By Amani Kimball-McKavish

Athletic Director Karen Doxey will be leaving Collegiate and going into retirement after spending 35 years of her career with the Cougars. Doxey plans to “do nothing for a little while,” but she ultimately hopes to keep herself involved in sports and follow her former players’ careers in college.

Doxey grew up in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania– about a 20-minute drive from Philadelphia– and attended Ridley High School, where she played field hockey and lacrosse. She played both sports in college at West Chester University in Pennsylvania. She then went on to coach girls’ sports at Norfolk Academy for eight years before coming to Collegiate in 1987. She founded Tallyho, a field hockey program for girls in grades 3-6, in 2004 when she noticed a lack of opportunities for young girls to learn sports. By founding Tallyho, Doxey also wanted to give her daughter, Brooks Doxey, a chance to learn field hockey at a young age. Brooks, who graduated from Collegiate in 2013, went on to play field hockey at Wake Forest University and is now a registered nurse. Karen Doxey also organized the development of the Virginia State Championship Tournament for field hockey, something that was in effect for some, but not all sports at the time. She was inducted into the VISAA Hall of Fame in 2018 and earned 882 wins in her 43 years of coaching field hockey and lacrosse.

While it is evident that she is an extremely successful coach, the wins and losses are not what fuel Doxey. She says, “coaching is the highest of highs and lowest of lows,” and that the most rewarding part of coaching is “seeing a kid with a smile on their face when they just did something.” She’d “take that over pay” any day.

Photo courtesy of Collegiate School.

Doxey has loved getting to know each of her team members, feeling the ebbs and flows of emotions throughout the season, and setting high expectations to uphold Collegiate’s culture and values. She has strived to “give kids the best experience they could have,” through both “challenging and supporting” them. She describes coaching as putting together a puzzle; each student is their own piece, and it is her job to help them find their potential and work together in order to create a successful finished product.

Leaving Collegiate will be a hard goodbye for Doxey, and she will certainly miss “the students, people, and constant interaction.” When asked about her plans for retirement, Doxey claimed that she is most excited to “set her own schedule.” Being an athletic director is a hands-on profession that requires significant time and attention to each and every program. Some of her duties include scheduling, hiring coaches, budgeting, ordering equipment, and overseeing teams. Doxey is incredibly excited to do things she has been unable to do for the past 43 years, including traveling to Montana in the summer, visiting the beach in September, and attending her former players’ games throughout the year.

Doxey is also excited to learn “how to give back” and “how to do it on her own terms.” She says that if the opportunity presented itself, she would be interested in being an assistant coach or helping out with small programs in the future. 

Photo courtesy of Collegiate School.

When asked about the most drastic changes that she has seen during her time at Collegiate, Doxey said, “the biggest change is the importance of women in sport, both at Collegiate and everywhere.” She acknowledged how far women’s sports have come since her time as a college athlete and described stories of how she was interested in winter track in high school, but girls were prohibited from participating. She also detailed that her college didn’t offer a weight-lifting class for females who were pursuing a PE major, so along with a female classmate, Doxey questioned this exclusion and became the first female to take the weight-lifting class at her college. 

One of Doxey’s most consistent coaching points has been to teach her players about Constance Applebee and her impact on women’s sports. Applebee was an early twentieth century pioneer for field hockey in America and taught women the importance of exercise—something that was thought to be detrimental to female health at the time. The reason Doxey shares Constance’s story is to show how “girls are given much more respect for being an athlete now,” compared to how it was in the 1800s and 1900s.

Doxey has provided Collegiate School’s coaches and students with outstanding leadership and support throughout her time here. Many of the behind-the-scenes duties of being an athletic director go unnoticed, but Doxey’s hard work and dedication are evident. Drew Stanley (‘23) says, “Coach Doxey has helped me and many other girls on and off the hockey field. Her insight and passion are huge reasons why our field hockey team has reached great success over the years. It will definitely not be the same without her, but we will continue to play as she has taught us in hopes of carrying on her legacy!”

Field hockey goalie Tucker Walker (‘22) says, “Coach doxey’s love for the sport of field hockey is evident in everything she does as a coach. She is always focused on pushing us to the next level. I also admire how she values each player. Coach Doxey encourages and creates a unified team dynamic through her coaching style, and I am grateful for all of the lessons I learned as a part of her team.”

Kelsey Smither will assume Doxey’s position as head field hockey coach, which Doxey feels great about “because [Smither] has the field hockey knowledge, passion and expertise along with the ability and desire to provide a great experience and teach life lessons of teamwork, respect and perspective.” However, it is still up in the air as to who will be the school’s next Athletic Director. Collegiate’s search has already commenced, and there was a recent meeting held for parents, students, and coaches to discuss what qualities they’d like to see in Doxey’s successor. Collegiate has hired The Finney Group, a private school search firm, to find a qualified candidate to fill Doxey’s position, and interviews will begin in late spring.