Trio of Alumnae Leading UO Programs They Competed With
07/21/23 | Women's Lacrosse, @GoDucksMoseley
New lacrosse head coach Jessica Drummond is the third current UO head coach now leading the program for which she once competed.
A month since taking over at the helm of the same Oregon lacrosse program she played with, Jessica Drummond is still wrapping her head around that fact.
In the weeks since, she's hired an assistant coach, and hit the road recruiting, and took the Ducks on an international tour to Spain, Portugal and Morocco. Still, the thrill of returning to her alma mater hasn't subsided.
"I still feel like I'm in a dream," Drummond said Thursday from Vermont, where she spent the last seven seasons as an assistant, and to which she had finally returned for the first time since taking over the Ducks. "It's still unbelievable that I am the head coach of Oregon women's lacrosse. To even say that gives me full body chills."
Two of Drummond's new colleagues can relate. She played for the Ducks from 2009-12, shortly after Courtney Nagle's career with the UO tennis team, and shortly before Taylor (Galvin) Susnara joined the UO acrobatics and tumbling program. Now, all three are head coaches of the programs they competed with as Ducks.
"When you're a Duck, there's something special about that, and the saying 'once a Duck, always a Duck'? It's absolutely true," said Nagle, who is entering her sixth season as women's tennis head coach. "The athletes who have come to Oregon and played here feel that pride. So when they get to come back and coach their sport for their alma mater it's something that, you really can't describe it. The pride is through the roof."
Nagle began her coaching career as a volunteer with the UO staff in 2005-06 before moving on to positions elsewhere; Drummond also joined the UO staff the year after her playing career ended, before moving on. As Nagle did upon returning to Eugene in 2018, Drummond has begun experiencing the comfort of embracing some old traditions.
For instance, Nagle said, at other stops in her coaching career, she'd still find herself falling back on a familiar cheer: "Sometimes, 'Go Ducks!' would just come out, and I'm not coaching the Ducks. Being able to go back to saying 'Go Ducks!' again was something special."
The alumnae head coaches also have a different relationship with fellow program alums. When Susnara is talking about her student-athlete experience with fellow acrobatics and tumbling alums, she does so with a fluency that another head coach might not have.
"It's really unique and fun – you get to connect about your different memories, restaurants, ridiculous things you did," Susnara said. "You just feel at home, you feel comfortable, you feel you're in the right place. It's overwhelming, but it's so exciting at the same time."
The cheers and the memories come flooding back when the alums return as coaches. They're as comfortable as the old Oregon gear all three saved from their playing days, and which is now complemented by a whole new batch of the latest "Duck Swag" from the Oregon equipment staff.
Drummond was shipped some of that new gear for the lacrosse team's international tour and her recruiting trips. The shades of green and yellow might have changed a little from her playing days, but as Drummond's parents told her recently, "these are your colors," she recounted. "This is so surreal."
It was more than nostalgia that led the three alumnae to seek head coaching jobs with the Ducks, though.
"What's so great about Oregon is the dedication to the student-athlete experience," Nagle said. "There's nothing like it, and there's so much support from throughout the department to make all that happen.
"That's the mission: The student-athletes are going to have a great experience when they come here. Because Oregon is going to do everything it can to be the first, to be the best, to provide the most they can for the athletes."
There's added pressure, too, no doubt. All three alumnae spoke of wanting to take their programs to even higher levels than they themselves achieved as student-athletes.
"Having that in the back of your mind is what pushed me, and continues to drive me forward," Susnara said.
A three-time national runner-up as a competitor, Susnara got the Ducks back to the NCATA tournament final again this past season. Nagle took the tennis team to the NCAA Tournament in 2022, after competing in the event for the Ducks in 2002 and 2004. Now, Drummond is looking to similarly capture some magic from her playing days.
As a senior in 2012, she participated on the most successful team in Oregon lacrosse history, a season that saw the Ducks win the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament and reach an NCAA Tournament play-in game. Drummond is hoping to make some more history with the Ducks in the near future.
"I never got to compete at the new Papé Field; I envy these girls so much, but to coach on that field is going to be so exciting," she said. "I cannot wait to win my first game there, to host a Pac-12 game there, and to win a Pac-12 championship there. It would be a dream to be able to go do that, and be the first ones to do so."
Drummond still gets chills when she thinks about the fact she's now head coach at her alma mater. Now she's setting out to make memories that will keep that electricity flowing for years to come.
