BRUNSWICK — She calls herself a dinosaur, a holdover from another century when college coaches didn't recruit the players who helped win national championships. "I believed you coached kids who selected your school because you were the coach. Why would I spend time trying to convince them of that?"

She remembers when field hockey games started with something called a bully. That's when two players tap the flat side of their sticks together three times before going after the ball. It's similar to a hockey faceoff but disappeared from the start of field hockey games years ago.

She remembers when you fed quarters into the box beside a hotel bed to make it vibrate. That came up when she was asked about long rides with her Bangor High team in a yellow school bus over Maine secondary roads.

Remember Sue Tyler? The University of Maine's first female athletic director when she was hired in 1995 is now in her first season as Bangor High's field hockey coach.

Tuesday, she pushed few buttons and pulled few levers as Bangor beat Brunswick, 5-0. Her girls were already athletic, conditioned and played instinctively.

From the bench area, Tyler reinforced endlessly, attaching individual names to her praise. "They've played a lot of field hockey. They know what they're doing."

Mainers never saw this side of Tyler. She was brought to Orono from the University of Maryland to sort through the mess of NCAA noncompliance infractions after Maine won its first hockey title in 1993.

She spent seven years in the AD's office. Her manner was brusque and if she had to step on toes, so be it. Maybe people had a problem with an assertive female. Longtime baseball coach John Winkin left or was pushed out on her watch, and his many supporters haven't forgotten.

She brought John Giannini in to coach the men's basketball team. She was there when Shawn Walsh died.

Tyler had her own coaching credentials, not that anyone touted them. She is the only Division I coach to win national titles in women's lacrosse and field hockey.

From 1974 to 1987 her Maryland field hockey teams won more than 150 games and a first national title in 1987. When Tyler brought some of her Bangor players to Maryland's field hockey camp, which she started, they returned home to talk of the rock-star status Tyler had at College Park.

When her daughter, Lexi Casey, entered Bangor High three years ago, Tyler offered to help coach. She and her husband decided to stay in Maine after she moved from university AD to professor of sports psychology. Tyler stayed in the background.

"It was pure coaching. I didn't have to order equipment, worry about the buses, deal with the parents, set the lineups. It was the best job."

After two years, Bangor High AD Steve Vanidestine noticed more girls seeking Tyler out for advice when they came off the field.

"Everyone understood. It was like coaching an American Legion baseball team and having Joe Torre on the bench. What, you're not going to ask him questions?"

The head coaching job opened up due to a pregnancy and Tyler stepped forward. She had finally retired from the University of Maine. Her daughter was a senior and Tyler knew many of her friends and teammates.

"They're all good players who worked hard and I wanted them to have a successful season," said Tyler.

"It's easy to be a beginner. It's a lot harder to be a really good field hockey player. That's why I went after the job. I've done my time. I didn't want to do anything that wasn't going to be fun. I like being retired."

Her players know of her past at Maryland but Tyler thinks opposing coaches may not.

That's fine with her. After being away from the game for so long, she hadn't earned their respect. Tuesday's win was Bangor's sixth, not that Tyler was counting.

"I only know my losses (three, including two to state champion Skowhegan) because losses are annoying."

Staff Writer Steve Solloway can be contacted at 791-6412 or at: ssolloway@pressherald.com