NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – The Atlantic 10 has announced that longtime VCU Field Hockey Head Coach and administrator Pat Stauffer has been named as an A-10 Title IX Trailblazer.
 
Stauffer was the first field hockey head coach in VCU history and to date, the longest tenured field hockey coach at 13 seasons (1981-1993). Stauffer had a career record of 137-112-14 while leading the Rams and is the program's all-time leader in career wins. Her teams were nationally ranked in both 1992 and 1993.
 
As a coach, Stauffer led VCU from playing as an independent to the VIL, SAFHL, SAC and then ultimately the CAA prior to retiring from coaching and moving into administration. Stauffer served most recently as VCU's Senior Associate AD for Sports Administration prior to her retirement in January of 2019.
 
Stauffer also served as an NCAA Division I Field Hockey Committee member from 2002-2006 and was the organization's chair during her final year. In 1998, she was a recipient of the "Presidential Award for Community Multicultural Enrichment" (PACME) Administrator Award.

Originally from Lancaster, Pa., Stauffer graduated magna cum laude from West Chester University in 1978, where she was a three-time AIAW field hockey national champion (1975-77).

Stauffer, who was also a member of the United States Field Hockey Team from 1977-1979, was inducted into West Chester's Athletic Hall of Fame in 2002. Her 1975 West Chester State College National Championship Team has been inducted into the USA Field Hockey Hall of Fame.

The Atlantic 10 Conference will spotlight 16 total Title IX Trailblazers, one from each member institution and the conference office, at the 2023 A-10 Women's and Men's Basketball Championships. These impressive 16 women are each difference makers and have paved the way for creating and protecting opportunities for girls and women in sport and intercollegiate athletics throughout their careers.
 
The Trailblazers celebration is part of the Atlantic 10's yearlong celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Title IX, federal legislation that was passed in June of 1972. The Title IX Trailblazers will be recognized and honored with in-arena banner displays at both Chase Fieldhouse for the Women's Basketball Championship and Barclays Center for the Men's Basketball Championship. The honorees will also be celebrated on social media throughout the league and locally on each A-10 campus.
 
"It is an honor and privilege to recognize the Atlantic 10 Conference Title IX Trailblazers. Each of these women have paved the way for thousands of girls and women to participate in and be successful in sports and life," stated A-10 Commissioner Bernadette V. McGlade "Title IX was, and is, landmark federal legislation, however it required women over the last five decades to step up and take advantage of the equal opportunities created for girls and women. Our society, communities, corporations, and country are better because of each of our Trailblazers and the skills acquired through sport."