Hall of Fame
Nancy J. Cole is the winningest coach in the history of New York State field hockey and ranks fifth in the country in wins. She has compiled a career record of 489-71-37 which includes 31 winning seasons, 30 league/division titles, 13 Suffolk titles, 13 Long Island titles, and six NYSPHSAA championships in eight state finals appearances.
She began coaching field hockey in 1970 at Centereach High School where she remained for 32 years before retiring in 2001.
During that time, Ms. Cole has coached six high school All-Americans, 15 NCAA All-Americans, one Olympian, four National Team members and 46 Division I scholarship players. For seven years she also guided the Long Island Empire State Games scholastic teams to three gold, one silver, and three bronze medals. Furthermore, she is a two-time National Olympic festival coach, in San Antonio, TX (gold) and Boulder, CO (silver) and she has 15 years of coaching “Holland Tunnel”, the USFHA National Festival, where her teams have won ten championships.
Ms. Cole has received many honors and awards throughout her prestigious career. She received the New York State Coaches Association Honor Award in 1982 and 1984. In 1995, she was named New York State Coach of the Year by the National Federation Interscholastic Coaches Association. Ms. Cole was named Woman of the Year in Sports by the Town of Brookhaven and NFHCA North Regional Coach of the Year, both in 2000. The Suffolk County Field Hockey Coaches Association also recognized her with the Marj Auster Memorial Award and the Roz Mularz Memorial Award. The same Coaches Association established the Nancy Cole award in 2001 given to an outstanding field hockey athlete annually.
The following year, Ms. Cole was inducted into the National Field Hockey Coaches Association Hall of Fame and the Suffolk County Sports Hall of Fame. In 2002, the University of Pennsylvania, Club of Long Island voted her Coach of the Year while the NFHS Coaches Association named Ms. Cole the National Coach of the Year as well.
But, coaching isn’t where Ms. Cole’s work ended. She was a physical education teacher at Centereach High School and held many positions on field hockey committees and associations. She was a member of the executive board and the High School All-American selection committee for the United States Field Hockey Association. She was also a member of the NYS Field Hockey Committee executive committee, President of the Suffolk County Field Hockey Coaches Association as well as serving as a chair, executive board member and conference president for Section XI.
Ms. Cole is a graduate of Northport High School in Suffolk County. She competed in field hockey there as well as at Ithaca College where she earned her degree in physical education in 1969. Ms. Cole also earned an M.A. in liberal studies from Stony Brook in 1975.