Kim Vincent is retiring as Hope College women’s lacrosse head coach after five successful seasons leading the Flying Dutch.
Hope recorded three of its winningest seasons under Vincent, including a school-record 11 victories this spring. Vincent made a meaningful impact on and off the field on her student-athletes, her teams and the entire athletics department, co-athletic director Melinda DuPree said.
“Hope College Athletics has benefited tremendously from Kim’s hard work, passion for the game of lacrosse and her care for our student-athletes,” DuPree said. “Kim was driven to grow the game of lacrosse in Michigan at various levels and she has accomplished that through her work at the club level, running camps and in a big way through her coaching at Hope College.
“We are thankful for how Kim embraced our mission of competitive excellence and transformational experiences. Her teams always played and conducted themselves in a championship manner.”
Vincent led Hope to a 41-35 record during her tenure, including an 11-6 mark this season.
“Coaching at Hope has been a great honor and one that I will always look back on with a sense of pride,” Vincent said. “We accomplished so much together each year as a program thanks to the support from the staff at Hope. There’s so much reward in coaching lacrosse and all that it stands for. It’s been exciting to be a part of the Hope family and be able to see the growth and development of the students on and off the field.
“At the end of the day, it always came down to the student-athletes. My inspiration came from them, their passion for playing for Hope, the game, their teammates and always striving to bring their best.”
This spring, Hope went 11-6 overall and finished runner-up in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Tournament. The Flying Dutch became the first No. 4 seed in league history to win a tournament game with a 13-12 semifinal victory at Saint Mary’s.
“Reflecting back to our early season core values discussions and many weeks of training,” Vincent said, “This team continued to set itself up for success by accepting every single challenge, by doing the hard work to make each other better, fighting through tough times, finding joy in the process, loving each other, and playing with one collective huge heart.”
Vincent became the Flying Dutch’s second coach prior to the 2015 season. She coached six Hope players to All-MIAA First Team honors and 15 Flying Dutch to Second Team honors.
The Flying Dutch were named to the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association Academic Honor Squad twice (2016, 2018) and earned MIAA Team GPA awards four times (2015-18).
“I’m pleased that the lacrosse program is positioned for success going forward. Numbers are higher than ever with 19 returning players who are ready to welcome in a fresh group of talented recruits,” Vincent said. “I’m confident the program will continue to thrive under its new leadership and look forward to seeing how the team will continue to push for excellence and work towards even higher levels of success.”