Secrets of Shelton’s success

When it comes to Karen Shelton’s tenure as Carolina’s head field hockey coach, there’s no such thing as hyperbole.

Simply said, her success is hard to beat: With a career record of 692 wins, 164 losses and nine ties, she is the second-winningest coach in NCAA history.

Since Shelton began coaching at Carolina in 1981, her teams have won eight NCAA championships, 22 Atlantic Coast Conference championships and claimed 11 NCAA second-place finishes. Twelve of the past 13 seasons, Shelton led Carolina to the NCAA Final Four, winning the title again just last week and in 2018, 2009 and 2007.

In 2008, Shelton was inducted into the National Field Hockey Coaches Association Hall of Fame. She entered the USA Field Hockey Hall of Fame in 1989 for her performances as a three-time national college player of the year, U.S. National Team career and play on the 1984 Olympic team. The University recognized the 2011 Massey Award winner by naming its new field hockey stadium in her honor.

The Well recently sat down with Shelton to talk about her extraordinary success, the rise of women’s sports and what advice the Karen Shelton of 2019 would have for the Karen Shelton of 1981. Responses have been edited for brevity and clarity.

How have you adjusted your coaching over the years?

Personally, and as a coaching staff, I think that we’re far more engaged with the team. That’s been especially true in the last four years. It’s an area where I needed help because I’m pretty straightforward and I can be tough on the kids.

I’m trying to make them better but I’m not very good with drama between the kids, so we brought in Dr. Jeni Shannon, who’s a sports psychologist and we’re with her each week in season, off season. She provides an environment where they can speak. It invites open communication, and so we’ve all gotten to know each other better instead of just showing up and going through practice. Everyone has a voice.

Shelton and Grant Fulton, associate head coach, watch the team from the sidelines. (Photo by Jeffrey Camarati)

Each season, are you systematic in your coaching or do you tailor how you do things?

It’s hard to be that systematic. Things change. For instance, there’s more technology now. We’re using GPS to approach each game and practice individually so we know things like the total distance that each kid runs in meters, acceleration and deceleration.

We track performance over the course of the year. You don’t want a lot of spiking; you want to be consistent and maintain your fitness level. We look at not only what we’re doing and what’s working, but also what’s working for the other team that we have to counteract.

Pre-season used to be really hard and we’d have three-a-day practices, but research shows that was not good. Our strength and conditioning staff give the players a summertime program that prepares them. They gradually build fitness and maintain it throughout the season, then taper back a bit at the end.

With that sustained success, what’s the secret sauce that’s helped you, particularly in the past dozen years or so?

Well, I’ve always felt Carolina is the secret sauce, just having this great institution to recruit kids to. Experience is also important. As a young coach, you don’t think it’s all that important but looking back over the years, it’s experience from trial and error, what’s working, what’s not working. Plus having good team leadership is particularly important.

In the off-season, how do you re-charge yourself?

I’m a beach person and I play golf. I have a new grandbaby now, so that’s been fun. I have plenty of stuff that I do, and I find time to get away.

But, I do love coaching. I love the competition. I love the kids. I love helping them. I think that coaching’s more of a collaboration now as opposed to me being ‘the coach.’ The kids know and trust that we’re there to help them. I’ve got a great staff. I think that complements me as well.

I’ve gotten more comfortable on my job and knowing what I need. Where do I need help and who can I ask? It’s translated into some sustained success over almost 40 years, but these last twelve years have been pretty remarkable.

What advancement for women in sports have you seen and what trends do you hope will continue?

We’ve come a long, long way, light years. For game trips, I used to drive one of two vans and my assistant would follow in the other. Then we got a mini-bus. I was still driving it, but at least we could have 25 people together.

Society values women in athletics much more now. Sports had a stigma. I felt it when I was a young athlete. One reason I gravitated to defense was because I was embarrassed that I was a better athlete than everybody else. I just didn’t want the limelight. I played defense so I could pass it to somebody else to score.

Now, they feel good about it. It’s self-esteem. These successful women who have gone into corporate America, I think they say 90 percent played a sport. It’s empowering women to make decisions, to problem-solve, to perform under pressure, to collaborate. These amazing character traits are honed and fostered and developed on team sports.

As you continue to coach, what will remain important or become important for you?

Everything’s important. I am just incredibly humbled and proud to be the head field hockey coach at the University of North Carolina. It’s an amazing institution. I think we have an athletic department that does it the right way. I’ve always felt that way.

I want us to continue to be considered the top field hockey program in the country. We’ve been set up for success with our new facility we can call our own.

The staff is important to our continued success. I love the staff. Our associate head coach Grant Fulton has been with me for 15 years. He’s loyal and really great. We work well together. Robbert Schenk, our assistant coach, has been excellent. He played 10 years at the highest level in Holland, so he’s very current and an offensive guy. Grant and I are defensive so that’s a good combination. Jackie Briggs, who was an Olympian, is our goalie coach and has a really good perspective on not just goalkeeping, but the game itself. Chris Fry, our performance analyst, and James Ayscue, our strength and conditioning coach, are vital.

It’s all those things — the team around the team, the University, the facilities, the leadership from the top.

What advice would the Karen Shelton of today give to the Karen Shelton of 1981?

Don’t be so hard and a bit more patient, perhaps. I was really hard then, but I was doing what I knew best, which was training at the highest level. I was on the national team and I took what I was doing and applied it immediately to my coaching and the team, and I think that was a huge shock to the kids. I think it might have been a little too much too soon.

I became a mom in 1990 and that gave me a different perspective. I’ve learned a lot. I am a much, much better coach today than I was in 1981.

What would you like people to know about you?

I’ve truly been the luckiest girl in the world to have landed here and to have a career as long and as successful as this one. It is my life’s work. I look back and I’m very, very proud and I’m very appreciative of all the young women and the coaches who have been a part of this.