Penn State's women's program has a new Head Coach and there's hope that the team will see a step toward reaching its previous heights.
Penn State was, for some years, the top program in the nation. From 2004 to 2017 the Nittany Lions won 10 D1 or D1 Elite championships. The national team was full of Penn State alumni, and alumnus Hope Rogers is on the cusp of being the most-capped Eagle ever.
But with the emergence of NIRA and school-supported programs outside of NIRA made it more difficult for Penn State to compete for players. Coach changeovers also didn't help. Lauren Shissler came in to coach the team in 2024 and while the team struggled to find wins, and eventually cut back to 7s.
Last fall the Nittany Lions were 2-4, with wins over Walsh and St. Bonaventure. They lsot big to two very strong programs in Wheeling and Life University, and lost more competitively to Mount St. Mary's and Davenport.
But now they have brought in Matt Ramirez, who was Head Coach of Central Washington for five years before joining Iowa Central CC to help launch their women's program.
