Northwestern head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller
solidified her coaching staff for the 2014 season on Aug. 27, 2013, announcing the addition of Tim McCormack as assistant coach. McCormack recently completed a standout playing career at the University of Massachusetts, where he was a three-year starting goalkeeper and as a senior anchored a squad that achieved a No. 1 national ranking and entered the NCAA Tournament with a perfect 15-0 record.
McCormack arrived at Northwestern after spending the 2012-13 academic year as head coach of the men's club lacrosse program at the University of Kentucky.
McCormack has guided the Wildcats defense and goalkeepers during over the last four seasons. In 2018, the ’Cats held 11 opponents to 10 goals or less. Northwestern's goalie prowess continued under McCormack's tutelage. Redshirt first-year Julie Krupnick earned All-Big Ten and IWLCA West/Midwest All-Region honors for her first season, highlighted by a 14-stop game, the second highest mark in program history.
In 2017, sophomore defender Claire Quinn became the first defensive All-American since Colleen Magarity in 2011. Quinn's 36 caused turnovers are tied for the fifth most in the modern era and her 45 ground balls that season tied the 10th best mark.
In his first season as an assistant coach, the 'Cats notched a 14-7 record while defeating such tough opponents as No. 7 Virginia, 6-5, and No. 5 Syracuse, 11-10. McCormack helped coach goalkeeper Bridget Bianco on the tail end of her career in which she ended ranked fourth in program history in career saves (400), fourth in saves per game (5.63), fourth in save percentage (.426), fifth in goals-against average (8.53) and fourth in wins (47-15-0).
In 2016, McCormack mentored true freshman Mallory Weisse to one of best debut seasons in program history. Weisse started all 21 games for the Wildcats, leading the Big Ten in saves per game with 7.51. Her 158 saves during her freshman season were the third highest single-season total in program history. She earned weekly Big Ten honors three times and made 10-plus saves in eight different contests. The following season, McCormack coached Weisse to a single-season program record with 169 saves.
McCormack earned UMass's starting goalkeeper role as a redshirt sophomore in 2010, beginning a streak of 45 consecutive starts between the pipes over the next three seasons. As a junior, McCormack was named a team captain for the Minutemen, who posted a 10-5 record and reached the CAA finals on the strength of McCormack's 8.28 goals against average and 55.3 save percentage.
UMass then enjoyed a spectacular season in McCormack's final year in Amherst. The team became the first Minutemen program to achieve a No. 1 ranking since the school's 1995-96 men's basketball team and claimed a CAA championship, eventually entering the NCAA Tournament with a perfect 15-0 record. McCormack stopped better than 60 percent of the shots that came his way and recorded a 7.09 goals against average for the year, leading the CAA and ranking fifth nationally in that category en route to 2012 USILA All-American honors.
McCormack joins volunteer assistant Scott Hiller as alums of the UMass men's lacrosse program on the Northwestern coaching staff. Hiller was a four-time All-American for the Minutemen from 1987-90 — playing alongside Cannella for two seasons — and was inducted into the UMass Athletics Hall of Fame in 2010.