Kate Sui '29
Sep 18, 2026
As the fall sports season begins, Mercersburg Academy welcomes the new head field hockey coach Jomara Coghlan. Before coming to Mercersburg, Coghlan played as a goalkeeper and spent nearly 20 years coaching field hockey at collegiate level, most recently at the College of Wooster.
Apart from her experience with the sport itself, she was also a professor in the Wellness and Physical Education department, an NCAA compliance officer, and a Title IX investigator. With years of experience working with student-athletes, Coghlan chose Mercersburg because she wanted to be part of a community where she could have an impact on the students both academically and athletically.
As she begins her first season here, she emphasizes one major value for the team: “Building character and culture is more important than winning percentage.”
Her approach to coaching comes from almost two decades of experience at Division III level. Coghlan said that coaching taught her “how to build something from the ground up with players at every level.” Throughout her career, she has learned that while field hockey skills are important, what truly stands out are the culture and team dynamics. These experiences now shape how she hopes to develop the field hockey program at Mercersburg.
When asked about the goals she has for the team this season, Coghlan highlighted that her “top priority is culture before results.” Instead of judging the success of the season only through the results, her goal is to build a team where players are willing to show up with full energy, compete hard, and continue to improve. “If we can get every player ready, buying into a standard, and see steady improvement week to week, that’s a winning season in my book, regardless of the record,” she said. For Coghlan, developing a strong team does not happen instantly; instead, it comes from creating a standard that every player can contribute to throughout the season.
Coghlan believes that field hockey itself also represents many of the qualities she hopes her players will develop. She described field hockey as a game that “rewards discipline, teamwork, and resilience.” She added, “It’s not an easy sport; you have to be skilled and conditioned, and you can’t hide on the field.” She believes that players will experience and understand these values more as they experience the sports themselves, and part of her role as a coach is to help them recognize these lessons throughout the season.
Although Coghlan is new to Mercersburg, she has already noticed the school’s strong sense of tradition and pride. When asked about the Mercersburg community and what field hockey brings to it, she explained that the sport gives students another place to build “discipline, teamwork, and community,” outside of the classroom.
Her first season is about creating a culture, helping players improve, and building a team whose growth can continue beyond the field. Coghlan emphasized, “Success will not simply be determined by the final score.”