(Photo Courtesy of Stuart Country Day School) caption: READY TO ROCK: Kim Ciarrocca is all smiles as she starts her tenure as the new Director of Athletics at Stuart Country Day School. Ciarrocca, 45, brings an impressive athletic background to the post, having been an All-American in both field hockey and lacrosse at Temple University in the late 1980s before winning 209 games in a 21-year career as a college lacrosse head coach.

Utilizing Impressive Playing, Coaching Background, Ciarrocca Bringing Intensity, Energy as New Stuart AD

Bill Alden

After a successful 20-year run as a college lacrosse head coach, Kim Ciarrocca decided that the 2010 season at the helm of the University of Delaware women’s program would be her swan song.

With her daughter Colby and son Cade developing into outstanding athletes, Ciarrocca decided that it was time to focus on their progress.

Ciarrocca followed her plan, leaving Delaware in May 2010 and spending most of the next year devoting herself to supporting her children in their on-field endeavors after the family relocated to Montgomery.

But her daughter, now a sophomore at Montgomery High, and fifth-grader son eventually decided it was time for mom to get out of the home.

“By this January, my kids both said to me, ‘you need to get a job,’ that’s a true story,” said Ciarrocca with a laugh.

“They would come home and I would say where are we going, let’s go to the gym, let’s go out back. They were like ‘oh lordy, we are not used to this, you are home way too much.’”

Despite keeping a busy schedule in retirement, Ciarrocca realized that there was a void in her life. “I did start to get antsy,” said Ciarrocca, who posted 209 wins in stops at Ursinus College, Randolph-Macon Women’s College, Muhlenberg College, Temple University, and Delaware.

“I was involved in coaching lacrosse in Montgomery, I did some personal training and I was doing some private lacrosse lessons. But I was OK, you are right, I am missing it. I didn’t want to tell anyone because people had bets on how long I would last.”

It didn’t take long for Ciarrocca to find a path back into the sports world as she was named as the new Director of Athletics at the Stuart Country Day School, taking over for Cheryl Wolf effective last month.

“A couple of the people in the community said to me do you know this position is open,” said Ciarrocca, reflecting on how she learned of the opening at Stuart.

“I didn’t and they said you need to apply for it. I did and I met with Dr. Fagin [Stuart Head of School Patty Fagin] and that was it. When I saw her vision and what she wanted to do for the school, I was sold. I really wanted the job.”

A few weeks into her new position, Ciarrocca is even more enthusiastic about Stuart’s prospects.

“I am very excited; we are going to do great things here,” said Ciarrocca, 45, sitting in her office that features a view out the back window of the woods between the school’s turf and grass fields.

“The girls are wonderful; they are very nice. Everyone here has been very welcoming. It is a very close-knit group.”

One of Ciarrocca’s main goals is to get all of Stuart’s students to join the school’s group of athletes.

“What we are trying to do here is to get our students to participate in athletics,” asserted Ciarrocca.

“We want to have every student participate in athletics. I really think they just need to be educated about what it provides — the leadership, the teamwork, and the enthusiasm.”

As a former coach, Ciarrocca is determined to provide the resources to help the Stuart coaches lead to the best of their ability.

“I am going to let my coaches coach and I will make sure that they have everything that they need,” said Ciarrocca.

“Hopefully they will be able to come to me and I am a little bit more generous having been a coach. I will be a little more understanding.”

This fall, Ciarrocca will put a little extra focus on the school’s new soccer program.

“It is a club program, we are playing some JV and some varsity games but we are absolutely a club so nothing really counts for us this year,” said Ciarrocca, who is also beefing lower school sports programs and is planning college nights to help upper school students in the recruiting process.

“I want our kids to really learn the game. We have some kids who do rec and travel soccer. Our coach, Megan Lipski, knows a few of the kids who are on the team already. I think she is going to do a phenomenal job with that. I want to see how competitive we can be in our first year. I am hoping to win every game.

Ciarrocca won a lot of games in a college career at Temple that saw her star as goalie in field hockey and a high-scoring midfielder in lacrosse.

In field hockey, the Conshohocken, Pa. native was a two-time All-American and helped the Owls make the Final Four in her freshman season. She holds the school record in saves (751) and shutouts (28).

Her lacrosse career was similarly outstanding, as she made All-American twice, scoring 207 points on 162 goals and 45 assists to rank as the fifth-leading scorer in program history. The Owls went 83-7 in her four seasons, capturing the 1988 NCAA title.

A 2001 Temple Hall of Fame inductee, Ciarrocca enjoyed juggling two sports.

“Back then, more players did both field hockey and lacrosse,” said Ciarrocca, a 1988 Temple alum.

“That was huge in the 1980s so if you played lacrosse, you played field hockey or vice versa. I didn’t count on it but I ended up doing both and I would do it all over again.”

Temple was a good fit for Ciarrocca family-wise and in the classroom. “I liked the location; I was 35 minutes from home,” said Ciarrocca, who also considered Penn State and Virginia.

“My parents could come to every game and watch. If I was a little bit further away, I don’t know if that could have happened. I knew I wanted to be a teaching major, I did my research and I knew Temple had a great teaching program.”

After graduating from Temple and helping the U.S. women’s lacrosse win the 1989 World Championship, Ciarrocca used her playing experience and teaching degree as she became the women’s lacrosse head coach at Ursinus College in 1990.

“Being able to play at D-1 level and having as much success as I had, I didn’t know if I could coach,” said Ciarrocca, who guided the Bears to the NCAA Division III national title.

“I was 23 years old and I had some players who were 21 years old. They would buck me but I think as soon as I went in they thought she knows what she is talking about. They test you a little bit. I won the national championship so I guess I did alright. That gave me a little bit of confidence.”

After stops at Randolph-Macon and Muhlenberg, Ciarrocca returned to her alma mater in 1993 as the Temple women’s lax head coach.

“It had slipped a little bit but that was because more schools were offering scholarships so it got more competitive,” said Ciarrocca in assessing the challenges she faced in taking over the program.

“You really had to get out and recruit and you had to sell Temple. I knew I was the right person because I went there. I knew the school, I knew I could sell it academically and athletically, we had always been good. In my third year, we were right back to the NCAA quarterfinals and we made the Final Four next year.

But having moved to Delaware, Ciarrocca was convinced to leave her alma mater in 2004.

“The job just opened up; I wasn’t sure if I was going to accept it but they really made it that I could not accept it,” added Ciarrocca, whose husband Kirk Ciarrocca, was an assistant football coach at Delaware and now coaches for Rutgers.

“It was 12 minutes from my house. It worked out well, I loved it. If I was going to retire from any place, I am glad I did it from Delaware. I left them on the right track; they had a great recruiting class. There is never a good time to leave but I chose on my own because I didn’t get to see my kids do things.”

Now, Ciarrocca is dedicated to helping the kids at Stuart do well. “I wanted to concentrate on the female athlete; that is what I really wanted to do,” maintained Ciarrocca, who holds a Master’s Degree in Sports Administration and a BA in Health and Physical Education.

“My goal is to give back to these girls and do what I can to help them. I have been so fortunate; people have given back to me and helped me through my career. That is what I am looking forward to doing at Stuart.”

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