From Competing to Coaching, NCEA Alumni Guiding Next Generation of Equestrian Talent

There are 44 coaching positions between the 10 Division I programs that field dual discipline equestrian teams, with 25 of those coaches having prior experience competing for an NCEA team during their collegiate careers.

The trip to Dallas in late January was for business. But for Caroline Kane, it was also a reunion.

To start the spring portion of the 2023-24 equestrian season, Delaware State was making the trek from Dover to DFW to face TCU, SMU and South Dakota State in a trio of matches over a three-day span.

Kane, now in her fifth year as an assistant coach for the Hornets, was looking forward to the opportunity to coach against some of the nation’s best programs. Kane (formerly Foltz) was equally excited about the chance to reunite with some former teammates.

Two DSU alumni living in Oklahoma made the drive to see Kane and longtime head coach Jennifer Ridgely, along with watching the Hornets compete.

Almost instantly, the memories flooded back, followed by the comparisons.

“We joke all the time that these girls have no idea how good they have it,” Kane said with a laugh. “We started in Coach Ridgely’s backyard farm with five horses and borrowed everything and did the best that we could. We had girls that had to compete that were Western riders that also had to compete in the English.

Kane continued: “Now, we’re 30 strong, with 35 beautiful horses and a beautiful facility that we are very lucky to call ours that we lease here in Delaware. It has just blossomed into this incredible program with this incredible group of girls, and it’s just something to be so proud of knowing that I had a hand in laying the foundation of this program in its infancy.”

Delaware State assistant coach Caroline Kane high-fives one of her student-athletes during a competition. Kane is one of 25 former NCEA athletes who have returned to serve as a coach for the Division I program after completing their respective careers.

Sarah Newman Photography

That’s part of the perspective Kane was asked to bring when Ridgely hired her as an assistant in February 2019. Kane had experienced DSU’s growing pains. Joining the program out of high school in 2008, she had first-hand experience of what it took to be a student-athlete competing at the Division I level. She understood the transition from being a solo competitor at industry events to working in a team environment.

And, as the National Collegiate Equestrian Association (NCEA) inches towards three decades of existence, the riders who laid the foundation are playing a major role in college equestrian’s continued growth.

Of the 10 programs currently fielding Division I dual discipline rosters (meaning they have both Western and English riders), there are 44 individuals serving as head or assistant coaches. Of those, 25 previously competed for an NCEA team during their collegiate experience.

For Texas A&M coach Tana McKay, the shift from coaches being industry professionals to graduates of these programs is something she has witnessed and contributed to first-hand.

A recent selection to the NCEA’s inaugural Hall of Fame class, McKay has been the only head coach Texas A&M’s program has known in its 25 years of existence. Along the way, she has guided the team to a trio of NCEA team national titles, while producing 56 All-Americans.

Thanks to her longevity and success, McKay’s coaching tree has the most branches throughout the NCEA, as seven former Aggies are now serving in a coaching capacity at a Division I institution. Her own four-person team of assistants features three NCEA products, including two A&M alums, along with one longtime industry professional.

That mix of backgrounds is important to McKay. Understanding horses and training is important, but having coaches who are familiar with recruiting and NCAA guidelines, as well as the NCEA format, is equally critical. For McKay, it’s rewarding to know her mentorship is inspiring others to follow a career path that didn’t exist just a few decades ago.

“I think the biggest thing is it just validates to me that I’m doing things on the right side and that if they loved their time as an equestrian athlete so much to say, ‘You know what, I would like to do that as a career,’ it just means a lot,” McKay said. “As coaches, obviously, we’re supposed to win. That’s our job. But, it has so much more to do with the athletes and working with them, learning how to be teammates and learning life lessons. They enjoyed it that much that they want to make a career out of it – that just tells me that I must be doing something OK.”

In 25 years at Texas A&M, coach Tana McKay has the largest coaching tree in the NECA, with seven former Aggies serving as head or assistant coaches throughout the league.

Photo courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics

Casie Maxwell is a direct product of that tutelage.

Now in her seventh season overseeing the equestrian program at Baylor, Maxwell was a standout rider for McKay, helping the Aggies to four Western discipline national titles during her time in College Station.

She remained with the program for a fifth season to serve as a student assistant coach, gaining valuable insight into what it took to be the leader of a program.

That experience turned out to be eye-opening. As an athlete, she understood the potential pitfalls of transitioning from being a junior rider to joining a team-first culture. She had to adapt to the NCEA way of competing, which is vastly different from what most riders are accustomed to. As part of competitions, NCEA riders use horses provided by the school, not their own privately owned equine partners.

But it was the behind-the-scenes work in recruiting, team management, and compliance that gave her a deeper understanding of what coaches do to keep things in order. It’s all lessons she’s carried with her into coaching. The four-person staff at Baylor is one of two programs where all the coaches competed at the NCEA level. Auburn is the other, with all three coaches hailing as alumni from the program.

It’s an experience factor that helps the Bears transition incoming student-athletes for what they’re about to face.

“You have to have a lot of conversations, a lot of repetitive conversations about team-first. It’s got to be a team-first mentality,” Maxwell said. “There’s an adjustment period for everyone. I don’t care how much knowledge and experience you have, or lack thereof you have coming into this, there’s an adjustment period to riding college horses, to our format and what all it demands of you, compared to competing as a youth or junior rider in the industry. Everyone’s path through college athletics looks a little different. No two paths are the same. And we’re here to help them grow as individuals.”

Baylor coach Casie Maxwell is one of three current head coaches at NCEA institutions who previously competed at the NCEA level. Maxwell rode competitively at Texas A&M.

Photos courtesy of Texas A&M and Baylor athletics

For Kane, the journey has truly come full circle. After she graduated from DSU, she went on to work in the public and private sectors for many years.

It wasn’t until Ridgely came calling that she gave coaching any consideration.

Now, she’s back at a place she loves, helping the next generation of NCEA riders navigate life as a college competitor. She’s passing on lessons from her own experience. And, one day, someone she is coaching might have the passion to do the same.

“Our job is to empower these young women, and we take that really seriously. We use horses to do that, but most importantly, at the end of the day, I want our student-athletes to leave here with life skills ready to take on the world as I did,” Kane said. “I never saw myself coaching. But I did leave this program and the university ready to take on the world, and that’s what I want for our student-athletes. And that’s what I think NCEA equestrian is doing for these young ladies.”