Head Coach – Field Hockey

The Hill School Mission:  The Hill School prepares young people from across the country and around the world for college, careers, and life. Within a family school environment and a rigorous liberal arts curriculum, we challenge our young people to work hard; think and reason; be fulfilled; serve the common good; and be prepared to lead as citizens of the world, uniquely guided by our motto, “Whatsoever Things Are True.”

Department:         Athletics 

Position Title:      Head Coach – Field Hockey

Reports To:           Wilbur C. Riley Director of Athletics and Co-Curricular Activities 

Status:                    Exempt, 10-month Residential, Teaching Faculty 

Position Summary

The Hill Athletics program creates opportunities for student-athletes to compete at the highest level of independent school sports. We are committed to providing an experience that develops character, emphasizes teamwork, and encourages healthy lifelong habits. 

Reporting to our Director of Athletics, the head field hockey coach will head a program of varsity and JV teams. All Hill head coaches will ensure that their programs serve to further promote the values we teach our students in all areas of school life.  The integral work and leadership of our head coaches is essential to the success of our athletics teams as well as the fulfillment of the School’s mission to prepare students fully for college, careers, and life. 

Responsibilities and Qualifications

• Head coaches are responsible for leading every facet of their respective program and must recognize that the commitment to fulfill the responsibilities below will entail a considerable amount of time both during and out of the season.
• Help recruit, develop, and retain coaches in their program.
• Work with the Admission Office to help identify student-athletes who will positively contribute to the School and to their athletics program. Actively work to recruit highly qualified student-athletes from both inside and outside the local community.
• Develop and manage a plan to develop student-athletes in the program.
• Devise daily practice plans.
• Collaborate with the Athletics Office on game scheduling.
• Remain current in the rules and procedures of their sport at the league, state, and national level. Serve on seeding committees and organizations, as appropriate.
• Be knowledgeable about the college recruiting timelines in their sport, and support student-athletes who want to attempt to continue playing in college.  Coaches will communicate with these student-athletes’ college counselors to coordinate an athletics piece, if appropriate, to the student-athlete’s search.
• Maintain an updated social media presence, including timely game results in season, and work with our Office of Strategy Management to promote their program and their student-athletes.  
• Assist any efforts of the Office of Institutional Giving related to their program.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with Hill alumni in their sport.
• Serve on the Athletics Advisory Team, which meets regularly throughout the year.

Candidates should have an interest in working in other areas of school life which might include teaching (history, math, and/or science desirable) advising a small group of students, and actively contributing to residential life.

The ideal candidate should have the following qualifications:

• Technical field hockey knowledge to successfully coach college-bound players.
• Ability to support the interest of high-level field hockey student-athletes in the School’s admission candidate pool.
• A vibrant network to help support the college recruiting process of appropriate Hill field hockey players.
• A proven track record of promoting student learning through field hockey; at least two years of experience in coaching.
• A demonstrated openness and responsiveness to constructive feedback and a strong commitment to continuous improvement and professional growth.
• Strong written and oral communication skills and experience working collaboratively in team settings.
• Approaches the profession with maturity, humility, versatility, a solutions-mindedness with a strong work ethic, and, of course, a sense of humor.
• Experience and demonstrated success working with diverse student communities is preferred, but not required.
• First Aid and CPR/AED certified preferred.
• Must be willing and able to drive school vans.

Attitude and Demeanor

• Publicly support the mission and vision of The Hill School in a positive and professional manner.
• Work as a dynamic team member in a professional collaborative environment.
• Energetic and organized enough to thrive in an extremely fast-paced environment while collaborating with a growing team to produce great work.
• Ability to wear many hats, learn new things every day, and have the ability to switch from a variety of roles with ease and excitement.
• Communicate effectively with warmth, sensitivity, humor, and understanding as they deal with administrative colleagues, teachers, students, alumni, parents, faculty, staff, and program associates.
• Possess a “service attitude” - willingness to be flexible to meet the needs of the department and School.

About The Hill School

Since its founding in 1851 and for 168 years, The Hill School has provided a traditional liberal arts education to its students. Although The Hill’s curriculum continues to evolve, we have never strayed very far from a proven, rigorous blend of humanities, classics and modern languages, social sciences, mathematics, science, and the arts. For our students, we have prioritized broad knowledge in our steadfast belief that this comprehensive foundation best prepares students for “college, careers, and life.” The Hill School also has begun implementing an ambitious STEM curriculum, which includes one of the most extensive secondary school engineering programs in the nation. We have bolstered our fine arts programs with courses in digital media, video production, design technology, rapid prototyping and fabrication, and design thinking. And, we are offering pre-professional, co-curricular programs in business and entrepreneurship. Over the coming years, we will continue to affirm what we already do very well while honing curricular and co-curricular programs such as leadership training, service learning, experiential education, and interdisciplinary studies. We will find improve...d ways to teach all Hill students 21st century skills such as critical thinking and problem solving, collaboration and leading, agility and adaptability, initiative and entrepreneurship, effective oral and written communication, accessing and analyzing data, and curiosity and imagination. We are working with our Faculty and Staff to become both the most traditional and the most innovative boarding school in the country, simultaneously. The Hill was founded as The Family Boarding School and when you visit campus, you might note that we are still a bit traditional, despite our emphasis on innovation! We follow a dress code, our students regularly sit down with faculty members for family-style meals, we gather twice a week at Chapel for thoughtful reflection; many of our students study Latin and Greek; and we pride ourselves on a student-written Honor Code and demanding code of conduct. We enjoy historic and blossoming traditions such as 130-year-old athletics rivalries, revered a cappella vocal groups, school-wide service projects, community team-building events, small group meetings with caring faculty advisers, and a very special jump in the Dell pond after graduation! Over the next three to five years, the Hill School is set to achieve several accomplishments sure to leave their mark on the School’s history. The School’s Advancement Office is a 25 person-strong organization driven to achieve the goals set forth in the current “Strength of All” capital campaign which is entering its fourth year of the five- to seven-year campaign. The capital campaign will fund many efforts, including a significant increase in our financial aid and faculty compensation endowment. In 2018-2019, we expanded the seating capacity of our historic dining hall and completely renovated our food service and preparation areas used by our food service contractor, Sodexo. In 2019-2020, the School will construct the Quadrivium Center (a STEM facility) where our science, engineering, computer science and mathematics classes will be housed. The School has developed property adjacent to our main campus by recently erecting beautiful new homes for our faculty in our East Faculty Village. This Faculty Housing expansion is likely to continue with additional property available for housing construction to ensure The Hill School offers the very best of this important housing benefit to our residential faculty. One of our most ambitious goals is to be a driving force in the economic revitalization of Pottstown and our immediate neighborhood and through our Hobart’s Run Community Development program and participation in Pottstown CARES, we are finding traction in ways both small and large.

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