His Space // editorial
COOL IT ON THE HOT-SEAT TALK
W
ill you please settle down? Lacrosse people must be the jumpiest in sports.
You’re nervous because your
son is in ninth grade and not a single college coach has contacted him. You’re worried about getting your teenager into that showcase recruiting camp. You’re uneasy about concussions (with good reason). College coaches are recruiting 14- year olds. You’re taking
the fun out of it. You’re doing fi ne, but you can’t relax long enough to enjoy it. Worst of all are
those who panic if things
aren’t perfect. If your team doesn’t win the championship, you fi re the coach, right? I hope not. I know a lot of the college men’s coaches and a few of the women’s. I’ve watched them for years, often when they’re under terrible pressure. My opinion: You’re lucky to have most of them. When Syracuse was upset by
Bryant in the fi rst round of the NCAA playoffs, a few Internet sages suggested it was time for John Desko to go. Puh-lease! Bryant is capable of knocking off anyone. The thought of fi ring Desko is laughable. Desko is exactly where he should
be, coaching at his alma mater, producing a team every year that’s a top threat to win the national championship. His teams have won fi ve of them since he succeeded the legendary Roy Simmons Jr. in 1999. Desko, like Simmons, is a gentleman. And poor Dave Pietramala. Poor
anybody who coaches at Johns Hopkins and doesn’t win the NCAA championship. At most schools, they hope to win a title. At Johns Hopkins, they almost expect it.
laxmagazine.com
Pietramala’s teams have won two of them. No coach in lacrosse works harder than he does. In 2013, when the Blue Jays
failed to qualify for the playoffs for the fi rst time in 40 years, it did not surprise me that a few skittish people suggested a coaching change. Pietramala is like Desko, right where he belongs at the school where he once was a great player. I disagree with the critics who
now are after Joe Breschi at North Carolina. When Breschi was the coach at Ohio State, I went to see his team play UMBC. I sat right behind his bench and watched his sideline manner and interaction with his players. After the game, I told him if I had a team, he could be my coach. He still could be. I once said the same thing to Penn State coach Jeff Tambroni, when he was at Cornell. Over the years, I have come
to know a lot of North Carolina players, parents and alumni. They love Breschi. They love him as a coach and as a man, and not just because he once was an All- American defenseman at North Carolina. The Tar Heels were eliminated
from the NCAA playoffs this year by Denver. I can’t imagine a more diffi cult fi rst-round opponent. Tierney won six championships at Princeton. Now he has created a perennial fi nal four contender at Denver. In truth, John Danowski has
been running a coaching tutorial at Duke. Eight straight fi nal fours. Three of the last fi ve NCAA titles. He and Duke are the gold standard now. It’s no coincidence Danowski is the most relaxed coach of them all. LM
— Bill Tanton
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