"Everyone misses Coach Mel! Im currently on the team and know that none of these things mentioned are true. She always had our best interest in mind and challenged us to compete and improve on and off the field! Its upsetting some cant move on. Best of luck to Coach Mel and her new team! "

"Our current team really misses Coach Mel in every aspect. Her knowledge for the game inside and out, her passion to make every practice different, fun and competitive and her thoughtfulness to plan team bonding and fun activities at practice to build our team chemistry, continue to make lacrosse fun and get us all thinking about the game from a different lens.. Our team chemistry this year isn't the same, we are lacking that family feeling she created on our team and we connections on the field which has us playing timid. She truly cared about making our college experience enjoyable and now it just seems like we are just going through the motions every day to get through practice and some of us dread going now. Our team is not as fit as we were under Coach Mel, which has us worried for our competitiveness this season. She held us to a high standard and really understood what each of us needed to be successful on the field and our hard work paid off!! Her spirit and positivity is missed daily but know she is thriving and making others lacrosse experience enjoyable too! Best coach iv ever had! "

"My husband and I are so grateful our daughter got to play for Coach Mel! She was always so positive and my daughter loved earning Queen Bee in the Fall for her fitness achievements and also in the spring for playing well in games!! That positive reinforcement and recognition was so great for the team! She always kept the parents in the loop and our tailgates at home and away games were so special to build relationships with the other parents. She is more than a coach to her players and even took my daughter to the doctors when she was sick. That is reassuring as a Mom to know she is taken care of mentally and physically away from home. There will always be negative people in every group, but we loved Coach Mel and were so thankful for all that she did for our daughter and know she will be successful in her next venture! "

"As an official for Coach Shotwell’s team on many games in her career, arriving to the field, our crew knew that we would be reffing a clean and safe game because she was a student of the game and always knew the rules inside and out. Her players always had that competitive edge because of her deep knowledge and dedication in the game. Many games, her team would be drastically the better team, but they never blew them out by running up the score like every other team would do; they intentionally avoided scoring which taught all players at the game a better lesson. I witnessed her team even give their opponent, hand written letters after a game or engage in a post-game prayer with the opponents. She coached her players to play with class and to honor the game. Her captains always spoke to the officials with respect and thanked us for being there and she was always respectful to the officiating crew while coaching. It was always a pleasure to work her games and she will be missed, but know the grass is greener where she will end up! "

"Thank you coach Mel for an amazing college lacrosse experience!! You always motivated us to be better players and people on and off the field. We miss you, but know you will benefit any team in so many ways!! <3 "

"This is a really easy review. Those that are invested in the team prospered. Those that were there to just go through the motions did not. The ones that “went through the motions” are the ones that were constantly upset about their position on the team. If you don’t put the work in, you don’t get paid. Coach Shotwell certainly had favorites. Her favorites were the ones that showed up early, the ones that did more than she asked, the ones that didn’t skip reps behind her back, and the ones that what team success above their own success. I witnessed a few selfish players on this team. People worried about their own statistics and their own playing time, not seeing the big picture of something greater on the horizon. That small handful of players was enough to ruin something that was on the verge of a championship. Good luck to Coach Shotwell, wherever you land. As for the rest of you, hopefully you learn to work as a team instead of against your team. "

"I had the privilege to work as her assistant for 3 seasons. She is the best coach I have worked with in my 25+ years in Women’s lacrosse. She believes in her players and pushes them to be the best they can be. She pushes them to be good students as well as supportive team members. Always making sure that the school is always shown in the best light. She doesn’t go for mediocre performance and sets the team goals high. She stresses a high level of fitness which proved a key factor towards late game performance. Her off season workouts made sure that incoming players showed up ready build towards a successful campaign. I highly recommend Coach Shotwell for any highly competitive head coaching position."

"It is really sad to see parents involved in any capacity at the college level; these are adults. Sounds like administration doesn’t know how to do their job! "

"Coach Shotwell is the only reason we felt comfortable sending our 18 year old so far from home for college. This entire situation falls on the shoulders of the school administration. They’ve really done a disservice to all the coaches at SCAD by not having a legitimate and qualified athletic administration. The AD was a golf coach at the school until the AD was abruptly fired and she took the position. This is where “art and design” school shows its true colors and lack of knowledge for a successful reputation in leadership and guiding its coaches. Unfortunately, Coach Shotwell took the brunt of this while trying to educate the AD on how “running and contact sports” operate. She doesn’t know which way is up when it comes to management of coaches and parents. Coach Shotwell will be fine, any NCAA level school with a winning culture would be a perfect fit for her. SCAD admin, do better- the players and coaches deserve it. "

"I had offered from several D1 & D2 teams but they didn’t have the design curriculum I was looking for. SCAD wasn’t on my list because I didn’t think NAIA would be a good match for the intensity I was looking for in a program. I don’t like mediocre or average. Coach Mel assured me her program was different and she delivered on that promise. Because of her I continued with my athletic passion while studying design. There are always a few negative Nancy’s in every environment, life must never seen this level of retaliation and entitlement. I feel sad she had to deal with it, but I know there is a better fit for her at a higher level. SCAD didn’t deserve her. "

"If you play for her, she expects full effort, no excuses and a positive attitude. I think every coach since I started playing 15 years ago has instilled that in my. I played at a competitive level and travel. Some of these girls just walked on from a low level HS team thinking NAIA is like club. Instead of resisting the expectations and always making excuses, they should’ve just found something else to do with their time. College sports at any level is intense. Coach Mel was the best coach I’ve had. Other coaches always complimented our conditioning. We didn’t have a lot of subs, so we had to be prepared to play the whole game. It’s a running game!!! Now because a parent complained we can only run 5 miles a week. So most of us just do the extra on our own. I hope our new coach isn’t afraid to put people in line and holds us to the same athletic standards. "

"I’ve been playing since 3rd grade and I’ve never had a coach go above and beyond for my personal well-being, physical improvement and lacrosse development. She was always there for me off the field and I really needed that away from home. I’ve cried to her and she’s helped me battle my mental health struggles and I grew to become a better person and lacrosse player because she believed in me and pushed me beyond my comfort zone and I achieved things I never dreamt of. Our team success was because of Coach Mel and she deserves everything she has achieved. Shes a true leader, a student of the game and is legit in the game since she played D1, coached D1 and also would ref college games on her only day off from coaching us. She made lacrosse fun again after some coaches burnt me out. I feel honored to have played under her experience. Her future teams will love her like I did! "

"Having only been a part of this team for one year, our first last year, we sat back and observed. What my daughter reported to us on the daily is severely different than what is being reported here. It is also obvious that these egregious complaints are coming from the same few people, the same that we heard complaints about all season from our daughter and her friends. Their body language on the sidelines, their parents in the stands- all very unprofessional. Coach Mel had her hands full with no support. This year will be different, the new parents aren’t going to allow a few bad characters to take down the team or the coach. I’m baffled at how many parents think it is ok to communicate with the AD about menial complaints, and why any teacher or administrator for that matter is allowed to communicate with parents of adults. I couldn’t even speak with my daughters professor about a project, but a mom is telling the bleachers how she’s discussing her daughter playing time and how she doesn’t like her room assignment for travel or meal accommodations. None of this should’ve been allowed and the administration allowed it to get out of hand. It was a lose lose situation for Coach Mel and for our girls. I truly hope she lands her feet at a program with a professional and driven group of like-minded athletic winners, because that is what she deserves. Best of luck to her! "

"It’s really unfortunate that a few disgruntled players who she did not recruit were sour over playing time and held accountable for their lack of effort and improvement. She was not fired for abuse, those claims were all unfounded. Our team witnessed the few who ruined it for the rest of us, and we’re glad most of them are gone after having graduated. They quit once our regular season was over bc they didn’t play and because they were bitter they weren’t chosen as captains. Their parents were just as toxic, the apple didn’t fall far. Parents yelling profanities in the stands, physically assaulting coaches after the game. She’s had a solid, career for 20 years in coaching and comes highly recommended by every department she worked for. It’s sad this is how the world works when a few bad apples are so toxic and create so much negativity. The athletic department at our school is a joke in comparison. Our AD is a retired golf coach with zero experience and didn’t know how to handle these out of control parents and it snowballed. The fitness, nutrition and expectations are on par and our strength coach 100% agrees with her conditioning, and those of us who followed it were the ones who were starters. If you don’t want to compete at a high level- go play club. The majority of us want to win and wanted to succeed and we loved Coach Mel. She hands down deserved every award. There are multiple parents on our team willing to speak on her behalf and fought for her to stay. Don’t be misguided by these toxic losers. When you try to get out of practice by faking “mental health”, and you get called on it- it’s called being held accountable. We miss you, Coach Mel. It was the best 2 years I’ve ever had on a team. We can already see the drastic differences without you here. "

"An inspiration to all who love the game. What an honor to play for her and learn all she has to offer me as an athlete. She challenged me in ways I never thought I could grow. She was always motivating and positive towards our team goal of winning and being great people in the community and on the field. Coach Melody’s lax IQ is top-tier and taught the team things we never heard of before, giving us that competitive edge to be successful. She is passionate about nutrition and fitness so that our bodies stayed healthy to perform and I really benefitted from this knowledge because my lacrosse performance greatly increased. There were many times in my career she would be available for me to talk after hours and guide me through hard times . I felt like I could go to her for anything. We had many team sessions with nutritionists that she organized for us as well as sports psychologists and fun team bonding trips and activities which allowed us to grow our team chemistry and work together, while keeping our minds and bodies strong as athletes. She was very organized, proactive and always communicated as soon as she had updates for the team which was helpful with our busy schedules as athletes. Winning came easy with this foundation and she was a very successful coach as a result of the culture she implemented winning many championships! I am so grateful for the opportunity to play for her and still to this day, have a great relationship with her and she has helped me get a great job after graduating!! "

"Coach Shotwell turned this program into a winning, positive environment where we were all held accountable and had to earn our playing time. She cultivated a culture of a true team, from bonding, to team events, community service, academics first, and buddies within our team. I’ve never felt so connected to a group of women, yet so far from home. Don’t be fooled by this being a NAIA level, Coach Shotwell runs this team like a D1 program in every way. It was too much for a few girls to handle, and they caused a lot of problems. Also it wouldn’t hurt if the school would actually hire a real athletic director instead of a washed up golf coach- the athletics program overall could use more leadership. "