ability. For conspiracy theorists, if Radebaugh’s faceoff proficiency for Johns Hopkins had any influence on the voting base of opposing coaches, it didn’t work out for them. The Blue Jays won their second of three straight NCAA championships in 1979, going 13-0 with an average margin of victory of 8.3 goals. “If we could have made one rule change, that would have been
the one,” said Huntley, who led the Jays with 22 goals that year. “It effectively ensured that the other team would have to play 6-on-6 on us, and we were really good in the half-field. By eliminating any chance for possession advantage, it wasn’t going to work well for people.” Steve Stenersen, now the president and CEO of
US Lacrosse, was a high school senior at St. Paul’s (Md.) and a midfielder who faced off in 1978. He was headed to play at North Carolina. After getting injured during a fall scrimmage, he saw limited time on the Tar Heels’ extra-man offense that spring. But he said the year without faceoffs was awkward, strange and comical at times. “It completely impeded the flow of the game, it seemed,” Stenersen said. “There was something considerably missing. It was incredibly orchestrated and awkward. I don’t know that anybody liked it.” An unintended long-term consequence was the evolution of long-
[faceoffs] make big changes in games,” Maryland’s Charlie Raffa said. “It’s all on one person’s shoulders, so it’s a big role to play. Obviously I like it the way it is, but everybody has their own opinion whether they want to have it or not.” Notre Dame coach Kevin Corrigan said after the Irish’s two-goal
It was
incredibly orchestrated and awkward I don’t know that anybody liked it.
stick midfielders. Teams started putting six long poles on the field, a trend that continued even when the NCAA reinstated faceoffs the following year. Punch in the 1980 NCAA championship game between Johns Hopkins and Virginia on YouTube, and you’ll see it. As an assistant at Loyola in 1983, Huntley recalled scouting a Rutgers-Penn game and counting 18 poles on the field, nine on each side. Eventually, in 1986 the NCAA limited the amount of long sticks on the field to five per team, and then to four in 1989. The great faceoff debate has raged on, bridging two centuries.
Most publicly, Syracuse coach John Desko, whose team has struggled to win faceoffs in recent years, said before the start of the 2014 season, “I don’t mean it as a knock, but you probably have the team’s worst lacrosse player being the most important player on the field. You have a guy that doesn’t play offense or defense, but may have the most effect on the outcome.” Faceoff men predictably don’t see it that way. “I could see why those coaches say that, too, because
loss to Duke in the NCAA championship game that he thought Blue Devils faceoff man Brendan Fowler went early on a key faceoff in the waning moments with Duke ahead by one. Critics say it’s a common problem with faceoff specialists who are so good, it looks like they’re ahead of the whistle, even if they’re not. Others bemoan techniques that force rules tweaks or considerations every two-year NCAA cycle. The debate has come a long way since a picture
of former Delaware All-American Alex Smith palming a ball during a 2007 regular season game led to that action being ruled an unsportsmanlike penalty. Three “early” violations per half result in a man-down penalty, a rule implemented two years ago. The NCAA men’s rules committee meets this month to discuss changes for 2015. “As much as I hate all the cheating that goes on with the faceoff game, I still think that it’s an exciting
part of the game,” said Tierney, who will sit in on the meetings as the Intercollegiate Men’s Lacrosse Coaches Association’s liaison to the rules committee. “You can get some momentum from it. I just wish we could clean it up. I wish it a little easier for the refs. All the coaches know their kids are cheating and everyone allows it.” In the final seconds of this year’s title game, after a timeout
with Duke in possession, Blue Devils speedy attackman Jordan Wolf won a footrace to an empty goal off a restart to provide the final margin. If it were 1979, without a faceoff, it probably would have looked very similar. Since Notre Dame midfielder Sergio Perkovic scored to pull the Irish within 10-9, Duke would have started with the ball with 49 seconds to go. Pencil 6-foot- 4, 240-pound midfielder Myles Jones in for starting play in the center circle, and feeding to Wolf, who could kill time or go to the goal. Which brings us to the
next big hot topic: the shot clock. LM
TIME FOR A SHOT CLOCK?
When the NCAA men’s rules committee convenes this month in Indianapolis, no topic will be more prevalent than a potential shot clock starting with the 2015 season. Two years ago, the committee introduced a 30-second manual countdown after a stall warning, as determined by the officials’ discretion. There has been no visible clock on the field, a point of consternation. The IMLCA recommended to the rules committee a physical clock be used last season on an experimental basis, but it was not adopted. Was the timer-on measure a fine stopgap to an inventible hard shot clock or has it done enough to speed up the game, as intended?
A Publication of US Lacrosse
“We’re one foot in, one foot out,” Ohio State coach Nick Myers said. “You needed to do this to get enough people on board, but I there’s enough frustration where people realize you have to have a visible clock, whether it’s a shot clock or visible clock so officials aren’t counting down. We’ll see where it goes. We’re going to be in the shot clock era. It’s just how fast do we get there?”
How long, in more ways than one. Major League Lacrosse uses a 60-second clock, but times ranging from 30 to 90 seconds have been suggested for the college level. And what are the side effects? The most obvious, to coaches, is the increased
use of zone defenses. MLL has used a shot clock since its inaugural 2001 season, but also implemented a 2-point line to provide the offense an additional threat. “A shot clock is for the defense.
It’s not for the offense,” Denver coach Bill Tierney said. “You might see the zones take over for a while. On the other hand, I believe teams will get better offensively. They’ll practice more against zones, see more zones or have to push the ball more. … I do think it’s coming. We’ll see. It’s not going to speed the game up. But what it is going to do, for the officials and fans, will be a better situation.” — C.M.
August 2014 >> LACROSSE MAGAZINE 47
©SHUTTERSTOCK
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