Courtesy of Framingham State Sports Information

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. -- Framingham State has announced the hiring of three new head coaches to begin their time with the Rams during the 2014-15 athletic year.

Framingham State welcomed Leah Hartwell as the new field hockey head coach, Larry Miller as the new softball coach and assistant sports information director and Kristina Kern will take the helm of the women's soccer program.

Hartwell joins the Rams after spending last season as an assistant coach at her alma mater Nichols College in Dudley.  Hartwell's duties at Nichols included coordinating the team fitness routines during the preseason, regular season and the off season as well as breaking down and analyzing game film.

Hartwell completed both her master's and bachelor's degrees at Nichols College where she play three seasons of field hockey and was a member of Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.  Hartwell received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in 2013 and a Master of Business Administration in 2014 and spent a summer interning with the Connecticut Sun of the WNBA.

Hartwell assumes the helm of the Framingham State field hockey program that went 9-10 a season ago and was the sixth seed in the ECAC Tournament.

Miller joins the Rams after spending the last four years at SUNY Cortland in various roles within the Red Dragons athletic department. Most recently Miller served in the dual role as the Assistant to the Athletic Director and an assistant softball coach.  As a member of the Red Dragons' coaching staff, Miller developed practice plans, in game strategies as well as evaluating talent and recruiting potential student-athletes.  Miller implemented a video program for evaluating hitting and pitching mechanics during practices and competitions.  Miller coached the 2013 NCAA Division III softball runner-up as well as being a part of the 2013 NFCA Division III Northeast Region Coaching Staff of the Year.

Miller served in several administrative roles at Cortland including as the Assistant to the Director where he was responsible for event management, technology and special projects.  He oversaw all operations for the Red Dragon Sports Network including web streaming, player and coach interviews as well as maintaining the Cortland Athletics YouTube channel. 

Miller previously served as two year stint as a graduate assistant at Cortland where he assisted with contest management and coordination of the event staff.  He was the primary contact for the Red Dragon season ticket holders as well as creating, monitoring and updating all of the social media outlets for the department.  As an undergraduate at Cortland, Miller spent a year as an intern with the sports information office where he wrote press releases, created media guides, updated record books, edited photos, provided in-game statistical coverage as well as maintaining the department web site.

Miller earned both his bachelor's and master's degrees in Sports Management from SUNY Cortland and assumes the reigns of the Rams softball program that went 21-20 in 2014 advancing to the championship game of the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Tournament.

Kern has spent the past eight years as the girls' varsity soccer coach at Holliston High School. During her time at Holliston, Kern's Panthers were league champions in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2013.  She has coached players who have gone on to play at all three levels of the NCAA.  In addition to her duties overseeing the Panthers varsity, junior varsity and freshman programs at Holliston, Kern is the director of the Panther Premier Soccer Camp.

Graduating from Framingham State in 2003 with a degree in human services, Kern was the Rams starting goalkeeper for four years and compiled a 53-17-3 record in net as the team won three MASCAC Regular Season Championships, two MASCAC Tournament Championships and made the program's first three appearances in the NCAA Tournament.  She holds eight women's soccer records and received multiple honors from the conference including being named the MASCAC Women's Soccer Rookie of the Year in 1998 and to the All-Conference team multiple times.

Kern, who also was a member of the softball team at Framingham State, was a two time all-conference selection in softball as an outfielder.  She finished her softball career holding six individual records including the Rams record for hits which has since been broken. 

After finishing her playing career at Framingham State, Kern played soccer for the Gold Coast League in Australia and has coached for club teams including the Boston Breakers, the PUMA Football Club and the New England Football Club.

Kern takes over the Rams women's soccer program that captured the 2013 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) regular season title and earned the fourth seed in the ECAC Tournament.