"She is a genuinely great coach who helped me find my love for the sport again. She pushed me, challenged me, and held me to a high standard, but she also cared about me as a person and wanted to see me succeed. I am a better athlete because of her, but more importantly, I left the program with a renewed appreciation for the sport. Having played at the Division I level and experienced multiple coaches and coaching styles, I feel like I have a pretty strong frame of reference for what demanding coaching actually looks like. This coach is nowhere near “toxic” or “abusive,” and honestly, I think some of these reviews reflect a pretty distorted understanding of those terms. She is demanding. She holds her players accountable. She has high expectations and isn’t going to baby you or tell you what you want to hear just to keep you happy. But that is not toxic coaching, that is coaching at a competitive Division I level. Is she a perfect lacrosse coach? Of course not, no coach is. There are always going to be things athletes disagree with, decisions they would have made differently, or aspects of a coaching style that don’t work for everyone. But some of the stories being told about her being a bully, controlling who players can be friends with, or trying to dictate their personal lives are so far removed from the coach I actually experienced that they are genuinely hard to recognize."

"The WORST of the worst. I played for her prior to her coaching at Virginia Tech, and from the other comments, it seems she never changed. A jealous and belittling totalitarian who is determined to live out her high school mean-girl days. She dictates who can be friends with who, the style of your play, and fitting into her box, to the point of rather than focusing on lacrosse and improving their skills, athletes were more focused on avoiding their friends in drills at practice, who they were passing with, who they were caught walking to practice with, and altering their skills to mimic that of hers from 2 decades ago, all to avoid the wrath of Supreme Leader Skiera. She treats collegiate women’s lacrosse teams eerily similar to the Wehrmacht, where playing time, treatment, and positions are given on a loyalty basis, rather than by skill or aptitude. This is evident by her records at both Army and Virginia Tech. Army was not a successful program under her reign. Michelle Tumolo saved the program (and multiple players from depressive episodes), going on to beat Navy for the first time, consistently ranking in the Top 20, NCAA tournament appearances and wins, Tewaarton finalists, professional players in the WLL and national teams, etc. Contrary to that at Virginia Tech, a program that had historically been ranked, just not able to break into the top of the ACC, has suffered under her tenure. Supreme Leader Skiera puts players into a box, demanding they play exactly like how she did, which was clearly ineffective. Her wing woman, Gilroy, is spineless and bends the knee to anything Skiera demands, proving her to be complicit in the entire operation. I could truly write a full length book of the abhorrent things that crazy lady said to teammates, parents, and even the managers. She seems to have a lot of unresolved issues from her youth and college eras, which she now eagerly takes out on young impressionable women. We deserve better. "

"Virginia Tech is a great school and the team seems to have fun together. My daughter never played and loved it. Kristen Skiera was nothing but kind to our family. Many parents felt like their kids should be on the field. We were just happy to be there! "

"She was a terrible coach. Very negative. Harsh with her words. No positive reinforcement. Made players feel very small and in adequate she was a boy to my daughter"

"If zero stars were an option, Coach Skiera would deserve every bit of it. On the surface, she puts on a charming, deeply caring persona to win parents and recruits over, but don't be fooled by the wolf in sheep’s clothing—behind that fake warmth lies a complete lack of integrity and basic honesty. Once you're in the program, she operates like a high school mean girl who actively weaponizes players' vulnerabilities against them in toxic mental games. Beyond her toxic behavior as a person, her actual coaching is abysmal; she consistently fails to make basic in-game adjustments, yet aggressively blames the team for every loss to shield her own atrocious strategy. Her program is emotionally destructive, and I would strongly advise any family to stay as far away from her as possible."

"Coach Skiera pumps her players up & creates an environment where you are free to feel confident in your game. She’s so well respected by players, and creates an environment of healthy competition needed to succeed at a high level in the acc. She loves to win and does everything she can to make sure the team gets to feel the joys of big wins in the acc."

"Coach Skiera or “the ceo of vt women’s lacrosse” as she likes to refer to herself should not be in this business any longer. She is detrimental to the young ladies that she is commissioned to coach. She is not only a terrible coach but she is a terrible human and has a terrible moral compass and partakes in unhanded dealings to tear her athletes down to the lowest that she can get them. If she were a CEO in the real world she’d have been fired by her board of directors long ago. Performance and accountability start at the top of any organization, and she holds neither quality. She was constantly brown nosing with the AD & staff to keep her job. Pretty fishy that she got a contract renewal months before Babcock publicly announced he was retiring and in the midst of the great football debacle of the 2025 season when Babcock knew the pressure was going to be on to get rid him. He’s a whole other story for a different space. It’s definitely no coincidence that he renewed several coaches early. This woman should not be allowed to be in a position of power. She is a narcissistic liar. For any athletes reading this—I beg you to have the courage to go to the AD and report her, you don’t deserve to be treated how you are being treated by her and her staff. There is power in numbers! Report her! You have a new AD who might listen unbiased. If he doesn’t listen report her to the ncaa. Abusive coaching should not be tolerated at any level. There is a difference in tough elite coaching and abuse and Coach Skiera has definitely crossed the line. ✊"

"She is the worst women known to man. She is a middle school girl stuck in a women’s body only looking to tear down girls. She is known to gossip about her players and test them down making them feel like nothing. This is not a program you ever want to attend or play for. The whole coaching staff is awful and the players who play for her wanted to leave but had to stay based off of their scholarship. HORRIBLE from what I have heard from girls on the team. "

"I honestly can say coach Skiera is not only a bad coach. She’s a bad human. We have watched her over the years find a weakness in a kid and drill down on it until she breaks the kid mentally - it’s almost a game to her. She lacks empathy compassion. I wish someone had told me about this site before I let my daughter go to college and play for her. The team has horrible morale and the players generally dislike her. It’s a very sad thing to have watched over the years."

"My daughter had the honor of being a part of this program, but the only thing that kept her going were her teammates. The coaching staff is toxic, the former AD was toxic, the AT staff and one particular member of the psych staff are toxic. Head coach doesn’t know how to make adjustments and for that reason has produced low performance from her team. The girls don’t care much for her and her care and emotion and wanting to “get to know you” is so she can berate and belittle at some other time in your career in the program. 10/10 would not recommend due to Wags and coaching staff that remains, they are extremely toxic. "

"My daughter was able to play under Coach Skiera and I am very thankful for that opportunity. My daughter grew and evolved in a positive way throughout her time under this coach and I was able to see it happen. I felt my daughter was taken care of and looked after while she was away from home. I was also thankful for the relationship the parents were able to maintain with the staff and their families feeling like one big family. I very much looked forward to being on campus, at games, and with everyone after each week. It was a great experience! "

"I was very fortunate to have been coached by Coach Skiera. She is someone who does truly take time to get to know everyone and know about their personal lives. I felt like each practice starts with chit chatting and catching up on whatever is happening. Practices were a great balance of hard work and having fun. Coach Skiera loves to be competitive and it is often woven into practices through team drills or year long competitions that gets everyone involved. Through both the warm atmosphere and fun practices, I was able to look forward to showing up each day. I enjoyed playing under her and felt I was my most confident self in those years. "

"Highly recommend you AVOID VT lacrosse so long as Kristen Skiera “Waggs” is the coach!! Unless you enjoy demeaning coaching, gas lighting, poor communication, terrible treatment as a person if you happen to suffer an injury with being an athlete , and more!! She’ll smile in your face and talk ish behind your back…It’s no wonder there is not much success from her coaching or her players in game performance. She’s incredibly TOXIC!! "

"She is the most inconsistent, back stabbing, two faced person I’ve ever dealt with. She will lie to your face. She is terrible to her players and team culture is dead. It shows all over the field. Stay away!!! You’ll regret being coached by this woman. "

"A bully. You think that she would try different players or plays considering their stats are horrific, but she only cares about herself. She shows no care for her players and puts her players at risk mentally. The staff and athletic department also don’t care when you try to speak up. She should’ve been fired a long time ago considering all of the proof of bullying and mental neglecting to her players. "

"This is a coach who really does not care about her players. She’s rude, impulsive, manipulative, and not a good example. She came into her position and immediately made it clear she didn’t care about the players that she didn’t recruit. She put no effort into coaching a lot of her players and has poor communication, often catching her players off guard with intense feedback. She cares more about her image than her players mental health and wellbeing. "

"Terrible coach, didn’t care about her athletes at all. Only cares about herself and keeping her job. If you’re injured tough luck. "