Exclusive: Ange Bradley on why she retired, her legacy at SU and starting a new life

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Lauren Scorza always remembered one phrase Ange Bradley used to say during Scorza’s four years with Syracuse field hockey: “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.”  

For Bradley, it’s her life motto. She grew up with six siblings and financial struggles in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, an area where she said many of her peers didn’t attend college. But, she went out of her comfort zone, playing field hockey at Delaware on scholarship — a decision Bradley will always be proud of. 

“If I made a different choice, I would have never got out of comfort to know a new life, a different life,” Bradley said. 

In December, Bradley exited the field hockey world by announcing her retirement as Syracuse’s head coach after 16 years. In 32 years of collegiate coaching — 26 as head coach — she amassed a 381-143-2 record, winning 246 of those at Syracuse. When SU defeated North Carolina 4-2 in the 2015 national championship, she became — and remains — the only head coach to lead a SU female athletic program to a title. 

Now, Bradley has kick-started her next chapter. On Friday, Bradley got married to her partner of 33 years. She moved back to her native Pennsylvania, residing in a Philadelphia home she bought during the pandemic. 

After an Elite Eight loss to then-No. 3 Maryland in the 2022 NCAA Tournament, Bradley felt she was in the perfect place to walk away. 

“It was a good time to transition,” Bradley said. “I was slowly making changes to be able to do something different. And basically, it just felt right.”

Bradley wanted the chance to seek out different experiences. She and her partner both had friends that lost people due to old age before they could partake in retired life with them, Bradley said. This realization compelled her to step away from the sport on her own terms. 

Her illustrious career began with a four-year stint at Goucher (Md.) as head coach, followed by a six-year stretch as an assistant for Iowa and Maryland. Afterward, she served as head coach at Richmond for six seasons from 2001-2006. In 2007, Bradley took over the Orange, garnering four Final Four appearances, two title games, 13 NCAA Tournament bids and a national title. 

Bradley said she didn’t even know where Syracuse was on the map, but saw it as an opportunity to fulfill her lone goal as a coach: to win a national championship. It was her first head coaching position in a high-profile conference, as Richmond played in the Atlantic 10. At the time, Syracuse was in the Big East, before switching to the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2013. 

“I knew (Syracuse) was a sleeping giant, you know, and it was a program that I knew I could build,” Bradley said.

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As much as Bradley coached several players, she also made a point of learning from others. At Iowa, under then-head coach and former Olympic field hockey player, Beth Beglin, Bradley took lessons from coaches and players alike. Emma Russell, a forward on the 2015 championship team, said Bradley would “constantly” say she was learning from her own players. 

Bradley prioritized instilling a sense of confidence and inspiration in her players, especially relating to the inequality between men’s and women’s sports, Bradley said. She enjoyed seeing her players find empowerment through sport.  

“(The national championship) represented a lot of women,” Bradley said. “Then for the women athletes, outside of field hockey, it gave hope that (winning a championship) can be done.” 

Many of Bradley’s former players have become field hockey coaches themselves. Scorza, who played at SU from 2011-2014, is an assistant coach at Rochester — a position that even she didn’t anticipate having. Scorza spent four years in business before making her way back to field hockey, and Bradley was one of her biggest influences, Scorza said.

“(Bradley) has just built so much,” said Russell, a coach at the St. Gerard’s School in Ireland. “(She) passed (knowledge) on to many people who are coaching more girls and growing the game.” 

The coaching tree and the connections that Bradley has created is something that she holds in high regard. At every school, she wanted her players to understand what they are playing for, Bradley said, and buy into the university as a whole. She added that building her coaching tree is one of “the joys that I will always take, probably more so” than the championship. At Rochester, Scorza tries to instill the same mentality in her players. 

At her first head coaching job in 1991 at Goucher, Bradley said she established a sustainable culture and earned results from it. In her first season, Bradley said the team only had seven players to start the season. The Gophers finished just 2-7. But after one year, Goucher improved to 12-7 the following season, when Bradley earned NCAA Division III South Region Coach of the Year honors. In her fourth and final season in 1994, Bradley led Goucher to the NCAA Tournament, the first in program history. 

The early and significant results from the culture shift she established team-by-team was apparent at SU. Heather Sell, a goalkeeper at Syracuse from 2005-2008, was part of Bradley’s first Syracuse team in 2007. Sell said the whole team could tell from the start there would be a major culture change.

“(Bradley’s) expectations of us were definitely going to be higher than what they had been previously,” Sell said. “I was a little nervous. But at the same time, I was excited because I wanted to see that change.” 

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That year, the Orange had their best season since 2001, capped off by a Big East Championship game appearance, while Bradley earned Big East Conference Coach of the Year honors. 

Bradley also made it a staple for each of her teams to be as physically fit as possible. Sell said Bradley didn’t want anybody to outwork her team, pushing her players hard “from the beginning.”

In her second season, Bradley made her biggest mark in college field hockey yet. She won the National Field Hockey Coaches Association Coach of the Year. Under Bradley, the Orange went 22-2, winning the Big East Championship and making the Final Four. At the time, it was the most successful season in Syracuse women’s sports history. The 2008 squad was the first SU women’s team to obtain a No. 1 national ranking. 

Bradley turned the program into a national powerhouse by building a winning culture, Russell said. Aside from countless team accolades in her 16 seasons, Bradley took home four Big East Coach of the Year awards, one ACC Coach of the Year and two NFHCA National Coach of the Year honors. 

Her success made Syracuse an attractive destination for some recruits. Current defender Jannemijn Deutman said Bradley’s winning mentality, along with SU’s playstyle and team cohesion, is why she chose to play for the Orange.

“All of it was the perfect package,” said Deutman, who made the 2022 All-ACC second team as a freshman.

As Bradley settles into retirement, she still maintains a relationship with her former players, even starting a group chat with program alumni. Before making her retirement public, she revealed it to the same group chat.

Bradley wants the culture she implemented back in 2007 to continue even without her while providing a sense of comfort and familiarity in case players have concerns. Russell said she’s constantly in touch with Bradley about advice or career decisions. When in the U.S. last summer, Russell visited Bradley, along with several other former players. “That kind of highlights the culture that she’s built,” Russell said. 

“They’re your people,” Bradley said. ”You’ve been through good times together. You’ve been through bad times together, and through it all, you can talk to each other, respect each other.”

In retirement, it didn’t take long for Bradley to return to competition. She’s picked up a new sport: pickleball. 

In the same way she established a culture of winning, hard work and getting out of the comfort zone in her coaching career, Bradley is approaching her new activity with the same mentality.

“Hopefully I can make nationals,” Bradley joked. “I gotta get better, I gotta get in shape.”