Saint Joseph’s University field hockey has a new head coach. The harder question is what comes after one of the most remarkable runs in program history, writes Mia Messina for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Sam Brown has been hired to lead the Hawks into their next chapter, inheriting a program that spent the last decade quietly transforming itself from a mid-major contender into a genuine national force. The job is not a rebuild. It is something more complicated than that.
Brown arrives on Hawk Hill from Syracuse University, where he spent three seasons as associate head coach under Lynn Farquhar, the former St. Joe’s coach who first put the program on the national map.
A New Zealand native, Brown also brings four seasons of experience at James Madison University and international coaching credentials from England and New Zealand.
He was not a surprise hire. Farquhar made her endorsement plain. “Sam will leave a lasting mark on what we define as our Orange legacy,” she said following his hiring.
The program Brown is inheriting was built in layers. What started in the 1970s as a small program fighting for resources eventually grew into one of Saint Joseph’s most celebrated athletic success stories, with Ellen Ryan Field becoming one of the Atlantic 10’s most feared venues.
Farquhar ignited the program’s run of consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances beginning in 2021.
Former head coach Hannah Prince then carried that momentum further than anyone had before. She guided the Hawks to four straight tournament appearances and all the way to the 2024 national championship game, where they fell to Northwestern.
That loss still stings. It also raised the bar for everything that follows.
Brown has been direct about what he expects. “We want to make sure we’re there, and we’re competing in that championship match again,” he said.
He has also spoken about blending his own ideas with the culture Prince and Farquhar spent years building, a culture defined by the program’s signature “The Hawk Will Never Die” ethos.
That balance will likely define his tenure. St. Joe’s field hockey is no longer a program proving itself. It is a program trying to finish what it started.
To learn more about Sam Brown and the future of the Bala Cynwyd field hockey program, visit The Philadelphia Inquirer.
