By BRIAN TORTELLA

Correspondent

On X @tortreports

Gloria Byard has found her landing spot.

And for the longtime South Jersey coach, it’s a familiar one.

Byard, a 1969 Woodstown High graduate, is slated to become the next head field hockey coach at her alma mater, she confirmed on a phone call Monday afternoon.

Byard brings 50 years of coaching experience across the region, with stops at Highland Regional, Timber Creek, Glassboro and, most recently, Haddon Heights, where she coached for the last seven seasons. 

She succeeds Bryanna Roberts, who coached for the last two seasons after taking over for Susan Massara, who led the Wolverines to five sectional titles during her tenure from 2012-2022. Woodstown finished with a 10-8-1 record last fall, falling to Collingswood in the first round of the South Jersey Group 1 playoffs.

“I’m very excited, the kids are a great bunch of girls,” Byard said. “They are hard-working individuals. I know their reputation. I’ve followed them in the past, even when they had other coaches. (Former coaches) Susie (Massara) and Gale Remster both did a great job. I don’t have much to really work on because they built a great reputation. I’m just coming in hoping to revive things.”

Byard graduated from Glassboro State College (now Rowan University) in 1976 and was a four-year member of both the field hockey and lacrosse teams. 

She was the first African American player to tour the Caribbean with the U.S. National Field Hockey Team, from 1974-1978.

After graduation in 1976, she helped start and coached the field hockey program at Salem Community College, where the team owned a No. 1 national ranking among two-year colleges in 1985. 

Byard is the 40th-winningest high school field hockey coach in New Jersey state history with a career record of 260-159-27, according to records available from NJ Advance Media. 

Coaching at Woodstown provides another opportunity to add to those numbers and make an impact on countless more athletes. Nearly six decades after graduating, things have finally come full circle for Byard. 

Note: Woodstown Athletic Director Joe Ursino could not immediately be reached for comment.