WEST CANAAN — Danielle Pushee wanted to make sure she went through the complete interview process for the Mascoma High field hockey coaching job.
It sure didn’t hurt, though, to have previous head coach Jenn Hammond as one of her references.
“I sent (then-athletic director Rodney Brown) a personal email and said that I felt that hands-down the job should be hers,” Hammond said. “She had worked really hard with me, and I thought she would do a tremendous job. She had already built those great relationships with the players. They were familiar with her, and she can be super-successful.”
Hammond stepped down this summer after eight years leading the Royals, and Pushee, the junior varsity head coach and an assistant on varsity for the last six of those seasons, was named to replace her, ensuring the program will continue to be led by a Mascoma alumna.
Pushee, a 1991 graduate, was a freshman during Hammond’s senior year. After marrying, she returned to her hometown of Grafton and is now in her 24th year working in the Mascoma Valley Regional School District, where she is currently the special education administrative assistant. Both of Pushee’s daughters played for the Royals under Hammond.
“We always had a good way to communicate with each other,” Pushee said. “Not very often do you get to coach with someone you consider one of your best friends for so long, so we had a special relationship on the sideline. I picked up a lot of pointers from her, and one of the things that I learned from her the most was to just push the kids as hard as you can, and if you respect them, they’ll respect you.”
Pushee and Hammond started coaching together at the youth levels, when they took over the field hockey program in the Mascoma youth sports league. Hammond went on to compile a 55-21-1 record at the varsity level, and with Pushee at her side, the Royals made three consecutive NHIAA Division III state finals from 2017 to 2019, winning the title in 2018 for Mascoma’s first championship since 1983. Pushee’s daughter, Katie, was a senior on that team, leading the Royals with 12 assists.
Although Pushee was Hammond’s preference to succeed her, Hammond was not directly involved in the hiring decision. Stephen Stebbins, who replaced Brown as Mascoma’s new athletic director in July, said Pushee’s familiarity with the program made for a smooth transition.
“Danielle brings a lot of good energy to the team, and the girls as a whole are a pretty spirited group,” Stebbins said. “High energy is the best way to describe them. She’s continued a lot of the good things that (Hammond) had rolling, and then has sprinkled her own piece to it as well. So far, it seems to be working out well.”
The Royals tumbled to a 3-11-0 season last fall and missed the postseason. Pushee has a young team this year, with forward Carmen Zani the only senior.
But early returns have been encouraging. Mascoma took Division II powerhouse Hanover to overtime on the road in its season opener last Saturday before falling, 1-0, and then got Pushee her first win in Thursday’s home opener — a 2-0 victory over Berlin.
Freshman forward Makenna Houston scored her first high school goal in Thursday’s win, and she joins a returning core led by Zani, juniors Kylie Rogers, Hailey Miller and Kara Miller and sophomores Ann Buffington and Taylor Mansfield. Junior Gabby Pierce was the only girl on the Royals’ football team as a freshman in 2020, playing on the offensive and defensive lines, but is playing field hockey this year for the first time in her life and won the job as the starting goalie. She made 12 saves in her first shutout on Thursday.
“I really like how Danielle coaches,” Pierce said. “She’s taken me in and taught me what I know and helped me understand the sport. She makes sure I keep my head straight and not lose my cool, because I tend to do that a lot. She knows what she’s talking about and how to keep everybody in check.”
In-game coaching has presented the biggest challenge so far, with Pushee now in charge of substitutions, timeouts and set plays. In the loss to Hanover, Pushee said she should have called a timeout late in regulation but was too focused on making sure her team had the right personnel on the field.
Pushee described herself as “a bit of a softy” compared with Hammond, saying the two had something of a good cop/bad cop dynamic, but she is learning to become more of a disciplinarian when necessary.
“I haven’t really had to get after them too bad about behavior,” Pushee said. “They know me well enough. Most of these kids I’ve known for years. I’m learning to shoulder the tough calls and make the tough decisions and realizing that not everybody’s going to be happy with the decisions you make.
“But as a head coach, you stick with what you know is right.”
Benjamin Rosenberg can be reached at brosenberg@vnews.com or 603-727-3302.