Towson University Athletics

Katie Gerzabek Salem enters her second season as the Towson head field hockey coach in 2024.

At the helm of the Tigers in the 2023 season, Coach Gerzabek Salem led Towson to its most wins since the 2011 season (10-10). The Tigers had a second team All-CAA selection in Sarah Hatfield, who led the team with nine goals and 21 points. Coach Gerzabek Salem recorded her first Divsion I win 3-2 in a shoot-out vs. Davidson on August 27, 2023.

Katie Gerzabek Salem was named the head coach of the Towson field hockey program, announced on December 13, 2022 by Director of Athletics Steve Eigenbrot. Gerzabek Salem, previously the head coach of Rhodes College, becomes the 13th coach in program history. 

"We cannot wait to add Katie to our staff here at Towson," said Eigenbrot. "Katie has grown up around Division I coaching and has a history of championship success as a student-athlete. Her local ties and experience coaching at institutions with highly successful field hockey programs make her a great fit for the next chapter of Towson University field hockey." 

"I'm excited to lead a program that I've seen from afar for a long time with so much potential, make it something special and allow these student-athletes to compete at their highest level," added Gerzabek Salem. "I'm looking to find our identity as a Towson field hockey program and hoping to have some hard-working athletes that believe they can do something special." 

Gerzabek Salem served as the head coach at Rhodes for the past two seasons. During that time, she made great strides in the development of the program, winning the 2021 Southern Athletic Association (SAA) conference tournament and the 2022 SAA regular season. Rhodes' 14 wins in 2022 marked a five-win improvement over the 2021 team that Gerzabek Salem inherited, helping the Lynx finish as the sixth-ranked team in the Division III Region IV regional rankings. Her coaching staff earned 2022 SAA Coaching Staff of the Year. 

She finished with a 23-9 overall record over two seasons at the helm of the Lynx, coaching a SAA Offensive Player of the Year, a SAA Newcomer of the Year, 12 all-conference selections and one regional All-American. Gerzabek Salem was responsible for gameplan and practice design, strength and conditioning program development, recruiting, scheduling and fundraising in collaboration with her assistant coach. 

Prior to Rhodes, Gerzabek Salem was an assistant coach at Syracuse University for three seasons (2018-20). There, she directed all aspects of recruiting and assisted students through the college admissions process. Her primary responsibility with the Orange was technical and tactical development of the front five players on the field. She also conducted video analysis of practices and games, organized alumni relations and assisted with the team's social media administration. 

Before Syracuse, Gerzabek Salem served as an assistant coach on Temple University's staff for three seasons (2015-17). Her primary responsibility with the Owls was technical and tactical development of the offense. In addition, she organized and implemented practice and gameplans plus conducted video analysis for the team. Off the field, she was responsible for planning and organizing the team's travel, working closely with academic advisors to monitor student-athlete academic progress and helping to promote the team's social media accounts. 

During her tenure with Syracuse, she worked as an assistant coach for the USA Indoor National Team leading up to the 2020 Rohrmax Cup in Vienna, Austria. She helped with the tournament's athlete selection process, assisted the head coach with practice plans, prepared video meetings and presented game debriefs and individual feedback to the team. 

Gerzabek Salem started coaching for USA Field Hockey as a Futures site assistant. She became a site director then was named a USA Field Hockey Futures head coach in 2015. She held that role for seven years, also serving as a mentor and team manager for the U19 national team during competition in Germany in 2016. Coupled with her collegiate and national coaching endeavors, she has coached three club field hockey teams since 2013. 

Prior to her coaching career, Gerzabek Salem had an illustrious collegiate career with the University of Maryland. She played for the Terrapins from 2011-14, winning a national championship as a freshman and numerous individual awards over four seasons. She was selected to the National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) Mid-Atlantic Region First Team in 2011 and 2014, NFHCA Mid-Atlantic Region Second Team in 2012 and 2013 and was named an NFHCA Third Team All-American in 2014. Gerzabek Salem also received second team all-conference honors in the Big Ten (2014) and ACC (2013). 

"Having gone to Maryland and growing up in the Philadelphia area my whole life, I have a lot of connections and contacts, not only with club teams but with high school coaches too," said Gerzabek Salem. "I'm hoping to utilize those contacts to help our current student-athletes and recruit future Towson Tigers to the program." 

"Towson University could not have made a better hire. Katie Gerzabek Salem is a fundamentalist. She comes from a deep family of coaching and teaching hockey in the Philadelphia area. I give her three years until she's competitive with the Tigers. She's that good," added University of Maryland head coach Missy Meharg. "She has experience and contacts all over the state of Maryland, the Mid-Atlantic region, the country and the world to recruit the best field hockey players to be at Towson University." 

Off the field, she served as the university's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) Vice President for Social Media and Public Relations from 2013-15. In this role, she organized SAAC outreach efforts, managed the organization's social media accounts and provided student-athlete perspective to athletic administration. 

Gerzabek Salem's playing career with USA Field Hockey began on junior national teams in 2009. She competed in the 2012 Junior Pan American Games in Mexico and the 2013 Junior World Cup in Germany. Starting in 2011, she played for the USA Indoor National Team for 11 years. 

Gerzabek Salem graduated from Maryland with a Bachelor of Science in kinesiology and exercise science in 2015. She added her Master of Education in Educational Leadership and Administration in 2017. 

Gerzabek Salem has USA Field Hockey Level I and Level II Coaching Certifications and a Federation of International Hockey (FIH) Level I Coaching Certification. She is also a member of the National Field Hockey Coaches Association and USA Field Hockey.