A Conversation with Frostburg State University Lacrosse Coach – Steve Gartelman

SPEAKER_03 0:19

Welcome back to another episode of In the Crease, a coast-to-coast discussion of D2 Men's lacrosse. I'm your co-host, Kevin Stenstrom, and with me as always is Danny Moran, another passionate D2 lacrosse fan. Hello, Mr. Moran.

SPEAKER_02 0:34

Mr. Stenstrom, how are you doing tonight?

SPEAKER_03 0:36

I am all right. I am all right. I'm upright and happy to be back. Happy to be back talking about D2 Men's La Crosse. And our guest tonight actually coaches at the closest D2 Men's La Crosse program to where I live in Northern Virginia. So I was kind of looking forward to having that kind of hometown feel tonight on this episode. But ironically, ironically, I am actually on business travel in the great state of Texas. Oh boy. As you can imagine, is far cry from that hometown feel, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:12

No doubt.

SPEAKER_03 1:13

No doubt. But, you know, as my wife reminds me often, this is not all about me. And that's not why I'm really excited to have this conversation either. How many times does she tell you that? Does she say that a lot? Um maybe daily. And probably half the time I deserve it. So there you go, you know. Um it's really because, you know, this coach coaches in another very strong conference, the ECC. And he actually transitioned his program from D3 to D2, which is why we're privileged to welcome Coach Steve Gardelman of Frostburg State University. Hey coach, how are you doing tonight?

SPEAKER_01 1:55

Good guys. Thank you so much for having me.

SPEAKER_02 1:57

Hey coach, thanks for coming on tonight. Really appreciate you taking the time. I know the team's there. You guys have started going. You got a couple of minutes to spend with us, and we really appreciate it. Thank you. My pleasure, fellas.

SPEAKER_03 2:11

Yeah, so uh let me start with this because we talked about this at the beginning. Um, you know, if I look at your bio, and I did not know that you started off at St. John's, but if you look at, you know, you played at Limestone, you coached at Lake Erie, now you're at Frostburg State, and it seems to me that you have that D2 blood in you. Why is that? And what draws you to stay in D2?

SPEAKER_01 2:36

Yeah, um, I certainly reflected my experience a lot where I enjoyed what I had when I found Limestone after my time at St. John's and enjoyed St. John's, but the niche was right for me at Limestone. And that's what I think it is that you know, D2 finds that right fit. It's somewhere in between the this and that, the Division I, the Division II. Um, and that's kind of our mold, our model in Division II, which is life in balance. You know, we're gonna be able to train through the entire year, the full fall semester. We have limitations, but we're able to do it in the spring. It opens up a bit more and we're able to do it. We don't have the winter training together, but we work in setting them workouts and the summer as well. Um, but we're there to talk and support and help the guys out through the whole year. We like to be involved as a coaching staff, but not to consume. I think that's the model of division too, and that's why I like it is we're fully included in what they do in daily and lacrosse wise, but um, we're not the biggest piece of the puzzle in their college experience.

SPEAKER_03 3:31

That is an interesting perspective you just bring right now to that. And we haven't really talked about that before. We we focus so much on what you're doing in the program, but that balance I think is important for a lot of people. Uh, one of the coaches also said to us that um D2, unlike a lot of programs in D3, really the administrations get behind it, and what you have to offer from an athletic program, what you have to offer in that program from facilities and whatnot, is very close and akin to D1. Would you agree with that?

SPEAKER_01 4:07

I would say for the for the majority, yes. Um, you know, there's certainly a lot of incredible Division III facilities, and I do think Frostburg was fortunate to be one of those that was prepared for this move because of what we already kind of had with successful football and basketball and uh soccer programs. So our facilities are are in that boat. But I do think Division II kind of usually has you know a lot to provide in that sense. Weight room that's an athletics-only weight room, usually, a strength staff on staff, a full-time strength staff to train those student athletes. Um, a lot of things that go along with that. Um, trainers that travel because of certain requirements in Division II that go with contact sports. So you do see that. You also see you know the other guys uh in division two that are finding their way and you know breaking through and and maybe don't have all of it, um, but but find their way to make the most and embrace those opportunities and still compete, even though they don't have it. So you get to see a bit of everything, which again it kind of shows that balance where it's a unique opportunity in D2 to play across the country, whole East Coast, now get into the West Coast, um, but to also again not be consumed by the cross. Uh and maybe you have a small school that's a thousand students playing Division II, or maybe you have a bigger school that's five, six, seven thousand students playing D2. So it's a very wide spectrum of both facilities and opportunities. So uh kids can identify with something that they like at that level in a lot of different ways.

SPEAKER_02 5:30

That's awesome. That's excellent.

SPEAKER_03 5:34

Yeah, it's like you said, being able to find that niche, which you can do across the spectrum of D2. And so going into that, and like I told you, my son was recruited by Frostburg State um back in 2017, 2018. And I remember looking at the facilities there, and I totally agree with you. The facilities of Frostburg State are pretty top-notch, in my opinion, what they offered to the student athlete, um, along with the education. Can you just give us some insight on what it was like to transition that program from D3 to D2? Um, and may I don't know, maybe there's some there's some disadvantages, but what were the advantages that occurred and and what did you see maybe even from a recruiting or a competition? Uh, you were in a tough competition in D3 as well. So I I'm just curious your your insight in that transition.

SPEAKER_01 6:28

Yeah. How much time do you guys have? There's a lot to open up with that one. Um both sides point. Um, you know, a lot of positives that came from it, a lot of things that we had to go through the learning curve and kind of take some lumps here and there, and we knew that was gonna be part of the process. Um, one of the things I'd like to you know kind of start with that really, you know, I was one year as a division three coach as we made the transition, and then I got to, you know, go back to my roots, so to say, in the division two. Um, but in that year in division three, I got to do a couple of uh facility uh events and I was working with uh Coach Childs from St. Mary's, and he had some really insightful things that I think is a positive of us transitioning from three to two uh and kind of helped us become competitive really early. Um, because in division three, the way he spoke of it, um, and I'm gonna paraphrase this is the best I can quote him, um, but this is his message that I really appreciated when he mentioned it was Division III, you know, you find leaders in division three because a lot of kids and programs have to do more on their own because the fall ball is limited to certain days. Um so you find people who want to do more on their own, they want to lift, they want to shoot, they get people to go with them. And that's a really special quality for sports in general. Um, but if a lacrosse program, that's really nice. So we had a lot of that as a pretty successful division three program in one of the best, if not the best, division three conference that there is, um, playing some incredible teams and you know, competing with them in our opinion. So we thought we had that leadership, some of those guys who wanted it, that intrinsic motivation. And then you switch to Division II, where we do get the chance to coach them and ask more of them and you know have certain accountability and stuff. Um, and they want that, you know, so they welcome that. And that was a welcome change to you know, guys kind of have to find it. Now it's hey, we've got this plan for you. Now you get to do it with us, not just the five guys, 45, 50 guys are there doing it. I think that was a a huge plus for us to be successful early was that intrinsic motivation that's there, translating to matching it with what the coaches were saying and um you know, matching that with the opportunity, not that Coach Pierce and those guys weren't. It's just we get a chance to coach more in Division II with time available in the model. So um, I was really happy to see that in our guys. I think that reflected a lot in what we were able to do early because of their mindset.

SPEAKER_02 8:44

That's interesting. I didn't know that there was a difference between D3 and D2 in the fall, with as far as ours were concerned. I did not know that. That's interesting. So I guess the players kind of bought right into that right away. You know, that now they're hanging out, they're playing more lacrosse, you know, they're they're going up, they're doing drills, and you know, they're playing offense and defense, and they're getting after it in the fall, where I guess they didn't have that. I that's got to be a total plus, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 9:12

Yeah, and there's certainly there was a few quality, really quality student athletes, great lacrosse players and great kids that coaches is the model for me. I I really you know focused on my academics, and it was a great balance I had doing that. And I worked out when it worked for me. And there's there's certain people that identify with that, and that's great. Um, so some kids did make their you know transition out, and that's where we took some lumps where some kids just don't identify with that. You know, you expect some overturn there. Um, I will say fortunately a few, not a lot, but you know, the the kids you don't want to lose still may choose to do so, and um, we had to go with those curves. And I think the culture helped come overcome that where next guy up was ready to go because we, you know, we're in that good mindset of compete, train, and whoever stepped up was just ready to get the reps and go to work.

SPEAKER_02 10:00

Yeah, I I come from that school. Uh you dance with who you come to the dance with, you know. So that's I get that. That's pretty cool.

unknown 10:09

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 10:10

Your coach, you coached at Lake Erie for several years, and then you came to Frostburg. Any any changes in what you see there from what you were at that went in, I guess it was the GMAC. Was it the GMAC then with Lake Erie and then going to E ECC?

SPEAKER_01 10:23

Correct, yeah. Um, so on that note, Frostburg, we're actually pretty fortunate to play both conferences every year. We have an agreement to play at a full GMAC, you know, full ECC schedule. Um, you know, so I I still get a little familiar, um, you know, rivals and friends and foes, and um, I do miss that. But uh in Lake Erie, you know, it's it's not as much travel with that conference. It's a bit closer, a bit more geographically located in um, you know, that Great Lakes Midwest area with a few West Virginia schools that were slightly further. The ECC for us, the ECC is somewhat locale, but us in University of District of Columbia, we've got some further trips that um that play a factor in coming from the CAC, which everything was two, three hours, you know, maybe one five-hour drive to uh Salisbury or so. Um that was an adjustment for our student athletes to to know what how many overnight trips and what that's like. So um the travel and stuff was a big change for D3 to D2 from conference to conference. Competitiveness. You know, I I it's really incredible to see some of these schools in the ECC that um you know are growing and getting going. It's Roberts Wesley and punched us in the mouth a few times over in that game. And you know, we we came out just barely on top, but um they they really have climbed the ranks and uh I think I'm become a really strong team. Had a guy get drafted top first round, I think, in the NL the NLL. So teams in the ET conference are who have been good or staying good, and there's some really good teams growing in. So we got to fill in the LAU post spot, so to say, when they transitioned. Um we got to make in the conference, you know, in our opinion. Um, but we got University uh Diouville or Diouville College, I think it is adding in. So there's growth in that conference as well. It's got some new teams coming out.

SPEAKER_02 12:07

That's great. You know, we we talk a lot about the growth of Division II lacrosse in your last eight to ten years. How is the growth? How what do you see in the growth at D2?

SPEAKER_01 12:21

Yeah, uh, I've gotten to go to convention and kind of be a part of it first couple of years as an assistant, just soaking it in and kind of being a little shocked by some is some of the conversations that coaches have, you know, learning what the coaching profession is, not just lacrosse. There's a lot more business and talks that go with it that's really important to giving the kids a chance to play the way that you know they deserve to play. Um, so it's really cool to see how it evolved because when I was at Lake Erie, um they were re-adjusting the regions, they were uh moving teams around from north to south. And at the time, Lake Erie was South region, you know, competing with Tampa and Limestone for South Units and Cleveland. So seeing that growth of putting teams in spots where they more or less belong geographically for competitive balance, um, which also means that the South has grown their numbers and the West has come into a factor that you know we almost want to see Western conferences or Western regions in that Ensublay playoff model. You know, that's what we're kind of asking for as it goes forward. So the growth has been rapid and it's been healthy now, finding uh kind of coming back to D2 balance where North and South are competitive and balanced in numbers. Um and we're working our way west with teams that are also competitive.

SPEAKER_02 13:37

Um they are competitive out the West. You know, we've had a couple of coaches come on, um, we had Westminster come on. We just talked about the West and Utah and Colorado and just how the game is just exploding out there. And then, like these Midwest conferences, you know, are you know, the Lake Erie conference, those conferences they're they're getting stronger and stronger every year. They're getting ranked teams now, and it's just the game is exploding. And now here you are in Frostburg State, you know, you go from division three to division two, and you come out of you guys came out of the gate. You guys came out of the gate running hard, man. You guys were a good squad. You you have a lot of uh good things going on at Frostburg. You got those Maryland kids, you got a good lacrosse base where you are. Tell us about that.

SPEAKER_01 14:29

Yeah, um, our our guys, we we were ready to kind of make a name for ourselves. That was they they're ready to, so to say, plant the flag. That's kind of one of our mottos is we want Frostburg to be known. Not as the new kids on the block. We want to plant the flag so people see our logo and say that's that's a good team, that's Frostburg. We we have to climb a mountain to do so. You know, and they came with that mindset of working and competing. So really proud of them to do that. Um sorry to kind of trail off. What was the other part of your question? Um, if you can remind me.

SPEAKER_02 14:57

Just like, what do you think about the growth of overall in the D2, especially you know, in the last five years? Just just the growth of like the conferences and and and the parody between the conferences, how they're getting kind of closer together, and you're getting these Midwestern teams and you know, the ECAC teams and the ECC teams, they're all putting good squads out there, you know. And what do you think about that? You know, like you you you you must like and enjoy going against those big boys on a on a you know, week in and week out, you know.

SPEAKER_01 15:33

Yeah, no, absolutely. And you know, that mindset that we were coming out with to plant the flag, that is not to just win games. That's we wanted to play the toughest conference. We wanted to play the tougher schedule, the toughest Alex conference schedule. We wanted to play all the teams that would make us a known team. Um, and and those teams are now in the south, in the north, Lyndon Wood, like you mentioned, Westminster, W Indy, um, Tampa, St. Leo, Lynn, a young, explosive team. Um, all the Carolina, it's every state's got this little powerhouse program, a few new ones that are growing. And we get to kind of settle into a uh incredible state in Maryland for lacrosse as the only Division II in one of the best states for lacrosse. So we're blessed with that recruiting-wise, we're blessed with that, you know, for opportunities to scrimmage and play. Um, you know, so we really think our our our program is just getting started, and you know, COVID was tough, but um we think we did get to plant the flag a little bit and make ourselves somewhat known, and um we we hope to continue.

SPEAKER_03 16:35

Yeah, I think that's where Danny began with with that. You said, and you you said it, you know, if people don't know where Frostburg State is, it's in western Maryland. I mean, it is a stone's throw from West Virginia, right? But you are actually centrally located because you can recruit from all of Maryland, Northern Virginia, which you know, Maryland's up more of a hotbed than Northern Virginia, but there's good players in Northern Virginia, Pennsylvania, which is right at your doorstep as well. And and you can pull in some really good talent from all of that to then compete.

SPEAKER_01 17:11

Without question, we're probably 60, you know, 65% Maryland on our team, which it's a good, you know, local, you know. I was told by my my coach when I was starting to get into coaching, uh, Coach Mike Sereno at Lime Stone is make sure you recruit your backyard. We've got one of the best backyards to recruit, so we want to have a lot of guys. Um, but we can we tap York, Hershey, Pittsburgh, uh, a little bit of Ohio, Columbus. It's still close enough to drive half a day. Northern Virginia is absolutely close enough, and all those are you know, four or five-hour circle. That's very reasonable for families to get to. Um, but we got to find the right kid for out here. If somebody wants Starbucks in every other corner, it's it's not gonna be Frostburg. And you know, we're honest about that.

SPEAKER_00 17:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:54

Uh it's a spot you have mountains and and woods and wildlife and um a smaller town feel, which the guys who are here love it and thrive in and allows them to have life and balance uh from our perspective. But but some people want a little more action, and that's okay as well.

SPEAKER_03 18:09

Yeah, it's funny you say that. So when my son was being recruited, um it's a beautiful area, first of all, and we love the town. But we were we were so ready to uh come and hang out in some of the bed and breakfast and walk the the streets for for breakfast and and dinner. Unfortunately, our son went a different route, but uh I think you're right. I think it's got a unique, uh, a very unique blend um that you can that you can tout to the to those, especially those kids who who don't need a a big city and like the outdoors, um, frostburg is an excellent environment.

SPEAKER_01 18:46

Yeah, without question. And and one of the majors we have, um several uh are kind of tied to, but wildlife and fisheries is an incredible, unique major that ties into the area really well. Um, where kids are going out and tagging owls for tracking at night and and they're um testing the water runoff set of mines for quality and how to restore riverbanks. Um so they're getting out there in that program. I think that's really cool. We've got a guy from San Francisco on the team because of that major. You know, that's that's how our conversation.

SPEAKER_02 19:14

I saw him on your roster today. I was gonna ask you about him. How'd you get in? So they answer my answer. There's my answer. But that's really cool, coach. That's cool. Tell me more about Frostburg State. Tell me more.

SPEAKER_01 19:27

Yeah. Um, you know, so the the school itself, you know, I like to say a medium-sized school, but that's that's a little too easy to say. Um, it's 4,000 or so students, 4,516 or 17 to 1 is our student-to-teacher ratio. So you got a good sized student body, good sized faculty base. So nothing's really gonna be, you know, where you're in a class where you can't see a professor all the way down the lecture hall. Um, so that's what we really like, where there's a balance and you can get close with the right people, but you're also not gonna be a fish in the tank seeing the same fish walking by every day. Um, it it is a place, like you mentioned, that kind of has to find your own fun. You have to be able to get out and do a little bit. And and our guys love to get out and fly fish and trout fish and have cooks. Um, a couple of guys get a deer or something or a turkey and they have a little cookout. Um, it's also a little welcoming part of town, or the town is very welcoming in the sense that uh the college town thrives when the college is in session. They don't dread the college kids coming back to town. They actually welcome them with block party where they shut down Main Street, that nice little bed and breakfast walk. Um, they put a little DJ out there and they say, Hey, welcome back to campus. And um, you know, their businesses do well, but also the college kids can kind of see this is a welcoming town. Um, so that's what I really like about our campus and our town together working working well. And we've got great administration and great facilities as we've kind of spoken to. And the facilities are here because the administration realizes that we need certain things to be competitive, and the athletics um isn't the only one that gets that. The drama department has an incredible performance arts center. Our engineering department at the University of Maryland, they have a great, great lab facility up at the top of campus. Um, so we've got some really unique majors, some incredible facilities, and it's just a place that's trying to continue to look at what's next, which is why I think that division two change what was really important. There's you know, some changes happen in the CAC, which you know we're we're a part of the changes. Um, but I think we've put ourselves in a really stable spot with the C uh ECC um and Division II for Frostburg is just a really good fit. And um I think that the kids are really enjoying their time training, competing, but nothing's changed at the campus. And the professors understand that this is a Division II school now, that was an education process, but um you know that is all understood, and everything's going really smooth for a lot of programs. So I think you're gonna see not just lacrosse, but a couple of our other schools and uh programs in the school really start to pick up as well as D2 makes more sense for some of them as well. That's fantastic, that's fantastic.

SPEAKER_03 21:52

Yes, and so you started to touch on it, coach, when you said, you know, kind of what the what kind of student. Are drawn and players are drawn to Frostburg. But what do you look for in an athlete, a recruit, to bring in? What are you and what kind of culture are you trying to build at Frostburg State?

SPEAKER_01 22:15

Yeah, love this question. Appreciate the culture piece of it too. I think that's a huge portion of what we try to do at Frostburg. We focus on the people first. I've learned in my my time as a lacrosse coach from coaches, but also from experience that while I signed up to be in the lacrosse business, I'm in the people business. And lacrosse is how I get to work with my people. So we want guys that think that way, that focus on there's something bigger than lacrosse, but lacrosse is my passion. So we want guys that have some other activities and some other balances in their endeavors for what they're looking for and what they do. Lacrosse wise, though, we want, and we don't really have a prototype. If you're 6'2, 185, yeah, I'm sure we're gonna drool over that and love it. If you're 5'8 and 165 and all quick and strong, and you you play lacrosse well, I'll start drooling over that too, and everything above and beyond and in between. That's what I think is beautiful about the game of lacrosse is every position across the field, every body type and athlete, athlete type can find their role to be successful in this sport. Um, so I really think that's that's something to consider of, you know, seeing what may work. We don't try to just, he graduated, fill him in with the same type of person. We're always looking for a quality player that's going to fit our culture. And if that's different lacrosse, so be it. We'll evolve our lacrosse to it. Um, so we're looking for guys offensively that are dynamic. Obviously, you have to break down matchups, you have to be somewhat dynamic, and that can come in many forms size and strength, speed and quickness, whatever that may be. Um, dynamic ability is important. You can't quite teach some of that. You can train to get better, can't quite teach all the dynamic ability. Um, motor, that's something we look for a lot because another thing you can't entirely teach, it's someone's desire to work hard, to do when you're you know a little bit gassed or when it's not easy to do it. We you try to find those character things in energy and effort. Um body language. Um, you know, one of the things that we say here is no schlep rock, it's something that's from Roanoke. Um and something our body language, you know, and making sure that you know it's natural to have human emotion, you know, but don't let it become an issue, don't let it become known, don't let it become this big scene. Talk about things, you know, let it out if you need to, but but don't dwell on that stuff and don't let it become a negative. Um, you know, so if there's guys that maybe are trying to sub in through the box, the offense scores, or they let a Dimity to play a two-way run and they kind of throw their palms up, we might notice that, but that might not be the culture that we're looking for. And that's not to be see we're gonna rule somebody out because we see something across the field, but that goes into the notes and the plus and minuses. And we want to look for guys that fit the culture because then the lacrosse will take care of itself. Um, you know, defensively, we want aggression, you know, controlled aggression that's things that you know, some guys feel comfortable trying to press out to the 45-yard line. Some guys feel more comfortable playing inside and and playing their cushion. And there's no wrong way about defense, but within our model, if we didn't have a prototype, it's someone who identifies with go versus cushion, um, because that's something that's I think hard to teach as well. Um, so that's just kind of the nuts and bolts of offense defense, but it's really gonna be about the person, the right fit for the school, and that culture base of are they identifying with the certain things that we say, you know, in our standards of culture, which we we do have a list of standards that was made by the team that you know we believe in.

SPEAKER_03 25:35

So when you say it was made by the team, how did that go? Is it you know it was it was something you developed with with the players?

SPEAKER_01 25:44

Yeah. Uh I'm a believer. I obviously, as the head coach, I'll have to put my foot down in certain moments. I make decisions that I believe are invested by the team. Um, but I want that with information from the team so I can think that my decision is invested with confidence. So I want to have dialogue with the guys, and one of the things that we do is obviously it's open door policy, and we have that in nature, which I think every coach acts that way and wants to talk to their team. Um but one of the things that we do is our captains are voted on by the team, but then halfway through the fall, once we know each other, we vote to have a leadership council, and that's two first year guys, two sophomores, two juniors, two seniors, that we kind of bump into a captaincy, so to say. It's kind of like a system.

SPEAKER_02 26:29

Leadership role, like a leadership role.

SPEAKER_01 26:32

Yeah, we we call it the leadership committee. Um and they will meet with the captains, they'll meet with the coaches and kind of help us with hey, where do we want to eat on road trips? How what days do we need to do study hall? What community service projects are we passionate about? Help us guide our efforts that will actually be bought into and purposeful. Um, and also they help me with if I have an idea about a road trip or practice times, hey coach, that's for the on-campus at the cafeteria, you know, and sometimes we forget this so they can help make sure we're not making something that is important. Um, so the way we went about it is we got that leadership council together, and it was my first year with the program, and I was a big believer that the ship wasn't broken, this thing was floating and sailing straight. I was just jumping on board. Um, so I wanted to make sure that I added my piece of the puzzle, I added value to the program, but I didn't want to rock this thing completely. It was it was doing good stuff. So we went through a little activity to kind of identify where we've been before me, with me. And then from that, we kind of went to where we do we want to go and how do we want to behave and act. Um, so the guys in a healthy conversation, you know, the pluses and minuses that we went through in the first two columns, identified the pluses we wanted to focus on, and that became our understanding of culture, stage drama the past three or so years. Um really proud of those and the guys they talk to them, they they they bring that up on their own, so they believe in it too.

SPEAKER_02 27:53

That's awesome, coach. That's that's phenomenal. I gotta say, I I learned a lot tonight about Frostburg. Uh I didn't know much about him. I'm gonna be honest with you. I've been involved in the D2 game for about 10, 12 years now. Uh, my oldest went to St. Leo. Um, my middle guy went to Wingate, and uh my youngest is uh committed to go to a D2 school. He's a senior, and um just just what's been going on in the last 10 or 12 years in Division II, I'm seeing so much better lacrosse. I'm seeing high-quality men at these lacrosse institutions. But I didn't know much about Frostburg State. I have to be honest with you. And coach, I'm really impressed with what you have going on there, with the what the school does, um, the different majors. Um, you know, some some sometimes these uh young recruits they don't know what they want. You know, they they don't know. And they don't know that, you know, they there might be an engineering program at Frostburg State. Or, you know, they don't maybe you got a kid that's into fishing and he doesn't know that Frostburg State, you know, a lot of guys hang out and go fly fishing and do that kind of thing. So I think tonight this podcast is gonna go out to a lot of people. They're gonna learn a lot about Frostburg State, um, and just and just bringing the the D2, you know, world to Frostburg State, you know, and I think tonight you did a really good job of uh explaining to me at least what Frostburg State's all about. And uh it's really I I'm impressed very much so.

SPEAKER_01 29:36

Well, thank you very much for that. It's uh it's a place that you know I I came here because I believe in it. And you know, we've got a family growing here now. Uh I got a young eight-month-old that um is carrying his lacrosse stick around the house. And all right. Oh, so we're we're ready to you know see this thing grow, and and and I say that because I believe it's it's just getting started. So I'm I appreciate that uh you had me on here and let me speak a little bit about Frosper because um we think we're a young Division II program, but not a young program. And uh, you know, we're hoping to show that and we hope that people you know come and check us out a little bit, come watch some games. Our games are live streamed, you can catch them online. Um, there's some highlights online from previous games if anyone's interested. But uh, you know, we're out here in Western Maryland, we're up in the mountain. We call ourselves mountain men, and uh, you know, that's what we had. If people like that kind of stuff, we we think you'd like it out here. It's green uh in the in the spring and summer, it's beautiful in the fall, and it's white in the winter. Um, and if you like those kinds of seasons, it's a beautiful, beautiful spot. So I really appreciate you guys letting me share my two cents. And uh anytime you guys want to chat, I'd love to get on and spit lacrosse because uh I can go all night. Well, I'll tell you. Sounds good, man.

SPEAKER_03 30:43

Yeah, I'll tell you, we uh we've offered this to other coaches and we offer it to you. Come, you know, when it's a seat when in the season, you know, maybe have you on for a few minutes to see how the how the season's going for you after a game. It won't be as long of a discussion, though. It's I know you're busy now, you get even busier then. So, but you know, get a little information to see how things are going. We would really appreciate that.

SPEAKER_01 31:05

Yeah, I'd certainly be for that. Um just got up, I'll find the time. Uh, at that point in the spring, uh we'll we'll have uh a much better practice schedule than these late nights that I have. So I appreciate you guys being flexible with me from you know the the usual schedule you do to get me on here tonight. So I'd be all for that. You name the time and place, and we'll make it work.

SPEAKER_02 31:23

Oh no, we're honored to have you on for sure. Hey, hey Kev, we didn't tell everybody that you know coach was a former goalie, you know, and uh I I I have a little thing about goalies. I just like goalies, man. And uh coach has a you know pretty good pedigree at limestone. He's he set some records there, and you know, he's he went up and got his MBA at Lake Erie and you know got us put into the coaching business up there and and has formed this you know former Division III powerhouse team into now a Division II team that is going to be reckoned with, I think, in the future. I mean, these last I know last season with the COVID and everything was kind of crazy, and even the 2020 season wasn't what it should have been. But tell us about this season. What do you see about this season? Uh will you be traveling? Um, are the kids hanging together again? Because I know in COVID you couldn't have you know kids in the in the gym at one time, or you know, or they they weren't going to the chicken wing place and hanging out on Saturday night. How's that looking this this year for you guys?

SPEAKER_01 32:31

Yeah, um it's it's certainly not a gone consideration. Um, you know, we still have to be smart and be safe and we still have some procedures in place, but it's a much better life that we're living this this semester than previous semesters as far as daily stress and and daily requirements. Um guys are still wearing masks indoors and they're you know doing a part of that. But in the past, we used to have to say, you know, no more than five people in the wall ball room at a time, um, no more than this number of people in the locker room at a time, and do certain things and have some pod practices where we split up so we can if we do have a shutdown, it's half the team, the other half goes. And um, you know, now vaccinations being you know a big piece of the puzzle and you know testing being available and routine, um, you know, somewhat practiced now, and um it's going a lot smoother. So there's no limitations that way. We had you know X number of guys in the wobble room day one, which is great. I'm walking down the hallway and you know, just kind of hear some balls studding off the wall, and you look in and it's it's half the first year guys and a couple of seniors, and you're like, that's incredible.

SPEAKER_02 33:32

Awesome. Awesome.

SPEAKER_01 33:33

They had a little barbecue together, you know, the first day to kind of welcome the first year guys and their families. The parents came out to that as well. Um, so that was really nice to see. Um, so it's as normal as normals can be right now. Um we've got four, we've got the the guys, uh a couple in their fifth year, we've got guys back, and um you know that that leadership thing that we've talked about. We've got guys who are still in that division three year that are in their senior year or junior year, um, at this moment as D2 guys now, but they still have that what can I do more? What can I do better? That intrinsic motivation that is is absolutely contagious. So uh it's pretty fun to see these guys lifting, and I'm just kind of walking in this sweat pouring off from them as they're walking into the weight room and um you know that they're together and working. You know, that's a really fun experience to see it. Um again, COVID's in the rear view mirror, but it's still there somewhere. Um we gotta be aware of that and you know what can change, but it's it's been a really fun couple of weeks just feeling normal again.

SPEAKER_03 34:29

Yeah, and unfortunately, I think COVID is somewhat like that the side view mirror where it says objects are closer than they appear. Um, and sometimes it's coming back at us, and we have to deal with that. But you know, that's one of the things that we when we've talked to other coaches of it's really great to see that things are coming back a little bit more to normal because I think from a team aspect, you know, to foster that team spirit, you need that time together. Instead of going to, like you said, five guys in the weight room and then they're back in their dorm room. Now you can start to do things where you start to gel more in the fall to be ready for the spring. Uh and I and I it's great to hear that that's happening with you guys too.

SPEAKER_01 35:19

Yeah, I couldn't agree more. That those connections on the crossfield happen in the moments where you connect off the crossfield. Um, and that's weight room, that's classroom, and everything, which is another plus where you know it's the online stuff was was good and we got to educate and continue to pursue the degrees that they were pursuing. Um, but it was hard for a lot of students to study that way. And now to go back into um maybe not as full classes, but in-person classes and doing it that way, uh, we'll be excited to see those GPAs level out and people to not stress quite as much about their day-to-day getting their work done. Because um, that was, I think, the biggest stress for these students was you know, how do I navigate the online learning? And the high school students go through it too, us as professionals trying to go through it. That was tough for everybody. But those people who um, you know, kind of are building their professional opportunities now. That was really stressful when some of their grades aren't going the way they thought. You know, I'm very happy to see them in there studying, and that's putting smiles in their face because there's less stress, which means the cross is better and you know their their experience is better too. So uh that that goes a long way for these these student athletes is to get them together. And uh personally, it goes a long way for me too to get together. I needed a few opportunities to vent and get out there and blow a whistle once or twice. So I'm a happy man like that.

SPEAKER_02 36:36

Awesome, awesome. Coach, let me ask you one thing about um the upcoming season. Um how about like uh travel and and and non-conference games and stuff like that? Is that gonna be a go this year for you guys?

SPEAKER_01 36:50

Yeah, uh again, everything's fluid, but at the moment we are all systems go for a full schedule of 17 games. Uh we we make some great trips. We're traveling to Florida, flying down to Florida. Um we've got uh St. Leo and Florida Southern on the schedule. And uh we're actually playing the University of Tampa also. We're gonna nail down a neutral site facility to play them somewhere in Carolina. Um so that's you know, to jump to jump the gun a little bit and go directly to the out-of-conference schedule. We're gonna be playing some pretty good out-of-conference teams, some pretty good out-of-region teams, making some good trips. Um, so that's gonna be a lot of fun. I I we don't have a travel roster, we take our full team with us. So um, that's something that I probably hopefully we have 54 guys on the roster. I want to take 54 guys if we're eligible and ready to go. So um that comes with some cost, but that also comes with you know a great experience and I think a better chance for our program to grow and be successful. Um, so we do have plans to travel. We're on the on the plane to Florida. That's our spring break trip. We've got uh a trip to, like I said, the Carolinas to play Tampa. We will be going to play Chestnut Hill at Homewood Stadium. Um that's a place that we'll play a game for ourselves every year at Johns Hopkins Homewood Field. Awesome. And uh it's we've done it once with Eastern University in the past. The the first year I was with them in D3, and it's just such an incredible special stadium to play at. So small, but so powerful and so moving. Uh you look at those banners and the walls, and you get a lot of history there. A lot of history that had four years of championships that come through it. It's just so incredible. And then the Baltimore Sky all around you. Um, so that's our out-of-conference stuff. And then we get to play our ECC and GMAC agreement, which is really a special connection. So we we think it's a top five, without doubt, a top ten schedule to have some of those teams on there within our conference on this out of conference. So we're we're hoping that we can maintain that going forward. And and we uh can't play in the NCAA playoffs this year because as a new Division II school, there's a probationary period that every school every school has to go through this three-year wait if they're a new D2 school. Um we can compete for conference championship, which is our primary goal. We can have all our have all the other accolades that come with being a D2 school, but our season has a finite end at that conference distance. Next year is our first year beyond the probation, and we'll be fully D2 and able to access the playoffs. So we think this schedule gives us a good chance to punch that ticket. Should we win a few games?

SPEAKER_03 39:20

Yeah, well, I'll tell you what, I'm I'm really kind of interested now to see those games because I we were watching it. I watched a lot of your games last. Well, first of all, you come out in 2020 5-0, you know, right off the bat. And then, you know, last year you had a strong season as well, um, and had some really good games and some close losses to teams that are really, really good, like Seton Hill. I mean, though those two games against Seton Hill were battles, and they were really a lot of fun to watch. And I'm really interested to see as you do the Southern Swing and then you get into the GMAC and the ECC, where you guys end up uh rank-wise and and win-wise. Because you, if you come out of that that South and some of those teams you're playing, and even if you don't win, you know, all of it, you I think that's gonna build your confidence. And I think you're gonna, I think you're gonna play them really well. Because you play, you know, the the Seton Hills of the world and and last year and coming out like you did in 2020. I think the the teams, all those teams better look out for you as you go down there. Except you got to keep your kids off the beach a little bit, too.

SPEAKER_01 40:29

Somehow we'll remind them it's a business trip, but uh now having those two couple of good seasons, um, we we are not now a surprise. You know, people will know that we can play lacrosse. You know, each year is a bit different. We're we're certainly not trying to toot our own honor a bit too much here, but um, we we certainly know people will bring their best uh because we won't be a surprise. We're not the new Division III team. We're uh we've kind of planted the flag, so to say, not to the top, but you know, it is something visible in our opinion to use a metaphor.

SPEAKER_02 40:59

Awesome. I think Frostburg State's gonna have a good year. I just have a good feeling. I do. I'm gonna be watching them. I'm definitely gonna keep my eye open on for watching Frostburg games this year. We'll get them back on the podcast. We'll get you, coach. We're gonna get you back on. You've been a great, great guest tonight. We really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 41:20

Great. Thank you guys. Um, please let me know if I can you know jump on or help out anything else. And uh, we hope we put on a good show to the games you can watch. You'll you'll hopefully see us pressuring, 10 men riding and shooting the lights out. So uh enjoy the show, so to say.

SPEAKER_02 41:35

Yeah, no, that's I never played lacrosse. I never played lacrosse. I've been around the game a long time. If I were to play, I'd probably be a middle, but I would love to be I'd be hanging out with the goalies all the time. I know it. I just know those types of guys, and uh I'd love to play for you too.

SPEAKER_03 41:54

Yeah, that's that's what's that that's what's funny, Coach. Uh I can definitely see Danny hanging out with the goalies, but two, both of us who are hosts of this podcast, neither one of us played the sport. Um I always tell my son that I am the best lacrosse player from the stands you ever want to see. But but the the game in my high school is it had a great program, you know, state state uh champs year after year when I was uh in around my high school years before and after. Um but I was one of those kids, like you said, I the my town, if you play football, you I'm I'm five foot nothing. You know, so I always thought most of the kids that played lacrosse, you know, had to be bigger, you know, bigger, famous or stronger. And yet I was fast enough that if I I I still kicked myself that I didn't pick up a stick back in the day. And uh because I think I could have, I don't know if I could have played NCAA Lacrosse or come to Frostburg State, but I know I would have enjoyed playing the game more because I certainly enjoy throwing around with my son or not. But you this has been uh phenomenal. Um you know, I I had a little bit of insight from Frostburg State because my son was recruited there. I I know the school, I know what it what it brings. So uh, but I really appreciate, we really appreciate what you have um discussed and and talked about from your perspective, but I because I think many people, especially because you came from D3 to D2, do not know about Frostburg State. Danny's the fact that Danny didn't know much is not a surprise, right? It's not a known D2 school yet, but it will be. So we really thank you for coming on.

SPEAKER_01 43:33

Of course, guys, it was a lot of fun. Uh, I really did enjoy the time.

SPEAKER_03 43:37

Yeah, so Danny, uh, I think that's about it for today. I mean, uh, what do you think? I mean, this was once again another phenomenal time we got to spend with a coach.

SPEAKER_02 43:46

No, tonight was great. Coach was great, he he was phenomenal. Like I said, I'm gonna be watching Frostburg State. Hey, young recruits out there, hey, parents who are gonna listen to this podcast, um shoot that video to uh Coach Garleman at Frostburg State. Shoot that video and um and and take a look at the university. Uh it looks like they have something different to offer than just all the other universities. And not only do they have something different to offer, but they're playing top-notch lacrosse and and and they're playing big boy teams. They're not, you know, they're not playing patty cake schedules. They're going out there and they're playing the dogs and and they're fighting the dogs and they're beating them in some times and they're and they're losing one goal games. These this is a team that's got to be reckoned with in Division II in the years to come. And uh for you, you you young recruits out there and any parents who are of recruits listening, it's something to think about. You know, a school that maybe wasn't on your radar and and and and might be at this point. So that's another reason why uh this podcast I like, I enjoy doing this, is because we're bringing information to the people that might not know anything about this kind of stuff. So we're moving forward and bringing the word of Division II lacrosse to the masses, Kev.

SPEAKER_03 45:13

Well, I hope so. I I couldn't have said it better. I I could not have said it better, and I think with that, that is definitely a wrap for another episode of In the Crease.