Starr quietly continues to build legacy with BU field hockey

“Let’s try and make this a quick one so we can get you guys out of this rain,” said Boston University field hockey coach Sally Starr, as she jogged over to start her postgame interview.

Her team had just won again, its third straight victory, a 5-2 dismantling of conference foe, Colgate University.

“We’ve won, I think, 80 percent of our games, maybe 90 percent of our games in the last three weeks,” Starr said with a “who’s counting?” nonchalance.

Starr isn’t counting. And she’s not the only one.

Most of the 16,000 undergraduate students at BU aren’t counting. Some people don’t know or care that Starr earned the 400th win of her BU career on Oct. 5. Others would not congratulate her on her induction into the National Field Hockey Coaches Association Hall of Fame as they pass her on Commonwealth Avenue.

Some people wouldn’t even recognize her.

In fact, for some BU students, the first thing that comes to mind in regard to the field hockey team might be New Balance Field, the new state-of-the-art turf field, on West Campus, not that Starr has been head coach for 34 years.

Yet, for Starr, the recognition and the accolades aren’t important. Recognition and accolades don’t mold student athletes into responsible young adults, she said. But coaching does, and since she has been coaching for more than 36 years with four major teams, she has perfected that skill.

It starts with the recruiting process. Not only do Starr and her staff scour the globe for talented field hockey players, but they also emphasize finding intelligent students who can balance their lives with school, sports and other extracurricular activities. The academic ambition of Starr’s program is exemplified by the 11 student athletes it placed on the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll at the conclusion of last season.

“We really talk about recruiting young adults who want to be student athletes,” Starr said. “I think there are a lot of schools where you’re a student on the low side and an athlete on the high side, or vice versa, student on the high side and athlete on the low side. And what I love about BU is that they truly are student athletes, and as much as they want to achieve on the hockey field, they also want to achieve in the classroom.”

Athletically, Starr’s teams have always been peppered with skilled players. Over the course of her career, she has coached the likes of 35 NFHCA All-Americans, including six first-team selections. Twelve of her players have received conference Player of the Year honors, and nine have received conference Rookie of the Year honors, a list that includes current sophomore forward Amanda Cassera, who earned the Patriot League Rookie of the Year award during the 2013 season.

Nothing speaks to the efficacy of Starr’s coaching better than her ability to bring together these individual talents to form a cohesive unit. And she’s got the numbers to back it up.

During her tenure with the Terriers, she has led the team to 10 NCAA Tournament appearances, including a semifinal appearance in just her fifth season with the Terriers. Her teams have captured eight America East championships and 12 regular season America East titles.

Since 1985, BU has consistently kept company with the top programs in the country, accounting for 21 top-20 finishes during this period. Starr made a national splash in 2007, when she guided the Terriers to an 18-6 season, the best record in program history. In fact, from 2005 to 2007, Starr led BU to three-consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, another first for the program.

Once again, though, Starr steadfastly refuses to get bogged down in her own feats, citing the sustained success of her players as her greatest accomplishment.

“I think our kids love the game as much when they graduate or even more so than when they come in,” she said. “We try to recruit people who have a true passion to play the sport, and we’re a program that really nurtures that passion. And when they graduate, they continue playing or they go into coaching, and they still love the sport as much or even more so. If we’re able to do that, we’ve been successful, regardless of conference championships or NCAA Tournaments.

“The majority of my athletes still love the game and the majority would say, ‘Hey, if I had to do it all over again, I would want to do it at Boston University.’”

In 1998, Starr graduated from Ursinus College and recieved the opportunity to serve as an assistant coach on the U.S. National team. On the international stage, Starr learned from the best and solidified her coaching prowess.

“My opportunity to coach with the national team in 1998 and be a part of the coaching staff for the World Cup really had a major impact on me, particularly at that point in time,” she said. “I was in the middle of my career as a coach. I almost felt like I got a Ph.D. in coaching with that experience. To coach at that level and to tour Australia and New Zealand, and then to coach in the World Cup was a tremendous opportunity, and that has absolutely helped my coaching career.”

Through experiences like these and her stellar tenure at BU, Starr built a Hall of Fame resume. And naturally, her peers noticed.

Just nine days before the start of the regular season on Aug. 20, the NFHCA announced Starr’s induction into its Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2014.

“It’s a testimony to the program, and it’s flattering and humbling,” she said. “I’m just proud to be able to go up to that podium and represent Boston University, our hockey program and everybody who’s had something to put into this program all these years.”

“All these years” and Starr is still roaming the sidelines for BU, looking to lead the Terriers to their first-ever Patriot League title. She has taken the conference’s youngest roster and turned it into an NCAA Tournament hopeful. Largely inconsistent at start the season, the Terriers have transformed in the latter half, winning seven of their last nine contests to conclude the regular season.

Now, with the two-seed in hand going into the Patriot League Tournament, Starr looks to have a date with destiny, because the top-seed is Starr’s former team, Bucknell University. Following a stint as the junior varsity head coach for the University of New Hampshire, Bucknell gave Starr her first head coaching position in 1979.

Starr does not exaggerate the importance of a potential matchup with the Bison too much, though. Instead, she reminisces gratefully about her time spent in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.

“I have really fond memories [about coaching at Bucknell],” Starr said. “The biggest thing about Bucknell is that they gave a very young coach an opportunity, pretty much right out of college and graduate school. I have a tremendous respect for that university as an academic institution, and they’ve done great things athletically as well.

“But first and foremost, we have a really tough team in American [University] we need to play first.”

If the Terriers make it past the defending champions in the Eagles and square off for the Patriot League final, Starr said she likes her team’s chances. As she has throughout the entire season, she remains confident in her team and its poise under pressure.

“They’re definitely capable of a Patriot League championship and to compete successfully in the NCAA Tournament,” she said. “We’ve shown that throughout the season, and if anything, we’ve shown it late in the season, taking [the University of] Connecticut to a shootout and beating [the University of] Virginia over a couple weeks in October. We’re really showing that we’re capable of playing with anybody, and we just have to take it one game at a time and really focus on ourselves.”

Putting the attention on herself, isn’t something Starr is used to doing. Following her 400th win as head coach of BU, Starr gave all the credit for her illustrious career to her players and coaches. Even as the team begins play in the tournament, she still attributes her success to others.

“It might hit me a little bit more later on, but what I love about that milestone is it’s just a tribute to all the people who have worked with our program: all the athletes, all the coaches, Tracey [Paul], who’s been with me the last 15 years on the sideline, all the athletic trainers that have worked with us, who work really hard to keep the kids healthy and our people in the strength room,” Starr said. “So there are just so many different elements that go into it.

“I get the Gatorade dumped on me, but there’s so many people that go into all the success that this program has had. I’m just very grateful for all of the support that I’ve had throughout the years.”

While Starr might not be counting her total wins, she can be sure that all of the people to whom she attributes her success to certainly are.

She’s at 406…and counting.