Carousel of Coaching Changes Continues (Part 2)

Intro

SPEAKER_05 0:09

Welcome, welcome, welcome to another episode of In the Crease with Danny and Kevin, a coast-to-coast discussion of D2 Mentrophs. I'm your co-host, Kevin Stentrom, and with me as always is our version of Trey Cool, Danny Moran.

SPEAKER_03 0:26

Hey, Danny. Kevin, you kill me with these introductions, man. You kill me. How is everything going in Northern Virginia tonight, my friend? I'm ready for another podcast.

SPEAKER_05 0:36

I am too. I'm with you. I'm with ya. You know, we're starting to start to get our flow going. You know, we gotta keep it, keep it warming up. Keep stretching, keep stretching those vocal cords as we move on to the season. So what's a Trey Cool uh Trey Cool is a drummer. Oh, yeah, that's right. That's what I was wondering if you would know. I have to admit, it didn't come from me. It came from a listener. He said, but a Trey Cool version. Wow. Joe Vodovnik. Shout out to Joe Vodovnik. He throws these, you know, he's been good for us. He's been good for me to give you some of these intros. He's a funny guy. He said, Joe, keep them coming, man. I'm running out of ideas here. So, Joe, if you're listening to this one, hit me up again. I I we've got many episodes coming this year. I'm gonna need some help.

SPEAKER_03 1:31

I dig it, Joe. I dig it. I dig the Trey Cool uh thing. That's awesome. Went right over my head though.

SPEAKER_05 1:39

It's obtuse. It's a bit obtuse, but I loved it. I had to look it up. He said it to me, and I looked on him like, oh, that's perfect. I gotta use that. That's awesome. Okay. This is the second in our series of coaching changes, and this week, Danny, we do go coast to coast. Both Dominicans on separate coasts had coaching changes this year. So we'll start off with those two, and then we'll sprinkle in a little love with the SAC.

SPEAKER_03 2:07

The carousel of coaching changes continues in Division II, part two. Here we go.

SPEAKER_05 2:17

That may be yeah, that's gonna be the new title for all these episodes, I'll tell you right now.

Shelley Sheiner of Domican

SPEAKER_05 2:22

First up on our Dominican double tonight is Coach Shelly Shiner of the Dominican Chargers of New York. We have to point that out because we have two Dominicans in D now.

SPEAKER_03 2:34

Yep, yep, yep.

SPEAKER_05 2:36

He takes over for Daniel Steiger. He comes, Danny, from Keene University after 21 years of being the head coach there. Now that's a run. That's a run.

SPEAKER_03 2:50

That's a long time for the first time.

SPEAKER_05 2:51

But even better, get this. He amassed 223 wins and qualified for postseason 18 of his 21 seasons. Remarkable. It's remarkable. So I think Dominican has a good man at the helmet. Let's bring him in and see what he has to say. Hey coach.

SPEAKER_01 3:11

Coach. How are you doing? We're good. How's it going? I'm flattered by the introduction.

SPEAKER_05 3:17

I did a little of my homework. It's amazing. That is just an amazing run. And I think that's really my first question. After such an extensive time at Keene, what drew you to Dominican?

SPEAKER_01 3:32

A lot of things, actually. So I think the first thing is I, you know, I there was a release that went out early June that I I had retired from uh from Kane University where I played, my alma mater. Oh, wow. What is that? Yeah, yeah. Um I played there. Um my coaching career was better than my playing career, we'll say that. Um yeah, I played there from um 90 uh 92 uh uh to 95, 90, 90, 91. I was a freshman, but I was on the wrestling team. Wasn't that good at that either. Um I jumped to the sport of lacrosse. Um, but yeah, I you know, uh I was at Cain for five years as a student athlete, lacrosse wrestling, and then did some high school stuff for seven, and then came back two years as an assistant, 21 as head, and um a lot of fond memories, loved the school, loved the place. Um, but it was time, kind of time for me to step away, and I didn't know what uh what was gonna happen, whether I was just gonna be kind of out of coaching. And you know, a lot of um my colleagues said, you know, like, you know, hey, Dominican needs a head coach. I was familiar with the program because um my my nephew uh went there for a little while in school. And um, you know, it's very close to my home. It's very close to my job, um, because I am a full-time special education teacher. So yeah, yeah. Um so it it was a it was uh it was a life decision, um, I think to kind of take this up, you know, and and continue to coach and and uh you know dip my big toe into the D2 pool and you know um kind of see what's what's going on and what's what's out there, you know, for me. That that's actually the you know the one of the unique things about me. And I think across D2 and and uh in some ways across some D3 um is there's a bunch of part-time head coaches, you know. And um I guess I have the illustrious distinction of being the all-time winningest part-time head coach in the history of Men's Cross. Um I don't know if that's a flex or um it just being really stupid to do to just kind of drive down the parkway and drive up the parkway for uh so many years. Um keeps you out of trouble, coach. It keeps you out of trouble, right? It keeps me out of the house, and my wife likes me out of the house.

SPEAKER_03 6:16

That's what it is. I know that one.

SPEAKER_01 6:19

Yeah. So no, no. So um why Dominican? I okay, so like I think a couple things. Um the the one thing uh I think uh that kind of stares at me in the face, which I kind of knew going into it, was um Joe Clinton, who is the athletic director there. Um he's been there for 36 years. He's the headman's basketball coach, so he's an athletic administrator and he's a coach. And he's been doing it successfully um for 36 years. And he is the epitome um of you know, uh not just a great administrator, but a great coach. And he supports his coaches. And having the opportunity to work for a man like that who is just, you know, uh just uh kind of like a legend, you know, 36 years at one place and doing it and coaching. And also, I you know, I have to point out the uh the associate athletic director, Ricci Anetti, who's been there for 32 years as a baseball coach. And he's been doing it successfully and swon titled. And um both of those men and the rest of the athletic administration at at Dominican has been fabulous. So that was an attract that was something that kind of you know was luring me. The proximity, you know, continuing to do it part-time, the proximity to my work. It's 22 minutes from my job, it's 28 minutes uh from my house, um, you know, no traffic ever. Uh so it's it's easy. And then the upgrades at the un at the university. Uh in 2022, they went from Dominican College to Dominican University. They've upgraded the academic profile. Um, brand new president started the same day as as me, uh, him and uh Dr. Martinez and I have been multiple conversations. Um he he wants our men's program to be successful, just as successful as uh our women's program, which is phenomenal under Coach Grella. And that was another draw is seeing what our women's program has done uh in the past couple of years, two back-to-back CAC championships, uh Maddie Grella, all American, you know, Rob, uh Coach Grela's daughter. Just there's a culture of lacrosse at Dominican right now, and I'm just there to kind of now piggyback on everything that's in place to uh to make it extremely successful.

SPEAKER_05 8:48

I I love what you say about a culture of lacrosse at Dominican because I will tell you, I think the Dominican Lacrosse Alumni Network is very strong from what I see on social media. They do a great job and they're always out there in a very positive way for their team. And so I I I guess is that something that you've reached out to to try to continue to build? How have you done that and and what's it like meeting the team for the first time? How have they responded to you coming on board? I'm just curious about that.

SPEAKER_01 9:22

Yeah, you know, that's that's uh that's great. That's kind of great that you asked that. The first thing I did, well, one of the first things I did is um, you know, the assistant coach last year, former player, finished up uh in 2022, Brian O'Lachlin. Um, he was part of the interview process with me. Um he asked me some pointed questions, and I appreciated that. And, you know, he didn't know if I was gonna retain him. Um and I said, no, you're taking this ride with me because you're a Dominican University alum. You want this program to be great, you wanna, you know, you want it to succeed. And I I I felt like a passion and energy from him that I'm like, okay, um, you know, he's gonna be part of my staff. He 100% is gonna be part of my staff. And um, you know, from that, the next thing I did was uh I know there was like a summer league, kind of like pickup league um run uh in in uh in Prospect Park, New Jersey. It was like a weird place, and I knew some of the Dominican alums were were playing there. Um, so I just randomly popped in and it was like like end of July and I introduced myself to them. And there's about like 14 of them on one team, and and I'm like, hey, I'm here. I'm here to to grow this program, here to make it better. Um they were really kind of um happy that I took the time out. I mean, didn't take that much time out. I mean, uh it's like six miles from a house. Don't tell them that, Coach. Don't tell them that. No. And uh still though, still, you took the time, you know. You thought about it. You know, bringing the alumni in um is is huge for me because um, you know, at Kane, you know, Kane's the Kane program, you know, Coach Waterman had started that in 1970. I'm part of that alumni network. That's you know, multiple decades. You're talking five decades, you know. Dim Dominicans alumni is two decades, right? Um and you know, they haven't had as much success as you know, Kane and what I had at Kane. So, you know, they're but they are a very close-knit group.

SPEAKER_05 11:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:33

And um they do. They they do things on social media, they they're together. Um, we just, you know, we just uh Corin Pierce was just inducted into the Dominican University Hall of Fame, he's second lacrosse player um, you know, of all time, you know, all time to kind of get into the Hall of Fame. Um he's you know, great player at Dominican. And I, you know, I I know, you know, uh if we're going by wins and losses, you know, Dominican has not had as much success, but um I don't think I don't think success is really measured by wins and losses at times. I think success is measured by the experience you have. And these alumni are very passionate. So if they're passionate about Dominican and they're passionate about lacrosse at Dominican, um, you know, there there's something special at that school. And I I've been seeing it in, you know, just the short few months that I've been there.

SPEAKER_05 12:23

And I appreciate what you said because why you've asked coaches that well, how do you define success? And I think what Danny and I have seen from Dominican the past few years as we've been doing this podcast is they never give up. In whatever game they're in, they may not win, but they've played some games that have just been unbelievable, double overtime, triple overtime, you know, fighting back, down five goals, come back and win the game. And they're a scrappy, a scrappy team, a gritty team. What is your assessment of your players so far? And what do you think your top priorities are as you go into this fall and into the spring season?

SPEAKER_01 13:01

I've been actually real pleasantly surprised um by the by the talent and their their the attitude of the players. Um they've been great and the families that have been great too. But um, you know, I think the biggest the the biggest thing that I think hurt Dominican, I think it, you know, um is is depth. Um that that that's something and I see that across uh D2 a little bit. Um I mean I uh at my old place, you know, I I'd have a 50 to 45 man roster every year. It was kind of easy.

SPEAKER_03 13:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:39

Um you know, at the smaller schools, smaller D2 schools, that model, um you're not you're not gonna get that. You know, if you can grow your roster to, you know, like an Adelphi or a pace level, um, that's great. You know, uh Gordon and and uh Tom Mariano was a good friend of mine. They, you know, they they're you know, their kind of brand names. Um I think schools like Dominican and some of the other schools in the CAC um conference, they uh you know, they sometimes struggle with depth and numbers, you know, and I think that's something that um kind of hurt Dominican over the past couple of years. So what I'm seeing in my early assessments, we're four practices in right now, um, is you know, our our top talent is is pretty good. And, you know, and then you know, we just don't have enough, you know, enough, enough guys. So my assessment right now is I think uh offensively, I think we're gonna be okay. Um I like what we have offensively. Defensively, we need a little bit more depth.

SPEAKER_03 14:39

How much you got on the roster, Coach? How many on the roster?

SPEAKER_01 14:43

Right now, um, right now on the roster, I would say I got uh we'll say 35.

unknown 14:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 14:50

Well, that's not bad though.

SPEAKER_01 14:52

Yeah, well, yeah. I mean, we have a couple of red shirts, guys that are gonna be red shirts this year. Um, and we'll see. I I I said this a long time ago.

SPEAKER_03 15:02

What would you like it to be at? What's the what would be the uh the perfect number for you?

SPEAKER_01 15:07

The the perfect number for me is uh is 50. I think it's a number.

SPEAKER_03 15:12

Now, how does the school feel about that?

SPEAKER_01 15:15

Like the school would feel great. I mean, uh obviously um heads in beds and uh Right, right, right, right.

SPEAKER_03 15:24

And uh so you have the support there from the from the athletic department. Oh, that's great.

SPEAKER_01 15:29

Yes, yeah, yeah. I mean, I I said that uh I apologize, my phone is blowing up right now.

SPEAKER_05 15:36

Um I know you're on the podcast.

SPEAKER_01 15:38

So you're funny so I so the the last three calls, this is funny, and I'm sure you're gonna edit this out. So uh my sister, she's so happy because she lives in Stony Point, New York, and uh it's uh uh Stone's throwaway from uh Dominican. And my nephew, my one nephew, um I gotta give a shout out to my nephew. So my one nephew, Ryan, who went to Dominican, um, he's one of my volunteer coaches. And my other nephew, Evan, is a phys ed teacher at North Rockland High School, and he just got the head boys lacrosse job at North Rockland High School. We're keeping this in. We're coming in.

SPEAKER_05 16:14

This is all coming in the podcast. It's all in.

SPEAKER_01 16:16

Yeah, it's all in. And uh so the second call was um one of my illustrious Kane alumni who does his own podcast. Okay. Lax Guy Scotty was calling me. So he's gonna be a little pissed that I sent him to voicemail podcast.

SPEAKER_05 16:35

Tell him I'm I'm gonna have to look him up. I'll look him up and listen to his podcast if he listens to ours.

SPEAKER_01 16:40

That's great. Well, he's yeah. You do know who Lax Guy Scotty is, right?

SPEAKER_03 16:44

I'm sure I've heard of him.

SPEAKER_01 16:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 16:45

Not me. Not me. No.

SPEAKER_01 16:47

Oh my god, you're showing your age. You're showing your age then. Lax Guy Scotty is um Scott Royster's uh uh a big personality with the PL and uh U.S. Club Cross and everything. He's he's uh he's one of my lums and he's he's just great. And then third call was just my son, probably telling me about wrestling practice or something. I don't know.

SPEAKER_05 17:06

So um we s we slowly digressed out of that, uh coach. So we and we're running out of time here, but let me ask you have you you've talked about the CACC a little bit. Have you been able to assess the teams and and we know you want to get your your roster up? I think you know, Danny and I talk about this a lot of the time about other teams and and the depth. It's not only the depth, it's a depth if you have injuries, it's depth just from talent and and and fresh legs. It's also depth for practice, right? So you're at a good practice level, but I think you're at at some other levels where you're just talking about depth from you know just having fresh legs and being able to put put people's several lines out there. But let's go let's talk about the CACC. Have you been able to have you seen any of the teams? Have you been able to do much with that yet? Or or what's your assessment of playing in the CACC?

SPEAKER_01 17:55

So I um, you know, I'm very familiar with the coaches in the CAC. Yeah, just being on the circuit. Um, probably the most familiar with Georgian Court because we would, you know, when I was at Kane, we would scrimmage them uh in the fall a lot.

SPEAKER_04 18:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:08

Um so I know, you know, the the level of play. What's that? Mickey's great.

SPEAKER_03 18:12

Oh yeah, he's awesome. Mickey's great. He's a great guy.

SPEAKER_01 18:14

Um tremendous guy. Um, you know, so yeah, so I know, you know, he he runs a great program. Georgian Court's a great program. Uh Christian at Wilmington, great program. Uh you know, the the Chestnut Hill guy's doing a great job there. Yeah. Um that was another thing that kind of attracted.

SPEAKER_03 18:32

Bring your Kevlar suits when you play them. They are bangers, those Chestnut Hill boys. Are they? They are bangers, yes.

SPEAKER_05 18:39

And we, Danny and I, in every conference uh tournament championship, the last three years have said they're going to lose and they always win. So I said la I'm not betting against them. And I hate to say it, coach. I can't bet against them this next year in the conference tournament.

SPEAKER_01 18:54

Don't bet against them. Don't bet against us either. Don't bet against Dominican. Um, you know, uh, so assessing the talent, yeah. I mean, uh it it's it's good lacrosse. It's good lacrosse. Um one of the things that attracted me to obviously the job and and you know, this was the conference because you know, I saw Wilmington went undefeated in in the um in the regular season, you know, in the CACC. And then in the conference championship, Chestnut Hill, you know, shocks them. And that parody in the conference is something that, you know, it was another thing that attracted me to that is you know, you you can get on a run and win some championships. Um, you know, you just got to get the right recruitment in class, you got to get the right, you know, just things going, and um, and that parody is is is very attractive. I mean, obviously, you know, um a little different uh, you know, in some other conferences, you know, where you know you can almost pencil in, you know, the conference champ, right? You know, yeah. Whether it's you know, in some cases, maybe not so much D1, but in D two, there's certain conferences you could pencil in the conference champ. In D three, you could absolutely pencil in the conference champ between, you know, uh some of the conferences that are there, you know.

SPEAKER_03 20:13

Right, right, right.

SPEAKER_01 20:14

But um I think in in the CACC, it's gonna be like, all right, let's see who who's uh you know who's gonna uh get through the regular season, get to the playoffs, and then make a run in the playoffs.

SPEAKER_03 20:28

Well, now that we have AQs, but you get to the playoffs any given Sunday, right? You know, ball ball bounces funny sometimes, and sometimes it goes right into your stick. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:38

You know, and that's what we're hoping.

SPEAKER_03 20:40

That's I've seen crazy things happen. You know, it happens. That's what's great about the AQs, I think, this year in Division II. It's been a long overdue.

SPEAKER_01 20:48

It's gonna change, it's gonna change the game with them, you know.

SPEAKER_03 20:51

Yeah, I'm still not crazy about the regional thing. The NCAA needs to open up the pocketbooks and let these guys travel. If one needs to play 16, then so be it. You know, that's my that's my take on it. But the NCAA won't do that.

SPEAKER_01 21:06

I'm gonna I'm gonna be the fifth on all things in 2018.

SPEAKER_03 21:10

I gotcha.

SPEAKER_04 21:12

They're losing their clouds.

SPEAKER_01 21:13

That coach, we would edit out. That you would edit out good. Listen, I I you know, I've been known to say things uh in my 20 plus years that, you know, uh, you know, uh me going against the grain is nothing is nothing new. Yeah. Well, coach, yeah, look at that. Look at me where I got, right? If you don't go against the grain a little bit better, sounds like my kind of guy, Cup.

SPEAKER_05 21:36

Yeah, yeah, I hear you. I hear you. Well, coach, this has been a lot of fun. It's been great having you on. It was great talking to you quickly to to to let you know what we were trying to do. And I'm so glad you decided to come on and talk to us two at Knuckleheads and and uh share your your wisdom and your time. And yeah, we'd love to get you on another time. This was this was very quick, so but thanks again for coming.

SPEAKER_01 21:56

No, I listen, I I really appreciate you guys giving me uh you know, a platform and uh my my my I know you're doing the Dominican Dominican you know East and West. My my plan would be to get out to California on a spring break. Obviously not this year, but maybe in the future. So uh tell coach.

SPEAKER_05 22:14

I'll I'll I'll tell her when we get when we and I'll tell you the other thing we'll do is if you go out to California, I am gonna try to be out there for that game.

SPEAKER_01 22:23

Well that would be phenomenal. And you you know what would be even more phenomenal if there's some great sponsor out there that would uh for for you for Dominican and in the crease at the same time let's try to work that together coach can we work that can we work that angle?

SPEAKER_03 22:40

I don't know um I don't know how we're gonna I don't know how we how I I do that for I don't know the NCA rules so we we'll have to do that off off uh off Dominican in California is not far from Silicon Valley so I'm sure there's somebody out there who sponsor uh this small school from New York to fly out and I like you thinking coach I like you thinking well coach thanks so much for taking the time with us tonight we really appreciate it we wish you nothing but luck this season we'd love to have you come on again and and talk more about the program.

SPEAKER_01 23:10

Yeah no talk about the program talk about the the great eateries up in uh Rockland County there's uh there's a ton of them you know at um and tell lax guy Scotty Scotty he's number two on the list okay uh listen he's gonna be very upset that I I send a voicemail for another podcast um you know but uh you know you know what's special about us though we're the only podcast in the entire country just solely dedicated to vision two and you know what that is really I think that was when you guys contacted me a while back I thought that was the coolest thing um you know because you know I think D2 needs needs that platform you know they they need that platform it's because you know if you go through all the schools in D2 they're they're just the smaller smaller private institutions for the most part and um you know they they're not as high profile as some of the you know one and then certain certain division three schools like you know I mean I spent a lot of time in D three and you know I know there's a lot there's you know the Salisbury's of the world the top Christopher new boards you know sure sure sure sure I'm glad I I am glad I don't have to coach against Coach Berkman anymore you know like going against the wizard you know all right well thanks coach we really appreciate it we will be having we will be talking to you again all right guys thank you coach I'll see ya

Bobby Grove of Dominican

SPEAKER_01 24:37

the second Dominican program is on the West Coast Danny the new the newbie of Dominicans in division two actually but they've been there before so they are actually an oldie but a goodie coming back they also saw a coaching change uh this past year it's the Dominican Penguins obviously and they announced kind of a a pair of coaching changes or staffing changes former head coach that we know as Coach Sammy because I like Coach Sammy.

SPEAKER_05 25:08

He's a good guy that's the easy way to say his name he assumed the duties of faculty athletic representative and then coach Bobby Grove was elevated from assistant to head. So probably a fairly easy transition. I don't know we'll find out when he comes in so let's bring him in coach Grove and hear from him directly and how things are going.

SPEAKER_00 25:27

Hey Coach Hey Kevin hey Danny thanks for having me today.

SPEAKER_03 25:30

Coach Grove good to see you how's everything going out on the west coast tonight?

SPEAKER_05 25:35

It's a hot one today got to a hundred today so a little bit of wow odd weather for us but things are going well out here in California out in the bay and we're excited for uh what's to come so congratulations on getting the job man coach Sammy got you very much he got a bump up he bumped up the ladder a little bit and you're taking taking over the reins how's it feel oh yes sir uh it feels great um it it's one of those weird situations where yes it's a coaching change it's a regime change but we know the guys we know the facilities we know the area um we know the challenges uh so there's some comfort in that um but it is nice to to get to bump up and and start moving things in our different direction great to hear so that obviously one of my questions uh you obviously helped tremendously with Dominican's transition back into D2 it's not like you weren't there and weren't helping coach helping coach Sammy who I think is one of the he has an entrepreneurial spirit like no other that that thousand percent thousand percent so it seems like you were probably a part of that architecture uh and framework so are you really continue down the same path that you had with Coach Sammy or you kind of just talked about it kind of a new regime are you putting in some tweaks of your own from what you want your coaching style and what you want to do with this program.

SPEAKER_00 26:59

Yeah uh it's it's a little column A, column B on that one. Um it was definitely something that was discussed as I came from Louisiana uh to join Dominican um what we wanted as the future of the program and where we were going with it. And I think this is just a continuation of that vision that Sammy had for Dominican getting us back to D2 getting us in the RMAC um which this year will be our first year as a full member right um so we're building upon a really good base that that coach Sammy gave us for his nine years here with the program and relaunching us into D2 um but we're definitely going to be taking our own own little twists and slants on things for sure.

SPEAKER_05 27:43

That's that's really great. And you kind of just hit upon it what how does it feel to be a full member of the RMAC and being a part of that conference and then my next question to add to that AQs RMAC did something really interesting with the Peach Belt and I think it was a great move. So tell me how you feel about the RMAC and then that move for for be able to do the AQs.

SPEAKER_00 28:06

Oh yeah no I I think being fully vested in the RMAC this year is just a tremendous boost to our program in general um last year was that soft launch and being an independent kind of led to a lot of travel for us and a lot of it's hard to keep the guys motivated when they know playoffs aren't in the picture for you. Yeah um it's really easy early in the season but you take a couple on the chin those early morning practices and lifts they start wearing on you um but now you you really see we come in here with the RMAC the playoffs are on the board from day one um you saw what Concordia was able to do last year getting hot at the right time oh yeah um and making things interesting for the RMAC. So that's it that's a great motivation for our guys um we're really young roster this year but a lot of the times with the young roster they don't realize what's ahead of them in the so they keep going right yeah it's a it's a good thing being naive yeah um but as you touched on uh it it's a great opportunity that we partnered up with the Peach Belt this year um obviously with losing uh CSU Pueblo um we wouldn't get the automatic just in the RMAC um but luckily Peach Belt also has five teams so they're one shy right so the champion of both will be playing for that AQ so it's it's a great carrot to be dangled in front of the teams on both conferences and I think it's a real creative solution to to the problem of having one fewer team.

SPEAKER_05 29:48

Yeah I totally agree I think that was such a smart move because like you just talked about one your team last year when there weren't any automatic qualifiers not being able to go to a conference playoff or tournament and now look at two conferences who don't have a shot at automatic qualifiers now it motivates both conferences to be at the top of their game and and and then to play it out. I think that's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 30:16

I think it changes the whole dynamic of of you know everything between the two conferences. I think it I think it's kind of interesting.

SPEAKER_00 30:23

I'm really looking forward to see how this kind of works out the interconference play kind of yeah very much so it's it's definitely something that from the RMAC perspective it it gives us a a foot in the door um you don't have to run the table and be that that ranked team um as you've seen the last couple years with Westminster and Mesa knocking on the door and the door's been held shut um now they can't hold the door shut on us.

SPEAKER_05 30:50

So and I think yeah and I totally agree we've talked about this several times on the podcast how the teams in the Armac have been in a total disadvantage because of the travel you have to put in to have that quality schedule to even have a look now you don't have to do as much of that travel and still got to get a shot to show what you can do in the NCA term.

SPEAKER_00 31:14

If you make a thousand percent um regardless of who ends up coming out of that Peach Belt RMAC AQ, it's just another part of the country that's going to be represented on the national stage. Yes 100% yeah and it's it's gonna inject some fresh blood into the tournament um give some kind of new spots for for players looking for schools and opportunities from non-traditional areas and anytime that happens in lacrosse that's a great thing for the sport.

SPEAKER_03 31:44

I I couldn't agree with you more you know I think the automatic qualifiers is just a great thing for Division II it changes each conference in a way it it motivates all these mid-tier kind of conference teams in those conferences it motivates them hey guys all we got to do is get in you know and again like a pipe a stick you know uh and off sides at the wrong time it could mean a man up for you and and and you know what I mean and and crazier things have happened which makes it so much more exciting.

SPEAKER_00 32:16

Oh big time it it injects that march madness from college basketball into lacrosse at the D2 level um obviously everybody love to run the table be in the top five and and put on a show but it really turns into one of those situations you get hot at the right time you put it together I mean it's it's hard in a conference to beat a team three times in a year. Yeah you you get hot at the right time you know each other really well and it's good competition anything can happen and that that's really juices up the guys gives them that motivation to dig down deep. And we've definitely seen that on the RMAC tough to beat any of those teams two times in a row so let me ask you this then what do you think the keys to success are at Dominican and then as kind of a a corollary to that how do you define success for your program yeah I think um the big thing for us we took a great step forward last year with just being part of D2 um and learning on the run uh it was a late ad to get us in there. So being independent we were kind of learning on the fly um but it was eye-opening for the guys on the roster last year. Even our freshman class last year they were already in accepted getting ready for school and we're calling them up being like hey you're in the NCAA now let's get you registered let's get you going for some some guys that's great it was like hey this is the shot I always wanted other guys it was eye opening being like oh uh oh I thought I was signing another club right um so it it's getting to that next level getting that maturity that professionalism in terms of the on the field how you're taking care of your body how you're preparing um I think we made great strides with the recruiting class we brought in uh we brought in 19 freshmen two transfers um for the fall here and it's one of our best classes that we've ever brought in since the last time of D2. Um the level of athlete has just jumped up. Right, right. So for us, obviously we want to be building towards in the next three to four years knocking on that RMAC championship door. But we realize it's a process we realize that the teams that are established they're not going to do us any favors um that's true and it's it's getting the guys the right type of student athlete at Dominican um being where we are in the Bay Area it kind of presents a couple challenges. It's it's a very high academic school it's in a non-hot bed for lacrosse so you're trying to get Californians to come and and be on the West Coast we're scouring up and down the west coast even up into Canada. But for the East Coasters in the Midwest you're also leaning in and going hey this an opportunity to build something it's not going and fighting for the back of the roster or fighting for your chance in a place where it's already established. Come build the culture with us come build something and and really have a shot from day one where you can't hide from competition if you're trying to build something. So it's a really unique situation.

SPEAKER_05 35:40

Yeah I love that I love that and just to close out coach because we told Coach Sammy we'd love to come out to a game I haven't been able to figure that out yet but I think I have a way forward. We just talked to Coach Shelly Shiner, the head coach at Dominican in New York and he would love to set up an uh out of conference game and come out to California on their spring break. Not this year maybe in the years to come and I said if you do that I'm gonna figure out a way to get out there and watch that game in at the at the Penguins. The door's always open for you guys uh we used to have the Battle of Dominican um back previously in our D2 era um used to be a home and home uh we'd love to set that back up we had it in the works for last year but it didn't end up working out just because of just last second changes um but yeah it's something that we would love to get back going and uh try to show who's the real Dominican I love it I love it well coach it's been phenomenal having you on uh we really wish you all the best luck this next year and and and I think we will see continued success with Dominican and CUI in the Armac and really making RMAC a tough tough conference and then to be able to represent at the national level I mean I think I see that coming in and we we just wish you the best going forward. We appreciate that and thank you for having us on again and look forward to the next

Austin Ambrose of Coker

SPEAKER_05 37:11

time all right Danny let's move on to a coaching change in the sack the Coker Cobras with Coach Austin Ambrose. Now he is not new to Coker as you know right he's been an assistant there since 2021 he came in with uh Jon Snow when he left to rehabilitate his shoulder again I think get surgery and other things coach Ambrose was named the interim all last year. I'm interested to hear how that goes. That's got to be a little bit uh tough thing you're kind of you're taking over a program you're not really the head coach you are the head coach luckily that tag was removed this summer and now he is the head coach so you want to just welcome him in and see how he's doing let's do it all right hey coach Austin Ambrose from Coker how are you doing?

SPEAKER_02 38:01

Hey coach thanks for having me uh it's great to have you first congrats congrats on being named the head coach you were named interim like we said last year when Coach Snow departed how does it feel first of all I'm interested how it was being the interim is that different than being the head coach is it more pressure and then how does it feel to have that tag removed uh I uh I say one of the bigger things when you're interim is you're not trying to rock the boat quite as much you know what I mean you're trying to kind of secure what you have um you know I don't want too many players going oh coach ambrose is crazy you know how to how to tone it down a little bit um but uh getting the job was super relieving um you know I loved Hartsville and I was you know really hoping that I was gonna be able to stay so extremely happy once uh Dr. Griffin brought me in and you know she was like yeah did you ever think you weren't gonna get the job I was like I've been stressing for half a year um but yeah it was it was a smooth transition you know on um I've always kind of taken pride in recruiting and I've recruited all the guys that um are here now so it was a pretty pretty smooth transition.

SPEAKER_05 39:25

Yeah that's what I was going to ask you you know you played I think for Coach Snow under at Reinhardt correct and then you coached with him there and then you came over with him to Coker so it seems to me like the transition was going to be pretty seamless but you and you like you said as an interim you didn't put any mad scientist techniques in that first year. But is there anything now that you have the reins you you kind of had the under your belt for a year any changes or tweaks to fit your coaching style better?

SPEAKER_02 39:57

I'd say just kind of working from the ground up is how I like to do it. You know really working on somebody individually and then going into team concepts where um I think we were kind of before just jumping right into the team concepts and some of the guys you know still needed that bridge to you know be built and work on their own craft before we can even put it in to the actual system.

SPEAKER_05 40:24

Right. Yeah that's interesting coach because I guess there's two different philosophies. I like that of still developing players because you can have players that are really good athletically but could have a little bit be a little bit raw in either lacrosse IQ or the skill set that the fundamentals can set them up for a much stronger team in in years to come. Absolutely I agree.

SPEAKER_02 40:50

Or the type of defense you know you you know a kid might be a great defender but you want to put in this type of defense and he's got to learn that and this so that's that's good you know coker's in that SAC man that tough conference that SAC and uh what's it gonna be like what's it gonna be like for the Covers this year in that sack we're adding another team Emery and right Emery and Henry yep so we're excited for it um you know we were able to make the playoffs last year and I think that kind of just lit a fire under everybody uh I've never seen a group at Coker work harder than these guys have been working they want it um you know whether that's just conditioning uh practice weights whatever it is it's all high energy and um I'm really enjoying it enjoying the guys for sure that's awesome can you give us uh some insight into your roster how many people how many freshmen you have coming in what's the size uh I I'm just curious because I know you've it's kind of when coach when you got there in 2020 it was 2021 it was kind of uh trying to build a little bit bigger roster as I recall so just curious where you're at now so we're sending uh 45 guys um brought in brought in 15 um some really good freshmen in there um and then we only lost two seniors really last year so uh excited about this year for sure coker's always been a tough feisty spunky team man you just you don't roll over coker you know like when coker comes in they're gonna be competitive they're gonna fight they're gonna they're gonna throw their best at you they're gonna give you a game I've been watching coker play for 10 years now in division two since my my middle guy was involved and you guys would play you know you guys we we would play coker and and I was always impressed with coker first I remember the first time going I don't even know where it is and and then at the end of the game I was like wow this team was good they were funny you lost by two but I mean you were in the game and I just always liked the way the Coker Cobras come to play I always like their style of play their grittiness I just like their grittiness I I it's it's like being part of that SAC you better bring that physicality and and that grittiness would you agree? Yeah absolutely I think that's one thing my guys do do really well but just this conference you have to be like there's no there's no in-between like you better be ready to go every game and you better be ready to fight or it's not going to be a good day you know so um we just try to recreate that in practice every day every almost all of our drills there's a winner and a loser you know offense and defense is competing against each other. Right, you know I let them chirp a little bit between the offense and defense you know I'm whatever whatever gets them going whatever gets the energy going and um at the end of the day you know I the other teams are going to be talking so you have to be ready to go.

SPEAKER_03 43:56

And stuff right there.

SPEAKER_05 43:57

Yeah yeah well and that's let me ask you this Because you just said it, Coach. You guys made the playoffs. Big, big jump in a lot of ways. Kind of set yourself on the sack. Although you what I would say is, you know, there's the teams like Limestone and Lenore Rhine and Wingate, right? They are just so damn consistent at such a high level. And the other teams at the next level, which Coker is in, there's some inconsistency now and then. You guys made it to the playoffs. What are you looking for in this year's team to get to that next level? I'm not saying the next level of being right with Lenore Ryan and Limestone, but what are you looking for in this team? Do you have specific goals or objectives that you're looking at to you know, obviously get back to the playoffs, but is there anything else?

SPEAKER_02 44:42

Yeah, so I mean, one of our goals is I think everybody in this conference can play good on six, six on six offense, good six on six defense. I think where a lot of the teams separate themselves are those trans either transitioning into defense or transitioning into offense, because you know, that's a four or five goal swing that um you know can really help you out. And I think uh we've been kind of trying to play it safe a little bit with playing fast and trying to push transition. Um, but I I'd really like to be at a different level with that this year is kind of one of my big things and one of the biggest things I've noticed, you know, just in this conference that the teams that win the middle of the field are usually the ones winning the game.

SPEAKER_05 45:29

Interesting, yep. Yeah, I would say I've we saw that several. In fact, Janie, we talked about that a lot winning the middle of the field for several games on the team that has, especially in SAC games last year. Yeah, it means a lot. So I'm with you, coach. Um, what does your schedule look like? I know it's not out yet. What's your out of conference looking like right now? Do you has it is it finished yet or are you still working it?

SPEAKER_02 45:53

Yeah, so we have six out-of-conference games. I'm trying to think of them in order. I want to say we have first lander, then I believe Lees McCrae again to play John Grant Jr., which is I was a huge fan, so I was like, oh, I'm gonna reach out to him immediately. Um so we have um Lees McCrae, uh Emmanuel, Barton, Juwan, and then Belmont Abbey. We added them this year. We're excited about that.

SPEAKER_05 46:28

That that's uh that's a really good mix there.

SPEAKER_03 46:30

That's really good competitive out you know, out of conference schedule. Absolutely. Barton's always been a good team, you know. Barton's been a tough team the last couple of years.

SPEAKER_02 46:40

Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's been close with us the past couple years, so um, we're excited about that one. I know the boys are hungry.

SPEAKER_03 46:47

Lander's a tough team, too. They're they're they're getting better and better each year. So what do you think about the automatic qualifiers this year, coach?

SPEAKER_02 46:57

I like it. Um you know, I think that a lot of these teams across the country are very talented and deserve, you know, a chance to get into it. Um I thought the uh was it the RMAC and the Peach Belt combining, that was an interesting move.

SPEAKER_04 47:15

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 47:17

But other than that, you know, I'm I'm all for it. I think uh just expanding the tournament, all of that is you know gonna grow our sport. So definitely liked it.

SPEAKER_05 47:27

Yeah, yeah, I totally agree. I mean, I think it's uh been a long time coming. I think there, like you said, coach, there are teams, especially out west, that have got put a put such a grueling out-of-conference schedule just from travel to have a shot at getting in. And now they can get a shot, especially the RMAC and the Peach Belt, both teams under six teams. Now they combine to be able to get a team in. I think it's a great way to go. It's gonna be really interesting this this next year, and it'll be interesting to see how it matures over the years. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Well, Coach, I I just want to say we're really excited. We're really happy to see that you got the job taken over. It was it was a smart move, I think, on Coker's part to keep that ball rolling of what Coach Snow was starting. And you brought your team to the playoffs, and we're looking to see great things from Coker. Like Danny said, we love watching Coker play. They are just come with a fierce intensity.

SPEAKER_03 48:28

They're gritty, these guys. They're gritty. I love those gritty teams. I like guys, you know, they they bring it, you know. They might not have the studs, maybe like a Lenore Ryan, but you know what? They're giving them a game. You know what I'm saying? Like they're coming in and they're giving them a game. They're not laying down. Again, I've watched Cobra, uh the Coker Cobras for the last at least 10 years, and I've always been impressed with the way that they play the game. They just play the game the right way. That comes from coaching and guys like you, Coach Ambrose.

SPEAKER_02 48:57

Well, I appreciate that. Um, yeah, we used to try to instill it every day, you know. My guys definitely don't miss out on the grit part, you know, but uh we're definitely not a finished product yet, you know. Just uh trying to work hard this fall. I feel like how kind of how hard we work this fall is gonna determine how our season goes. So um, you know, just gonna continue to work hard and continue to let them, you know, be gritty and and you know, be a cobra.

SPEAKER_03 49:26

Yeah, you know, the last time we had Coach Snow on, we we always told him uh, you know, a good coach always has a great assistant, you know, and uh we want to know about your assistance.

SPEAKER_02 49:37

Yeah, absolutely. We have Coach Whitamore, who was a head coach at Missouri Baptist. He I played with him for two years uh at Reinhardt, then coached him for the another two. And then once I moved on to uh be the head coach at Montreat, he uh took over my position as a defensive coordinator at Reinhart. And um, I mean, I've might be a little biased, you know, he's one of my best friends, but uh I he really is one of the smartest lacrosse minds that um that I've been around. And he loves the game, and you know, the guys can just feel that you know he really cares about what's going on.

SPEAKER_03 50:21

Now, was he with you? Was he with you last season, or is this his first season?

SPEAKER_02 50:24

No, this is uh total new coaching staff this year. Wow.

SPEAKER_03 50:29

Okay, great. How's he liking it so far? What's he thinking about it?

SPEAKER_02 50:33

He loves it. You know, he was at a with the NAIA team. Um, so I think just that jump of talent kind of yeah, he was like all about it, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Definitely, definitely a good change. And he's hungry, you know, he wants to continue to grow as a coach and um wants to, you know, push these guys as far as they can.

SPEAKER_05 50:56

And so what side of the ball is he focused on and where and you are you focused on the offense then? Yep.

SPEAKER_02 51:03

And then we have our um grad assistant, Philip Gerber, who is running the box and um also running our phogos, uh honestly keeping me on top of things. He's uh he's great. He comes with so much energy, so genuine. Um, you know, he's texting me at seven in the morning, waking up, we got work to do. I'm like, Love does kick. My son is you know still sleeping. Let me get a couple more. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 51:33

That's great. No time to sleep. No time to sleep. Great to have that energy in the coach and staff, you know, that guys that are eager to get up and go to work in the morning. That's great. I see nothing but good things uh moving up for the Coca Corbus this year. I think I think you're, like I said, gritty squad, tough SAC conference. I mean, there's a lot of really, really top-notch teams. And you guys made the playoffs last year, and I expect nothing less from you guys this year. I think, you know, Coker's got what it takes. Got a new coaching staff there, a new, a renewed hunger. And uh I'm really interested to see what the Cobras bring this year.

SPEAKER_02 52:11

Well, I really appreciate you saying that, and we're hoping the same thing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 52:15

Yeah. Well, thanks, coach, for getting on with us. This has been great, and uh, we will be watching you in the 2025 season.

SPEAKER_02 52:23

Absolutely. Well, I just I appreciate what you guys do for the sport, especially at the D2 level. Um, it definitely gets people's eyes on it and helps us, you know, in every type of way. So I really appreciate you guys.

SPEAKER_03 52:37

Uh thanks, Coach. We appreciate it.

SPEAKER_02 52:39

All right, y'all have a good one.

Final Thoughts and Shout outs

SPEAKER_05 52:42

All right, that was great hearing from Coach Ambrose of Coker, as well as the Dominican head coaches. And I think, Danny, we got something going with this battle of the Dominicans in the future years. We just need to get a sponsor now.

SPEAKER_03 53:00

Yeah, if we could get a sponsor. For anybody who's listening out there and needs a sponsor, needs a commercial done, we do them for small fee. But anyway, what a great show tonight. The two Dominicans, you know. Um, Coach Grove out in California. What a great guy. He sounds like an interesting guy. Coach Sammy gets the bump up to the head. He's he's wearing a different hat now, and and Coach Grove takes the reams over. I I love it. Coach Shiner was amazing tonight. I thought he was a great guest. I would love to get him on again.

SPEAKER_05 53:35

Um and talk about a perspective of the amount of wins he's had in D3 and the fact that just because he was in D3, it's where he's at. And he's close. He was always close to Dominican. So he knows the teams and the CACC, he knows the coaches. He's not coming in blind in the Dominican.

SPEAKER_03 53:56

No, not at all. I mean, he's got a serious background, and and and I that's it's it's an interesting hire there. I really do. I think it's an interesting hire. I'm gonna, you know, watch the Chargers a little bit this year, see what happens with them onto Coach Shiner. I mean, they they've always had like a numbers problem, but they seem to be okay in numbers this year. Um again, we'll have to see.

SPEAKER_05 54:21

We'd love to see if we get up to his his quality number of 50. Yeah. From 35 to 50 over the next couple years. And then finally, Coach Ambrose. You know, take interim tags off now. He did a good job last year as interim, brought him to the tournament, the conference tournament.

SPEAKER_03 54:36

So in the sack. Yeah. It's not an easy thing to do. No. You know, to get in the tournament in the sack, you you've had a good year. Exactly. And you know what? I like I said, Coker has always been a scrappy team. Um, always I always felt in the past that they were like one or two players away from being a really, really good team. You know, they've had players but not stacked with players. You know what I mean? Yeah. They have to have a midi and two attackmen, or they'd have two defensemen and one good midi. You know what I mean? And they they didn't they never really seem to have the whole package, but they're always scrappy and they're always gritty. And like I said, they made the conference tournament last year, and in the sack, that's not an easy no, that's not an easy thing to do. So it'll be interesting to see Coker again in the sack with under under, well, he's been there now for a while. So it's not really that new.

SPEAKER_05 55:35

But, you know, it it it the shackles are off now. You know, he doesn't he's not the interim, he's not just trying to hold the steady ship. He can bring in to some of his own things that he may want to do. I think what he was talking about is in transition in the middle of the field, they improve that, they're gonna be even more dangerous.

SPEAKER_03 55:53

Yeah, I like I said, Coker, uh, wouldn't surprise me to see them in in the conference tournament again in the sack. Yep, 100%.

SPEAKER_05 56:02

Okay, now to close it out, do you have any shout-outs, Danny?

SPEAKER_03 56:06

Yeah, I got a good shout out. I have to shout out, this is an interesting story, okay, Kevin. There's a little background to this story. About, I don't know, 10, 12 years ago, I was working in the tunnels in New York City, and uh pretty hard job, about 80, 90 feet under the ground, kind of dirty, kind of dusty, kind of wet, kind of monkey, but a good group of guys, you know what I mean? Just a really good group of guys working down there, working hard. And I met this guy down there, Patty Schaefer. He's a Long Beach guy, just something about him, really happy guy, always got a smile on his face, always super nice guy. Hey Dan, how you doing? Well, guess what? He's a big listener of the podcast. He he loves the podcast. Oh, yeah. Yeah, played a little across himself when he was in high school. And um about 10 years ago, they had twin boys, him and his wife, Denise, had twin boys, uh Mason and Aiden. And about I think he was about four or five years old, Aiden, and was diagnosed diagnosed with cancer. Oh wow. Yeah, he was a youngin', they're twin boys, these twin brothers, right? And throughout his ordeal, I never saw this kid without a smile on his face. Now, through cancer, you know, and and and uh GoFundMe projects and and all the different uh you know uh people that do things for kids for cancer. Patty and his wife Denise exposed these kids to everything. And they've been at Yankee games and Met Games and Jet Games and Giant Games on the field meeting players, walking home with swag, you know. It's been a really cool well, guess what? Aiden is cancer free now, and they're in they're in fifth grade. They both play lacrosse at Oceanside, and we know some Oceanside players that come on the on the podcast with us. And two Friday nights ago, Adelphi men's lacrosse held a lacrosse out cancer event. You get it? LaCrosse Out Cancer event. And uh Aiden and Mason were the guest of honor. I saw that picture, Danny. Got to hang out with the team, these kids got to practice with the team, they got to do ground balls. That it was a ground ball thing. It was a ground ball for cancer thing. Love it. So the kids were picking up ground balls, and and the lacrosse team was picking out ground balls. And I just got to give a shout out to Adelphi, Coach Purdy, Coach Kat, Coach Volpe for that kind of thing. That was just really cool to me. And there you go again, the lacrosse community coming together for a common cause. And these are just little guys. Yeah, they're little guys, you know what I mean? Yeah. Aidan went Aiden went through quite the ordeal. Yeah, couple of years, you know, had the port in him and you know, and just man, any picture I saw of this kid, he never never not had a smile on his face. He went, he's a trooper, he's a trooper. And just to see him on the field with all the guys from the Delphi and the coaches around him, it was it was a great thing for me. So Patty and Denise, God bless you. It was a great night. And that's what this look sport of lacrosse is all about. It really is at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_05 59:44

I agree. We won't even say that it was Coach Purdy recruiting early. We're just gonna, we're just gonna, I mean, and we see that with other teams. That's what I love about Instagram and see what the other teams are are doing. Like they're like they've been doing the last couple weeks, several teams and reaching out for what happened to Hurricane Helene and and other teams doing other stuff for you know, fights against cancer or other causes, you know, Alzheimer's. There's a whole bunch of them that you see. You see a whole bunch of teams doing stuff for 9-11, doing the stairs. I mean, I think that's a mental health stuff.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:15

Mental health stuff.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:16

It's so great to see that. And it and that's a great shout-out. Using a Delphi for the shout-out for so many, every team, all the teams I've seen do that stuff, but that's a great shout out to a Delphi. What a great idea, a great event for a great cause.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:33

Could you imagine his face when he met Dylan Renner, the player of the year in Division II, first team All American? He's probably like looking up at him like this guy is God, you know what I mean? And Dylan took him around. So I think it was a great day. It's a great thing, and I'm I'm happy for Patty and Denise, and I'm really excited for Aiden and Mason and continuing to play lacrosse and just getting better.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:56

That's awesome. And that's a great way to end it. There's no better way to end it. So with that, Danny, that's a wrap. That's a wrap, yeah.