K

elly Amonte Hiller’s coaching tree has grown some new branches in the West.

Former Northwestern assistant Tim McCormack will officially begin his first head coaching job in women’s lacrosse when he leads Arizona State in its season opener this weekend. A few states away, former Wildcats player and assistant Danielle Spencer will coach her first game in charge of Stanford, a program she took over in June after three seasons leading Dartmouth, where she led the Big Green to the NCAA tournament last season.

The six-team Pac-12 is now full of Amonte Hiller disciples.

USC coach Lindsey Munday was a star attacker on Northwestern’s national championship teams in 2005 and 2006, and she was the top assistant at her alma mater from 2007-10. Colorado coach Ann Elliott Whidden won three titles as a player with the Wildcats and then joined Amonte Hiller’s staff for three more championship runs from 2009-12.

“The tree is unbelievable,” McCormack said. “It’s really, really hard to put into words properly because the knowledge was endless. It was just constant, constant learning (under Amonte Hiller).”

Before his stint at Northwestern, McCormack was a three-year starting goalkeeper at UMass, where he helped the Minutemen to a No. 1 national ranking and a 15-0 record in 2012. He joined the Wildcats in 2013 and spent the next six seasons overseeing the Wildcats’ goalkeeping and defense.

But when the chance for a head coaching job came calling at Arizone State — a program about to enter its third season and an athletic department passionate about building women’s lacrosse — it was too good to turn down.

“We have a lot of different things to offer as far as weather goes, as far as overall vibe, area, and then that kind of weaved into recruiting,” said McCormack, who, at age 30, is one of the youngest head coaches in Division I. “The opportunities that we have in front of us out here are honestly endless, and we’re excited to grow each one and continue to get better every day.

Spencer took a longer trail to the West. After finishing a playing career in Evanston that included two All-American honors and three national titles, she joined Amonte Hiller’s staff and stayed for four years.

The lessons learned under Amonte Hiller carried over to Spencer’s first head coaching job at Dartmouth, where last season she guided the Big Green to their first Ivy League title since 2011 and first NCAA Tournament since 2013.

“She gave me a lot of positive encouragement that I would be successful in the coaching realm,” Spencer said. “Taking the leap from assistant coach to head coach is really scary, and it helps to have someone like Kelly with her positive coaching philosophy. I really felt like she was in my corner, and she had my back and she believed in me.”

Spencer had coached for a year at Stanford in 2012, in between the end of her playing career and her return to the Wildcats’ sidelines as an assistant. The program’s resources and the opportunity for a new challenge brought her back to California.

“The curiosity about what it would be like to be coaching at a place like Stanford, where we have truly incredible resources, incredible facilities, and there are so many teams here that are winning national championships,” Spencer said. “For me, as a young ambitious coach, you just think, ‘Well, man, I want to do that.’”

She takes over a team that finished 13-6 in 2019 and is returning all four of its leading scorers. Junior attacker Ali Baiocco broke out in 2018, earning recognition as the conference’s Freshman of the Year and with a spot on the Tewaaraton Watch List. She followed it up with a 52-goal, All-Pac-12 season in 2019.

Further south, the Sun Devils have gone 6-12 the last two seasons. They bring a young core and a fresh coaching staff — one that features 2016 Tewaaraton finalist Nicole Graziano, former Stony Brook All-American Dorrien Van Dyke and current pro midfielder Pat Harbeson, who played for Redwoods in the PLL’s inaugural season.

The West Coast brings its scheduling challenges. Spencer noted that the “Northwestern Network” has made it easier to find non-conference opponents. But McCormack and Spencer have both made sure to travel to the Midwest to Evanston to face their former program this season. The Sun Devils play the Wildcats on Feb. 16, and the Cardinal will visit two weeks later on March 1.

Arizona State opens its season with a trip to UC Davis on Saturday. Stanford will take on No. 13 Denver on the road that same afternoon.

For both programs, there should be a touch of Northwestern flare.