Growing up, Coach Moran played a plethora of sports, including basketball and field hockey. Basketball was her favorite. “I joined the track team to stay in shape for basketball…there I found that my real gift was for running”. Once this discovery was made, she put a pause on basketball and field hockey to run all 3 seasons, where she discovered her love for cross country.
Sacred Heart Stoneridge was Coach Moran’s first experience with all-girls education. She “stumbled” upon Stonebridge while studying at a catholic university in D.C. “The community was so wonderful and awesome, and they were looking for a teacher and coach”. She applied and got started working. During her time at Stoneridge, Coach Moran started the middle school cross-country program and coached the upper school team. While there, she “fell in love with Sacred Heart education” and “wish[es] she had something similar when she was growing up”. She “saw the benefit of all girls’ education in real time”. She said, “It’s hard to put into words the sacred heart difference, but the warmth of the community and embracing the 5 goals was something that really aligned with my mission as an educator and a coach”.
Later, she left Stoneridge to move to New Jersey to be closer to home and her family. She then began working at a school called Trinity Hall. Coach Moran described the school as “very similar to Stoneridge in their mission to girls’ education”. At the time, Trinity Hall was less than 10 years old, so Coach Moran helped to lay the foundation for the athletic department and sports. She said, “It was cool to be a part of something new and build something”. After her time at Trinity Hall, Coach Moran joined us here at Stuart, among our green brick walls, as our Director of Athletics.
Coach Moran said she follows certain principals when teaching and coaching. One of them is to embrace the processes. She said, “In athletics there are a lot of peaks and valleys, and even amidst that, there is so much growth” because “Where you start isn’t where you finish”: perseverance and putting in the work and encouraging athletes to stay positive through their ups and downs. One can clearly see these values in the way she approaches changes and the way she coaches her athletes. “Creating opportunities and life lessons from coaching cross countries and applying that to directing and coaching all the sports here at Stuart has been awesome”.
Coach Moran also values how important athletics is in the formation and development of different skills and virtues. She thinks it’s “indisputable in the development of a human being”. Additionally, she also knows the importance of keeping women in sports. “More than anything, I really want to create a positive athletic experience for all the athletes at Stuart,” because “Once you’re a team, you’re always a teammate”.
When asked what she would do with a free Saturday, she would spend it outside in nature, on the trails with her dog and her wife. Her dog’s name is Riley, and Coach Moran described her as “all joy”. She said spending time outside with her dog is her happy place. She also would spend her free Saturday playing tennis at the beach.
If given the opportunity to try a new sport, Coach Moran would try Ice Boating. Where she lives, in Monmouth County, “there is a lake that freezes over, and there will be people ice boating”. She had” tried it once in upstate New York” but had not gotten the opportunity this winter. “Its basically like a sailboat on ice skates.” “You can hear the *crushh* of the ice as you go”.
If Coach Moran’s life had a theme song, she said it would be “I’m Still Standing” by Elton John. She said,” it’s a song for resilience, and that really resonates with me.”
Coach Moran’s journey from Stoneridge to Stuart is one of passion and purpose. From building programs to coaching students, she brings joy and energy and intention to everything she does. Ultimately, she reminds us that true leadership comes from resilience, passion, and commitment to helping others grow.
