MEET THE COACH
Betty Ann Kempf Townsley and Maddy Evans To w a r d t h e e n d o f h e r fi f t h professional season, and second with Orlando Pride of the National Women’s Soccer League, Maddy Evans took a leap of faith. The former Penn State standout decided to retire as a player and go into coaching, joining Betty Ann Kempf Townsley with the West Chester University Golden Rams. Now in their second season together, Betty Ann and Maddy sat down with the Evolving Game in the midst of yet another successful campaign (the Golden Rams are 7-1-1 overall, 6-1-1 in the PSAC as of this writing) to discuss a range of topics. Maddy, I know last year you were mulling this decision over, so what ultimately led you to take the job and step into coaching fulltime? Maddy Evans: Yeah, it was a really difficult decision. The ultimate deciding-factor was that I wanted to work with someone that I could learn from and grow from. I had a lot of conversations with family, friends and (Penn State women’s soccer coach) Erica Walsh just about trying to make this decision. I was ready. It was like I was standing on the edge of a diving board saying, “I need to jump. I need to jump.” Eventually I did. You know, you step into something like this, and there are a lot of unknowns. But I felt like I did my homework well enough about the program, about Betty Ann, about all of these things to know that I was coming into a really special environment. Betty Ann, how did this partnership come about? Betty Ann Kempf Townsley: Well, I knew Maddy as a youth player. I knew (Evans’ former FC Bucks coach) Eddie Leigh pretty well. I had watched her play. It’s funny, because we didn’t open up this position until July (2017). All these names were coming in. I would get these emails. And so I own a home in Orlando. My sister and I were going down for
vacation. And then, almost the first day we’re down there, I’m checking my email, I’m like, “Oh my God. Maddy Evans. I know that name.” And it’s funny because when I got to Orlando I had looked at the Orlando (Pride’s) roster, and I had seen Maddy’s name on there, and I thought, “Maybe I should go over for a game, but I’m here away from soccer.” So then when I saw her name, I opened up her resume, and it says, “Hi, my name is Maddy Evans, and I’m a professional player on the Orlando (Pride).” And I started laughing, and my sister asks, “What are you laughing about?” I said, oh God, this is just too weird. I said, “I’m going to text her right now, and see if she wants to get together.” I don’t if I even said who I was in the text, and (Maddy) said, “Is this coach Kempf?” It was so funny. Maddy: Well it was in Orlando about someone who was in Orlando, and it was a 215 number. Betty Ann: She came into town, and we just sat down at this outdoor café, and we just started talking. It was like we knew each other forever. It was too funny. I had coached Erica at ODP, so I had known Erica a long time, too, and I know Erica had told her a lot about me, so she had done her homework. But I said, “I need a coach now.” And I didn’t want to force her to make the decision to give up playing. Who wants to give up playing? I wouldn’t want her to give up playing. She said, “I have to think about this.” She said she was coming home, because there was a lull in the schedule. I told her I’d be at West Chester that Friday. If you want to come by, I could show you around, and we could talk some more. So she did. Again, we spent another maybe two hours together. After she left here, she pretty much said, “I’m prepared to make this change now, if
you want to hire me.” I had two more people to interview, and then I had a long conversation with Erica. Her and I talked a very long time. She goes, “Betty Ann, it’s a match made in heaven! You gotta take her.” It was just too funny. It was just the connection we all had. We’re all Philly people for the most part. Not only Philly people, but we all have great soccer backgrounds, but we’re all really solid people. I think you can find a lot of coaches in this game, and their whole life is just that. It’s just soccer. In all three of us, family is important. Our lives outside soccer are important. And really, what we’re trying to do here is not all about soccer. I mean Erica is the same way. It’s about the people who have helped us get to where we are today. I actually Google-mapped it, because I was curious. If you go from UGH to Lower Moreland (Erica’s alma mater) to Abington (Maddy’s alma mater), it’s pretty much a straight line of 10 miles. It’s like a little corridor… Betty Ann: Yeah, and the funny thing is, (John) Oberholtzer, who coached Erica in high school, he played with my brother and my father. And he did a little bit of coaching with (Maddy). I used to go train with my father’s team at Oberholtzer’s high school. And he knows every one of us as a player and as a person