Kathy Taylor and the Standard She Set in Lacrosse Coaching

Kathy Taylor built her coaching career around a simple but demanding idea: athletes are capable of more than they initially believe when they are supported, challenged, and trusted. That philosophy guided her work across multiple levels of women’s lacrosse, including her time at SUNY Cortland and later at Colgate University, and shaped players who went on to lead teams of their own.

For Lindsay Abbott Byrnes, that approach changed how she understood her own potential.

Byrnes played for Coach Taylor at SUNY Cortland from 2008 to 2012. During those years, she became a four-time All-American, an achievement she once viewed as out of reach.

She describes Taylor’s arrival in her life as “the moment my potential finally caught up with my reality.”

“Kathy possessed an uncanny ability to identify untapped strength within her players and worked tirelessly to draw it out,” Byrnes wrote. “She pressured me, challenged me, and moved me into ‘uncomfortable’ levels of play, not for the sake of the grind, but because she understood that true growth lives just beyond the border of one’s comfort zone.”

Byrnes emphasizes that this growth never came at the expense of care.

“While she demanded excellence on the field, she led with profound compassion,” she wrote.

That balance became even clearer after Byrnes’ playing career ended. She returned to SUNY Cortland and coached alongside Taylor, gaining a broader view of her leadership style.

“In that time, I learned that her leadership wasn’t just a tactic for winning games; it was an openhearted discipline designed to build better human beings,” Byrnes wrote.

Now a high school girls’ lacrosse coach and mother of three, Byrnes describes Taylor’s influence as central to how she leads her own program.

“I strive daily to model the qualities she instilled in me: a tireless work ethic, the courage to challenge others, and the compassion to support them through the process,” she wrote.

Katie Feeley’s experience reflects a similar conclusion from a different vantage point.

Feeley played at the University of Maryland under Hall of Fame coaches Cindy Timchal, Cathy Reese, and Jen Adams. She competed for USA teams and later coached Division I lacrosse at Towson University for nine years.

Despite that résumé, Feeley identifies one coach as the most influential figure in her development: Kathy Taylor, who coached her at Fayetteville-Manlius High School from 2000 to 2003.

“Having Kathy Taylor as a coach has made the biggest impact on me as a player and human being,” Feeley wrote.

Feeley credits Taylor with shaping how she approached the game and her teammates.

“She was the coach you wanted to work for. She was a coach you wanted to win for. The passion she had for the game was contagious,” Feeley recalled.

More than two decades later, Feeley says Taylor’s influence remains present.

Her motivational speeches, stories, and coaching approach “continue to influence her more than 20 years later.”

Together, these accounts describe a coach who set high expectations while remaining deeply invested in the people she coached. Success was important. So was trust. For players who became All-Americans, Division I coaches, and leaders in their own right, Kathy Taylor’s impact was rooted in belief as much as performance.

That combination, former players say, is what made her coaching last.

About Coach Kathy Taylor

Kathy Taylor is a long-time women’s lacrosse coach known for her work at the high school and collegiate levels, including coaching roles at SUNY Cortland and Colgate University. Over the course of her career, she coached athletes who went on to become All-Americans, Division I coaches, and leaders in education, business, and athletics. Former players describe her coaching style as demanding but supportive, emphasizing accountability, personal growth, and belief in each athlete’s potential both on and off the field.