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Thursday, June 29, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SPORTS

ZOEY HOLMSTROM/Daily

Michigan men’s basketball coach John Beilein will have to replace two assistant coaches after Billy Donlon’s departure.

Nielsen named next 
women’s lacrosse coach

A week after former Maryland 

assistant Kevin Conry was hired 
as the Michigan men’s lacrosse 
coach, the women’s 
program filled that 
same opening.

Athletic 

director 
Warde 

Manuel announced 
Monday 
that 

Hannah 
Nielsen, 

a member of the 
Australia women’s 
national team and 
assistant 
coach 

at 
Northwestern, 

will be the next coach of the 
Wolverines.

“I am thrilled to welcome 

one of the most accomplished 
women’s lacrosse players of 
all-time to lead our program,” 
Manuel said in a statement. 
“Hannah 
has 
proven 
her 

ability to translate her skills 
and knowledge of the game 
into a successful 
coaching career. 
She has been a 
winner at every 
level, and I am 
confident 
she 

is 
prepared 

to 
lead 
our 

women’s lacrosse 
program.”

Nielsen 
is 

one of the most 
accomplished 
players in the history of the 
sport. 
As 
a 
midfielder 
at 

Northwestern from 2006 to 
2009, she won four national 
championships, 
three 
All-

American 
honors 
and 
two 

Teewaraton Awards — which 
are given to the nation’s top 
college lacrosse player — in 
2008 and 2009. 

She is also the Wildcats’ all-

time leader in both points and 
assists, as well as the NCAA 
all-time leader in assists, single-
season assists and assists in a 
single game.

In international play, Nielsen 

is just as decorated. She was a 
part of Australia’s gold-medal 
winning 
team 
at 
the 
2005 

Women’s Lacrosse World Cup, 
and was named an All-Star at 
the 2009 and 2013 tournaments 

as 
Australia 

finished 
second 

and 
third, 

respectively. 
She is currently 
training with the 
national 
team 

as it prepares to 
compete in the 
2017 World Cup 
in England next 
month.

Nielsen’s 

coaching career began in 2009 
at Penn State, and she has also 
coached at Towson, Colorado 
and most recently Northwestern, 
where she helped guide the 
Wildcats into the second round 
of the NCAA Tournament last 
season.

“I 
am 
extremely 
excited 

and honored to be named the 

new head coach 
of the women’s 
lacrosse 
program 
at 

the 
University 

of 
Michigan,” 

Nielsen said in a 
statement. “I am 
excited to take 
the 
next 
step 

in my coaching 
career 
in 

becoming a head 

coach, and could not think of a 
better place to start this new 
chapter.

“I would like to thank Warde 

Manuel and Bitsy Ritt for this 
incredible 
opportunity 
and 

for their support so far. I am 
also grateful to Kelly Amonte 
Hiller, the Northwestern staff 
and athletic department for 
their ongoing support, and to 
my previous coaching mentors 
who have helped me get to this 
position. I am so excited to get 
started and for the future of 
this program.”

LACROSSE

The Australia national team member 
was formerly an assistant at Northwestern

JACOB SHAMES

Summer Managing Sports Editor

“I am confident 
she is prepared 

to lead our 
program”

“I could not 

think of a better 
place to start this 

new chapter”

Donlon joins staff at Northwestern

In the span of just five days, 

the Michigan men’s basketball 
team is down to one assistant 
coach.

Scout.com’s 
Brian 
Snow 

reported Sunday afternoon that 
assistant coach Billy Donlon 
has accepted a similar position 
at 
Northwestern. 
Donlon, 

the 
former 
head 
coach 
at 

Wright State, was hired by the 
Wolverines just last May.

The Chicago Tribune reported 

Friday 
that 
Wildcats 
head 

coach Chris Collins was trying 
to lure Donlon away from the 
Wolverines, due to Donlon’s 
deep ties to the Northwestern 
program. Donlon is a native 
of nearby Northbrook, Ill. and 
longtime friend of Collins, and 
his father spent seven years as an 
assistant coach of the Wildcats.

And as it turns out, Collins 

was successful.

“We 
are 
obviously 

disappointed to be losing Billy, 
however, we are happy he has the 
opportunity to be closer to his 
family, home and still coach in 
the Big Ten,” said 
Michigan 
coach 

John Beilein in 
a press release. 
“He is one heck 
of a coach who 
has been a great 
asset 
to 
our 

program over this 
past year. Over 
many years, Billy 
has 
sacrificed 

his 
family 
for 

coaching basketball. This time 
he chose his family first and no 
one can fault him for that.

“We have had very talented 

coaching staff’s during my time 
here. That will not change. We 
have always embraced sudden 
change and have gotten better 
from it. I am excited to have this 
opportunity to bring in two new 

assistants who will bring us even 
more success in the future. The 
Team, The Team, The Team. Go 
Blue!”

Donlon’s 
departure 
comes 

after 
assistant 

coach Jeff Meyer 
announced 
Tuesday 
he 

was 
leaving 

Michigan to join 
the 
coaching 

staff 
at 
Butler. 

Unlike 
Donlon, 

Meyer had nine 
years 
with 
the 

Wolverines prior 
to his departure.

With Northwestern’s hiring of 

Donlon, Beilein will now have to 
fill two vacancies on his coaching 
staff for a second offseason in 
a row. Saddi Washington, who 
joined the staff along with 
Donlon last summer after being 
hired from Oakland, is the sole 
returning 
assistant 
for 
next 

season.

An assistant coach at Michigan for one season, Donlon was 
targeted by the Wildcats due to his strong ties to the program

JACOB SHAMES

Summer Managing Sports Editor

“He chose his 
family first and 
no one can fault 
him for that.”

