After five years as an assistant and associate head coach, Helen Knull will be taking over as head coach of the MSU field hockey team, MSU announced Monday. She is replacing Rolf van de Kerkhof, who announced he was leaving MSU on Dec. 15 to become the head coach at Delaware.
Additionally, MSU said after the new year, it will begin the search for a replacement assistant coach who will join Knull and assistant coach Molly Maloney.
“The past five years as an assistant coach and associate head coach have prepared me well, and I am ready to take the reins of the Spartan program,” Knull said in a press release on the MSU Athletics Department’s website.
In the last four of her five years, Knull has helped the Spartans reach the NCAA Tournament. In 2009, she also saw them through an undefeated Big Ten season, giving the Spartans the conference regular season title and leading them to a Big Ten Tournament championship.
In addition to seeing MSU through successful postseason play, Knull helped the team post a 33-10 record in the last two seasons. Using her previous experience, she said she is ready to take over the team and continue leading it to success.
“I am excited to continue with some old traditions and also build many new ones within the Spartan program,” she said.
Prior to coaching the Spartans, Knull was at Kent State from 2003 to 2005 as an assistant coach for two years and an associate head coach during her final season.
She also played for the Golden Flashes from 1999 to 2002, where she led her team to the NCAA Tournament for four consecutive years and was ultimately inducted into the Kent State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2008.
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