Charlene Morett Years: 22nd Season

22nd season at Penn State, 25rd overall
310-108-8 (.733) at Penn State
347-124-16 (.725) overall

The longest tenured coach in the Big Ten and the seventh longest tenured coach at a single school in the country in Division I field hockey, Charlene Morett enters her 22nd season as head coach of the Nittany Lion field hockey program. Coming off a season in which she led the program to its second appearance in the national championship game last year, Morett boasts a remarkable resume covering her time as leader of the Nittany Lions.

Morett currently ranks fifth all-time in wins with 379 and is one of just eight Division I coaches to accumulate 300 wins. She has led the Nittany Lions to the NCAA tournament in 19 out of her 21 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 24. Last year, Morett led the Nittany Lions to their seventh NCAA Final Four appearance in program history and was named the NFHCA Mideast Region Coach of the Year. Two years ago, Morett became just the fifth coach in NCAA history to accumulate at least 350 career wins.

A six-time Mideast Region Coach of the Year, Morett is an excellent teacher of field hockey. Her players earn national recognition on a yearly basis, and under Morett, nine players have been named two-time first team All-Americans. Her teams dominate the national scene, consistently ranking among the top 10 in the national polls. In fact, entering the 2008 season, Penn State has been ranked in the top 10 of the STX/NFHCA poll for 31 consecutive weeks dating back to the first poll of the 2005 season. The 1999 squad achieved a No. 1 ranking in the STX/NFHCA poll for the first time in program history. Over the last three years, Penn State has finished eighth, sixth and ninth, respectively, in the final poll of the season. In 2006, the team earned the No. 6 final ranking despite having lost five starters from the previous 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. Five players have been voted the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year -- Natalie Berrena, Coletta, Dawn Lammey, Larson, and Tara Maguire. Last year, Jen Long was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, becoming the league's seventh defensive player of the year from Penn State, joining Anselmo, Gorlaski, Becca Main, Jill Martz and Jill Pearsall. Furthermore, Anselmo is the only Lion 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 Big Ten program. Penn State's seven defensive player of the year honorees is three more than the schools with the next most.

During Morett's tenure, Penn State has produced 34 first-team All-America choices with at least one player earning the honor in each of the coach's 21 seasons. Her passion and strength lie in her desire to develop talent. Overall, Penn State has had at least one first team All-American in each of the last 23 consecutive years. Last year, for the first time since 2002, Penn State had two first team All-Americans in Jen Long and Kiersten Wood.

A number of Morett's players, past and present, have played field hockey 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 Lions, Eleanor Stone, has been on the national team for a total of seven different seasons. A total of seven former players have played on the U.S. National Team, with several others playing on various other levels of national teams. Most recently, current seniors Jen Long and Allison Scola have been three-year members of the U.S. Under-21 national team. This past spring, both Long and Kiersten 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. both 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 Tracey Larson Ardnt helped the East team capture the U.S. Open Regional Championship in the summer of 2007.

Additionally, Penn State has totaled 69 All-Big Ten selections since 1992 including 50 first team all-conference choices, the most of any Big Ten school since 1992. Her teams have also produced a run of success in Big Ten games that is unparalleled since Penn State joined the Big Ten for the 1992 season. Since 1992, Penn State owns 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 of any Big Ten school.

Morett has enjoyed plenty of recent success as well. Last year, 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 its home field to advance to the NCAA Final Four. The Nittany ions then came back to the same field five days later and knocked of third-ranked Wake Forest, the program's first-ever win over the Demon Deacons in the national semifinal to advance to the national championship game. Despite the season ending with a loss to top-ranked and undefeated North Carolina in the championship game, four Nittany Lions were named to the NFHCA All-American teams. In 2006, she led the Nittany Lions to their first appearance in the Big Ten Tournament championship game since 2003. She also won her 350th career game in 2006 with a 1-0 win over UConn on September 3.

In 2005, the Nittany Lions won 17 consecutive games, a program record, en route to a Big Ten regular season crown, their first conference crown since 1998. Senior Natalie Berrena was named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year and three other Nittany Lions were honored as All-Big Ten. Morett 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. The Nittany Lions opened with back-to-back wins over Kent State and Princeton in the opening two rounds played at Penn State before defeating then-No. 1 ranked Old Dominion, 3-2, to advance to the NCAA National Championship Game for the first time in the program's history.

While Penn State dropped the title game, 2-0, to Wake Forest, the year 2002 will still go down as one of the most memorable seasons in Penn State field hockey history as four players were recognized with STX All-America honors and five earned All-Big Ten status.

Morett led her 1993 team to Penn State'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 regular season titles and an unprecedented four straight Big Ten tournament crowns from 1995 to 1998. Morett's teams have not only excelled on the field but in the classroom as well. Penn State has produced 134 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 eight consecutive seasons. Additionally, a record 14 members of the team were named to the NFHCA National Academic Squad last year and in the two years previous to that, a total of 12 players were named to the squad in each season. A 1979 Penn State graduate, 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 alone 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. Unable to participate in the 1980 Games because of the U.S. boycott, she was again named to the Olympic team in 1984 and won a bronze medal in the Los Angeles Olympic Games. Just last December, Morett was awarded a Congressional Gold Medal as part of the 1980 U.S. Olympic Team as the U.S. Congress officially awarded the medals more than 27 years after the boycotted games.

Also an All-America lacrosse player at Penn State, Morett was one of the nation's top scorers in the sport and played for the 1978 and 1979 United States Women's Lacrosse Association National Champion teams. She earned Most Valuable Player honors at the 1979 USWLA National Championship.

After completing her undergraduate degree in physical education, she worked for one year as a graduate assistant at PSU, helping the Lions become national runners-up in field hockey and national champions in lacrosse.

Beth Anders then tapped her as her assistant in 1980 at Old Dominion University, where she spent four years. During that time, Morett aided the Monarchs in reaching three straight national title games.

In 1984, Morett was named head coach at Boston College. She immediately lifted the Eagle 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 came back 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 continued that winning tradition by leading 18 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 never had a losing season in her 21 years with the Nittany Lions and has had a winning record in 20 of her 21 years, with a .500 record in the other season. Under Morett and Rattray before her, Penn State has amassed 30 straight years with at least 10 or more wins, the longest such active or past streak in the country.

Morett's 2002 and 2007 teams reached the national championship game, her 1990, 1991 and 1993 teams reached the NCAA Final Four and her 1988, 1992 and 1994 squads missed joining the elite foursome after one-goal losses in overtime. Her coaching accomplishments include four Big Ten Championships (1993, 1997, 1998 and 2005), four Big Ten Tournament titles (1995-1998) 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 and 2007. The Atlantic-10 Coach of the Year in 1989, she was the Big Ten Coach of the Year in 1993, 1998 and 2005.

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, herself has had the honor to present this award to her mentor, Gillian 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 team that competed in Spain. Morett has coached U.S. squads that won medals at Olympic Festivals in Houston, Minneapolis and Los Angeles. She presently sits on 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.

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 daughters of the late Eleanor and Chalmers Morett.

A native of Aldan, Pa., Morett is a graduate of Lansdowne-Aldan High School and a member of the Delaware County Hall of Fame.