A 'new chapter': Pensacola Catholic girls lacrosse head coach Chloe Weinmann stepping down
After five years as head coach of the Pensacola Catholic girls lacrosse team, Chloe Weinmann said it’s time to focus on “different parts” of her life.
Weinmann helped turned the Crusaders’ around over the last seven years – the first two as an assistant coach – from a team that hadn’t had a winning season to a perennial area powerhouse.
When Pensacola Catholic started the 2024 season, Weinmann knew it would likely be her last season at the helm of the team, noting she always knew “there would be an expiration date on coaching.”
Now, Weinmann is focusing on other areas of her life that “need (her) attention.”
“It’s difficult to balance of working full time, mom-ing full time and coaching full time. … In true Pensacola fashion, I fell in love with somebody from the Navy. That’s going to be moving me away next year,” Weinmann said. “I’m looking forward to taking a step back from coaching, focusing on my family, getting to be a mom on the sidelines while watching my son play lacrosse – instead of being a coach.”
A four-sport athlete back in high school while growing up in California, Weinmann said her “first love” was always lacrosse. She’s played, she’s coached and she’s refereed. “I’ve done it all,” Weinmann said.
She added that she dedicated the past however many years to lacrosse and growing the Pensacola Catholic program. As she transitions into a new chapter, Weinmann is going to focus on her life’s “new love.”
“Which is my son, and developing my own family. … I feel like I dedicated my 20s to lacrosse and growing this program, trying to mentor these young players. I didn’t focus as much on my own life,” Weinmann said. “Now, I feel like my life is pushing me to focus on my family – and building a family – while being on the sidelines for my son, to make sure he has the same support that I gave to my team. I’m really excited to step into this new chapter of my life.”
Going out on a high note
In the five years Weinmann has been at the helm of the Crusaders, they have won three consecutive district championships – starting in 2022 – followed by three straight appearances in the Region 1-1A semifinals.
Pensacola Catholic progressed year after year, going just 4-2 in Weinmann’s first year in charge – the COVID season in 2020, which was cut short. Since then, the team has gone a combined 60-16 over the past four years.
The 2024 campaign was on a completely different level, however. The Crusaders posted a 20-3 record – their best season in program history – only falling to teams in the Jacksonville or Orlando area.
Pensacola Catholic started the year on a 13-game win streak before falling to Episcopal, and that included a stretch of five shutouts in a row. The team had a goal differential of 364 goals for and 109 goals against.
Two of the Crusaders’ losses came to Episcopal School of Jacksonville, including the region semifinal loss, which fell in the state final semifinals. Even with the heartbreaking loss, Weinmann knows “the program is going in a really good direction.”
“I couldn’t have asked for a better year. Everything that happened, it happened the way it should’ve. Even though we lost in the semifinals, Episcopal is such a strong and respectable team,” Weinmann said. “Sometimes you have to lose to learn to get better. That’s the way this program is going to get better. I’m super pleased with this being what I’m going out with.”
Weinmann watched a team go from a program winning less than 50% of its games where athletes played lacrosse “because it looked fun,” to building a culture of nothing but success.
“I was raised in a military family where winning is the only option. … It started from building from the ground up, instilling a team culture – a culture that goes beyond just playing lacrosse,” Weinmann said. “Year after year, especially when I took over as head coach, it became more about the program and what it can be now vs. what it could be right then.”
Hoping for a 'seamless transition'
That culture with a “good foundation,” Weinmann said.
“It transfers so well to life, especially them being young women and going through the high school process is so much about learning and failing. And figuring out how to prepare for adult life,” Weinmann said. “It’s the same thing for building a team. You have to have a good foundation. You have to have consistent goals with clear expectations, and a positive environment. Those are the things that we focused on from the very beginning.”
As soon as the team figured out what it wanted to accomplish and what its goals were, the sky was the limit. The Crusaders started developing some of the area’s best players, who led the charge. That includes members of this past year’s junior class, which has risen to the occasion multiple times in the year.
That class includes Julia Frosch, who put up just incredible numbers in 2024, recording 165 points (78 goals, 87 assists), Isabella Geri (28 goals, 15 assists) and Collier Brown (25 goals, 16 assists). There’s also Ella Adams, a rising junior, who also reached the 100-point plateau this year (74 goals, 26 assists).
“I watched that particular group – that junior group – grow into themselves as players, and kind of be the segway. … I think the junior class playing lacrosse – all across Pensacola – is the first group of girls who played in middle school,” Weinmann said. “Instead of lacrosse being something they play on the side, it’s their full-time sport and what they want to pursue more of. That’s really special. It makes it even harder to leave them knowing they’re going into their senior year, because I want to watch them and I want to see it come full circle.”
Weinmann also credits the coaching staff, which includes assistant coaches Leigh Frosch, Jennifer Buer and Athena Corroon. Buer and Frosch have been with Weinmann since the very beginning.
It was never a hierarchy as far as the coaching staff either, Weinmann noted. Just like the team’s culture, that spread to the coaching staff, taking more of a “collaborative” approach.
“It’s not commonly seen where you have two assistant coaches who are twice the age of the head coach. Leigh Frosch and Jen Buer, they’ve been like second mothers to me in Pensacola. They really gave me the confidence to lead the team with the same grace and support that they gave to me every day – like a friend and a daughter feeling,” Weinmann said. “Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses. We were a powerhouse of a coaching staff. Where I might’ve been weak in one area, Leigh and Jen could pick it up. And I could pick up where I was stronger. … The three of us together, we worked really, really well together.”
“I think it’s going to be a real seamless transition for them to continue to build on what we’ve been doing the last few years,” Weinmann said. “Coach Frosch is going to take great care of them.”
Ben Grieco is a sports reporter for the Pensacola News Journal. He can be reached on X (@BenGriecoSports) and via email at BGrieco@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola Catholic girls lacrosse coach Chloe Weinmann steps down
