Elaine Jones Ready to Move UIndy Past Turmoil

There are some interesting storylines to consider entering the NCAA Division II women’s lacrosse season.

Does East Stroudsburg, last year’s national runner-up, meet the preseason expectations to secure its first national championship? Can traditional powerhouses like Adelphi and West Chester reproduce previous glory? And what will be the trickle-down impact from the migration of three championship-level programs — Lindenwood, Queens and Stonehill — to Division I?

But perhaps no storyline is more intriguing than the follow-up act from defending national champion Indianapolis. The Greyhounds captured their first NCAA Division II title in May. Then, three months later, UIndy dismissed the head coach, James Delaney, who led them to the promised land.

UIndy never issued a public statement about Delaney’s departure, simply removing his name, bio, and contact info very quietly from its athletics website. Delaney did respond to inquiries from USA Lacrosse Magazine following his departure, confirming via text that he was indeed fired, but he offered no further explanation.  

Following the murkiness of the past several months, on November 9, UIndy introduced former Longwood head coach Elaine Jones as Delaney’s successor. Jones spent 10 seasons at Division I Longwood, stepping down in May following the completion of the 2022 season. Prior to Longwood, she had a 12-year run at UC Davis, during which she helped guide the program through a transition from Division II to Division I.

“I’m a competitor, and this is a great opportunity,” said Jones, who was a two-time All-American as a player at Virginia. “The chance to take over at a national championship level program was enticing.”

As a late hire, Jones did not have the luxury of getting to know her UIndy players through the fall season and is now prioritizing that process during the limited time that remains before the holidays. She will have 24 practice days with her team beginning in January before the season-opener on February 11 at Concordia-St. Paul.

“The timeframe is certainly tight, and there’s a lot to be done,” Jones said. “We’re all going to need to be flexible and adaptable as we get ready for the new season.”

Jones understands that UIndy will get every opponent’s best effort in 2023. Opponents aren’t concerned about a coaching change, a lack of practice time or the players that have left. In the eyes of the adversary, the uniform still says “UIndy,” and that’s all they care about.

“There’s no blueprint here for being the defending champion,” Jones said. “We have to practice at a high level to prepare to take everyone’s best shot. That’s just what you do when you win.”

Jones clearly inherits a roster that looks quite different than the one that waltzed through a 22-1 campaign en route to the 2022 title.

In addition to Delaney’s departure, UIndy also lost several other key components from its championship team. The program’s two best players — All-Americans Abigail Lagos and Peyton Romig — are both now gone. Lagos, the national D-II player of the year in 2022, transferred to Syracuse, while Romig, the NCAA tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, accepted a position as an assistant coach at Davenport University after finishing her eligibility.

Other key departures included sophomore All-American attacker Sarah Klein, a 56-goal scorer who transferred to Ohio State; four-year goalie Cassidy King; and a pair of impact freshman — Riley Taylor and Kylee Manser — who both transferred to Oregon.

“We can’t worry about the players that we’ve lost, we’ve got to coach up the ones that are here,” Jones said. “We know what we want to achieve. The challenges are high, but the expectations are also high.”

Adding further intrigue to UIndy’s story is the ongoing speculation that it may follow in the footsteps of other recent programs and soon reclassify to Division I, with the Ohio Valley Conference rumored to be a potential landing spot. The school announced on September 30 that its board of trustees had voted to take no action on the issue.

Ironically, the vote by the trustees came just days after UIndy’s athletics director Scott Young announced his resignation after two years on the job. There’s an interim AD, Greg Shaheen, currently heading the athletics department.

While Jones may be the right coach, based on her time at UC Davis, to help guide UIndy to an eventual transition to Division I, the more immediate priority is stabilizing the defending champions who have seemingly been in a state of turmoil since winning the title on May 22.

“My job is to coach this team the best that I can at whatever level we are at,” Jones said. “I’m excited about being here and being at this level, and if there is a change in the future, I’ll be excited about that also. But the focus is to do your job.”

And changes or not, there are still expectations at UIndy. They have a number of accomplished returnees, highlighted by defenders Kara Antonucci and Mekayla Montgomery, and 49-goal scorer Quinn Malcolm, from last year’s championship squad.

“They had a lot to deal with this past fall, but I still see them as being a championship contender,” said one opposing coach. “They have girls who gained good experience as part of last year’s run.”

Jones is counting on that collective experience to help guide her team into the new season and to serve as motivation for the 2023 campaign.

“Once you do it, there’s an itch to do it again,” she said. “Pressure is a privilege.”