Pam Stuper, a member of the USA Field Hockey Hall of Fame who has been a part of four NCAA championship teams, has been Yale's head coach since the 2005 season. Stuper has led the Bulldogs to much success, including an Ivy League championship in 2011 -- the school's first since 1980. She is Yale's all-time leader in wins with 121 through the 2021 season.
Stuper earned the 2009 NFHCA Mideast Region Coach of the Year award. Under her leadership the Bulldogs went 24-11 in the Ivy League in the five seasons from 2009 through 2013, the second-best record in the league in that span. Yale finished the 2011 season with a school-record 69 goals, marking the sixth straight season the Bulldogs increased their goal total over the previous year.
In addition to the team accomplishments, Stuper has also coached numerous players to individual success -- including the 2016 Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year (Emilie Katz '17), the 2011 Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year (Erin Carter '12) and the 2010 Ivy League co-Rookie of the Year (Georgia Holland '14). Holland also earned a spot on the U.S. Under-21 Team for the 2012 Junior Pan American Games. Yale has had two All-Americans (both third team, including Bridget Condie '20 in 2019), 23 All-Region selections (11 first team, 11 second team, one third team) and 67 All-Ivy League selections (24 first team, 30 second team, 13 honorable mention) in her 16 seasons at the helm. She was promoted to head coach in February of 2005 after eight years as an assistant at Yale.
Stuper’s teams also excel in the classroom. Yale has earned National Academic Team honors from the NFHCA in each of her seasons as head coach. She also has had multiple Academic All-Ivy League selections, a Rhodes Scholarship finalist, an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship winner and a Kiphuth Student-Athlete Distinction Award honoree.
The team has also been active in the community under Stuper’s leadership, assisting with the annual marrow donor registration drive at Yale that is held each spring in memory of Yale women’s ice hockey player Mandi Schwartz '10 (1988-2011) and her battle with cancer. Bulldog back Lexy Adams '13 was found to be a match for a patient in need of a life-saving transplant and donated stem cells in December 2010. In the past the team has also worked on the "Get a Grip" campaign to benefit the Myotonic Dystrophy Foundation in honor of goalkeeper Ona McConnell '13, who has the disease.
As an assistant at Yale, Stuper helped guide the Bulldogs to three ECAC Championships (1998, 2002 and 2003) in eight seasons. Prior to joining the Yale staff she was an assistant coach at James Madison from 1993-1995, helping the Dukes win the NCAA Championship in 1994. She and the rest of that team were inducted into JMU's Hall of Fame in the fall of 2014.
A 1992 graduate of Old Dominion and member of the ODU Hall of Fame, Stuper was a key part of three national championship teams and was a two-time All-American for the Monarchs. She also was named GTE-CoSIDA Academic All-American in 1992.
Stuper is also involved with the game on an international level, and she currently serves as a member of the Executive Board for FIH (Fédération Internationale de Hockey, or International Hockey Federation), the international governing body for the sport of field hockey. She was elected to that position in the fall of 2010. In the fall of 2011 she was elected to the Board of Directors for the Pan American Hockey Federation (PAHF), serving in that role until 2015.
Stuper’s international experience dates back to her days as a player, as she was on the U.S. National Team for nine years. She participated in three World Cups (1990, 1994 and 1998), one Pan American Games (1995) and two Champion's Trophy Tournaments (1995, 1997). She also was an alternate for the 1996 U.S. Olympic Team. Stuper earned a silver medal in the 1995 Pan American Games and a bronze in the 1994 World Cup. She added to her international experience by playing for the Amsterdam Ladies First Team, which was Dutch National League Top Division runner-up in 1996-1997.
In addition to her playing experience, Stuper also has significant experience in international competition at other levels. In 2007 she served as a manager for the U.S. National Team's Netherlands tour and at the Champions Challenge in Baku, Azerbaijan. She has been an assistant coach/manager for the U.S. Under-16/Under-17 team since 2008. Stuper traveled with the U-17 team to Holland Mar. 22-30 of 2013. She also worked with the team at the Easter Tournament in Valkenswaard, The Netherlands, in 2008, 2009 and 2011.
In 2010, Stuper earned a bronze with the U-17 team at the Youth Pan American Games in Montevideo, Uruguay. She has also served as manager for the National Team’s European Tour to Spain and England in 2010 and for the U-21 National Team at the Junior World Cup in Boston in 2009. In the summer of 2006 Stuper coached the U-19 U.S. team at the Can Am Games in Virginia Beach, Va.
Stuper was head coach of USA Field Hockey’s New England Junior High Performance team for 2011. She was an assistant coach for the New England Region from 2005 through 2009, and was an assistant for the North team in 2010. Since 2012 she has served as an assistant coach for the New England/North/Northeast team.
Stuper’s international experience also includes multiple trips abroad with the Yale team, including visits to Australia in 2017, Spain in 2013, Argentina in 2008, Italy and Greece (for the Olympic Games) in 2004 and the Netherlands in 2000.
Stuper served as Second Vice-President of the National Field Hockey Coaches Association from 2005-2008 and as Director of Curriculum & Development from 2009-2011. She was a member of the NCAA Division I Field Hockey Championship Committee from 2009 to 2013 and served as the Athlete Sports Organization (ASO) Director on the USA Field Hockey Board of Directors from 2009 to 2012. She served as Chair of the Board, a position she was elected to in 2011, until 2012. Stuper is a founding member of the US Field Hockey Foundation (USFHF) and served as chair of the Board of Trustees for that organization from 2014–2020. She currently serves as Foundation Director.
In addition to her USA Field Hockey, JMU and Old Dominion honors, Stuper has received a number of local honors. She is a member of the Hempfield High School Hall of Fame (Lancaster, Pa.) and the Susquehanna Valley Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame. In 2013, she was inducted into the Connecticut Field Hockey Hall of Fame -- alongside one of her former assistant coaches at Yale, Abby Ostruszka. She received the Lancaster County Sports Hall of Fame's J. Freeland Chryst Annual Sports Achievement Award for 2017.
Stuper received her master's degree in exercise science with an emphasis in sports psychology from Southern Connecticut State University in 2008. She is married to John Stuper, the Yale baseball coach.
