Long-time Virginia women’s lacrosse coach Julie Myers stepped down from the post on Wednesday, ending her 28-year run as the leader of the program.
Myers finishes her tenure at UVA with a 349-151 record and 27 NCAA Tournament appearances in her 28 years, missing the tournament only in 2020, when the NCAA canceled spring championships due to the pandemic.
Her run includes one national championship, in 2004, ACC titles in 1998, 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2008, and eight Championship Weekend appearances, though only one of those – in 2014 – has come since the 2007 season.
Myers’ last two teams finished with .500 records, and her best record since that 2014 Championship Weekend appearance came in 2019, when UVA finished 13-7.
“Leading the Virginia’s women’s lacrosse program for the past 28 years has been an opportunity of a lifetime and a lifetime it has been,” said Myers, who has been associated with the UVA program as a student-athlete, assistant coach and coach for 37 years.
Myers earned a degree in sociology from Virginia in 1990 and competed as a graduate student in 1991. While at UVA, the Bryn Mawr, Pa., native earned a total of seven letters and regional All-America status in both field hockey and lacrosse.
Myers was the starting center on the 1991 national championship team and earned second-team All-America honors.
Following the 2004 season she was named the national coach of the year by the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association. She also received national coach of the year honors in 2008.
“While it is hard to leave a place and people that you love so deeply, I am excited to explore leadership opportunities outside of athletics. I am also looking forward to spending time being a parent cheering for my own kids from the college sidelines. They have supported and loved my UVA teams since the day they were born here in Charlottesville,” Myers said.
With Virginia’s national championship victory in 2004, Myers became the first person in women’s lacrosse history at the NCAA Division I level to win a title as a player and a head coach.
She also won one as an assistant coach (1993).
“Julie Myers has established an amazing legacy at the University and her name is synonymous with UVA women’s lacrosse,” said Virginia director of athletics Carla Williams. “Her contributions to the University and the sport, as a student-athlete, assistant coach and head coach are enormous. She has dedicated four decades of her life to educating, developing and mentoring young women on and off the field. Her impact on her players cannot be overstated as the women under her tutelage have gone on to ultra-successful careers and made an impact in their own communities.
“We are thankful she will remain in Charlottesville and close to the University to continue to support the program she helped build into a national standard,” Williams said.
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