A Conversation with Mercyhurst University Lacrosse Coach – Chris Ryan

SPEAKER_03 0:13

Welcome, welcome, welcome to another episode of In the Crease with Danny and Kevin, a coast-to-coast discussion of D2 Men's lacrosse. I am, of course, Kevin Stenstrom, and I'm with the ever-ready and always capable to talk D2 Men's Lacrosse, Danny Moran. How's it going tonight, Danny?

SPEAKER_02 0:32

You're killing me with these intros, Kevin. You're killing me. I'm doing well. How about yourself tonight?

SPEAKER_03 0:38

Well, I have to admit, it's it's kind of a bittersweet day. Um because I realized I was getting ready for this podcast that this actually is the culmination of our discussions with at least one coach from each conference in D2. Yep. So, you know, it's it's sweet and great because we actually I'm I'm humbled, and I know you are too, humbled and honored that at least one coach from each conference was willing to actually come on our show and talk to us. So they didn't leave in the middle of it.

SPEAKER_02 1:12

Very humbling, actually, very humbling. I I got a lot out of it. It's been fun talking to the coach.

SPEAKER_03 1:17

Yeah, but the obviously the the bitter part is that this is the last one. So I'm I'm racking my brain in how we can keep this going, but we'll think of a way to get other coaches on either during the season or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 1:28

Okay, okay, but this one's a good one tonight.

SPEAKER_03 1:31

It is. So as you know, you know, we and we've talked about this unwittingly. Uh several of the coaches we've talked with have just started their programs in the last five years or or earlier. And I think as we talked about, this kind of attributed to the growth of D2 lacrosse. But tonight we're kind of going old school, and I and I don't mean old school from a coaching philosophy or from an age. Not that's you and me. That's you and me in an old school for age. But old school in longevity. So this coach has been coaching at the same school for 20 years, and not only that, it seems that he always has his program in the top five in the nation. It's a dominant program. You know, year in and year out, they're at the they're at the top of the uh of the charts there. So let's just welcome in Chris Ryan from Mercyhurst. How you doing, coach?

SPEAKER_00 2:24

Good, guys. Kev, Danny, thanks for having me on tonight. You know, um one of the things too, not to not to hijack the program 12 seconds into my cameo here, but I love them already, Kevin.

SPEAKER_02 2:36

I love them already.

SPEAKER_00 2:37

No, but I I just want I just wanted to uh say how we missed Jack Cayley. Uh Jack was a Titan of Division II lacrosse. I hadn't talked to Jack in years. Um and the day after he uh Jack passed away, I or that morning I got a text from Timmy Boyle down at Wingate. He said it just said Jack's Jack passed away. And although I hadn't spoken to Jack in a long time, like it really bothered me. Um really sort of put a damper on my day. I don't know what it was. I just I just had this reaction to it, but what a terrific guy, a real personality, one of the guys that was really just one of the pillars of Division II at a very critical time in the history of Division II lacrosse, keeping keeping the championship, keeping this thing going, and we're all here um largely you know because of the efforts of uh of Jack Cayley. So I just I just wanted to say that before we got going.

SPEAKER_03 3:33

You know, I I I really appreciate that coach. I actually had a note in my notes about that to ask you about that. So I I love that you start off with that. Can you give us a little more insight on maybe how he influenced you?

SPEAKER_00 3:46

You know, I think it was in a number of ways because first of all, the the first butt kick and I ever took as a coach was at the hands of Jack down at the uh I think it was like 17-5, uh, 19-5. He he uh he didn't call off the dogs on us. But you know what? At that point, um, I remember going in the locker room after the game, and I thanked the um, it was my first year as the head coach, um, first or second year, and you know, I thanked the seniors for for playing so hard. And I and I told the rest of the team, I said, listen, we're next time we come back here, we're winning. Um, and Jack made me become a better coach. Like I had to change, I had to evolve, I had to, you know, and it motivated me. I had to study uh, you know, New York Tech. Um, and the next time we went down there, I think we beat him 12-11 or 13-12 in overtime. And then from there, just this great um rivalry blossomed between between Mercier's uh and and New York Tech. Uh so Jack and I really started off sort of as bitter rivals and then um got to know each other. And I remember at one of the at one of the um conventions, uh I think I was dating my wife at the time, I think Karen and I were dating at the time she came along. We ended up uh you know, spending some time with Jack and his wife and some of the NYIE people, and and I got to know Jack more and more and and really became to respect him, um, especially on the lacrosse side of things. Um so you know, Jack, if you're gonna beat New York Tech at that time, you had to develop a tough team and you had to be well disciplined, and you, you know, and you had to be ready to go. And I th I I think that rivalry sort of welded that in us. I think it's a huge part of the Merciers culture.

SPEAKER_03 5:30

That's great. And that kind of leads me into, I mean, that must have helped shape your team because if you look at you know what your where your record stands, you know, five NCA semifinals, two runner-ups, one championship NCA, and you know, countless GMAC tournaments and championships. I'm I'm sure that kind of rivalry helped you sustain that excellence. But what else do you kind of attribute that excellence to?

SPEAKER_00 5:55

Um there's there's a couple things. One, I've always um always wanted to surround myself with people that I thought were better than me. Um, so I I've just been a recipient of tremendous assistant coaches, um, especially early in my in my career when to tell you the truth, I thought I knew everything and I really knew nothing. Um and there's uh there was some real studying assistant coaches that I had. And so I, you know, I I think I think having a great staff goes a long way. I think having the right type of kids at Merciers, um, I think that the the school and I share some common um some continuity and thought and belief, and and I think um academically allows me to bring the type of student athlete that's going to be able to develop and thrive within within our team culture. Um, and then I think it's just I you know I came from a background, I I, you know, I said besides my parents, the second biggest influences in my life were um coaches. And I and I was and I was able to be a be a student athlete under some great coaches. Um my high school coach John Pratt and my high school hockey coach Al Mertz. And um just throughout my career, I've always been a benefit uh or benefited from from uh great mentoring. Um so I think there's a lot of things that come that come into it, and it's just also to come into this culture at Mercy Hearst, where now um there's a tradition here, and the bar has been set high, and you know, you have parents involved, the alum are involved, the kids are hardworking, everything comes together um on a yearly basis, and it's it's uh after 20 years, it's nice to see that happening.

SPEAKER_02 7:40

Yeah, you just keep reloading year after year, year after year, just bang. More than the next group steps up. It's it's amazing what you've been able to do at that at that at that school. Coach, um, my son, uh my middle son went to Wingate University and uh started as a freshman in 2016, and it was actually his second collegiate game, and it was held at Randolph Macon College in Virginia.

SPEAKER_00 8:09

I'm a modern.

SPEAKER_02 8:10

And there we go. Yeah, what a what a great little school that place is.

SPEAKER_00 8:16

I loved it, but yeah, can you believe they actually let me in?

unknown 8:19

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 8:22

I came home one what there was one weekend I just had to go home. I was just you know I'm from Rochester, New York. That's like an eight-hour trip. So I left late at night, drove through the night, got to my house in a rondoquet at six o'clock in the morning, came through the back door. My dad was sleeping on the couch. He looked at me, he goes, They finally threw you out, huh? I said, No, I came home to see you for the weekend. Um yeah, love Randolph Making. Gotta give him a shout out on the podcast here.

SPEAKER_02 8:48

Yeah, and you guys, I was in the I was in the parking lot wait, and and Mercyhurst bus pulled in, and you guys started getting off the bus. And I turned to my wife and I said, Is that the football team or is that the lacrosse team? Because you guys were big. I couldn't believe how big you were. Um, coach, that was the best lacrosse game I've ever seen with my own eyes. It went into four overtimes.

SPEAKER_00 9:16

That team that wing didn't we tie it up with like one? Is that the game we tied? We tied it up with like a second left.

SPEAKER_02 9:23

Yes, it was like 20 seconds left, and you tied it up. And it went into overtime. Now that Wingate team was young, a lot of freshmen and sophomore on the field, and you guys were stacked, back, back with studs. But wingate just played well that day, and then overtime hit. And I don't know if you remember this, but uh, the skies opened up. It rained so hard that I could barely see the other side of the field. And now the overtime is going on in this pouring monsoon, and it had everything a college game could want. It had great saves and turnovers and caused turnovers and shots and guys digging for ground balls and just an amazing day of high energy, high-level lacrosse. Um, both teams had a man up in overtime. So, you know, man up in overtime. This is it. Save after save. You know, both it was just a great game.

SPEAKER_00 10:20

Well, if I remember correctly, didn't Wingate basically have a breakaway at one point?

SPEAKER_02 10:26

They they had like a three-goal run.

SPEAKER_00 10:30

In overtime, I remember there was a point-blank opportunity, and I was like, oh man, oh hey, how's that? Like that you know, I remember it was it was up and down.

SPEAKER_02 10:41

That was, and to this day, that was the greatest game that I've ever seen with my eyes. You know, I've seen stuff on TV, but and and being on from Long Island, I've seen some great high school lacrosse, Nassau County games, Suffolk County games, uh all regional games. I've seen great lacrosse in my in my life, but that game was an amazing, amazing game. And ever since then, I've been a real big fan of Mercy Hurst. And what you and what you do. I watch you guys a lot, a lot. Um what I get, you know, you talked about Coach Haley and and the discipline involved. And then the one thing that stood out to me, uh, to me, uh, was the discipline in your team. How well they're coached. They're just in the right spot at the right time. They make the right pass, they make the right check. It's just uh an amazing team, coach. And you just this year was was no no different. 13 and 2 this year, again, right, you know, GMAC championship and into the NCAAs again, coach. You do it year after year. I have to, I have to commend you. I really do.

SPEAKER_00 11:48

Well, thanks. And it's good to hear that you think we're always in the right place because I'm usually on the sideline going, what the hell are we doing? Um I I would I always tell, I always tell the parents, like, if you're in the stands going, what are they doing? I go, the coaches are saying the same thing on the sideline, on the other side of the side. So yeah, you know, it's it's one of the things that we sort of pride ourselves on. Um, and I think it's one of the things that propelled the the program forward, is I think in a lot of cases we were just more disciplined than a lot of the teams that we were playing. And we had kids on the team that were willing to pay the price, um, at sacrifice uh to get this thing going in the right direction. It would be great, it would be great Saturday to see a lot of the ones coming back because you know we don't really remember sometimes 15 years ago, 20 years ago, when when we were just emerging and it took this special group of guys, this succession of of guys who trusted you know a young coach who had ideals but had no had no experience to come and really get this thing moving in the right direction. So and you know, the other thing too, where we're not to get sidetracked, but when we're talking about wing gate, I think one of the things that we love about that game with Wingate, we're gonna open up again this year down at down at Wingate against Coach Boyle, is you know, I think in a lot of ways they're very much like us. And we you play that game, it's just lacrosse, there's no garbage. There, you know, it's two good teams that respect each other, and you know you're gonna get a great game. And it and uh, you know, Coach Boyle and I have come through the ranks together. We talk every week, um, usually about our dogs, potentially. Um but uh yeah, we're we we we loved that game. And in those games in particular, now Randolph Macon, I can remember too. Um, one of the things I remember about were how nice and how respectful the Wingate parents were after those games. There is there is I think two games we won, they won a game, and and people clapping, people saying congratulations or a nice game or whatever else. And we just we just really enjoy that relationship.

SPEAKER_02 13:54

That's that's phenomenal. Yes, Coach Boyle does a phenomenal job down there, and and a nicer guy you won't find. Good sense of humor. He's an Irishman, coach, like you.

SPEAKER_00 14:03

Yeah, you gotta like us Irish guys, right?

SPEAKER_02 14:05

Gotta like guys just like Stenstrom.

SPEAKER_03 14:07

Just like Stenstrom.

SPEAKER_00 14:08

Yeah, that's a good thing. But I just want to touch on that. There's tons of Stenstroms running around.

SPEAKER_03 14:13

That's right. That's right. It's the Swedish Irish, but uh just to touch on that, coach, you when you talk about discipline and sacrifice, uh, I equate that a lot of times to you know, it could be a guy just not getting on the field, but being on scout and putting his his time in there to sacrifice for the team. Or it's being in the right position, but maybe not getting the pass. You're not getting the stats, but you're doing the right thing on the field by moving the ball and and moving and moving off-ball so that you know the offense opens up. Is that what you were talking about, too? Is that what you mean by discipline and sacrifice?

SPEAKER_00 14:51

Well, I think it goes way beyond that. You know, here here at Mercer's, we always talk about above-the-line behavior and and decision making and maturity. You know, we we um we say be it, you know, be it a student, be an athlete, be a gentleman, and those are sort of the program every year built its foundation on. Um, and there's a price that has to be paid in order to be successful. And not everybody in the lacrosse world is willing to really pay that price, to really sort of operate on a level that's uncommon, um, that is uncomfortable, um, that forces you to grow up, forces you to change. Um, and that has been something that our teams here and and our players um have always been willing to do. You know, I've always said winning is just a byproduct, success is just a byproduct of all the work that you put in that people don't see. Um, whether it's academics, it's the weight room, it's again the decisions you make on a Saturday night, it's all of that coming together for that team culture, and it all supports continued success. And that's you know, that's something we've been we've been it's taking different forms, it's taken different names, it's been um it's been fine-tuned over the years, but but the core essence, the the the devotion, the hard work, the the discipline, the sacrifice, um, has always been the same.

SPEAKER_03 16:19

Yeah, I mean, uh I would assume that sums up uh your culture for your team as student, athlete, gentleman, and all that takes to do all three. Because, you know, I talked to my son when he was going in and he wanted to play uh college lacrosse, and I said, look at, you know, first of all, we're looking at a school first for the academics, student first. And you got to like that school because if

marker 3

SPEAKER_03 16:43

you do get injured, um, you got to realize that you got you hopefully you like that school and to want to stay in there, because that's always a possibility. And then the lacrosse can come second, but you have to you can't be you can't be a student, a lacrosse player, and then also have a huge social life all the time. It just one of those has to give. And if you want to be a lacrosse player and you want to, you know, do well in school, your social life is what you have to give, you know, give up a lot of the times. Not totally, but it's not, it's different from when I was in college and I wasn't a college athlete. So I could have that that much more of a social life than someone who has to get up at six in the morning to go to practice or to a lift. Um, so I I maybe I went too long in there, but student, athlete, gentlemen, is that how you encapsulate uh your team's culture?

SPEAKER_00 17:31

Yeah, well, you know, it again I said it changed. So so in the old days, or maybe behind closed doors, we always say, go to class, run hard, run hard on the field, don't be a jerk. Then we softened it up in these new days. And we turned it into be a student, be an athlete, a gentleman. You know, you can put that in a t-shirt, and everyone goes, oh. Um but yeah, it's I think even even in my in my younger days, I always had it sort of a clear picture of the path that I wanted. I I remember pulling in the Mercier um to interview to be the assistant coach in my grandmother's 87 celebrity, and I saw Old Maine in front of me, just this gothic collegiate. I mean, it's striking. You come through these

marker 6

SPEAKER_00 18:15

big iconic gates, and the first thing he saw was I saw was was Old Maine. And I knew right away. I recognized right away. I remember saying to myself driving up the boulevard, I said, I can get lacrosse players to come here. I I knew it, and I knew it instantaneously. I can't explain it to you. I just knew that I'd probably found my home. You know, and it's one of those things that that just sort of clicked. And so I had this path, I had this idea, I had I had sort of these pillars, the structure that I wanted the guys to to follow, and that I wanted to instill in the in the uh in the program. And I just think as you grow older and you get more experienced and the kids understand, you know, I coach the team much differently today than I did back then. The kids come in, they understand their expectation, they understand where I'm coming from. Um and you know, back then we were implementing all those things. Right. So it has changed over time, but again, the core values have always have always been steady and have always been there.

SPEAKER_03 19:17

So let's switch a little bit. And this kind of goes to um, I think maybe your culture and what you had, your team and you had to deal with um starting with you know 20 and and 2021 with with COVID. Um, how did you and your team handle that adversely? First of all, you know, obviously in 2020, just the season ending. We've talked to a few coaches about that, but then even uh 2021, where you know there's still a lot of protocols. Talk about having to have discipline, right, as a team to go through all that and have a season. Just walk us through that a little bit, especially with so many games postponed or canceled. Um, if you look at even the game that uh both Danny and I were looking forward to in the NCAAs was you against Mercy, right? And um just a uh a tough circumstance for Mercy. And I'm sure even your team was ready to play that. And it just it probably takes a little bit of, you know, almost takes the air out of you for a little bit. Walk me through how you guys handle that adversity.

SPEAKER_00 20:14

Well, I mean, to tell you the truth, it started the day we got kicked out of here. So, you know, Monday, what

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SPEAKER_00 20:20

was it, March 13, Friday, March 13th, 2019, you know, it all gets shut down, and and then Mercy Hearst tells us um, you know, that that we have to go home, that we you know, we all have to leave the campus, the you know, the employees. And I I knew that how we handled that summer was gonna set the stage for the success of the following year. Like I again, I just knew it. You know, if we disconnected from the kids over that summer, they're gonna come back to a year that was gonna be unlike anything that they had ever seen. Any any idea of college, any collegiate experience that they had had before, it wasn't gonna be there when they came back. So we used that summer. Um, we used small group leaders, we just we did a book study, we we took a delve into the into our program, into the culture, into ourselves, made changes, and I really think that the kids were able to come back on campus with a pretty good mindset of what it was gonna take. Once you got into the season, you know, it you just never knew what was what was going to happen from day to day, whether it was your program or another program. Um, and what we told, you know, what we came in and told the kids is hey, just got rolled to punches. Like nothing should should should surprise you because it's all gonna happen. Right. And you know, one of the things I said too, um you know, I told I told Ryan O'Hagan, my my assistant coach, who's a terrific coach. I said, Listen, if we don't make a big deal of it, then the kids don't make a big deal of it.

SPEAKER_01 21:55

Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 21:55

And my athlete, my athletic director was he he goes, I've not like you guys just Rolled with the punches. Like he used what we were telling the kids. So I think that was able to keep us pretty even keel. Um going into a year where we knew nothing was going to be as nothing was going to go alright.

SPEAKER_02 22:15

How'd that bother you in recruiting? Like how the how how recruiting must have been tough because there was, you know, the tournaments were like being streamed and stuff like that, and um kids couldn't make uh they couldn't come to campus to take a look. How was recruiting for you during that period?

SPEAKER_00 22:33

It was awesome for us.

unknown 22:35

Really?

SPEAKER_00 22:36

I mean, first of all, I never left my living room. Like, like my living room, yeah, like, you know, I'm home with a with a coke in my hand, like watching, you know, watching some film. I got the dogs with me, I got some food. We we, you know, we turned our Ryan, the right, you know, Chateau de Ryan became the lacrosse, the de facto lacrosse office for the summer. Um, and to tell you the truth, I think it benefited us too because it became it, it came, we weren't on the road, we were able to talk to kids, it became a relationship-building process. We were able to put a lot more effort into um selling ourselves, selling the school, developing those relationships. And in and we ended up with a with with we're really happy with we ended up bringing in 21 freshmen um from that. We we ended up doing some podcast, or we ended, I won't say podcasts, you guys do a podcast. We we ended up doing some recruiting material from my basement. You know, there's five, you can find it on YouTube, five questions with Coach Ryan from his basement. So somebody look that up.

SPEAKER_03 23:39

If it's if it's in your basement, I gotta see that.

SPEAKER_00 23:43

Well, yeah, it's in the basement, man. It's we're we're it's uh, I mean, it was it was crazy. Um, but I really think um, I really think it it it just it I I actually think it played into our wheelhouse. Like I think we are a lot more comfortable with that. Um you know I love I love the recruiting on on film. You have a rewind button. Right. You know, you can you can actually look at things. You show up to a tournament, you know, there's 80 fields going on or 6,000 teams. Like, what do you show up in a field for five minutes, you try to make a professional judgment on some kid, you know, and let's face it, it's it's a little bit of hocus pocus going on. So Ryan and I really felt like you know, we were able to really vet kids, we were able to find the right kid, we were able to put a lot more time um into the relationship building part, and it and it really paid off for us.

SPEAKER_02 24:33

Interesting. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 24:35

Yeah, no, what you know, what were you gonna do? And you know, there was one of one of my one of my one of my coaching friends, I like had to talk them off the ledge, like, oh it's like just stay home. Like, right, what's the big deal?

SPEAKER_02 24:49

It it sure as heck beats, you know, sitting in a lawn chair in Poolsville, Maryland in 100-degree weather. Yeah, I've been to a couple of hundred of those tournaments. Yeah, yeah. I know it makes sense, makes a lot of sense.

SPEAKER_03 25:04

Well, I mean, it kind of goes back to the same thing you said about the season, right? It's roll with the punches, you can only control what you can control, right? So if you if you're your the usual thing was going to tournaments, you know, you obviously made lemonade out of lemons from and and enjoyed it a lot. I won't say a lot more, but you enjoyed it to be able to sit in your own house and do that. So that's that's great.

SPEAKER_00 25:27

Oh no, I enjoyed it a lot more. 100%. Let's not make any bones about it. I was very comfortable. You know, I could just turn on ESPN when I wanted to, I could watch a movie if I wanted to, like and then go back to the films, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:42

And then go back to, yeah, it was great. You know, take the dog for a while. Everyone's yard looked great, everyone had great-looking lots. So I mean it was when it when it comes to recruiting, there, you know, you get coaches are are are wired to go, go, go all the time. All right, like my my first wedding anniversary, I got out of my car in Syracuse recruiting. I took three steps out of my car, looked around, I go, what the hell am I doing? And got back in my car and drove back to Erie. But you're we're just coaches are wired differently. With us in recruiting, you know, a lot of coaches are like, I gotta be here, I gotta be there, I gotta go do the no, no, no, no. Like we we earmark certain tournaments that we know that we need to be at. And I think what COVID recruiting taught us was it's a lot, it's a lot more important to be in contact with kids, okay, than it is driving all over the eastern seaboard, you know, seeing 6,000 kids and contacting none. So, you know, I think it caused us to streamline how we do things and to and to realize you don't have to be everywhere. I mean, at the Division II level, you know, I've always said for us to be successful, we got to be able to recruit successfully within four hours of campus. Like that's what we have to do. So, you know, I I've I've uh I've I've gotten away, it's not laziness. Um, I guess you could say it's maybe doing things a little bit smarter. Um, but you know, we we just you know my Ryan loves to travel all over, so I'll I'll let him go do it. But I I think we've sort of pick our spots and we and we we know where we have to be.

SPEAKER_02 27:19

Absolutely. I think sometimes when a when a program starts to become successful, kids kind of want to go there. Um, like in Duke basketball, they line up for Coach K. You know, he doesn't have to do much recruiting. Um, and you know, like you, like going all over the country and going to AAU tournaments and stuff like that. So I think you know, you your your success at your program is continuing because these kids want to play for you, coach. They know what you're bringing to the table, they know that they got a chance at a GMAC conference every every year, they got a chance at a national championship every year, they got a chance of making the NCAAs every year. And that's a testament to you and your staff and what you're building there. And it's it's not gonna go anywhere else, it's gonna stay right there.

SPEAKER_00 28:08

Yeah, and we and we just push the idea of being successful. Um, you know, Mercy Earth is a place where a student athlete can come and develop develop the skills through through experiences to be successful. Be successful while you're here. You know, successful people, like you know, we we like to recruit kids out of winning programs because you know, high school programs, because those kids aren't gonna come to college and and just start losing. Like that's not in that's not right, you know, they're also wired a certain way. Right. Um, but the same thing, you know, you get kids here and and we're you know, we can be um we can be we can be hard on the kids, we can coach hard, we can be taxing, there's a lot of expectation. There's um I also think we're I also think we're terrifically funny at times. Um but it's a it's a process that you can come here and you're gonna be successful while you're here, and then you're gonna carry that on. Um like we're we're we're the preeminent school in the nation for producing kids going into the intelligence field. Like I I have alums in every government agency that that you can think of.

SPEAKER_02 29:15

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 29:15

So I've been I've been interviewed, you know, on on behalf of these kids by you know the State Department, the FBI, NSA, like you name it, they've they've sat in this lovely office of mine. And I always, you know, I always start the uh conversation off. I always say, like, hey, I don't know who else is up for the job, but I I can tell you that my guy's the best candidate that you have. And and they'll all sort of giggle and say, Oh, why is that, coach? And then we go into the things that go on while they're here. That this is a place to play, that there is expectation, that there is sustained success. And these are the things that we've done to help what I think produce, help Mercy Hearst produce a good alumnus. And you know, and that's been going on for 20 years.

SPEAKER_02 30:02

You're not only developing lacrosse players, you're developing young men as well, and to become you know productive members in society, and that's that's another testament to the program and what you're doing there. And you know, like you talk about uh success coming, but and uh get some players too. You know, you always need those guys. You need those guys. And uh coach, you had a ton of studs on the field this year. You had Tommy Angelicola, that kid uh on defense was what first team All-American, um defensive player of the year. I got a kid balled out. Another kid that kind of uh that it was Bates, uh uh you know, 6'6, uh 240. He he stood out to me when I watched those games, you know. You have numerous all-conference players, uh John Pfeiffer, third team All-American, Nathan Glennon, uh first team all-American, and then you got uh Caleb Cuber. Talk to me about Caleb.

SPEAKER_00 31:02

Yeah, well, it's it got off to a rocky start with Caleb here. Caleb and Caleb and uh Devin were mid-year uh ads for us. We brought him in in January. So, so I I found Caleb out West, and we brought him in on a visit, and he ate some bad food in Cleveland when he flew in. So his whole recruiting trip was spent throwing up in the dorm. And I'm like, this kid, I'm on the phone with his mom, like, hey, we're watching him, you know, we're getting fluids in them, and and everything else. Then he then he ended up coming here and he didn't play his freshman year, which tells you how bad of a coach I am. And um he stuck with it because Caleb um is a real homebody, loves loves his hometown of Victoria, British Columbia, has a really tight-knit group of friends. So for him to come all the way across the country and to have that experience and to stick with it, I think speaks, first of all, speaks really highly of the type of kid that he is, and then he just sort of exploded on the scene. Um, starting with you know the winning goal against Indy in 19, where he just fires his backhand uh shovel shot from about 10 yards with 16 seconds left. And that was sort of the hey, you know, Caleb's on the scene moment. Um but I I think what people have to understand about Caleb too is really reserved, kid, quiet, loves photography, you know, but very competitive and a super team guy.

SPEAKER_02 32:35

Um that's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 32:37

You know, yeah, so once he found his niche within the within the team, he really sort of blossomed and took off and was uh and was a great leader for us.

SPEAKER_02 32:48

Yeah, he had a he had an incredible season. I loved watching him play. Actually, I loved watching the whole team play. He just had that that eye candy that I like, you know, you just just the way you guys played, fast and hard and aggressive, kind of kind of like Long Island a little bit. It was like a Long Island, you know, gritty, tough, big, strong. Everybody's good at their position. It was like no scrubs, you know, like everybody was good. And I love watching lacrosse like that. And Caleb, um, he was he was a standout. He definitely was. And and and the defense, though. See, a lot of times when we talk about championship type teams, we always talk about the offense and the offensive players. I was a football coach. Uh I knew I couldn't win without stopping the other team. I had to stop the other team. If I I could put 35 points up, uh well, if the other team put 36, I lose. So you know, if I became more of a defensive-oriented coach as the years went on. And uh your defense is uh amongst the best in the in the in the business. And uh I I'm just looking at like uh 2016, 15 and 3, 2017, uh 12 and 3, 2018, uh 11 and 5, 2019, 13 and 4, 2020, we got you know, we got screwed with COVID. But last year, 13 and 2, coach, you're just you're just just mowing them down one after another, and you're bringing in these players.

SPEAKER_00 34:17

Don't forget, in 19 we all got screwed, but we were five and oh when when it when it all when it all went to hell. Yeah, we'll throw that in there too. Um, you know, the losses are what just drives you nuts.

SPEAKER_03 34:27

Um coach, um let's I just want to talk about this thing going back, um uh because I I think this really touched me last season, and I did with Danny too, and we actually pointed it out during one of our early podcasts. I think it was our third episode, and that's what you know one of your players, Ryan Scoble, had to do.

marker 6

SPEAKER_03 34:48

He learned about needing a heart transplant, um, and then your team rallied around them. You know, you basically called yourself Scobel's army, it was no longer the Lakers. Can you talk about Scoble's army and how your team rallied around this?

SPEAKER_00 35:03

Last year was a was uh a wild ride for for Mercius Lacrosse. We had you know a couple parents battling cancer. Um, just it just seemed like there was one thing after another. And one day in practice, Ryan said to me, there the guys were running, and he said, I just can't catch my breath. And you know, living in Erie, we're we're like, hey, it's it's probably you know, it's probably allergies. I remember saying that to him, and he's like, Yeah, you're right. But we did he didn't like it, he didn't feel good about it. We we got him right in with the trainers, the trainers got him directly to the this is all happening like one like immediately. He goes, he goes, it sees, sees the doctors, all of a sudden the doctors are sending him to the hospital, and we're sort of, you know, and then he's being admitted to the hospital, and and I'm sort of getting bits and pieces, and Ryan's calling me, and then all of a sudden it's like, hey, coach, they're they're they're telling me I I might need a heart transplant. And I I mean, of all the things you deal with in coaching, this is this is not in the the the book of protocols. Um and we were we were in shock, he was in shock, the family, and what people didn't know is while this is going on, you know, Ryan, Ryan's dad needed a transplant, and that was already, we already knew this.

SPEAKER_03 36:34

Right.

SPEAKER_00 36:34

So now all of a sudden this comes up, and it was just one thing after another. And you know, I'll go back to that summer study that the team did. Like, I you know, I'm not the most religious person in the world. Someone had us do that for a reason because it really helped us be able to metabolize all this stuff that was coming in, remained as concentrated as we could, and and again stay successful through through the season. Um, but we all rallied around Ryan. I mean, we helped raise, you know, with with his friends in the lacrosse community and his in his high school community. I think we ended up raising over $80,000 for him and his family.

SPEAKER_02 37:18

Um that's wonderful.

SPEAKER_00 37:20

No, and then but but then guys, what happened was they sent him home to Cincinnati, Cincinnati hospital said we we gotta get you up to the Cleveland Clinic. He goes on the heart transplant list, and then there was just something that came up, and he called me up one day and he said they have to take me off the heart transplant list. I was actually in my car in the back of the room. Oh my gosh. And I remember me just feeling like I got punched in the face, and I couldn't imagine what it was like for Ryan and his family. Um, and they said they're gonna retest me, but the doctors told me there's less than a 1% chance that it was a false negative. All of a sudden he calls back later that day, it was a false negative, and literally the next day they found him a heart.

SPEAKER_03 38:06

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 38:07

Yeah, like I I can feel goosebumps run up my arms right now. Um, and I can tell you this. I don't know if Ryan, I I can probably tell you this. Ryan made two requests of the of the transplant team at the Cleveland Clinic. One, for whatever reason, he wanted a picture of his heart. That's his business. The second request was he wanted Kickstart My Heart by Motley Crew Blair in the room when they put the paddles to him to get that thing pumping again.

SPEAKER_03 38:39

Uh I heard that. I heard that, I read that somewhere. We talked about a podcast, we were like, that is an unbelievable attitude.

SPEAKER_00 38:47

Yeah, no, that's scobble. That's he is, you know, and and I said at the beginning, I pulled the kids in after a game when we when we got final word on Ryan and what was going on, and and I said, you know, the guy with the big it's unbelievable to me that the guy with the biggest heart on the team needs to have this done. Right like that it's happening to him. Like that it made no sense. But I mean, life doesn't make sense and it doesn't play favorites. And right, yeah, I unbelievable. His mom, I told him, I was like, Ryan, your mom gets mom of the year. Like there, I know everyone, we all love our moms, they all do great things. Last year went to Mrs. Cole. Like there's no, yeah, there are a lot of close seconds, but uh she she gets the award for the year.

SPEAKER_02 39:32

And deservingly so, deservingly so and and I mean the the good news too is you know, Ryan's dad received his hurt you know 24 hours ago.

SPEAKER_00 39:42

So that's amazing. We're all officially out the the family's officially on the men. I told Ryan yesterday on the phone, I said, all right, so you got a heart, your dad got a heart, everything's good. No more sculpbles on the injury reserve list.

SPEAKER_01 39:57

That's great.

SPEAKER_00 39:58

Yeah, we we we just want life to to move forward normally for that family from here on.

SPEAKER_02 40:02

You know what? Maybe, coach, in the future, we'd like to have you and Ryan on together and uh maybe talk about that whole that whole little incident. I think you know that the lacrosse community definitely rallied around that. Even the division one guys and the division three guys, they were all in on it. Um just another testament of what you're doing at that school and the type of kid you got and the type of kids you're recruiting, just again, just kudos. I just just you're getting the right people there.

SPEAKER_00 40:31

Well, I think the big thing, you know, with us when it comes to recruiting is is uh maturity. Um I tell the kids all the time, your your success in college is based upon your level of maturity. Like, can you make a good decision easier than the kid sitting next to you? And I and I think that's something that we try to really concentrate on during the recruiting process. And you know, again, purposely constructing the type of roster that's going to be able to, I always say, like, you know, the best kid on the field at a recruiting venue isn't always the best kid for us. Um, you know, and it's finding that right kid that has the all those characteristics to, like I said, move forward within the expectations of the program. And and you know, I again I'm blessed uh every day to coach these kids. They I'm sure they don't always know it, and my my admiration probably comes comes through in different ways to them. But uh, you know, I every every day I have a job I love, I have a team I love, and uh we like working.

SPEAKER_03 41:40

That's great. Yeah, that's that's awesome, coach. So I just want to get your perspective on this. I mean, obviously, you've been coaching uh at at Mercy Hearst for 20 years, so you've seen that D2 lacrosse landscape change over the 20 years. Just give me a sense of that from your perspective of how you've seen it change.

SPEAKER_00 42:01

Well, I think I think when I got into this as an assistant, I think there were 29 teams. And and I remember they were um my second year as the assistant, we were down at the convention and we're waiting to hear whether or not the NCA was gonna take away the Division II men's lacrosse championship, um which would which would have effectively ended um Division II lacrosse, and thank God that we that they did that they you know didn't make that decision because now it's just it's just grown and growing. And I and I think what University of Bridgeport announced yesterday that they're that they're adding. So we gotta be up where of 80 teams right now. You know, when I got in, two teams went to the championship. You know, and it was and it was always two of the three Long Island teams. Who would have ever guessed it?

SPEAKER_02 42:50

Uh Belphi, NYIT.

SPEAKER_00 42:55

When the when the when the NCA stepped in, they expanded to four. You know what what that gave was that that gave an avenue for teams like Dowling, Mercyhurst, Lemoyne, Limestone to move forward. And in you know, I can remember back in the day being on the top 10 poll, and you would have a hard time putting a top 10 together. You know, now we're doing a top 20 poll, and I can, you know, and and you're you got this group of five teams that are left at the end that you're like, oh man, like you know, I'm gonna feel terrible about leaving out some of these teams because they're all doing good things. Right. So I just I just think that it has grown, it's maturing, it's not done yet. I I think you're gonna get still get tremendous growth out of Division II. You got an entire state of Pennsylvania, pretty much. You know, you have Chestnut Hill, us, Seton Hill. That's about it. Um, you have there's really not much in the state of Michigan. There's a lot of schools in Ohio. I did in People are starting to buy into College Lacrosse at the Division II level now. So I think of all the divisions, I really think that the most potential lies within Division II. And, you know, and again, that comes from 22 years ago where we were hoping just to survive with it. So it's it's been it's it's been nice to watch. It's been it's been great to be a part of.

SPEAKER_02 44:23

I'd have to I'd have to agree with you on that. The growth has just been amazing. And you know, the realignments of conferences and just the growth. But one thing that Kevin and I we we we talk about a lot in our podcast is Division I caliber players are coming to D2 now. If they're not just going to D one schools for the fact of just being a D one player, you're getting uh top, you're getting some really, really good players at the Division II level that could play on many Division I teams, but they're choosing Division II. And would you find that we're finding more Division I type players coming into Division II?

SPEAKER_00 45:05

Well, I think you know, I think there's I think there's yes and a no. So I guess I'm officially sitting on the fence on this one. Um back in the day, you you um there like I remember one year New York Tech's New York Tech's entire starting lineup was division one transfers, all of every one of the kids. Um so I think it was a little bit different back in the day, but you didn't have as many division three teams, division one was smaller, so you sort of you sort of in a lot of ways you had a better shot at getting that high-level kit. You know, today you have teams all over the place, division one has grown exponentially, yeah. Um, it's and there's a lot more opportunity out there. But again, I think as as programs have matured and coaches have invested their time and developed quality programs, and they're you know, you have quality schools, like it's they can offer great academic programs, and you have, you know, let's face it, you can say, listen, if you come here, you're gonna be successful. Like you're gonna have a quality experience. It's in and I tell kids all the time, like, hey, listen, we're not division one. I'm not sitting here selling this as some you know pseudo division one experience. That's that's not what it is. But what I can tell you is you'll get this education, you're gonna have these opportunities, and you're going to have a successful experience here. Decision's up to what you want to do. Um, so you know, being honest with kids in a recruiting process, some kids will choose this. I'll tell you, I mean, it's it's hard. You know, you I always said with recruiting, you get no said to you a lot more than you get the word yes said to you. Um but I do think, you know, as as the programs become more established and respected and recognized, that yeah, you you do start to you you do start to grab the attention of uh of maybe the the next level kit.

SPEAKER_03 47:03

Well, I mean, if you look at your uh at Mercyhurst, right? You just had three players drafted into the NLL. So there's there is opportunity to even in D2 to go beyond college play and play professionally. Granted, it's not the same as D1. I totally get that. But I think, you know, we talked about this uh one of the last podcasts, and you said it exactly right, Coach. It's a decision that the player, the student athlete needs to make, right? If you want to play and have that D1 experience, and you're and you may or may not get on the field, and you may or may not be on a team that has that success or has the opportunity to play in conference championships, NCAA tournament, or maybe you can go to D2, make a difference a little bit earlier on, and or always have that opportunity to play in some sort of championship. Conference championship, get into the NCAA. In the end, it's it's gotta be a decision that the student athlete has to make.

SPEAKER_00 48:05

Yeah, and you know, it's a it's it's a tough decision for for kids. Um, but you know, kids that are in that situation, I always tell them, like, you can't go wrong. You're gonna make a good decision no matter what, you know, you got you got school A, school B, there's there's pros and cons. Um, but you're really in a great situation because no matter which way you go, you're gonna you're gonna have a quality experience. You know, it's just you have to choose what you want to derive. You know, what is your ultimate goal? What do you want to what do you want to accomplish? And in some instances, we're gonna offer maybe, like you guys mentioned, a better shot at being able to achieve at maybe a little bit of a higher level uh with things. So it's uh, you know, I'll tell you, you know, the majority of our kids that we recruit are are you know looking at mid-low level Division I uh programs, and those are the types of kids that can really make a difference here at Mercy Hearst. Um, you just get you just got to hope that you can win a couple of those recruiting battles every year.

SPEAKER_03 49:04

Yeah, I guess that's that's the ultimate there. Um and I I guess we always we try to end with this. Um sometimes we don't end with this, we end up with more questions, but uh we always like to give the coach a chance to kind of showcase more of, you know, you've talked a little bit about a Mercy Hearst, what drew you immediately, which was one of my original questions, how you got into that. I love that story of going through the gate and like, oh, I can recruit here, and that's it's become your home. What other things do you want people to know about Mercy Hearst, whether it's on the, you know, it's the community, it's academics, it's your lacrosse program. What else would you like uh the audience to know?

SPEAKER_00 49:43

Yeah, you know, but I'll tell you this story. My senior year at Randolph Naked, I went down to um my mailbox. We actually had mailboxes back then. I got I got my face-off magazine. The thing looked like it'd literally been typed on someone's word processor. And I went out by it was a beautiful morning in Virginia, and I'm standing on the sidewalk out in front of the student union, and I'm I'm flipping through it, and it said new this year, Division I at the time, Mercyhurst College. And I looked at it and I'd known I knew of Mercyhurst um growing up playing hockey. And but I remember I'm sitting there looking at it, and I said out loud, I go, who the hell is gonna go to Erie, Pennsylvania to play College lacrosse? Like I literally said it out loud, having no idea what what my life was gonna be like um with it. So we've I I think first I had to overcome my own biases uh with Erie, and Erie's actually a beautiful place. We we love the lake, and we and uh I got three beautiful kids, and uh like I said, Karen decided to marry me, so I I I outkicked my coverage and and we're and we're uh we're doing we're doing great. Got two dogs. Uh Daisy and Daisy and Bo Shem Beckler are my are my two dogs. And uh but Merciers itself, I mean, we just got done doing $10 million in athletic upgrades. Uh the school's enrollment is up 10% right now. I mean, in a tough academic environment environment for higher education right now, the school is really positioning itself very well. The other thing, too, is we have we have a couple of real niche academic programs. I mentioned the Tom Rich School of Intelligence, that is a one-of-a-kind here. You know, you got you got basically a 95% job placement rate coming coming out of that. We have 14 Intel, um, 14 Intel majors on the team. We have the we have the oldest continuous running sports med program in the nation. You know, we have we have 11 science majors on the team. Who what coach is crazy enough to have 11 science majors on the team? But but again, those are the types of student athletes that we want here. If I gotta give a kid a day off from practice because he has a lab or is you know, he's up to his eyeballs, and well, so be it. That's a great kid with work ethic, with time management, with a high level of maturity. Yeah, go go do what you gotta do. Um really without knowing at Mercy here is really developed into a school that could support lacrosse. It's just being in Erie at the time. I mean, there was no lacrosse here when they started the program. There was nothing. And I'll tell you this story too. So I went, I became a head coach. I was I was making like you know, eight dollars an hour. I you know, I I think kids kids washing dishes today make more than I was making when I when I said you're you're not coaching at a Division II Catholic school to make money. That's that's not why we're in this. So I I but I decided to buy a car. My I my my that 87, my grandmother's 87 celebrity I talked about actually exploded on Route 90 at two o'clock in the morning at the Angola Rest stop, coming back from Syracuse on a recruiting trip. So I needed a car. So the the the women's coach at the time, Kevin and I grew up together in a rondocoit, New York, and and he's like, Come on, I'll take you. He could actually manage money. So he's like, Come on, I'll take you car shopping. So we went up to the Toyota, we went up to the Toyota dealership and walk in, I'm looking around the showroom and leaning up against the wall is a yellow STX Sandy, just like I used in high school. Leather, though, I mean, I and I said, God, look, like it's it's my stick from high school. So of course we you know went over, picked it up, we're looking at it, and I'm punching the pocket in. The salesman's like, hey guys, you know, uh, you know, how's everyone doing today? How can I help you? And I'm sitting there sort of looking at this thing, punching the pocket, and he looks and he goes, Oh, I'm glad to see you got our fly swatter. And I did, you know, and I just looked at the guy like, fly swatter, like this this thing is this thing's a god uh here. So that's where the that's sort of the the environment of the setting that we came into, but the school, you know, where we were positioned, the type of education, the majors, and everything else, it was it was really sort of set up for college for division two college across, and you know, both the men's and women's team here have have been successful for a long time. So it's it's a great thing, you know. It's not it's not for everyone, um, but it's it's a great setting. There's a lot of positive stuff that's going on here, and it's it's a great time to come take a look at Mercy Hearst and all the opportunities that it offers.

SPEAKER_02 54:49

Sounds like a great place, definitely, definitely.

SPEAKER_00 54:52

Yes, yeah, that's really excited about your job.

SPEAKER_02 54:54

Yeah, well, without a doubt. You bring the passion, coach. You bring the passion, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_00 54:59

I don't know. It might have been my pre-workout powder I took before I came out, too. It might be like sweating at this point.

SPEAKER_03 55:08

Danny, I may need to get some of that. You might have need to send us where you get that. We'll we'll uh we'll be more passionate on it when we talk, too. But coach, this has been awesome. Uh I I mean, truly, it's a great episode to end with our first you know, round of discussions with college coaches. It could not have been better. So really appreciate you coming on.

SPEAKER_00 55:28

Yeah, and you know what, you talk about the growth of division two. You know, hats off, Kevin and Dan, to you guys for having a podcast that focuses on Division II, men's lacrosse. There's so many good coaches, so many good players, so many good teams that quite honestly don't get the recognition that they should. So, you know, again, hats off to you guys and thank you very much for for investing your time to shed a little light on everything that's going on at D2 Lacrosse.

SPEAKER_02 55:58

Uh, thank you so much, Coach. We really appreciate you taking the time. You were you are phenomenal tonight. I could definitely see me and you hanging out and having uh uh a beverage and and talking lacrosse sometime. I would love to do that. I would also love to come and and get you back on again, maybe during the season when uh things slow down a little bit and with Ryan and talk with him. And uh you you've been great tonight. And for our last podcast on coaches, Kev, this was this was the showstopper.

SPEAKER_03 56:28

No, this is the way to this is the way to end it. I I I truly believe that. And and you know, I what we've seen and what we've been seeing on our podcast as these coaches' conversations have been going on is really an increase in traffic, which I don't think we can attribute to you and me when we only did it ourselves and are babbling back and forth. It didn't get the traffic that it's getting now. So we've really got to thank all the coaches. And I and I kind of want to just throw out there to people in the audience if you start to listen to these, especially with the coaches, and maybe you're new to D2, I'd recommend going all the way back to season one, episode one, and kind of looking at the journey around the conferences to get a feel for all the different conferences. And then, you know, if you're a parent or a high school student looking to play lacrosse in in college, I think looking at our two episodes on recruiting is a good place to jump to if you want if you don't want to go one after another. But definitely, definitely hit every episode with the coaches because they all bring a unique perspective. And like like Coach Ryan said, you know, there are so many schools out there that haven't gotten the recognition. That's what we try to do a little bit with our with our conversations with coaches. Bring some from the RMAC, some from GLBC that you haven't heard from. Let's get some others in there. We I definitely want to continue that and we'll look at doing that, Danny. But tonight is just was just awesome.

SPEAKER_02 57:53

Before we leave tonight, I just want to go over there's a couple of coaching changes in Division II this year that we haven't mentioned yet. And I'd like to mention that um longtime Tampa coach Rory Whipple stepped down. Um uh Coach Whipple's been around the game of Division II for years and years and years. Um, actually recruited my oldest son when he was at Florida Southern.

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SPEAKER_02 58:16

And uh he stepped down from Tampa, and then we had JB Clark uh take the spot over. Uh he left limestone, you know, uh long, long tradition at limestone, JB. And now he takes over a really good Tampa Tampa program. Um, I'm gonna be excited to see what JB brings to the table at Tampa. Now you had an open spot at Limestone. And what does Limestone do? They bring in their longtime old assistant who was the Mars Hills head coach, Brendan Storrier. Um, I got to meet Brendan Storrier a couple of years ago when my middle son was being recruited, and I really like Brendan. He was a really nice guy. Um, he's a great recruiter, he's been a longtime assistant, and and he he had the Mars Hill job for the last few years, and now he steps into the limestone job. And I'm excited to see what he's gonna do at limestone. And what that what that happens now, uh, that left the Mars Hill job open. And I am very happy to announce that uh somebody that I know pretty well, um, he has a national championship as a player at Dowling College uh under Tim Boyle. Um he became a uh graduate assistant at uh at Dowling College. Uh and and then when Tim made the uh the transfer when he went to Wingate, uh this coach went with him uh as an assistant. And what did they do together? Their first three years, three SAC championships, two uh two NCAA appearances. Um this particular coach left coaching um during the COVID year to take care of some family problems, which tells you what kind of character this man has. Last year he had an assistant job at Alabama Huntsville. Uh but this year, my man Joe Turner is taking over at Mars Hill. I couldn't be happier. He's a great young man. I I just I adore the guy. I think he's just a great guy. I've spoken with him many, many, many, many, many times. Uh we talk with cross, we talk about life, we talk about family, and I'm really happy for Joe Turner at the Mars Hill job. So there's a couple of coaching changes.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:33

Yeah, there's actually even more, Danny, and maybe we get into this in other podcasts and kind of go through this again. There's St. Rose, there's Malloy, there's Davis and Elkins, Tusculum, and you know, young Harris coming back with a new coach and Flagler, who's had their coach but starting in with their new season. So maybe we can just go down through that again on a separate podcast, uh kind of go through that. But yeah, that's a good that's a good uh prequel to what maybe another episode will be.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:01

Yeah, and and Ro Rory, if he's listening to this, a great guy. He actually recruited me. So yeah, when he was at when he was at Hartwick, and I grew I grew up in the Whipple's backyard. So Rory's brother Jay, um, Andrew and Craig Whipple. Um we we had there was no summer lacrosse back then. You know, we we had just invented fire and the wheel and and chocolate milk.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:32

Coach, you're not that old, you're not that old. Stop.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:36

So the Whipples, because Rory at the time was at Clarkson, and the Whipples had a barrel full of Clarkson STX Sammies. So Mr. Whipple would open up the garage, it was it was like puppies, and everyone would go for the stick they had the day before, and then we'd all run into the backyard, and that's that's how we played lacrosse when we were little. So, yeah, um hope hope Rory's doing well. I know he built a house up in the Adirandex, and uh, you know, another another erotiquite guy. So uh so all the best to Rory and all the coaches who took over new positions.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:17

Well, we can't beat that story, Danny, uh, on the way to we we just should just shut up and and that's a wrap for In the Crease. Coach Ron was great.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:27

He was great.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:29

Thanks, Coach. And uh we'll see everyone next time. Yep. See ya, coach.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:34

Go go first.