Towson Hall of Famer Shannon Witzel Returns to Tigers as Assistant Coach
By Brian Hradsky | Maryland Sports Blog
Towson women’s lacrosse is bringing one of the greatest players in program history back home.
Towson Athletics announced Friday that Shannon Witzel, a former Tigers All-American, Towson Athletics Hall of Famer and most recently the head coach at Spalding University, has joined head coach Kristen Carr’s staff as an assistant coach. Witzel returns to a program where she established herself as one of the most prolific scorers in school history before building an extensive coaching résumé.
The move gives Carr another highly experienced coach as the Tigers continue building toward the 2027 season. Witzel brings experience as a Division III head coach, nearly a decade as a Division I assistant and, perhaps most importantly, a deep understanding of what it means to play lacrosse at Towson.
“I am honored to welcome Shannon back to Towson – her pride in Towson women’s lacrosse is contagious,” Carr said in Towson’s announcement.
For Towson, this is much more than simply adding another assistant coach. Witzel is one of the players who helped push the Tigers’ program onto the national stage.
One of the best players in Towson history
Witzel played for Towson from 2004 through 2007 and started all 69 games of her college career. She finished with 208 goals and 255 points, putting herself among the most productive offensive players the program has ever produced.
Her 2005 season remains one of the most memorable individual campaigns in Towson women’s lacrosse history.
Witzel scored a then-program-record 71 goals that season and led the nation at 3.74 goals per game. Her scoring helped Towson capture its first Colonial Athletic Association championship and earn the first NCAA Tournament appearance in the program’s Division I history.
She delivered one of her biggest performances when the Tigers needed it most.
Witzel scored seven goals in Towson’s 18-15 victory over Hofstra in the 2005 CAA championship game, earning CAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player honors.
Her career included three All-CAA selections, two IWLCA All-Mid-Atlantic Region honors and All-America recognition. She was also selected to the Tewaaraton Trophy preseason watch list in both 2006 and 2007.
Towson honored Witzel as its Senior Female Athlete of the Year in 2007. She was later inducted into the Pennsylvania Tri-County Hall of Fame in 2016 before entering the Towson Athletics Hall of Fame in 2019.
Her success did not begin at Towson either.
At Pottstown High School in Pennsylvania, Witzel scored a school-record 262 career goals, including 88 in one season and 11 in a single game. Combined with her Towson career, she scored 470 goals during her eight seasons of high school and college lacrosse.
A long coaching résumé
Witzel transitioned into coaching following her playing career and has accumulated experience at several levels of the sport.
Her first coaching opportunity came as a volunteer assistant at Towson, where she primarily worked with midfielders and defenders. The Tigers won a conference championship, earned a national top-20 ranking and advanced to the NCAA Tournament during that stint.
She later joined La Salle as an assistant coach. In 2012, Witzel helped the Explorers finish 10-6, establishing what was then a program record for victories in a season.
Witzel then spent nine seasons at Cincinnati, where her responsibilities included working with the Bearcats’ defense and goalkeepers. Cincinnati made significant statistical improvements during her tenure and eventually developed into a conference contender.
The 2018 Bearcats led the nation with 501 ground balls, averaging 29.47 per game, while forcing a then-program-record 187 caused turnovers. Cincinnati’s goalkeepers totaled 171 saves while recording a .442 save percentage that season.
Cincinnati later won a program-record 12 games in 2019 and reached the American Athletic Conference Tournament championship game.
Witzel also has experience coaching offense. During her Cincinnati tenure, she worked with Courtney Curtis, who earned second-team All-Big East honors after recording 39 points and 37 goals during the 2015 season.
That versatility should be valuable for Carr’s staff. Witzel was an elite offensive player herself but has spent a significant portion of her coaching career working with defenses and goalkeepers.
Success as a head coach at Spalding
Witzel received an opportunity to run her own college program when Spalding University named her the second head coach in program history in May 2023.
She spent three seasons leading the Golden Eagles and helped the young program reach milestones it had not previously achieved.
Under Witzel, Spalding made its first conference tournament appearance, reached the postseason in consecutive seasons and produced multiple all-conference selections. Her work earned her conference Coach of the Year honors in 2024.
Now she is leaving a head-coaching position to return to the place where her college lacrosse career began.
“I’m incredibly honored and excited to join Towson University as an assistant women’s lacrosse coach,” Witzel said. “As a Towson alumna and a former women’s lacrosse student-athlete, this program means so much to me.”
Towson continues strengthening coaching staff
Witzel joins a Towson program led by Carr, who is entering the next stage of her tenure after taking over the Tigers in 2023.
Towson reached the CAA championship game during the 2026 season, where the Tigers faced nationally ranked Stony Brook. The appearance came after Towson had missed the conference tournament for three consecutive seasons.
Carr has also been reshaping her coaching staff.
Former Georgetown and Team USA head coach Ricky Fried joined Towson as an assistant earlier this summer, giving the Tigers another coach with extensive national and international experience.
Adding Witzel creates another connection between Towson’s past and present.
She knows what championship-level Towson lacrosse looks like because she helped create it as a player. She also understands the pressure of NCAA Tournament lacrosse and has now spent well over a decade developing players from multiple positions as a college coach.
That combination should make Witzel valuable both on the field and in recruiting.
MSB Take
This looks like an excellent hire for Towson.
There are plenty of former players who come back to their alma mater as coaches, but Witzel is not returning simply because she has a connection to the university. She has a legitimate coaching résumé that includes Division I assistant experience, defensive and goalkeeper development and three seasons running her own college program.
The Towson connection is an added bonus.
Witzel played an important role in one of the landmark moments in program history when the Tigers won the 2005 CAA championship and reached their first NCAA Tournament. Twenty-one years later, she returns with an opportunity to help another generation of Tigers chase championships.
Carr has assembled an intriguing collection of lacrosse experience on her staff. Fried brings decades of elite-level coaching experience, while Witzel brings head-coaching experience and an intimate knowledge of Towson’s tradition.
For players currently wearing the black and gold, Witzel can point to her own career as evidence of what is possible at Towson.
She was an All-American, a conference champion, an NCAA Tournament player and eventually a Towson Athletics Hall of Famer.
Now she gets the opportunity to help develop the Tigers who hope to accomplish many of those same things.
Sources: Towson University Athletics, Towson Athletics Hall of Fame, Spalding University Athletics and University of Cincinnati Athletics.
