2008) and Allison Kittelberger (2009) were selected to the ESPN the Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-District squad in the heavy populated At-Large division.
Wiler's 2008 squad won MAC Tournament and regular season titles, was ranked 19th in the final NFHCA Coaches Poll and finished 17-5 overall, the program's best record since 2000. Wiler led the team to a dominant 11-1 mark against MAC opponents, placing a school record seven players on the all-conference team. Three players earned All-MAC First Team accolades while the Flashes captured Newcomer of the Year honors for the second straight season. KSU's 1.16 goals against average was the eighth best in the nation and its .773 winning percentage was the 10th highest in the nation.
One year earlier, Kent State welcomed one of its biggest turnaround seasons in school history in 2007. Schanne guided the Golden Flashes to a 7-3 MAC record, good enough for a second place finish and a four-game improvement on its 3-7 conference mark in 2006. The Flashes also doubled their regular season win total from the previous year.
Wiler claimed her first career victory as a head coach, Sept. 10, 2006, when the Flashes defeated Colgate, 3-2, at Murphy-Mellis Field. She went on to claim her first MAC Tournament victory in 2006 and has taken the Flashes to the tournament semifinals in each of her four seasons.
The sixth head coach in Kent State’s history, Wiler took over in February of 2006, bringing six years of experience as an assistant coach in the Mid-American Conference. In three seasons, she has totaled 48 victories and 27 conference wins.
Wiler returned to Kent State after a four-year stint as an assistant coach at Miami University. During her time with the RedHawks, she served as the recruiting coordinator, bringing a total of 17 players to Miami in just two seasons. In her final season at Miami, many of those same recruits helped the RedHawks advance to the MAC Tournament championship game.
Prior to Miami, Wiler spent two seasons with the Golden Flashes, as a graduate assistant (2000-01) while completing her master’s degree in education. During her tenure at Kent State she helped guide the team to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances, one MAC Tournament title and one MAC regular season championship. She was also heavily involved in Kent State’s recruiting efforts as well as the academic progress of the team.
Before her first stint at Kent State, Wiler spent two seasons coaching at both Notre Dame Academy in Villanova, Pa. and at her alma mater, Archbishop Carroll High School, in Newtown Square, Pa.
In the winter of 2008, Wiler earned Level II (High Level Development) coaching certification from USA Field Hockey and was one of 25 coaches selected to attend the NCAA Women Coaches Academy.
In addition to her collegiate and high school experience, Wiler spent time at the national level coaching at the USA-Canada Challenge Cup during the summers of 2005 and 2006. The U.S. Under-21 team went 4-0 in 2006 to capture the Can-Am Cup.
Wiler was selected to coach in the NFHCA Senior All-Star Game in 2008 and the Junior Olympics in the summer of 2007. She also has coached in the National Futures Program for the past nine years. In the summer of 2008 she helped host Kent State’s field hockey camp, which welcomed 73 participants from grades 7-12.
A 1997 graduate of Providence College, Wiler earned a degree in social science and was a member of the field hockey team. She was named to the All-Big East Second Team as a junior and was named to the Athletic Director’s Honor Roll in 1995. She served as team captain her senior season and was selected to play in the National Field Hockey Coaches Association’s Senior All-Star Game.
Wiler and her husband John married last December. The couple resides in Stow, Ohio, and is expecting their first child.
Courtesy: Kent State Athletic Communications
