Missy Meharg

The offers were numerous.

They came from Iowa and Northwestern, UMass and Princeton. Each school wanted to establish a dynastic field hockey program, and Missy Meharg was the key.

But there was one problem. The Terrapins athletic department wasn’t willing to let her go without a fight.

“I’ve had [Maryland] athletic directors that have said they would pay me a bonus for not going,” said Meharg, whose Terps are unseeded in the upcoming NCAA Tournament and will face Lafayette in the first round Saturday.

Still, the Terrapins field hockey coach trekked to each school. She listened to their pitches and glanced at their benefits packages. But each time she pondered a change, she couldn’t imagine herself patrolling the sidelines for another program. She couldn’t justify leaving the only college team she has coached.

“The way this university has completely turned its face around,” she said, “it just became a place that I knew I would probably never leave.”

When she took over the head coaching position in 1988, the field hockey program was building a national reputation. Meharg helped guide the Terps to their first-ever national title as an assistant coach the previous year, and she was intent on developing an unquestioned dynasty.

She wouldn’t disappoint. In her 25 years at the helm, Meharg has led the Terps to 23 NCAA tournaments and seven national titles. She has established a reputation as the sport’s top recruiter, consistently gaining commitments from the most talented prospects in the world — not the country, the world.

And it’s all the product of a simple formula of dedication and hard work. Meharg watches reels of film every day before and after practice. When she isn’t in College Park, she’s often in Europe, studying and recruiting potential Terps.

“She’s a student of the game,” longtime athletic trainer Sandy Worth said. “[She’s] always trying to learn something new every day that she can bring to the Maryland team.”

FROM ALL-STAR TO COACH

Growing up in the field hockey and lacrosse hotbed of southeast Pennsylvania, Meharg did what most athletically inclined girls in her area did: She played both. After excelling as a multisport athlete at the Tatnall School in Wilmington, Del., she received a full scholarship to the University of Delaware.

There, she planned to pursue her dream of attending veterinary school and making a living in animal care. After growing up on a farm in West Grove, Pa., she decided to enroll at Delaware as a pre-vet major.

But two years into her studies, plans changed. Meharg, who would ultimately earn All-America honors in both field hockey and lacrosse, switched to health and physical education. She wanted to be a coach, to share her knowledge and skills with the next generation.

Not long after graduating in 1985, Meharg moved to College Park to pursue a master’s degree in exercise physiology. Sue Tyler, the Terps’ field hockey and women’s lacrosse coach at the time, offered her a field hockey graduate assistant position.

When Tyler retired after winning the 1987 field hockey national championship, the 25-year-old Meharg landed the head job.

“I was pretty shocked,” Meharg said. “I was pretty young. … It was pretty unique. I’m just glad I was competitive enough for the job.”

The team was solid during Meharg’s first three years. The Terps clinched two NCAA tournament berths, but failed to win a game in either. In 1991, though, the team recorded a 17-5 record, the second-best performance in program history. And two seasons later, it went on a dominating 21-3 run en route to Meharg’s first national championship.

The Terps missed the postseason the following year. They haven’t been absent from the NCAA tournament since, making 18 straight appearances.

TOP RECRUITER

It took her by surprise.

Janessa Pope, then a field hockey player at Harrisburg, Pa.’s Central Dauphin High School, hadn’t even thought about where she would take her talents for college. She was busy enough leading her team to two state tournaments and getting selected to the All-Pennsylvania first team.

But this was much more overwhelming.

“I remember getting the email from Missy and being so excited,” Pope said. “I kept thinking, ‘One day, maybe I can go to Maryland.’ I never had any family members or friends that had gone to college for a sport, and I wasn’t sure what kind of schools I was looking at.

“Actually, Missy was the first coach that ever contacted me as far as recruiting.”

Across the Atlantic Ocean, a different situation was playing out in a very similar way. Megan Frazer, a standout player from Derry, Northern Ireland, possessed all the tools of a major college recruit — scoring ability, athleticism and an unrelenting passion for the game. But Frazer took the initiative and emailed Meharg, who boarded a flight and watched her play.

“I met her, and that was the only connection I had to [this university],” Frazer said. “It was just an environment that I wanted to be in; I committed before I even had my official visit or anything. It was something that I always wanted to be a part of.”

Meharg’s program has become a beacon of field hockey success, but she refuses to become complacent. Instead of swooping in at the last moment, she contacts potential student-athletes early to start building relationships.

That grassroots approach has paid dividends. Meharg was ranked No. 5 among all NCAA coaches for recruiting by ESPNU/ESPN The Magazine, ahead of such figures as Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski and Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari.

“Missy has built a very strong program at Maryland because she works hard,” Virginia field hockey coach Michelle Madison said. “She’s an incredible recruiter and has been very successful finding international talent.”

But turning the Terps into a national power wasn’t an easy task.

“When we were getting through the whole Len Bias thing in the late ’80s … it took a long time to move past,” Meharg said of the former Terp basketball star’s death. “That was trying, because it took 10, 12 years for us to get out of people not trusting that we could admit the right type of people. Certainly in recruiting, we weren’t competing with who we are competing with now.”

Things slowly started to change, however, as the university became increasingly competitive. Once a school that “most in-state students could get into,” according to Meharg, it turned into a thriving research institution with stringent admissions standards. And Meharg should know. Her adopted son, Genya, is a sophomore at this university.

“It’s been a really big thing for us in recruiting. It’s phenomenal to be able to recruit the very best students who also play field hockey,” Meharg said. “We can recruit with Princeton, Stanford, Duke and Wake and be very comfortable doing so. And at the same time, you’re not going to find anything like this culturally in terms of diversity and tolerance.”

LEAVING A LEGACY

Meharg’s mark on the sport has become increasingly apparent in recent years. Once a student assistant in her 20s, she is now competing against coaches who were her former players. One of them, Rutgers coach Meredith Long, transferred to the program in 2003 after her freshman year. And while a thyroid disease forced her to miss her senior season with a thyroid disease, Long still gleaned plenty under Meharg’s tutelage.

“I spent a lot of time on the sideline and really got to see the game in a different way. That’s when I really got interested in coaching, and it got the idea into my head,” Long said. “I was part of such a rich and exciting field hockey culture here. … coming from a program like that, that’s what I’m looking for at Rutgers — getting really great people who love the sport and want to compete at the highest level.”

Former Terps field hockey star Katie O’Donnell might be on the exact same path. After winning two national championships and losing just four games over her final three seasons with the Terps, she has come back to the team in hopes of being a head coach in the near future.

And who better to learn from than the best?

“She’s probably the most inspirational person in my career,” O’Donnell said. “She has a really good way of communicating with the players — making you feel like you’re in control while offering her best opinion. Whether you take it or not is up to you. … But why would you not take her advice? She knows what she’s doing.”

Heading into her 23rd NCAA Tournament this weekend, Meharg isn’t worried about how far the Terps will go. She’s just urging her players to follow the same motto she does — work hard and stay present – on the field and in life.

And given her track record, there’s no reason to doubt her. It’s worked for her thus far, after all.

“The harder you work, the more likely you’ll earn luck, and you won’t have any regrets,” she said. “It’s a waste of time to think about what’s down the road. I just stay present on the here and now, and work as hard as I can.”

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