Mary Jane Seiler coaches during a home game on Oct. 10, 2015. (Photo by Suzette J. Lucas.)
In her first year as a high school coach, Mary Jane Seiler must be doing something right. She satisfied her most brutally honest critic on his first trip to watch her in action.
Seiler, a former All-County goalie at Robbinsville High School, returned to her alma mater as the head coach of the boys’ freshman team, and the goalkeeper coach for the entire program. With one game remaining, she had guided the freshmen Ravens to a 5-4 record.
Unbeknownst to Seiler, her father Billy attended one game incognito, so as not to put pressure on his daughter. A former Notre Dame High standout, Billy coached Seiler in the Hibernian travel soccer program.
“I had no idea he was there, and he called me an hour and a half after the game,” Seiler said. “I was really confused. He started talking about seeing this goal, and things I did. I said ‘Oh my God, why didn’t you tell me you were there?’ and he said ‘I didn’t want to bother you, I just wanted to see one of your games.’”
So, the obvious question is, what did he think?
“He told me I coached the same way I played,” Seiler said. “I’m not sure…but I think that was a compliment. At least I’m going to take it as a compliment.”
Considering how well she played at both Robbinsville and then at William Paterson, it should definitely be taken as a compliment. And when it comes to her dad, Seiler knows it was sincere.
“He’s the one person, if I do something wrong or he thinks I need to do something to improve, he’ll absolutely tell me whether I want to hear it or not,” Seiler said. “He’ll be a brutally honest person, but you need someone like that in your life. You can’t just have someone yes-ing you all the time.
Bill Seiler is not the only one satisfied with his daughter’s work so far. Varsity head coach Jeff Fisher, who has done an outstanding job building the program, has nothing but accolades for his newest colleague.
“For her to go 5-4 in her first nine is incredible,” Fisher said. “I think I was 0-12 when I was the freshman coach. This is a small school, and it’s tough because the numbers aren’t the same as the bigger schools. I took one freshman on varsity, and we sent a couple to the JV so she lost a few of her better players. She’s doing a wonderful job. She knows the game, and she’s tough.”
Toughness runs in the Seiler family. While growing up in Mercerville, Billy Seiler and his brothers had a reputation of guys you did not want to cross on a soccer field.
Seiler inherited the family gene. Despite standing just 5-foot-4, she was one of the Colonial Valley Conference’s premiere keepers in high school, playing well enough to get ample playing time at WPU. No one that small in goal is going to survive without toughness.
After graduating last year, Seiler flooded the job market with applications and landed a one-year leave replacement position as a phys-ed teacher at Robbinsville. She initially planned on being a volunteer for the girls under her former coach, Karen DeRossett. But when the freshman boys’ job open she jumped on it.
It is becoming increasingly common for women to coach a boys’ team these days. At Nottingham High, former Steinert/Rowan star Christie Fink is the boys’ JV coach.
“I had no worries coaching boys, not for soccer,” Seiler said. “I played with them whenever I could so they got to feel me out and understand I do know how to play soccer, I don’t just watch it on TV. I have knowledge behind the game. I let them figure it out on their own as they played throughout practice. I took advice given to me earlier in the season, ran with it, and it’s been good.”
Seiler was reluctant to name any coaches who were an influence on her growing up, noting that she took a little bit from everyone.
She is trying to replicate the positives she learned and, “if there’s something I didn’t necessarily agree with, I’m figuring it out on my own.” Her goal is to give her players the same positive experience she had at Robbinsville.
“I honestly can’t complain,” Seiler said. “I have a really good group of kids and without our coaching staff, I don’t think I’d be as well-rounded with my practices and the whole process of coaching boys. They’ve really helped me out.”
One thing that may have helped Seiler get a grasp on coaching is the position that she played. As a goalie, she had the best view of the field. Not only was she directing the defenders in front of her, but she would watch the opposing forwards and midfielders attack and understand what it took to defend them.
“I think I have a good idea of each position on the field and, again, with the help of Jeff and his vision,” she said. “I’m just trying to take his vision for the program and prepare these kids so they are successful come their sophomore, junior and senior years. My hope is to build a solid foundation for him and (JV coach) Brian Dempsey. And the group of kids I have are very hard working.”
Seiler always wanted to be a coach, and actually did goalkeeping training with 10-year-olds in Robbinsville.
She was unsure what level she would end up at, and Fisher didn’t know too much about her since he graduated before she began making headlines. But his ears perked up when he heard she was a goalie.
“Having someone on the staff to specifically work with goalies is such an asset,” he said. “She’ll do a lot with the freshmen but she’s taken time to work with boys’ and girls’ goalies. I appreciate it when we’re all together, it’s nice to send the goalies with her and we can do some other stuff. It’s been valuable.”
Seiler hopes to advance her career in the future, but isn’t looking too far ahead at this moment.
“I’m just taking it one step at a time,” she said. “I’m happy to get the opportunity to coach, period. I can only thank Jeff and Brian because they’ve been so helpful. I don’t know if it would have been as enjoyable as it is without their help. It’s a lot of work and at the end of the day it’s all worth it.”
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