Bloomsburg University - Commonwealth Universtiy of Pennsylvania

"Mcfarland these comments say it all. No need to keep repeating the same thing. Bloomsberg needs to do something about this coach. ESPECIALLY when it comes to mental health. The program has gone downhill and you need to do better for future athletes coming into this girls lacrosse program."

"In my opinion, committing to the women’s lacrosse program at Bloomsburg under Coach Shannon Hertz would be a poor decision for any prospective student-athlete seeking a positive and developmental college experience. The program reflects a lack of leadership, poor communication, and questionable coaching practices that appear to have existed for years. Rather than prioritizing player development, constructive feedback, and team culture, the coaching style often seems centered around favoritism, manipulation, and division among players. Many athletes are left without meaningful guidance or opportunities to grow both on and off the field. Even more frustrating is that the coach often does not practice what she preaches, creating a disconnect between the standards expected of players and the behavior demonstrated by leadership. A successful college program should provide accountability, mentorship, and a healthy environment for student-athletes. Unfortunately, this program appears to fall short in those areas. The ongoing dysfunction, lack of professionalism, and ineffective leadership have negatively impacted the overall player experience, while the team’s win-loss record has also trended considerably under .500 in recent years. Equally concerning is the administration’s apparent awareness of these ongoing issues with little effort made to address them. The lack of accountability has allowed this culture to continue for years. For any athlete considering playing college lacrosse, I would strongly recommend looking at other institutions where leadership, player development, and athlete well-being are treated as priorities. "

"Not ready to be a D1 coach. Mind games, lies, unprofessional, unorganized. Not respectful to players. "

"Coach Sarah is honest with her players. She cares about them and drives them to succeed. "

"The role of a college coach is multifaceted, yet Shannon Hertz fails at every aspect. In fact, she would be out of her depth in a parking lot puddle. The role of coaching extends far beyond the field, but we will first begin by discussing the abysmal failures of this so-called coach embodied on the field. In 12 years, she holds a record of 93-93. As “the most winningest coach in school history,” it took her 12 seasons to reach 93 wins and an outstanding record of .500. In other words, you would have the same winning record if she just flipped a coin rather than coaching. As a coach, you are supposed to uplift and inspire your players; this could not be further from the truth. Outside of the late-night drunk texts to players, or her personal feelings dictating her mood, resulting in practices based on her emotional mood swings, she also lost the trust of her players. In a recent stunt of idiocy, she asked the players to write on a card explaining their feelings and mental health. This material should have been confidential (as outlined in Section 12.12), but it was not. This information was not disclosed to parents or school officials; this confidential information was, in fact, disseminated to the small clique of players Shannon views as friends. Despite this horrible and fireable offense, the message was sent to the team that private information shared between players and the coach will most certainly be shared with Shannon’s favorites. Hard to trust a coach with your feelings when your teammates will most definitely know about them, since the coach will get a kick out of sharing them. This leads to her next shortcoming (there are infinite failures, but we are only here to discuss a few). If the above hasn’t made it clear enough, the environment of this team is more akin to a reality TV show depicting the worst of Greek life than a team that is competing or, at the bare minimum, is dedicated to making themselves or each other better. In fact, this “coach” runs the team as a divided mess, pitting factions, cliques, and ages against each other. There is no place for fracture or divide in a team sport, yet Shannon is more interested in the drama than actually winning (barely a .500 win coach, so this is not surprising). In essence, the goal of a coach is to develop players and young women, but Shannon is the furthest thing from a role model that could possibly come to mind. Her best quality as a role model is to show these young women the exact person they do not want to become. As the aforementioned drunk texts indicated, this is not someone who should be in charge of anything, let alone the future development of young women. She has hit rock bottom and seems committed to digging. I implore anyone who reads this to consider each and every other school that is an option for your child, as avoiding Shannon Hertz might be the best decision you can make for your future collegiate athlete. "