Phil Edwards joined the Rutgers field hockey staff in May of 2022 as its Technical Director. Edwards brought a wealth of experience to the program, having spent the previous five years with USA Field Hockey after spending five seasons as a Division I assistant coach.
The 2024 season saw ranked wins over No.17 Penn State, No. 7 Iowa, No. 7 Ohio State and No. 3 Ohio State. The win over the third ranked Buckeyes came in the Big Ten Tournament.
Puck Winter finished the 2024 season with 25 defensive saves for her career. In doing so, she became RU's career record holder in the statistic. Additionally, Paulina Niklaus became the newest RU All-American.
In 2023, Edwards' second season on staff, Rutgers got off to a tremendous start, with a 15-0 record to begin the campaign. That marked the longest season-opening winning streak by any Rutgers sport since 1986-87. The team ultimately won 16 games, second most in program history, defeating eight ranked teams along the way, and were nationally ranked each week, including eight polls in the top-10 and peaking at No. 3. Rutgers was 6-2 in conference play, second best in the league, marking the team's best conference finish since joining the Big Ten. RU had a program record six All-Region selections and five Big Ten selections, placing three on the First Team in each. RU had two All-Americans. Iris Langejans was a First Team All-American, in addition to the Big Ten and Regional Player of the Year. Puck Winter was a Second Team All-American in addition to being named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year.
In his first season at RU, the slate was highlighted by the team capturing five ranked wins. The slate was highlighted by a home win over No. 3 Northwestern, the defending national champions. RU also defeated No. 15 UConn, No. 19 James Madison, No. 23 Ohio State and No. 25 Monmouth. Iris Langejans was named First Team All-Big Ten, First Team All-Region, Third Team All-American, while Puck Winter was the Big Ten Co-Freshman of the Year and was a Second Team All-Region selection, as was Guillermina Causarano.
Edwards spent the previous four years as the Senior Manager of Coaching and Performance with USA field Hockey. He was named the 2021 Coach Educator of the Year by Team USA. As a member of the Coach Education and Learning department of USA Field Hockey, he developed impactful initiatives to assist in the development of coaches, worked extensively to create online courses to help certify coaches, and created a community among coaches, cultivating dialogue around a wide variety of topics, including sport specific content, leadership development, sport analysis, academic research, and sport science.
While with USA Field Hockey, Edwards worked as an assistant coach with the women’s national team and head coach of the women’s U-21 National Team. He helped shape and guide Team USA’s international pitch presence. Edwards has also served as the Junior High Performance Goalkeeping Coach for the U-17, U-19 and U-21 National Teams. He also worked as an assistant coach for the U.S. Men’s National Team program an as the Performance Analyst for the senior men’s and women’s national teams at the Pan American Games.
Prior to joining USA Field Hockey, Edwards worked as an assistant coach in the ACC at Boston College and within the Big Ten at Indiana. Edwards spent 2015 to 2017 with the Eagles, where the team reached double-digit wins in each of his two seasons on staff, and helped BC make the NCAA Tournament in 2016.
Edwards was with the Hoosiers from 2012 to 2015. In his time on staff, he was promoted from assistant coach to associate head coach as the Hoosiers won 28 games over three years.
Prior to his time in the collegiate coaching ranks, he worked as a coach with the WC Eagles Field Hockey Club in Spring City, Pennsylvania. Before coming to the United States, Edwards was a goalkeeping coach and Young People and Students intern for the England Hockey Board. He worked with junior development teams and served as an assistant coach at Loughborough University from 2009 to 2011.
A 2005 graduate of Loughborough University, Edwards helped his squad to two British University Championships (2002, '03), two National Indoor Championship titles (2003, '04, `05) as well as three European Indoor Championships (2004, '05, '06). He was also a member of the England U18 Squad in 2000.
Edwards holds a master's degree in sport science at Nottingham Trent University, with a specialty in performance analysis and skill acquisition. Edwards has earned England Hockey and USA Field Hockey Level 3 coaching qualifications. He is also a Level 5 accredited analyst from the International Society of Performance Analysis and the founder of Path Coaching Company.
“We are so excited to welcome Phil to Rutgers,” head coach Meredith Civico said upon Edwards joining the staff. “He brings a wealth of experience both at the collegiate and international level. His knowledge of the game and his ability to develop players will make him an invaluable part of our program. As a coaching staff and as a team, I can’t wait for us to get started.”
