Southern Maine Athletics

Former NCAA Division III All-American, Bonny Brown-Denico will enter her 27^th season as the head coach of the University of Southern Maine Huskies’ field hockey team in 2025.  A former two-sport standout for the Huskies’ field hockey and softball teams during her intercollegiate playing days, Brown-Denico has proudly represented her alma mater as a member of the Athletic Department as a coach or student-athlete for nearly three decades. 
 
Taking over the Huskies’ field hockey program in 1998, as just the second head coach in the program’s history, Brown-Denico has coached 24 All-Region players, one All-American, one Little East Conference Player of the Year, two Offensive Players of the Year, three Defensive Players of the Year, four Rookie of the Year selections, and a plethora of all-conference picks. Academically, Brown-Denico’s Huskies have consistently achieved success, earning the National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) All-Academic Team honor 11 times.
 
Brown-Denico earned her 100th career win on September 8, 2008 in a 3-2 double overtime victory against Framingham State.  Nearly an exact 10 years later, Brown-Denico picked up her milestone 200th career win with a 3-0 victory over UMaine Farmington on September 5, 2018. Closing in on 300 career wins, Brown-Denico is sitting at 275 career wins following the conclusion of the 2024 season.
 
Brown-Denico led the Huskies to their first Little East Conference Championship in 2003, and her team advanced to the NCAA Division III tournament.  Four members of the 2003 team have been inducted into the Husky Hall of Fame, including 2003 LEC Tournament MVP Renee Heath Towne, who also has been inducted into the Little East Conference Hall of Fame.  


Brown-Denico once again led the Huskies to the Little East Championship and NCAA Division III tournament in 2023.  The team finished 15-8 and went 6-0 in Little East Conference action. The lineup featured seven All-LEC selections including Defensive Player of the Year Jordan Cumming and Rookie of the Year Jenessa Foster.  Cummings and Hannah Banks were named National Field Hockey Coaches' Association (NFHCA) All-Region second team. 


Brown-Denico led the Huskies five consecutive winnings seasons in 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, and 2023.  The Huskies won the Little East Conference regular season title in both 2022 and 2023 and reached the LEC Championship game in both seasons. The 2023 squad pulled out a 1-0 win over Keene State to claim the LEC title and earn a bid to NCAA Division III tournament. 
 
In her more than two decades of service to Southern Maine and its student-athletes, Brown-Denico has represented USM as a member of the Husky Hall of Fame Committee, NCAA Regional Committees, NFHCA New England West All Region Selection Committee, and NFHCA Senior All Star Game Committee Chair and Selection Committee. 
Brown-Denico also holds the role of Assistant Athletic Director at the University of Southern Maine, and carries the responsibility of scheduling coordinator and facility rentals.
 
For 17 of her 27 years at USM, Brown-Denico also served as the head coach of the Huskies’ softball team.  Over her career she has been named the LEC Coach of the Year for field hockey in 2007, 2022 and 2023 (Coaching Staff of the Year), and the conference’s coach of the year for softball in 1997 and 1998.  Brown-Denico remains connected to the Huskies’ softball program, and serves as one of its assistant coaches.
 
A two-sport standout for the Huskies during her playing career, competing in field hockey and softball, Brown-Denico earned NFHCA All-America honors in 1990 and was an NFHCA Regional All-American in 1989.  She helped the Huskies to the NCAA Division III Final Four in 1987 and is ranked in the top 20 in the school record books for goals, assists and points. In softball, Brown-Denico was a three-time regional All-American and still ranks in the top ten in numerous offensive categories, finishing with a .398 career batting average. She was inducted into the Husky Hall of Fame in 1996.

Brown-Denico is a 1991 graduate of USM with a degree in English with a minor in Theater, and earned her Coaching Certificate during the same year.  She completed her master's degree in adult education at Southern Maine in 1998. In addition to her coaching duties, Brown-Denico is the Scheduling Coordinator for USM Athletics.