Rutgers’ Civico coached game from sidelines hours before going to hospital to give birth
By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
OCEAN CITY – With the right support system in place, Meredith (Long) Civico has found a way to successfully combine her two loves – her family and a career in field hockey.
Civico, a former Ocean City High School field hockey standout who’s been head coach for Rutgers University’s program since 2012, is passionate about making that combination work.
On April 2, just hours before she was scheduled to go into the hospital to give birth to her third child, there she was on the sidelines, coaching her Scarlet Knights against Penn State. Although she had to take precautions, she decided being at the game would be less stressful than watching the game remotely.
“What else am I going to do all day? If I’m not at the game, I’m going to watch it on livestream and it’s much more stressful doing that,” she said. “It was so much fun to be with the group and with the team and be there for that win. It was an incredible game. We hadn’t beat Penn State for a very long time.”
The precautions were necessary.
“I had some blood pressure issues during my pregnancy. I had to be extra calm,” Civico noted. “My doctors were monitoring me really closely. They said as long as your blood pressure is not going up, and you’re not standing up and yelling, you can be there.” Although her Scarlet Knights were beating a nationally ranked team, the coach kept her calm.
“And then I had to be at St. Peter’s Hospital at 4 p.m. (that day) for an induction. I was on the sidelines the day I went in to have the baby,” she proudly adds. Her new son, John David, was born the next day.
To be there with her team, Civico credits the support she has through her husband Joey Civico, a volunteer coach for Rutgers, and her other assistant coaches, Maddy Sposito and Ajai Dhadwal. “They are insanely talented,” she said.
She also credits them for a major honor she received later in April – being named the Big Ten Conference field hockey co-coach of the year after an outstanding 2021 regular season that included four wins over top-10-ranked teams in the nation.
“As far as the award, a lot of credit goes to our staff. My assistant coaches have been incredible, the team we have at Rutgers this year is incredible. We have fantastic leaders,” she said. “It’s a testament to the program as a whole, coaches and players. I’m really proud of the program and that the hard work of the coaching staff was recognized. It’s awesome.”
She also has more support outside of the university system – her family.
Two and a half weeks after giving birth, Civico had the chance to be on the sidelines again, coaching her team in the Big Ten Championship Tournament. She talked with them before deciding to go to the tournament in Iowa. She hadn’t been at away games during the regular season because of her pregnancy issues, but she knew she wanted to be with her team at the tournament.
“I have an amazing family. I would not be able to be here if it wasn’t for them,” she said while being interviewed by phone from Iowa. “I’m very lucky to have an incredible family and support system as well.”
“My husband asked, ‘Are you sure you want to go?’ And my mom and my sister are like, ‘Meredith, just go. It’s the Big Ten Tournament. You made it there. Your team misses you.’
“My team and coaching is a big part of who I am. Being a mom is the other big thing of who I am,” she explained. “I definitely struggled with being away from my kids and from my baby, but equally struggled being away from my team and not being on the sidelines, not being able to be there with them celebrating successes.
“I don’t know if it’s a balancing act but it is the two really big pieces of who I am so it was hard to be away. … This was the first game I was able to travel to.”
Her mother, Suzanne Long, and sister, Maggie Long, stayed with the kids during the tournament. “They’re taking really good care of them. They’re just the best,” she said. Civico noted her brothers Mike and Matt are also valued members of the family. Mike, in California, was expecting his first child and Matt, who lives in Ocean City, has a little girl as well.
The tournament didn’t go as well as hoped. Higher-ranked Northwestern got a measure of revenge by beating the Scarlet Knights in the first round, ending their season. Rutgers beat Northwestern twice in the regular season.
The path to Rutgers; ‘100 percent Jersey’
After being on three OCHS state championship field hockey teams, she went to Boston University then transferred to Maryland. Maryland is where Civico played the majority of her career. Her team got to the final four in 2003, 2004 and 2005 and won the national championship in 2005.
She coached at the University of Vermont and Towson University in Maryland as an assistant, then at Rutgers as an assistant in 2010 and 2011, and was able to interview for the head coaching position in 2012.
Civico said she always knew she wanted to end up as a coach and when the head position at Rutgers came up while she was an assistant, “I wanted this job more than anyone. I knew Rutgers could be great.”
Part of that was joining the Big Ten Conference – a massive move for the program. “The Big 10 is the best athletic conference in the country. The field hockey is incredible. So when it came to taking the program to the next level, that move was going to help us,” she said.
Being in the Big 10 helped her recruit top athletes to the program and she often looked right in her back yard.
“I am 100 percent Jersey. That’s who I am and it’s very much the mentality at Rutgers. It’s that Jersey pride, that grit, across all of our teams. I love it. Our men’s basketball team this year was incredible. Our coaches that are in right now have this similar mindset. We’re just roll up our sleeves … like ‘let’s go, Jersey style,’ we always say.
“It’s where I always want to be. I’m very proud to be from New Jersey and to be able to build this field hockey program with New Jersey talent.”
She points out she continues to follow Ocean City field hockey and other southern New Jersey teams including Shawnee and Eastern.
Family also on the sidelines
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Civico met her future husband through field hockey. He is a field hockey coach. They got married in 2015 and now John David, born April 3, joins 4-year-old Noah and daughter Elodie, who turned 2 on April 30.
The couple run a field hockey club in central New Jersey in addition to coaching at Rutgers. “My son, who is 4, he plays with us. Our daughter is getting out there too. She is pretty funny. We can already tell she is a competitor.
“We’ve been doing this together for a long time. We have a great time doing it. At Rutgers and the club. We coach 4- to 19-year-olds. It’s what we do as a family.”
Civico appreciates what she has.
“Being a woman and being a head coach and working in college sports at the highest level, it’s incredibly rewarding. There are so many women who are able to do this now,” she said. “My husband stays home sometimes. It’s very much a team effort. These are my passions – my family and field hockey and being a coach.
“My administration at Rutgers and the senior staff, the athletic director and associate athletic director as so incredible, so supportive. It’s a great environment. That allows me to do this as well,” Civico said. “I feel lucky to be at Rutgers.”