Field hockey takes on Syracuse in the 2012 NCAA Tournament.
26th season at Penn State, 29th overall
393-154-8 (.715) at Penn State
427-168-17 (.712) overall
The longest tenured coach in the Big Ten and seventh longest tenured at a single school in Division I field hockey, Charlene Morett enters her 26th season as head coach of the Penn State field hockey program. Morett boasts a remarkable resume covering her time as leader of the Nittany Lions. Over the last five years, Morett has led the Nittany Lions to a Big Ten Title and four NCAA Tournament appearances.
Morett currently ranks fourth all-time (in Division I history) in wins with 427 and is one of just four DI coaches to accumulate 400 career wins. She has led the Nittany Lions to the NCAA Tournament in 22 out of her 25 years as head coach and has helped maintain Penn State's distinction as the No. 2 ranked school in all-time NCAA Tournament appearances with 27.
In 2011, Penn State was crowned the Big Ten Tournament champions, after defeating the Michigan Wolverines on Nov. 6 in the tournament championship game. It was Penn State's first Big Ten Field Hockey Tournament title since 1998. The Big Ten champion Nittany Lions finished the season with a 17-6 overall record and also earned an NCAA First Round victory over the Northeastern Huskies. Morett had three players recognized with All-American Honors.
Following an up-and-down 2009 season, Penn State rebounded in fine fashion in 2010. Finishing with a 14-6 record, the Lions won seven more games than they did in 2009, which marked the second-largest improvement in the nation. Guiding the squad to a berth in the NCAA Tournament, Morett earned Mideast Region Coach of the Year honors and helped three of her players earn All-American honors.
In 2008, Morett led the Nittany Lions to the Big Ten Regular Season Title, their first conference championship since 2005 and fifth overall. The squad was eventually awarded an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament where it fell to a tough Princeton squad, 2-0. Morett was also named Big Ten Coach of the Year for the fourth time.
In 2007, Morett led Penn State through a memorable run to its seventh NCAA Semifinal appearance in program history and was named the NFHCA Mideast Region Coach of the Year.
A seven-time Mideast Region Coach of the Year, Morett is an excellent teacher of field hockey. Her players earn national recognition on a yearly basis, 10 of whom have been named two-time First Team All-Americans with Jen Long being the most recent. Her teams dominate the national scene, consistently ranking among the Top 10 in the national polls. In fact, Penn State was ranked in the Top 10 of the STX/NFHCA poll for 32 consecutive weeks from the first poll of the 2005 season ending with the second poll of 2008. The 1999 squad achieved a No. 1 ranking in the STX/NFHCA poll for the first time in program history. From 2005-08, Penn State finished eighth, sixth, ninth, and 11th respectively, in the final poll of the season.
Under Morett's tutelage, five of her players have been named Big Ten Athlete of the Year -- Traci Anselmo, Jen Coletta, Heather Gorlaski, Tracey Larson and Kiley Kulina. Six players have been voted the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year -- Natalie Berrena, Coletta, Dawn Lammey, Larson, Tara Maguire, and Allison Scola. In 2008, Long was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year for a second consecutive season, becoming the league's eighth Defensive Player of the Year from Penn State, joining Anselmo, Gorlaski, Becca Main, Jill Martz and Jill Pearsall. Long and Anselmo are the only Lions to be named Defensive Player of the Year twice.
Since Penn State's entry into the Big Ten in 1992, Morett's program has produced more First Team All-Big Ten selections, more Big Ten Defensive Players of the Year, more Big Ten Athletes of the Year and more Big Ten Freshmen of the Year than any other. Penn State's eight Defensive Player of the Year honorees is four more than any other school.
With Kelsey Amy, Ayla Halus, Laura Gebhart, Lauren Purvis and Brittany Grzywacz earning All-Big Ten laurels last season, Penn State has now totaled 85 All-Big Ten selections since 1992, including 59 First Team All-Conference choices, the most of any Big Ten school since 1992.
During Morett's tenure, Penn State has produced 36 First-Team All-America choices with at least one player earning the honor in 23 of the coach's 25 seasons. Overall, Penn State has had at least one First Team All-American in 25 of the last 27 years, including every year from 1975-2008. In 2007, for the first time since 2002, Penn State had two First Team All-Americans in Long and Kiersten Wood.
A number of Morett's players - past and present - have played at an elite level with the United States program, with Larson earning a spot on the U.S. National Team for three consecutive seasons. Another former Nittany Lion, Eleanor Stone, has been on the national team for a total of seven different seasons. Seven former players have competed on the U.S. National Team, with several others playing on various other levels of national teams. Recent graduates Long and Scola were three-year members of the U.S. Under-21 National Team. Both Long and Wood trained with the U.S. National Team in Chula Vista, Calif. while Scola went on an exhibition tour of Argentina with the U-21 team. In the spring of 2007, Long and Scola represented the U.S. on the U-21 team's tour of China. Morett attended with them as the Chef de Mission for U.S. Field Hockey. Additionally, Long and Scola, along with All-America alum Larson helped the East team capture the U.S. Open Regional Championship in the summer of 2007.
Laura Kassab and Jessica Longstreth were both members of the U.S. National Indoor Hockey Team as well. Scola is currently on the U.S. Development Squad after being named to the team in June of 2009. In addition, Long and current sophomore Kelsey Amy competed for team PA in USA Field Hockey's National Championship this past June. Incoming freshman goalkeeper Kylie Licata played on the Junior National High Performance Team as well.
Morett's teams have also produced a run of success in Big Ten games that is unparalleled since Penn State joined the conference in 1992. Since that time, the Nittany Lions own the most Big Ten regular season wins, the highest Big Ten regular season and tournament winning percentage, the second-most Big Ten Tournament wins and a tie for the most Big Ten Tournament titles.
The squad has enjoyed plenty of recent success as well. In 2007, after defeating Virginia for the second time in the season with a win in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Penn State stunned second-ranked Maryland on the Terps' home field to advance to the NCAA Semifinals. The Nittany Lions then came back to the same field five days later and knocked off third-ranked Wake Forest in the National Semifinals, the program's first-ever win over the Demon Deacons, to advance to the National Championship Game. The memorable run included three wins over ACC teams for the shot to play for the national title.
Despite the season ending with a loss to top-ranked and undefeated North Carolina in the title game, four Nittany Lions were named NFHCA All-Americans. One year earlier in 2006, Morett led the Nittany Lions to their first appearance in the Big Ten Tournament Championship Game since 2003. She also won her 350th career game with a 1-0 win over Connecticut on September 3, 2006.
In 2005, the Nittany Lions won 17 consecutive games to tie a program record en route to a Big Ten regular season crown, their first conference crown since 1998. Berrena, a senior, was named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year and three other Nittany Lions were honored as All-Big Ten. Morett also won her 300th game as Penn State head coach, a 5-0 decision over Temple on September 14. She was named Mideast Region Coach of the Year for the fifth time in her career and also was recognized as the Big Ten Coach of the Year for the third time.
In 2002, Morett guided the Nittany Lions to a memorable NCAA Tournament run. Penn State opened with back-to-back wins over Kent State and Princeton in the opening two rounds played at Penn State before defeating No. 1 ranked Old Dominion, 3-2, to advance to the NCAA National Championship Game for the first time in program history.
While Penn State dropped the title game, 2-0, to Wake Forest, the year went down as one of the greatest seasons in program history as four players were recognized with STX All-America honors and five earned All-Big Ten status.
Morett led the 1993 squad to the university's first outright Big Ten Championship in any sport. The team won 15 straight games, a record at the time. The most notable upset was a 2-1 victory at Old Dominion which ended the Monarchs' 66-game win streak. Since then, Morett has led her Lions to four more regular season titles and an unprecedented four straight Big Ten Tournament crowns from 1995 through 1998. Penn State won its fifth tournament title in 2011.
Morett's teams have not only excelled on the field but also in the classroom. Penn State has produced 176 Academic All-Big Ten selections since 1992 and is the only school in the Big Ten to have 10 or more Academic All-Big Ten selections for the last 10 consecutive seasons. Additionally, a record 16 members of the team were named to the NFHCA National Academic Squad in 2008, a then-record 14 the year before, and in the two years previous to that, a total of 12 players were named to the squad in each season. During the 2008-09 school year, the Nittany Lions were also winners of the Penn State Highest GPA Academic Award given to the team with the highest overall GPA and the "Varsity S" Women's Team GPA honor.
A 1979 graduate of Penn State, Morett was an outstanding field hockey player and the program's only three-time First Team All-American. Captain of the undefeated 1978 team, Morett was a phenomenal scorer, netting 50 goals in four years and was the first Lion to score five goals in a game. She held that record for 21 years. After leaving Penn State, Morett continued to play field hockey at the national level and in 1982, she was named the USFHA's Co-Athlete of the Year.
A two-time Olympian, Morett played in more than 100 international matches. Morett remained in Happy Valley as a graduate assistant to train for the 1980 Olympics. Unable to participate in the 1980 Moscow Games due to the U.S. boycott, Morett remained loyal and enthusiastic to the U.S. team, traveling all over the world in international competition in preparation for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, where she won a bronze medal. Morett was also awarded a Congressional Gold Medal as part of the 1980 U.S. Olympic Team when the U.S. Congress officially awarded the medals more than 27 years after the boycotted games.
Also an All-America lacrosse player in Happy Valley, Morett was one of the nation's top scorers in the sport when Penn State won its second consecutive National Championship. She also played for the 1978 and 1979 United States Women's Lacrosse Association National Champion teams. Morett was a member of the U.S. Lacrosse team and earned Most Valuable Player at the 1979 USWLA National Championship, where the Nittany Lions defeated the University of Massachusetts.
After completing her undergraduate degree in physical education, she worked for one year as a graduate assistant at PSU, helping the Lions become National Finalists in field hockey and National Champions in lacrosse.
Beth Anders then tabbed Morett as her assistant in 1980 at Old Dominion, where she would stay for four years. During that time, Morett helped the Monarchs reach three straight National Title games and in the process, Anders served as a positive mentor for Morett's future success.
In 1984, Morett was named head field hockey and lacrosse coach at Boston College. She immediately lifted the Eagle field hockey program into the Top 20 and won an Eastern College Athletic Conference title in her first year.
When Penn State legend Gillian Rattray retired from coaching in 1987, Morett returned to her alma mater to take over for her mentor, inheriting a program with 17 straight winning seasons and five straight NCAA Tournament appearances.
Morett has continued that winning tradition by leading 22 of her teams into the NCAA Tournament, including her first 14 straight, giving the Penn State program 19 straight NCAA appearances from 1982-2000. Morett has enjoyed a winning record in 23 of her 25 years with the Nittany Lions and a non-losing record 24 times. Under Morett and Rattray before her, Penn State had amassed 31 straight years with at least 10 or more wins, the longest streak in Division I field hockey history.
Morett's 2002 and 2007 teams reached the National Championship Game, her 1990, 1991 and 1993 teams reached the NCAA Semifinals, and her 1988, 1992 and 1994 squads missed joining the Elite Foursome after one-goal losses in overtime. Her coaching accomplishments include five Big Ten Championships (1993, 1997, 1998, 2005, and 2008), five Big Ten Tournament titles (1995-1998, 2011) and two Atlantic 10 Conference championships (1989-1990).
Morett's success at PSU has led to numerous coaching honors. She was the Mideast Region Coach of the Year in 1990, 1991, 1993, 2000, 2005, 2007, and 2010. The Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year in 1989, she was the Big Ten Coach of the Year in 1993, 1998, 2005, and 2008.
Morett is a member of the USFHA Hall Of Fame as well as the NFHCA Hall of Fame and served as the USFHA Vice President of Coaching. She had the honor of presenting this award to her mentor, Rattray when she was inducted into the Hall in 2006. On the international level, she spent three years as an assistant coach with the United States National Team traveling to the Pan Am Games, Ireland and Argentina. She was also an assistant coach with the U.S. Under-21 squad that competed in Spain. Morett has coached U.S. squads that won medals at Olympic Festivals in Houston, Minneapolis and Los Angeles. She recently served at the USFHA Board of Directors. Morett was instrumental in developing field hockey in State College by starting a youth field hockey program for local elementary school children. This program continues to thrive and inspire young players to participate in field hockey.
Morett has earned her Level III Coaching Certification from U.S. Field Hockey. She is in her second year as the head coach for Pennsylvania High Performance Region. She has also coached at FDIC and has presented Level I coaching certification courses in both Pennsylvania and California.
She is an avid runner and golfer in her free time. Morett has been active in local charity events such as Coaches vs. Cancer.
A native of Aldan, Pa., Morett is a graduate of Lansdowne-Aldan High School and a member of the Delaware County Hall of Fame. One of seven children (five brothers and one sister) of the late Eleanor and Chalmers Morett.
GETTING TO KNOW COACH MORETT Nickname: Char Favorite Food: Potato Chips Favorite Color: Navy Blue Favorite Musical Artist: Too many to choose Favorite TV Show: Any sports championship series Favorite Website: GoPSUsports.com Favorite Sports Broadcasters: Mike and Mike in the Morning Teams I'd Like To See Added To The Schedule: Stanford at Stanford Best Players I Ever Played With: My U.S. Olympic Teammates
