Second-year assistant coach Kelley Hubbell has been promoted to interim head field hockey coach at The College of Wooster for the 2008-09 academic year. She'll temporarily be replacing long-time coach Brenda Meese, who is going on a one-year sabbatical as a faculty member.

"I think that particularly since (Kelley) played for me for four years and now has been an assistant for two years, it will be a smooth transition," said Meese, who has won more than 300 games as a collegiate head coach (340-186-10). "She's very passionate about coaching and about field hockey. I believe her philosophies and personality will be a good match for the team."

Hubbell will be taking over a group that is expected to return all but one starter from a 2007 squad, which overcame an early season-ending injury to its All-American forward and a 1-4 start to win a share of the North Coast Athletic Conference championship (8-4) and record a double-digit win total (11-7) for the 10th consecutive year.

"I can't wait. I'm really excited," Hubbell remarked. "It's a great group to be taking over the responsibility with. We're returning almost everybody, in terms of starters, so we're really looking forward to their continued development, and looking forward to see who's coming in to complement that talent."

The Fighting Scots' field hockey program has been one of the best in the NCAC and region during the 2000s. Wooster has won four conference crowns over the last seven years, highlighted by 2006 when the Scots marched through the league's regular season undefeated (12-0) and 2001 when they also won the NCAC outright (11-1) and reached the NCAA Div. III Tournament.

Hubbell was part of both of those teams, as a freshman all-NCAC defender in 2001 and as an assistant coach in 2006. As a player, she accumulated nine goals, 12 assists, and 19 defensive saves, while helping Wooster to a 58-21 record over her career (2001-04), which included earning third-team All-American honors her senior season.

The focus of Meese's faculty leave will be research on the life and career of Maria Sexton, a former Wooster professor and pioneer in women's athletics, as well as the historical development of women's athletics at Wooster prior to Title IX.