"No one is missing Mel on the team! In fact we are all talking about what a pleasure it is to have a new coach who is not playing head games with us and abusing our bodies by running us into the ground. Mel never took anyone to the doctor's in fact she would require us to go to the urgent care if we missed on day of practice for the common cold. She was delusional thinking it was a family feeling on the team. I would hate to be in her "family" if she treated them the way she treated us. Of course she had he favorites which she would go party with and even allow those players to come to practice with hangovers. But god forbid someone had an injury/surgery she would question their loyalty to the team. There was even a time when she would make players wear choke collar if they messed up just to belittle them. Mel should never be allowed to oversee young ladies growth and development again. The truth shines through her that she is abusive and has no respect for the players! "

"Coach Mel put me through absolute hell and made me question my love for lacrosse, something I used to be passionate about. When she first arrived, things were fine. Our first year together was strong; the team felt connected, and the atmosphere was positive. But starting in my second year, everything changed for the worse. She became manipulative, controlling, and retaliatory toward players who asked questions or tried to advocate for themselves. There’s no positive reinforcement, only constant criticism. Players are afraid to speak up because she punishes anyone who challenges her. It’s a culture of fear, not growth. The lack of support and constant negativity has taken a serious toll on my mental health. Sleepless nights, anxiety, stress, and declining academic performance. I used to love lacrosse, but eventually it reached the point where I considered giving up my scholarship because it had become so miserable. Examples of her behavior include: During the Muhlenberg game, she asked the team, “What value do you bring to the team?”, an incredibly demeaning thing to say to a player. Travel information was purposely blocked out and hidden from parents (flight, hotel, restaurants). Players were told they violated a “handbook” that we were never given access to until repeated requests, and even then, it was a Word document that could be edited at any time. Anyone who’s sick is forced to go to urgent care the same day (even for a cold) to prove they’re not lying, which is especially hard on out-of-state players who pay out of pocket. This goes far beyond playing time; it’s about fairness, respect, and mental well-being. There is no growth under this kind of leadership, only fear and burnout. I truly hope future players never have to go through what we did. "

"This page is for reviewing the COACH, not admin, not players, not parents. The Coach. Anybody can recognize that. Please review the Coach only & leave the outside stuff OUT. These are the same reactions she had when we were playing by the way. Bashing players, bashing parents, bashing administration, none of it was ever her fault according to her. She's keeping that same connotation through her release. Yes, some girls did enjoy her coaching style, yes, some parents & players were being unreasonable, but keep in mind those girls aren’t the entire team, everyone is welcome to their opinion whether you agree with it or not. Playing favorites as a Coach is never okay, no matter what Coaches try to tell you. You're allowed to have your favorites, but treating other girls who aren’t your favorites like they don't matter is cruel and uncalled for. Also keep in mind they are allowed to have their opinion! Nobody's opinion is wrong in this situation, It's an opinion for a reason, different individuals had different experiences than others and it's important to recognize that. A majority of players were terrorized by this woman. She claims we complain, get handouts, don't work hard.... etc.... but that again only applies to a few players, a majority of us wanted to be there and love the game of lacrosse, she just so happened to ruin it for us. It is burned in the back of my brain that this woman told me I'd never be good enough after every run test, but I worked so hard & I know I worked hard, I was the one doing it... not her. Thank god I'm finally in a good place and know I am in fact good enough and this woman's words simply don't hold weight anymore, but when you're playing that's a whole different story... they do hold weight. The mental game is a huge part of sport. Having a Coach who always sees you in a negative light is not motivating. Sometimes all you wanted was to hear one positive thing and she wouldn't even give that to you, even if you were succeeding. If you're looking at this from the aspect of a child & an adult, which college kids basically are, we start college at 17-18, it's like an emotionally abusive mother & a mentally neglected child. Coaches like this are the ones who get in your head & make you hate yourself, as harsh as it sounds, it's true. You shouldn't be having panic attacks when you get home from a bad practice or game as a player. You shouldn't be waking up everyday and dreading going to practice. I've had plenty of Coaches, and Mel was by far the worst one I've had. All of my coaches have been harsh, but very positive at the same time. They don't say a negative thing and leave it as is like Mel does. When you're Coaching, it's important to follow constructive criticism with positive reinforcement, she never ever did that. I don't know if you can call it constructive criticism at that point, it's just criticism. H**l my HS soccer coach was Crazy with a capital C but I respected him so much because he let us know he appreciated us and all our hard work, and used positive reinforcement when correcting us. You can be a tough coach, and still be human Mel. It's not that hard. I do not respect someone who treats young adults like they are less than, like Mel. You are there to GUIDE. I wish we focused more on lifting & strength, I wish we focused more on conditioning that truly benefits lacrosse players & is specifically made for the sport, I wish we had better teaching and didn't have to coach ourselves on attack & defense. Our team chemistry was amazing because we knew we were all in it together with the treatment we received. She made girls go on diets (!!!!!!), specifically whole 30, which if approached correctly could be beneficial but the girls she made do the diets were always specifically targeted. She didn't make the whole team go on a diet, just a select few. She didn't care to make deeper connections with us, or understand us, like most of my other Coaches have. For example, when you wanted to be open with her, she'd hit you with 'just go to BeeWell' instead of caring for her players, yes the suggestion of seeking therapy is a good one, but in a role as a Coach you are there for guidance and support as well. All of my other coaches got to know me & the other players & what we were all personally dealing with, she did not. My old coach used to pull me into her office just to have conversations to see how I was doing, because I was struggling. She was constantly in my corner despite how I was doing, even if I was a little s**t myself sometimes. She knew I was struggling and gave me grace, because I was young & growing. Mel never ever made an effort like that, she didn't want to understand, she didn't want to give us grace. Mel was most definitely not in any of our corners. Coaches NEED to be in your corner for you to succeed. She's missing the aspect of empathy, if that makes sense. Talk to her for 5 minutes and you can see the lack of emotion on her face. She used to target individual players in front of the entire team, or pull girls in to captains meetings that should be 1 on 1 with Coach, threatening stripping their scholarships & kicking them off the team in front of their own teammates. She'd berate girls in front of everybody with the same stuff "you'll never be good enough" "you don't deserve a spot on this team" "you don't work hard enough"... we just wanted to be told we were doing a good job every once in a while. I understand she believes that this is 'tough love' or whatever, but it's not. Unfortunately it is categorized as mental abuse, and words like this sting and linger. There are literal scientific studies that show words like this hurt, and I think it would be important for her to understand human behavior a little bit better if she thinks she's gonna coach again. It was rare to hear something positive come out of her mouth unless we were winning. During Mel's first year, one of the hardest working people I know on that team was struggling mentally & with injuries & continued to work hard despite it all, and was kicking butt too despite being in pain. She was dealing with serious health issues and her teammates were 100% behind her and adored her & Coach still never looked her way or made her feel good about the work she was doing, so don't tell me that the reason she's acting this way is because of us 'not working hard'. That girl DESERVED a starting position. Thank god she finally saw her for what an amazing player she was in her 2nd year, but it took too damn long. Love your players. Respect your players. She also made one of the nicest people I know SO angry her first year too. I've never seen that girl like that, and it was upsetting to see my own friends struggling mentally and not really knowing how to help. She did this one thing her first year where when we messed up she made us wear a "choke collar" as some weird humiliation ritual.... keep in mind this was our first impression of her too, she introduced this the first week. We thought it was silly at first, until girls started discussing it more and comparing it to hazing. That's the first red flag we got. It didn't last long because we all protested it, but just the thought she tried to implement that is concerning. The only reason we were good & we were winning was because the team had incredible chemistry & we were all super close. There were specific players she legitimally bullied so bad ,who were great players, who just needed a little guidance, that they quit the team. I don't consider myself a quitter at anything but I even found myself questioning leaving the team due to how bad my mental health got underneath Mel's leadership, and I would almost consider myself one of the girls who wasn't treated that terribly, there were girls who got it a LOT worse than I did. SCAD is an incredible school academically and a majority of us chose SCAD for our education, not for lacrosse, hence playing in the NAIA. Girls on this team could totally play D1, they just chose not to because their education was more important to them. Because there's so many specific programs at SCAD, a lot of classes needed to graduate are only offered at certain quarters at certain time slots. We'd see a lot of pushback from Mel and threats of not playing when it came time to create schedules, despite her knowing we had no control over the situation and we needed these classes to graduate. Sometimes she'd suggest we take it later, & when we'd explain we could only take it during that specific quarter at that specific time, she'd be pissed because we were missing practice time. One time I had a presentation I could not miss for my degree & when I went to talk to her after practice about it she goes "is there any way you can move it, you won't play if you don't practice", no... the professors selected the time and day specifically. But it's strange, she had a double standard. Her favorites never were threatened with less playing time due to missing class, and they continued to play their normal playing time despite missing practice too. If I remember correctly there was one time one girl was sick basically the entire week but was able to make the game before gameday, and she still played. This is obviously not the player's fault but Mel not following her own rules. Some girls even had important job interviews for their future & she'd make them take them in their cars if they were during practice so they could come right back out after they were finished. I'm not claiming to be a perfect teammate or player, I most certainly was not. I honestly was probably one of the players Mel wanted gone. I had my own issues just as everyone did, but it's extremely frustrating that we had a Coach that instead of trying to understand these issues within me & other girls, she instead exacerbated them. We already had had a tumultuous Coaching tenure with Berkland leaving, Kara leaving us high & dry & our assistant needing to step up as head coach. But even with our assistant as head, we made nationals. Our success clearly isn't because of Mel, it's because of us. I love these girls, I want what's best for the girls now, and unfortunately, I do believe what is best for the girls is not having Mel in that position. Now please stop bashing our friends on a stupid coach's review. You're supposed to be the example. Also, 10 five star reviews in 1 day is suspicious lol...."

"She doesn't deserve the Coach of the Year title. Take it away!!! She didn't earn it!!! The only reason she received it was because the girls hadn’t been corrupted yet, and she relied solely on a few of them to score goals and carry the team. She never actually coached them. The girls only made it as far as they did based on their own skills. She does not deserve credit for any of it. Her first year at SCAD, she barely showed her true character but after that, all hell broke loose. Take it away the title!!! "

"I just want to make it clear-- Melody Shotwell, who doesn't even deserve the moniker of 'Coach' is an individual who takes pride in bringing down college age girls who's brains still arn't fully developed. Absolutely baffling hers is fully developed and she continues to treat young adults, who need guidance, care, and love to help them grow into strong individuals both mentally & physically, with absolute garbage behavior. Clearly she gets off on it-- sick freak. Keep in mind, SCAD is an NAIA school-- if the girls who played at SCAD wanted to go top D1 & wanted to experience what it takes to be top D1 *institutions where sports tend to be put ahead of academics* then that's where they would've committed. The girls at SCAD chose SCAD for their education-- not for lacrosse, but, we were really never able to get the full education we all wanted due to Melody wanting to win games & coaches awards for her own bragging rights, not for her love of us. She despised us. She ran us into the groud, making us run the equivelant of almost a marathon every week as punishment. No wonder we were all so hurt & exhausted. The way Melody Shotwell coached wasn't for the girls, it was for her. She never cared about us. She posts crap on instagram all the time that says she did, but we all know she didn't. She is an extremely calous individual who laughs in your face when you are struggling. She doesn't care about mental or physical health. Moral of the story-- SHE DOESN'T CARE. This woman is so butthurt that none of us enjoyed her coaching style she even began to block her old players. Is that the behavior of an adult? No, that's the behavior of a child. If anything this woman needs to be institutionalized. Legitimately put her in the looney bin. She had this issues of pulling captains into meetings where it should've been one on ones, like her constantly threatening to kick girls off the team in front of their best friends as some sort of freaky power move. She did this constantly to multiple girls. None of us enjoyed that. It was psychological abuse. She loved to single out individual players after a loss and claim that the loss was their fault in front of the entire team (when in reality the loss was Melody's fault due to her terrible coaching!) She never EVER worked on defense, older defenders were forced to coach the younger girls. She acted like she worked on attack but that wasn't organized either, she relied on her 1 to 2 favorites to score goals and then just was shitty to the rest of us. She constantly claimed girls who were struggling with injury or mental health were 'faking it' and never took anyone seriously-- we constatly had girls saying they wanted to die after practice. I don't think that's normal. We were only sucsessful her first year of coaching not cause of her, but because we were a family who confided in one another & became closer due to her abuse. She deserves to take no credit. She deserves to have her coach of the year award stripped. This woman is horrible and I hope and pray nobody hires her again for the sake of young adult's mental health."

"What a horrible experience my daughter had with this coach. After multiple practices, she would call me in tears emotionally drained and defeated. Mel was emotionally abusive and consistently unsupportive of several players. At one point, she even said to them, “What value do you bring to the team?” An unbelievably cruel and demoralizing thing to say to young athletes. The environment Mel created was toxic. Several players ended up quitting the team because they simply couldn’t take the emotional strain anymore. No young woman should have to endure that kind of treatment, especially from someone who’s supposed to guide and support them. I truly hope this coach is never given the responsibility of working with young women again."

"Melody is very, very intense. She is extremely old school in her teachings, and is a very punishment oriented coach. She will not care about your health. Whether you are healthy or injured, you will run. You will lift. You will cry. She will run you until you can't anymore, and then more. You will never get free time, she will make you train, or threaten you. Your academics don't matter to her past bragging rights for herself, and she will give you no time to do work. She has publicly shamed those who stood up to her. If you want to train like a top 10 division 1 athlete aiming to go pro, have zero life outside your sport, get shamed for your health or being injured in any way shape or form? then go ahead and hire her. But if you want to still love this sport, you should stay away."

"Do. Not. Hire. This. Person. Coach Melody Shotwell should never have been, and should never continue to be, a coach. Words cannot fully capture the extent of this walking red flag. She publicly hazes her players, sends old photos of players when they were heavier while making comments about their weight, continuously fat-shames, and forces various diets on her players. If you got injured or suffered a concussion, she would pressure you to lie to the trainer so you could continue playing. If you were a good player, she loved you, but if you needed actual coaching and help improving, she would verbally attack and single you out. She never actually coached during games, relying only on one or two girls to score goals, without creating a cohesive offensive strategy. If the team lost a game or championship, she would single out one specific player, blame them for the loss, and publicly announce it at every opportunity. She got fired for a reason, and frankly, she should have been fired sooner. It’s no surprise that so many girls quit because they couldn’t handle the constant abuse and the toll it took on their mental health from being constantly degraded. If you know what’s good for your program do not hire this person. "

"I am writing to strongly caution against the hiring of Coach Melody Shotwell, who was fired from SCAD due to her abusive treatment of players. While she may have tactical knowledge of the game, her behavior off the field was toxic, harmful, and entirely unacceptable for someone in a leadership position. She routinely belittled and humiliated players, creating a culture of fear, silence, and emotional instability. Any athlete who dared to speak up or express concern was met with swift retaliation. She weaponized scholarship money to control players, making them feel powerless and afraid to stand up for themselves. She made it explicitly clear that athletics came before academics, and players who prioritized their education were punished. For a collegiate environment, this is not only unethical but dangerous. Rather than building athletes up, she broke them down mentally and emotionally with no regard for their well-being. This coach is not someone who should be trusted with the development of young athletes. I strongly urge any institution considering her for a role to speak directly with multiple former players before making a decision. The damage she caused at SCAD should not be repeated elsewhere."

"Horrible Coach, fired from SCAD for abuse. There are so many horror stories from so many girls, they could probably make their own expose doc like Alex Cooper did. DO NOT HIRE THIS WOMAN unless you want your daughter to become suicidal."