As the U.S. Women’s National Team gets ready for training camp in Sparks, Md., two former USA standouts are set to take the reins at Division I programs.
On May 26, East Carolina announced that Haley Hicklen has been hired as the Pirates’ head coach.
Hicklen notably starred at goalie for Florida and was a dual athlete also playing offense for the 2022 U.S. Women’s Sixes National Team. She was the defensive coordinator at George Washington (2021) and goalie coach at Pitt (2022-24) and Florida (2025-26).
“Haley stood out as an individual who has been around winning programs throughout her playing and coaching career, and she articulated a clear vision for what it takes to build a competitive program that can compete at the highest level,” ECU athletic director Jon Gilbert said.
On June 5, Charlotte announced that Tianna Wallpher will take over as its new new head women’s lacrosse coach. Wallpher was the assistant coach and defensive coordinator at Ohio State for the past three seasons.
“When we set out to find our next head coach, we wanted an elite competitor and someone with a proven track record of building winning habits at the highest levels of lacrosse," athletic director Kevin White said. “We found exactly that in Tianna Wallpher.”
Wallpher was an All-American defender at Towson, played professionally in Athletes Unlimited and the Women’s Professional Lacrosse League and won a gold medal with the 2024 U.S. Women’s Box National Team. This is her first head coaching position. She had stops as an assistant at East Carolina, Towson and Johns Hopkins prior to her time in Columbus.
