Late night flights and early morning tasks are all part of the job for a college field hockey coach. Kelly Doton may be new to the job at Boston College, but she has all the preparation she needs. Coach Doton is ready to take on the biggest challenges of the ACC and possibly no one is more enthusiastic than she is for the job.
When I talked to her on Monday morning I asked her how she felt about taking over as head coach at Boston College. She immediately began sharing words of excitement about the job. “I am really excited to be the head coach, this is an institution that I love and I am very excited for this opportunity,” she said. “I absolutely love the people that I work with and we are all on the same page with our goals.”
But enthusiasm is not the only quality needed to thrive in field hockey. Kelly Doton got the chance over the last three years to work with Coach Ainslee Lamb and learned as much as possible from her. “There’s an endless list of reasons why Ainslee is a great coach,” Doton said. “She has a sense of professionalism and always loved to see student-athletes grow. She based everything on sound principles and was always able to get the best out of her athletes.” The list truly went on and on for Doton as she explained what she had learned from Coach Lamb.
Before Doton joined the Boston College staff, she was an assistant at Indiana. But what about her playing career? Not every great coach had a great playing career. Luckily for Doton, her playing career was truly elite. During her time at Wake Forest, she won two national championships and won the Honda Award in 2003. Her accomplishments on the field did not end during college though, Doton went on to play for the national team and earn over 100 caps with the senior team.
“I think that with my playing career, my players have immediate respect,” Doton said. “Respect is something that is earned and that goes on and off the field. You have to show respect to earn respect”.
So at this point, Kelly Doton has the mentorship and a distinguished playing career, so what is necessary to be a good coach? The drive. I asked Coach Doton whether she was excited or nervous to be a first time head coach in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Without hesitation she told me that she wanted to be challenged. “I would never take the easy road,” Doton said. “I know that it is not going to be easy in the ACC and I do not want that (to be easy).”
With such a strong background, Doton seems truly ready to lead. She’s not the only one who believes this though. “Ainslee used to always tell me that one day I would take over for her,” according to Doton. And now, it is her time.
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