WINNING TIME: Kristen Holmes-Winn eyes the action from the sideline while guiding the Princeton University field hockey team. Holmes-Winn recently stepped down as the head coach of the program after 13 seasons which saw the Tigers go 164-80 overall and 86-5 Ivy League. The highlight of Holmes-Winn’s run came in 2012 when she led the Tigers to the program’s and Ivy League’s first-ever NCAA field hockey title.  During her time at the helm, Holmes-Winn coached Princeton to 12 Ivy League titles and 11 NCAA tournaments. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Even though Kristen Holmes-Winn had never been a head coach at the college level upon taking the helm of the Princeton University field hockey team in 2003, she saw an NCAA title on the horizon.

“I was fortunate to be coming into a program where they were close; they had made it to the Final 4 so it wasn’t like it was a wacky idea or notion that we could contend for a national championship,” said Holmes-Winn, a 1997 graduate of Iowa where she was an All-American field hockey player and served as an assistant coach from 1997-2000.

“I took the job, thinking hey we are going to make this happen. The most important thing obviously is getting the level of talent in place to be able to make that happen and creating an infrastructure that allows them to maximize their talents and potential.”

Going 40-32 in her first four years on the job, Holmes-Winn worked on maximizing her potential as a coach.

“It takes a little bit of time to figure out what your voice is going to be, you just don’t come in and within three months have it all down,” said Holmes-Winn, who had coached in the U.S.A. Field Hockey Under-19 program and founded Champion’s Edge, a company dedicated to providing better instruction to young players, before coming to Princeton.

“It is something you develop over time; the art of coaching is this really cool evolution that you have as you gain more wisdom and learn what this experience is really supposed to look like for the student athlete. At a place like Princeton, you want the athletic experience to be just as transformative and incredible as the experience they have on the academic side.”

The Tigers enjoyed the experience of a lifetime as they won in 2012, edging North Carolina 3-2 in the national title game to culminate a 21-1 season. Now Holmes-Winn is taking her wisdom north, stepping down from her Princeton post to become the vice president of performance science and optimization for a sports performance company called WHOOP, Inc. based in Boston that develops wearable fitness sensors to monitor the heart rate and movement during workouts.

In reflecting on the run to the national title, the only one in the program and Ivy League field hockey history, Holmes-Winn said the groundwork was laid in the 2011 season when Princeton didn’t have the services of All-Americans Michelle Cesan, Kat Sharkey, Katie Reinprecht, and Julia Reinprecht, who all spent the year away from school training with the U.S. National team as it prepared for 2012 Summer Olympics.

“We won the Ivy championship and made it the first round of the NCAAs that year and we competed unbelievably well against UConn, just barely losing that game,” said Holmes-Winn.

“I think in terms of a coaching achievement, that was probably a better indicator that we had a strong enough infrastructure to be able to absorb and to carry on after losing such talent. It was a real testament to that leadership of that senior class in that year to be able to hold it together. I think it showed a high level of leadership and honestly set us up for what turned out to be a historic year in 2012.”

In making history in 2012, Princeton was dominant, outscoring its foes 102-22, including a 45-1 edge in Ivy play.

“We had extraordinary talent and extraordinary leadership, all the pieces were in place; we had our national players coming back, just contributing immensely in every way,” said Holmes-Winn, who was named the national Coach of the Year that season.

“We had a sensational staff. We had Nate Franks on board, who is the U.S.A. team analyst and there is a reason why. He is an incredible performance analyst and we had the benefit of his expertise and wisdom in the game. We had Michael Pallister coming into the fold who brought a great energy to our team. Myself and Melisa Meccage had been here for a bit at that point to provide that stability and continuity.”

Holmes-Winn is rightly proud of Princeton’s ability to compete with the elite of the college game, reflected in seven trips to the NCAA quarterfinals over 13 years.

“When you look at the Ivy League as a whole, the fact that the last non-Princeton team to win a first round game in the NCAA play was in 1983, it puts in context what we have done,” said Holmes-Winn, who is being succeeded by Carla Tagliente, the former head coach at the University of Massachusetts.

“For us to operate nationally the way that we have done so consistently, to me that is the story. The fact that we are the only Ivy League team to crack into the national scene in any meaningful way is quite a testament to what we have been able to do at Princeton.”

Princeton’s constant presence on the national scene has resulted in an unprecedented dominance of the Ivy League as the Tigers have won the league title 11 years in a row and in 12 of 13 seasons during Holmes-Winn’s tenure.

“I think we do a lot of the right things, there is a difference between being at a level of success and keeping your athletes interested and motivating, innovating,” said Holmes-Winn, who went 164-80 overall and 86-5 Ivy League in her tenure.

“It is about the environment you create, I think that has been a big differentiator. We understand the factors that go into high level performance and we are constantly pushing that information to our athletes, explicitly and implicitly. It is in the fabric of everything that we do, from how we design training, what we choose to do, and when we do it. There is an art to that, there is a science to that, and I think we have the keys to that. I think that has been a large part of why we are successful.”

That interest in sports performance made the move to WHOOP, Inc. a natural step for Holmes-Winn. The company produces a performance optimization system that provides athletes with a continuous understanding of strain and recovery to balance training, reduce injuries, and predict performance.

“I have been really engaged in performance technology over the last four years; I have a masters in sports psychology and performance,” said Holmes-Winn, who has developed an app that can help track and analyze performance data and notes that WHOOP has the resources in terms of hardware, software, design, and data expertise to greatly enhance that effort.

“From an academic standpoint, this is definitely an interest of mine that I wanted to pursue. I just wanted more of my day to be occupied with that line of thinking. I was in a very small bubble at Princeton; now I think I am going to be able to use my skill set in a much broader group.”

But while Holmes-Winn is broadening her influence, the impact she had in her 13 years at Princeton remains a source of deep pride.

“I will miss the players, for sure, being involved in their lives on such a meaningful level and being able to see their growth over the four years,” said Holmes-Winn, who plans to remain involved with the U.S.A. field hockey program.

“I spent a lot of time with them, starting with the recruiting process, and to see them develop as young women and take hold of their lives in such a powerful way is rewarding.”