Where Are They Now: JoAnne Russell, Women's Soccer

Hofstra University began its women’s soccer program in 1992 and named JoAnne Russell as its first head coach after previously coaching girls soccer at Herricks High School and Clarke High School. From her arrival in 1992 until her retirement in 2005, Russell guided the Pride to multiple appearances in the America East and later Colonial Athletic Association Tournaments. Upon her retirement following the 2005 season, Russell accumulated a record of 141-91-18 with Hofstra, including a 12-3 record in 1992 in the program’s first season as a club team.

Russell was named America East Coach of the Year in 1999 following the team’s first trip to the America East Tournament. She was later named the CAA Coach of the Year in 2002 and 2003, and won back-to-back CAA regular season championships in 2003 and 2004 (shared). In what would be her final season in 2005, Russell guided Hofstra to its first CAA Tournament championship and a spot in the 2005 NCAA Tournament. During her tenure at Hofstra, Russell coached one All-American, 23 all-conference selections, 12 all-region honorees, two CAA Defenders of the Year and three CAA Rookies of the Year.

In addition to her experience coaching college and high school soccer, Russell was an assistant coach of the Long Island Women’s Open team at the New York Empire State Games for nine years. Russell’s team won the gold medal in 1999, along with multiple silver medals and one bronze medal in 1993.

For her work as the first head coach of women’s soccer, Russell was inducted into the Hofstra Athletics Hall of Fame in 2008. Russell is still involved with Hofstra women’s soccer, attending as many games as she can while cheering on the Pride.

How did you end up becoming the coach of Hofstra women’s soccer?

My daughter had actually played women’s lacrosse at Hofstra, so I had gotten to know the coaches there. I also have experience officiating high school soccer and girls lacrosse, and whenever Hofstra would have a women’s lacrosse tournament I would volunteer to officiate. I got to know Cindy Lewis very well, and she knew that I was a soccer coach at Herricks High School at the time, and from there I put my name in for the position and was selected. Cindy had put it all together for me to interview, and I’m so thankful for her. It was a chance of a lifetime and a win for Hofstra and myself. 

Do you have a favorite memory from your time at Hofstra?

I think what gives me the most pride looking back on my time at Hofstra is watching girls grow into accomplished women; it’s such a rewarding feeling. I’ve stayed in touch with as many of my former players as possible, and it’s a joy speaking with them when I get the chance. 

Maddie Anderson, who earned many accolades and recently graduated from Hofstra, and Jenna Borresen, who was our starting goalie, both played soccer with my granddaughter in club ball. The Hofstra soccer community is its own little world. I wish I could mention a few more that I’ve had a connection with, because there’s so many and they each have their own stories to tell.

When I sit in the stands, because I still go to all the games, I have a few parents come up to me and ask which player is mine, I look at them and go ‘they’re all mine’.

What made you want to get into coaching?

When I was at Molloy College in the 1980s, I had tried to get a women’s soccer program started there. I wanted to give women another opportunity, or at least an opportunity, to play sports because of the comradery and the valuable life lessons you learn through playing sports. It was something I was fortunate to experience growing up and I wanted other women to have that as well, no matter what level it was at. We got the ball rolling while I was there in terms of starting the program, and now my granddaughter plays at Molloy.

What was it like to be the coach of a brand new program? What sort of unique challenges were there?

It was an eye-opener, that’s for sure. In high school, you never have to worry about purchasing uniforms, make bus schedules or game schedules, or worry about the team budget, that was all done for you. We had to do all of that, and it was a new challenge. 

I will tell you one thing that was really great was the girls who played really wanted to be there and they really wanted to play. Sometimes in high school, you have players who are playing because they have a friend on the team or their parents told them to they have to go out for something, but the ones who first came through to Hofstra were transfers from community colleges and they absolutely wanted to play.

What was it like watching your team progress from a club team to competing against NCAA competition and posting double-digit win seasons?

From the start, the girls were very determined; some of them had come from Farmingdale State College, so they had come from a high-level environment for college soccer, and when they came in they were ready to compete. Good scheduling was also important in that, which Cindy had helped me out a lot with and I had some other people who I knew in college coaching who would recommend teams for us to play. I was always looking for teams that were either better than us or we were even with.

When we joined the America East a few years later, our skill level became better, the type of athletes we were recruiting had gotten better, and we learned to hold our own.

You hired current Hofstra Head Women's Soccer Coach Simon Riddiough as your assistant in 1996. What has it been like for you to see the program continue to succeed under him?

I had my eye on Simon for a long time. I watched him play and watched how he conducted himself with the men on the team regarding how he organized equipment distribution and how he interacted with his teammates. That made me know that Simon was the one I wanted as my assistant. 

Simon continues to keep me comfortably involved in team activities. It's just been a wonderful experience in every aspect right from the get-go!

Over the course of your Hofstra career, you coached several student-athletes from Ireland that would go on to represent the national team. How did that connection with Irish players come about?

[Current Hofstra men’s soccer coach] Richard Nuttall was in Ireland at the time, and he called me and told me that he had just met a coach of a women’s club team, and he said to me to get on the next flight here, the coach wanted to talk to me. I got on a plane, flew over, and met with the coach. We talked, went to a few games, and at the end of one game he said that some of the girls wanted to speak with me.

I wasn’t too sure if what I was doing was allowed, because I was a new coach at that time, but I sat down with them and gave them my speech like a coach would to any recruit. I can remember at the end of my speech I said ‘does anyone here think that they may be interested,’ and one of the girls, Elaine O’Connor, raised her hand and said emphatically ‘I’m coming’. 

I was very lucky and very fortunate for that to work out. We got some great kids from Ireland over the years. When I went to Ireland the first time, it was ‘what’s a Hofstra?’ because we don’t have a recognizable name like UNC or Albany (which has a long-standing study abroad program in the country), but I did my spiel and it worked.

What does it mean to you to be a part of the Hofstra family?

It was just amazing, and I feel that I was incredibly lucky to have been chosen and be there. It was really a terrific time and an experience that I’ll always value and hold dear to me.

What is some advice you would have for a current Hofstra student-athlete who is thinking of getting into coaching?

They should learn the sport of their choosing and have a lot of experience working for someone else. It is also important to learn many different ways of connecting with people; I coached the Empire State Games as the assistant coach for many, many years, and I learned so much from our head coach. Working with him and many other athletes was incredibly beneficial. So I would say get your experience, expand your background in terms of working with different kinds of people, and don’t go in without a plan.