JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville University women’s lacrosse team has its new head coach.
The Dolphins moved quickly to fill their vacancy, hiring Tara Singleton as just the second head coach in program history.
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She replaces Mindy McCord, who built the Dolphins into a national brand in the sport during her 13 seasons there.
Singleton arrives at JU after a 12-year run at Johns Hopkins where she served as the defensive coordinator and director of recruiting. She also had the title of associate head coach for the past 10 years.
“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to lead the women’s lacrosse program and join the JU family,” Singleton said in a statement. “I would like to thank President [Tim] Cost, [athletic director] Alex Ricker-Gilbert and every member of the search committee for trusting in my vision to continue the success of the program going forward. Jacksonville is an impressive university with even more impressive people and I can’t wait to be a part of it all.”
Singleton will look to keep the JU program at an elite level. She replaced McCord, who resigned late last month to take the job at USF. McCord went 170-62 with the Dolphins and led the team to the Sweet 16 last season. JU led the country in scoring for the seventh time (17.21 goal per game) in McCord’s final season.
Singleton began her coaching career at her alma mater, Loyola, before moving on to UMBC for two years. She spent three seasons at Denver after that before joining Johns Hopkins in 2011. This will be her first head coaching job.
“We are ecstatic to welcome Tara to Jacksonville. When we set out on this search, we were looking for someone who would value the whole person. It was clear from our first conversation that Tara was going to care deeply about our young women,” said Alex Ricker-Gilbert, senior vice president and athletic director with JU.
“She’s played and coached at the highest level and has spent more than a decade in one of the finest women’s lacrosse cultures in the country.”