Life After USC: Munday Focuses on Recruiting, USA Sixes and the Olympic Pathway

For the first time in two decades, Lindsey Munday has not spent her summer recruiting.

A college coach since graduating from Northwestern in 2006 — first with her alma mater and then for a fall with Mount St. Mary’s before being hired to run USC’s program from its inception — Munday parted ways with USC in May after 14 seasons.

“It's a different kind of summer, but it's also exciting,” Munday said. “New opportunities are exciting.”

Munday remains tied to the college game through some of those new opportunities and still has a huge stake in the highest level of the game as head coach with the U.S. Women’s National Sixes Team, which convenes at USA Lacrosse this week for the first of two training camps before the Pan-American Sixes Championships in October. A qualifier for the 2027 World Lacrosse Sixes Championships, the event is part of the pathway to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.

Two months ago, Munday was named the first director of the women’s lacrosse division for the JP Coaching Collective, which helps high school student-athletes in their college recruiting journey and finding where they can play. JPCC offers services for soccer, ice hockey and basketball.

And now lacrosse.

“I'm currently right now helping some 2028s in the recruiting process, obviously in a different capacity, but the recruiting process for coaches, for players, for families is extremely confusing and tough and it's hard,” Munday said. “I got reached out to from a sort of newer company and jumped on.”

Munday is no stranger to new opportunities. She was only 26 when she was named USC’s first head coach. She built the program from scratch and won four conference titles between the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and Pac-12 before overseeing USC’s transition into the Big Ten in 2025. She went 169-79 as head coach of the Trojans.

“I appreciated my time at USC and being able to start the program there was absolutely incredible,” Munday said. “To be at a place for 15 years and to have so many athletes go through the program and choose USC, it's something that I will always hold special. But I’m also very excited about the future and new opportunities and certainly sixes.”

Munday is enjoying a different sort of summer, settling into her new role as a JPCC director and preparing for these national team training camps. She is open to coaching collegiately again.

“It would have to be the right place and the right fit,” she said.

She’s still been spending a lot of time focused on the women’s game. In her director role with JPCC, she conferences with prospects each week to help them navigate the recruiting process. She checks in with how they’re feeling, what schools they’re considering and how to manage finding a good fit. Parents, too, can ask her questions, but mostly the role involves one-on-one meetings with players. She also offers webinars where she can answer questions about the recruiting process.

“There's so many questions about which camps to go to and what events and sort of where maybe the kids fall in terms of level of play,” Munday said. “To help streamline that process is really the goal. It's not just a recruiting piece but helping the development side. This recruiting process induces anxiety and fear. To talk through that in terms of confidence and fear of failure and some of these mental aspects of the game with the athletes has been really cool so far. I hope that will help them throughout this process, but also as they continue into their college experience as well.”

The consulting opportunity has kept her connected to the game. She can talk to former college coaching colleagues about players’ potential, but she’s also able to have more contact with high school players than she could as a college coach. College coaches cannot contact rising high school juniors directly until noon Sept. 1, when players learn where they stand.

“It’s nice to still be involved helping players who want to play in college at any level — and to help on the other side,” Munday said. “It's interesting.”

Munday held her own camps in her native New Jersey and in Wyoming earlier this summer and she’s been gearing up for training camps for the sixes team. After this week’s camp in Sparks, Md., the team will reconvene Sept. 26-28 in Buffalo, N.Y., in preparation for the Pan-American Sixes Lacrosse Championship Sept. 29-Oct. 4 at Oshawa Civic Fields in Ontario. They’ll return to USA Lacrosse for the Atlas Cup Oct. 21-25.

Munday’s goal is to expand the player pool specifically in the sixes discipline, which differs vastly from traditional field lacrosse. She led USA sixes to the gold medal at The World Games 2025 in Chengdu, China.

“We're really focusing on a lot of younger players, new faces that haven't really been able to play in sixes too much because we had so many back-to-back events with The World Games and then the Atlas Cup and we kept that roster together,” Munday said. “We want to be able to get newer players, newer faces to be able to start getting comfortable with sixes so that we're able to merge some vets with some younger players. We're excited about that in August and then we'll be able to announce a team before that PALA qualifier.”

It’s the first time the U.S. will compete in the PALA women’s sixes event, the initial step in qualifying for the Olympics. The top Pan-American teams will advance to the 2027 World Lacrosse Sixes Championships that will be the primary qualifier for the 2028 Olympics. As host team, the U.S. automatically qualifies for the Olympics.

“You truly do learn — every practice, every game, every event,” Munday said. “I do think we've learned a lot. I think we have more to learn as we go. The exciting thing is that we also get to learn from the WLL, which has played sixes in their Championship Series the last two years, so you're able to watch not only us and learn from us but learn from others as well, which is incredibly helpful.”

The Atlas Cup will bring together women’s lacrosse national teams from Canada, the Haudenosaunee Nationals, Ireland and the United States. Munday’s USA women swept their competition to win the 2025 Atlas Cup with Chloe Humphrey earning the Titan Award as the event’s outstanding player. National teams worldwide are putting more time into the sixes discipline with the Olympics in the offing. Just six men’s and six women’s teams will make it to LA28, with each roster capped at 11 players.

Munday wants to make sure that the U.S. stays ahead of the competition. The training camps and fall events are important in that regard, particularly with some new pool players.

“Getting them reps in this game will help but we also need to get players up to speed to some of the things we've done with the veteran group and in some of these events so that we don't have to play catch up each time,” Munday said. “So that's kind of the goal of August is to make sure we get people reps, we sort of indoctrinate them into the way we communicate, the way we play, some of the things that we're focusing on and then see the best of the best compete against each other and really who kind of rises to the top.”

Expanding the player pool will help ensure the U.S. fields the best players, Munday said. The staff won’t be limited to just the results of a tryout weekend, and with more time on her hand, Munday intends to use it watching professional and college games to get the most information on every possible player who could be in the pipeline to play on the Olympic team.

Among the fresh faces at this week’s camp is Sydni Black, who scored four goals Saturday to lead the Maryland Charm to the inaugural WLL championship as the game’s MVP.

“A roster of 11 is the hardest roster to make ever,” Munday said. “I have to do whatever I can to evaluate every single time I'm able to.”

Munday has been grateful to be able to work with the new discipline at the highest level. She’s been able to see firsthand its growth through the national team and is looking forward to continuing to do while shifting her other professional pursuits.

“It's incredible to be able to coach,” Munday said. “It's incredible to be able to work with these athletes who are so hungry for knowledge. That's been the most exciting part. You have the best players in the world hungry, wanting to be better, learning and just so engaged in everything that we're doing. It’s why they're the best players in the world. They constantly want to get better. To be able to showcase our country, our sport on the highest stage is beyond imaginable.”