Coaching Carousel: DII to DI

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Welcome, welcome, welcome to another episode of In the Crease with Danny and Kevin, a coast-to-coast discussion of D2 Mansions Lacrosse. I'm your co-host, Kevin Stentrum, and with me as always is our Navigator Extraordinaire, Danny Moran. How's it going, Danny? Navigator Extraordinaire, huh? Okay. Oh, we're going to need your navigation because the next few episodes, we are embarking on a new journey into uncharted waters. Yes. We are not talking with any D2 players or coaches. Well, well, sort of. Former. Former. The person that is waiting to come in right now is no longer in D2. In fact, he's dead to us. We're just letting him on for this last time. And the reason why it's as we have seen the past two years, a coach who went to the D2 championship transitioned after that championship game to a head coaching position at D1 school. Two years ago was Coach Levine from Mercy. And this year it is Coach Ryan from Mercy Hearst. So you and I talked about, we thought it'd be really interesting. There's a few other moves that have gone around out there that would be interesting to get them back on the podcast and just take a glimpse of how that journey happened and what's happening during that journey from D2 to D1.

SPEAKER_01 1:31

Kevin, I am so excited to have Coach Ryan on. He's like the best of the best.

SPEAKER_00 1:37

I thought about this. He he is one of our favorites because I think this is like the third or fourth time he's been on our show. And actually, I had it was it was a good offense for a defense there when I said he's dead to us because this is a lot. He's gotten so big for that he probably will never want to come on again. He's a coach for the plater dogs, and now the head coach for Mount St. Mary's, and he's a nappy dresser.

SPEAKER_01 2:01

Yeah, he looks great in his niece's cowboy hat. He's got a stuffed snake around his back and a brand new the Mount sweatshirt on this maybe.

SPEAKER_00 2:12

If you can only see him, this may be the only episode I put on YouTube of ours, and maybe if you cut out our faces and just show Coach Ryan. Well, let's just bring him in. Hey coach, how you doing?

SPEAKER_02 2:22

Good guys, welcome to the funny farm at this point.

SPEAKER_01 2:27

Coach Ryan.

SPEAKER_02 2:28

You guys have just a little avenue into whatever the hell my life has turned into over the past month. So right now, this is just regular life for me. Stuffed snakes, cowboy hats, in my brother's basement. Like, there's nothing that's normal, regular. No, there's what what you see is what you get. There's a whole lot at this point.

SPEAKER_01 2:52

Well, we love it.

SPEAKER_00 2:53

We love it. Yeah, yeah, it's hilarious. The well, first of all, congratulations on being named the head coach. I think that's great. Congratulations. Mount St. Mary's is uh an hour and ten minutes from my house, so now I've got to go see a a Mount Lacrosse game sometime uh this season. But tell us how that I want to know how did that all transpire before you get into the funny farm, what you had to do once you became the coach and your your travels uh after that. How did that all transpire?

SPEAKER_02 3:23

Um, to tell you the truth, uh well, really the whole opportunity came up because uh my athletic director at Merciers, Brad Davis, became the the athletic director at the mount. And um he he called me, you know, called me up. I think I think it was the um the Charlotte weekend of the PL. Brad called me on a uh early on a Friday morning and he said, Do you have a minute? And I said, Brad, every time you say that to me, it's never good. And he said, Well, I'm I'm moving on to Mount St. Mary's, and and I, you know, I thanked him and I really thought it was a uh uh I thought it was a very fitting move for him, like a real smart move. Um, one thing led to another, and I think it was just one of those things, like he kept sort of his his developments were were going on at the mount, he kept dropping hints to me, and I'm too thick-headed to pick up on anything environmentally around me. So I really didn't take any of the hints, and finally he just came out and said, Listen, would you be interested in the job? And yeah, I said, That's funny because Karen and I talked about it last night, and she gave her blessing for me to you know to to take a look at the situation. Wow, so uh one thing led to another, and you know, and I just thought it was a great opportunity for for me professionally and my family, and I thought I thought the the timing was right at in my you know, in the arc of my career, uh to make to make a move. So um, there's been other opportunities over the years that for whatever reason just didn't fit or didn't make sense. And I thought that I thought that this one made uh uh a lot of sense.

SPEAKER_01 5:03

Well, that's that's amazing, coach. And you know what? The man couldn't have gotten a better guy and a better coach. So we wish you nothing but success there. But I'll tell you right now, I for one, I'm gonna miss you at Mercy Hearst. I am gonna miss you. I love those games. Uh watching you play, uh, watching those Wingate Mercy Hearst games have always been great for me to watch. And uh, I'm gonna miss that. I really am.

SPEAKER_02 5:28

Yeah, I think Coach Boyle was particularly heartbroken uh because of my departure uh with it. So I and I'll tell you guys, it was it was tough. So um you know the Brad and Brad ended up offering me the job. Um, went home that night, and we had a you know a team Ryan family meeting. Um Karen and I stayed up for a while talking about it, and and I had to catch a flight, I had to leave for a flight out of Buffalo at four in the morning. And I didn't I don't think I went to bed till about two. And and when I when I went to bed that that night, I had to tell Brad the following morning. Um I went to bed and I took I I told myself I was just gonna stay at Mercyhurst. Um I was good with it. And uh I'm not I think there was a separation of sort of my head and my heart at that time. Um, but I went to bed and I'd said, All right, you know, I'll give Brad a call in the morning and tell him I'm not gonna accept the job. Um woke up in the morning and Karen and I had a little more of a talk, and and she said, Hey, if this is something that you really want to do, you know, we'll find a way to to make it happen. Now, I didn't know that finding a way to make it happen involved me moving into my brother's basement, like like I'm a 15-year-old runaway or something at this point, but I I didn't um but I I you know I on the on the way to Buffalo to the airport, I called Brad at like 6 15 in the morning and accepted the job, woke him up. I figured he had to take my call at that point.

SPEAKER_00 7:03

So wake him up and told him made you have like no sleep the night before, so it was his turn to not have sleep.

SPEAKER_02 7:10

Yeah, no, I'm in and I'm getting on this plane. I hate to fly, so I'm nervous. I'm completely strung out from a lack of sleep at this point. Um, and I sit down next to this very nice lady, and and to tell you the truth, not to sound like too much of a wimp or a big baby, but I I literally cried the whole way to New York City, uh, dealing with you know breaking 23 years of relationships. I was gonna ask you that. Yeah, it's really a way of life. Um, the poor lady next to me is like, oh my god, you know, you know, all right. So uh yeah, so it was difficult, but you know, change always is. It's you know, change is sort of the meaning of the old and the new, and and it's uncomfortable. But like I said, at this point, I thought it was um the right thing to do, and I thought it was the right time to to make those these decisions.

SPEAKER_00 8:00

Yeah, you answered that question for me because that was one of my questions, how tough it was. And you could tell just what you said. I mean, you went from going to sleep saying, I'm gonna stay, to then turning around and going. And that that is always tough. And you look at what's going on at Mount St. Mary's with with Brad Davis, very interesting, right? Uh, he's taken over for the the retirement AD Lynn Robinson, who'd been there for 42 years, and whose dad, Jim Fanlin, coached basketball there from 1954 to 2003. I mean, that is that's a seed change from that legacy of the Phelan family to to what Brad Davis is and that and and does that excite you too? That seems to me like that would be kind of interesting. Uh, it just an excitement of a of a seed change in the athletic program.

SPEAKER_02 8:47

Yeah, you know, Lynn, what what a woman. Um, she remembers everybody's name. She came down into Waldron where my where the lacrosse offices and soccer offices are last week, and she's saying hello, you know, all the soccer teams had reported back, and she knew all the kids by name. Like, I can't remember my you know, every basically every Wednesday, I can't remember my own kids' names. Yeah, I'm with here she is, she's hugging people, and and I mean there's been a fail-in at the mount for nearly 70 years. I think if I do the if I do the amazing, yeah, and and when I interviewed for the job, I met with Lynn and and uh we ended up talking about the old Randolph making Mount St. Mary's basketball rival.

SPEAKER_00 9:29

Oh, that's awesome!

SPEAKER_02 9:30

Yeah, and she looks at her watch, she goes, Oh my god, there's only five minutes left. You know, so there was sort of just you know that connection right away. And and Brad comes in, and I know Brad has some some things that he wants to do, and I think the school has some things that they want to accomplish. So it is it is a pretty exciting time, like not to sit here and and like start going into my spiel. Um, but there, you know, there is a I think a good amount of change that's going to be going on, and and Brad has proved from what he did at Mercy or so he's more than capable of bringing in those changes. And I don't know. I guess maybe I guess maybe I'm indicative of those changes or an example of those changes. We'll we'll wait and see.

SPEAKER_01 10:11

Well, well, have you have you met the team yet? Have you sat with the team?

SPEAKER_02 10:15

And yeah, you know what? Like, I'm uh there's a lot of my life right now that's in absenteeism. Um causes a major amount of guilt.

SPEAKER_00 10:24

Like I said, so whirlwind doesn't even worldwind's not even the right word.

SPEAKER_01 10:28

Coach, tell tell them tell the listeners your last week, just this past week, just what you went through.

SPEAKER_02 10:34

Okay, well, I'll I'll we'll use this past weekend as an example of what has been the last three weekends because the only thing that's changed is the locations that last Wednesday I drove. I was I was at the mount for the week, Wednesday night, drove back to Erie.

SPEAKER_00 10:56

You blew our podcast podcast recording off last week. You blew it off because you had an alumni Zoom meeting.

SPEAKER_02 11:04

Yeah, no, and I totally forgot. I hate right now. It's we're so lucky that I made my way onto this.

SPEAKER_01 11:12

I know you were gonna say that. I knew you were gonna say that.

SPEAKER_02 11:16

So um drove back to Erie Wednesday night, was in Erie Wednesday, Thursday, Friday morning. I got up at oh god, I got up at 2 45 in the morning. I had a five o'clock flight out of Cleveland. So drove Erie to Cleveland, took my took my floor, excuse me, seven o'clock flight. Had to get there two hours before, it's an hour and a half, two math. I got up 2 45, got myself together, out of the house, 3 15, get to Cleveland, fly to Seattle, get off the plane, um, suffering massive jet lag already, practice that night, get up the next day. We didn't we didn't play until eight o'clock or 7 30 at night, but um which is 10 30 your regular time. Yeah, you're just you're just a mess when you're doing this. Like I'm generally a mess. This is just like a force multiplier, is what it is. Um, thank God we won. The guys put the water dogs played real well. Got up the next morning, Sunday morning, flew back to Erie, was in Erie. You know, you get off the plane. I got on the plane at like 9:55 in the morning. I get off in Cleveland, it's already like five o'clock at night. You have you've gone through a time warp, right?

SPEAKER_01 12:35

Right.

SPEAKER_02 12:36

Drove back to Erie, did some wash, said hello to the family, ate some dinner, and uh got up at five in the morning today, drove to the mount, drove to Emmitsburg, was there by 10:30, spent the day in the office, and now I haven't eaten. Like just hang on, guys, because we got out of my mouth. Yeah, I'm jet-legged, exhausted. I haven't eaten. I already answered the call with a with my niece's. I'm in my brother's basement with my niece's you know, rodeo hat and a stuffed snake, and now you know a lot.

SPEAKER_00 13:13

It all makes perfect sense now.

SPEAKER_02 13:16

Well, no, that yeah, and then what I think I fly out for Salt Lake Thursday, play Friday. Yeah, so it's just been one ranch repeat, is is what it's been.

SPEAKER_01 13:27

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's tough, man. That's tough, but it's fun, it's exciting.

SPEAKER_02 13:32

Well, you know what when I was uh a high school hockey player, I had a I had a a head coach who was who was pretty tough, and uh it was not I mean basically every week we did something to irritate him, and we'd end up in a sprint practice for two hours, and we used we used to call it zombie zombie stage, where you'd be on your stomach, you'd blow the whistle, you've been sprinting for an hour and a half, and you just got up and your legs you just went. Like you didn't like you're past tired, you're past pain, you were past, and that's where I am right now. I'm past tiredness, I'm past pain. You just get up and you just go. And at the at the end of this, you know, hopefully Karen doesn't change the locks on the door when I when when I do appear in Erie at some point.

SPEAKER_01 14:19

Well, if you come with that hat and the snake, I'm sure she'll be like, Come on in, let me take that off. No, she wouldn't even be shot.

SPEAKER_02 14:26

Yeah, no, she'd just be like, Oh, you're home, like you know, there's food in the fridge.

SPEAKER_00 14:31

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We already ate, go ahead and have something.

SPEAKER_02 14:38

No, no, even bad an eyelash.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

All right, so let's talk about lacrosse and the mount. What's going on when the practices begin?

SPEAKER_02 14:46

Yeah, we'll get going. Um, give the kids this week to sort of get get their bearings about them and and everything else. And I still haven't met everyone as a whole. I've met the team on Zoom. We've been doing some some team activities, but we'll have a we'll have our first face-to-face tomorrow. Um, we'll get going September 11 um with with fallball. And we have uh I think we have we have one date set up. We'll actually just can't escape it. Coach Novotny's got us coming back to Seton Hill for a scrimmage. We'll scrimmage uh we'll scrimmage Cleveland State and Seton Hill. And then on October 22nd, we're actually going up to um Ann Arbor. We'll we'll scrimmage uh my beloved uh Wolverine's and uh Bellermine. So we got two good scrimmage dates set. Wow, that's great. Yeah, so we're gonna get moving and shaking with these guys. You know, I I wanted to get off to a fast start with them, and I I wanted to sort of shake things up a little bit, and I and uh and I I think they're really looking forward to it. It'll be it should be a good fall.

SPEAKER_01 15:49

Well, coach, I'm sure you're gonna do a good job there.

SPEAKER_00 15:52

I'm sure you are. Yeah, and you're keeping the band together, Coach O'Hagan joining you at the mount. How do you feel about that? How did you convince him?

SPEAKER_02 16:00

Well, I don't think it I mean, quite honestly, like stuffed snakes and cowboy hats aside. Like, I you know, I told Ryan that I wasn't gonna make this move unless he came with me. Um, and I sincerely meant that. I mean, he is he is uh he's done a lot for uh me professionally. He was completely 100% um a part of the success we had at at Mercyhurst. Um, never really met a guy who gave himself as an assistant coach so much 100 to a program. Um, I can tell you this, you know, sort of subsidizing the the the Mercyhurst program, Ryan and I never took one cent from any of any camp or any um prospect day we had or anything like that. That went 100 to the program. And you're you're not gonna you're not gonna find many assistant coaches who uh who buy into that and are completely loyal and completely bought into the success of the kids. So when it came when it when it came to making the move to the mount, I told him I said, I'm not doing this unless you come, unless you're coming along with me. Um, and we both sort of took that leap of of faith together. I mean, I you know, Brad asked me when when he hired me, you know, bring Ryan with you. And I said, Listen, I I you know, I trust that guy with my life. So yeah, I'm bringing him with me.

SPEAKER_01 17:25

Yeah, we had Ryan on the program uh last year, and he was a great guy. I loved him, and I said, and it's so these two together make a perfect team as a coach and staff, they really do. And and the product on the field showed it year in and year out without a doubt. D D2 is gonna miss you guys. D two is going to miss you. And I guess you know, you I guess you could say you owe a lot of your career to division two.

SPEAKER_02 17:52

My career is division two at this point. Um I think it was a great match. It allowed me to you know, trial and error, make mistakes, correct mistakes, um, to to you know, try different things. I mean, I I was never really I was an assistant coach for two years, so it wasn't like I had 10 years of assistant coaching experience and took all these different things from different coaches. I mean, it was sort of like hey, the team's yours, don't screw it up. And uh it trust me, I did my best to screw it up early on. Um, but I I think um, you know, I think division two gave me the proper environment to to sort of have that trial and error and develop relationships. Um, and I think the other thing that happened too is there was there there obviously had to be a consistency between Mercyhurst and myself. Like there had to be some shared goals and some outlooks, it had to be a good fit. Um, and it was. And uh, and I'll be uh forever grateful um you know to the opportunities that Mercy Hearst granted me. And and uh, you know, it's it's obviously turned into a new opportunity.

SPEAKER_01 18:59

And they couldn't have gotten a better guy. I I still say that the best lacrosse game I ever saw was the Wingate Mercy Hearst game at your alma mater or Randolph Macon four overtimes, and then in second overtime, the rain just opened up, and it was one of the best games I've ever seen in my life. I was like, this is the greatest game ever. It was unbelievable.

SPEAKER_02 19:20

And if I remember, I know we've talked about this on this game on an earlier broad podcast, yeah. Didn't like in the second overtime, like we missed a transition situation, and didn't wing geet end up with a breakaway?

SPEAKER_01 19:35

It's something it was there with there were so many exciting things that happened in that that overtime, those four overtime periods. It was just like great stage, great checks, amazing ground ball war, you know. Then the rain opened up, and I mean, I couldn't even see on the other side of the field. That was some storm that came and blew through there. I mean, we were soaked in seconds, and these guys went at it, and you guys put one in the basket at the end and got back on that.

SPEAKER_02 20:04

Division in going back, and I and Timmy and I talk about it. Timmy Boyle and I talk about it all the time. Sort of going back to the days of when him and I were just two young bucks, and and Tim actually had hair, and I had more hair at that point. Um, you know, and going back to to you know, coaching against Jack Cayley and Tommy and Tommy Postel and Sandy and and uh and Mike Sereno and a host of and a host of guys uh back then, you know, those were that's it, you know, the to steal a line from my favorite movie, Slapshot. Those that's the old Iron Leagues right there. That's the old federal. Um those you know, you talk about being able to to cut your teeth and and grow and everything, like those were brass knuckle street fights.

SPEAKER_01 20:50

Yes, right.

SPEAKER_02 20:51

When you went down and played on the patchy grasswork at New York Tech, all right, or or or you go over to a Delphi and you played, you know, we played in the last game on Styles Field. I mean, that's a legendary lacrosse field. Um, so when you went down there, those were I mean, that those games were not for the feign of heart whatsoever. And and uh and there were, I mean, you mentioned that game against Wingate, but I mean to go back and think of all the classic lacrosse games, games won in the final seconds, games were yeah, there might have been some there might have been some unpleasantry shared on the field by both teams. And you know, let's face it, let's face it, Long Island Reffing was always an adventure. Uh when you look down and all my first name. I was like, you know, first of all, like everyone's name Polly or Vinny, they're all they're all and they're all officiating our game, and Jack knows them like he's he's like he's asking them how their kids are doing. Like, yeah, yeah, this one could be tough. Um but it but again, it was that kind of environment that I Think allowed a lot of coaches to develop, um, with with maybe being out of the complete public eye, like the scrutiny wasn't there, your ADs weren't breathing down your neck, and you were again, you were allowed to sort of develop these programs and make mistakes and and just become a better coach, better person. And and you know, a lot of it does goes back to that just that rivalry intense environment that division two was and is. It's it's it's a great product.

SPEAKER_00 22:30

100% couldn't agree more without a doubt. And and I I said you were dead to us, coach, you're not. I mean, we will will miss you a lot. Um and I'll tell you when when Danny take that back. Yeah, I was for you that we're I do, I take it back because I'll tell you, when we were at the uh championship weekend and we got to watch your practice and see how you relate to your players, you are a players coach, you treat them with respect and you give them a lot of sarcasm, and and I saw how they reacted to you, and I see the same thing with Coach O'Hagan. It's amazing to watch you two with a team and what you can do, and and I'm excited for Mount St. Mary's because I think they got the deal with you two, and and we wish you only the best. And we are gonna miss you in D2.

SPEAKER_02 23:20

No, thanks, guys. I mean, that it it like I said, it was not an easy choice um or in decision. Like it was I I think what I said was I didn't know that it was gonna be so difficult to make a good choice um with it. And you know, you talk about the the relationships with the with the kids, that that was the toughest. Like I I can tell you guys, so when I did the Zoom, because I was I was in Fairfield, Connecticut, um, and I had to, I I wanted to try to get to the team before you know social media. And guys, I mean the only thing that I could compare the pit in my stomach while on that Zoom with my kids is like when like when I've had to put one of my dogs down. Like just, I mean, it felt that horrible um with it because the relationship with the kids is is what it's is what this whole profession is about. Um, you know, I'll never shoot a lacrosse ball or pick a ground ball up again in my life, and I don't think anyone is particularly interested in watching me try to attempt it. Um but it's helping those guys get into the best position to be successful for when they try to do those things on the field. And then hopefully taking maybe some of the things that you've taught and putting it into their personal life and their professional life. And I know a lot of that is coach speak, and everyone says that, but that is the core of what we do as coaches, like the the winning, the the games, the recruiting. Um, that's all sort of that's all secondary and peripheral to what you do with your kids when they're when they're you know when they're when they're wearing those school school colors with that helmet strapped on their head. Um and I wonder about that, you know. I wonder at the mount sometimes, you know, how long it's gonna take me to develop those relationships with with with a new set of kids under new circumstances and everything else. But that is, you know, as a as a coach, if you're gonna be successful, those those relationships have to be strong and they have to be developed. And that's I'm in the early stages of that whole whole new set of challenges.

SPEAKER_01 25:35

Well, I'm sure that they know what they got coming, and you know, I'm sure that these kids are like, hey man, we got Merci Heroes coach Chris Ryan coming in. I mean, it's nuts, it's it's a good thing, it's a good thing, and I I pray that the mount buys into you. I think they will. Yeah, you know, I think they will quickly, coach. I think you know, you have that personality, you draw people to you, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:00

And well, and the kids have been um super responsive and open. Um, you know, it's tough when it when one coach leaves and another coach comes in. I've I've said in in coaching, all you're doing is renting an office, like you're just renting space.

SPEAKER_00 26:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:18

And and and you know, there's I and I said it's and it's such a crappy deal. Like it's not even rent a center, like you're not even renting the own. You can't you're not even gonna end up on a couch at the end of this or a new dinette set. Um, you're you're working hard enough to pay your rent and to be able to develop an environment in that home, in that program. Um, but it's you know, it's it's I can't believe I just pulled off a rent-a-center analogy, but um you're just trying again, you're just trying to develop those relationships to help the kids be to be successful. And as a coach, you know that there's a beginning and there's an end. Um, I was very glad at Merciers to leave under my own um you know decisions and my own situation. But you know, for when one coach leaves and another coach comes in, you know, that's that's tough on a team, and there's gonna be different personalities and there's gonna be different opinions, and I respect those opinions, but at the end, we're all part of that Mount St. Mary's lacrosse team, and we're gonna do what we have to do to be successful.

SPEAKER_01 27:28

Well, coach, thank you so much for coming on tonight again with us guys. Uh, we really appreciate you. We we love you. We we we uh so appreciate how many times you've come on and just talked about the history of lacrosse and and your programs and the things that you do. You've been an extremely wonderful guest, and we wish you nothing but the best up at the map.

SPEAKER_02 27:51

Well, I appreciate it, guys. And you guys, you know, we'll we'll we'll sit here and and lie, tell a bunch of lies and say nice things about each other. And you guys need to send me a free t-shirt or something at the end. You know, you there is not a platform for division two lacrosse like you guys, and in in a lot of instances, I believe that that uh division two gets an unwarranted sort of short end of the stick in some ways, and what you guys are doing to push those rivalries and that level of competition and those coaches out there at the division two level. Um, I will forever be uh a division two coach. Um, I you know, I know where I came from and I'll never forget that. And like I said, if the rent runs out, Brad might send me back to Division II at some point. So I can't burn any bridges right now. Um, but what you guys are doing for Division II, there's nothing like it out there. You guys are doing an unbelievable job of of uh bringing light to a bunch of players, a bunch of student athletes, coaches, and schools that that deserve to be out in the public eye.

SPEAKER_00 28:54

Thanks, coach. Thanks, coach. Chris Ryan. He is a classic. He's the man. I love him.

SPEAKER_01 29:04

He's a great guy. I you know, I don't know what to say. Like he he's just such an ambassador for the game, he's larger than life personality, he's a phenomenal coach. He's done great things. Like I said, the best lacrosse game I've ever witnessed was a Mercy Hearst game. And four overtimes and a massive storm at the end. It was an amazing game. And you know what Chris has done and and and coach Hagan, oh Hagen, you know, what they've done at Mercy Hearst for a long time, Kevin. They've been there a long time, and they're making that jump to D1. And and the Mount's getting getting a great coach, man. He's getting a great, they're getting a great one.

SPEAKER_00 29:44

With with the new AD, if they put some emphasis on the lacrosse team, I think the sky's the limit. I think they will be a totally different team than what you've seen in the past. And they haven't been bad, they've had their runs, they've done it okay. Yeah, haven't gotten over with their name, is not in in people's mouths in D1 that much, like some other other uh schools. They'll never probably be at the Duke level, but they can be, they will be a really good team with Coach Ryan and Coach O'Hagan.

SPEAKER_01 30:14

Yeah, you know, I'm sure they will be. I won't, it won't take long mounting. You know, they've been kind of like a mediocre 500 kind of team in the last couple of years, you know, but I think now it's gonna change. I mean, he brings a lot, he brings a lot to the table, you know. He's coaching these guys professionally, and I'm sure he's learning stuff up that at that level to bring down to this, you know, to bring down to the mount. So I'm gonna miss Coach Ryan. I I really am. He's just been a great um uh uh uh guest. He's been on several podcasts with us, and every time he comes on, he's just he's just full of life, man. Yeah, what a great guy. Tell me you wouldn't want to hang out with him for like five hours on a weekend.

SPEAKER_00 30:57

Just just I I told you that when uh one time when I came down, it was is when um I think my son was a junior. Mercy Hurst was playing Wingate, and I'm and I pull up to the hotel to check in. Mercy Hurst is staying at the same hotel as me. Or I'm staying at the same hotel as them. I go up in my room, and all of a sudden I hear this guy. Hey, that sounds like the podcast guy, Coach Ryan.

SPEAKER_01 31:27

Yeah, he's great.

SPEAKER_00 31:28

So I sat down with them the next morning at breakfast. He sat down and talked to me. We just shot the shit. It was once again just a good guy.

SPEAKER_01 31:36

Like he loves to, you know, like he came on this podcast in the beginning when we first started, Kevin. He he no questions about it. He came right on, yeah, and and then and then gave us ideas for other episodes, and we ran with that and had him back on, and then yeah, you know, then his team goes to the championship this past year, and we were on, and he invited us to practice, and we sc we got to hang out with him and just just a great guy.

SPEAKER_00 32:02

I'm gonna miss him. Yep, I hear you. All right, so we do have a little D2 lacrosse news tonight. Got a lot of D2 news. A lot. Yeah, it's it's a lot, but it's it's a little subject, a lot to go through. The day after we dropped our last episode, Danny, Caldwell announced that their head coach Alex Slopes had stepped down to pursue other options, but they didn't waste any time. About a week later, they named a new head coach, the previous assistant, Blaze Mintinio. He's now the new head coach. So I thought for those that have been tracking all the head coaching changes in in D2, besides Caldwell and, of course, Mercer here as we talked to Coach Ryan today tonight. I thought we'd give a quick rundown. You ready to go? I'm ready to go. Okay. Emory Riddles head coach, Spencer Wims, he stepped down to take over the Boys Lacrosse program at Charlotte Latin in North Carolina. Oh wow. No coach has been named yet. That national search is underway. The Davis and Elkins head coach, Michael Zadroga, left after one year to start a new D3 program at Lawrence University. And Lee Tester, who was a former assistant at Aldison Broughtis, was named the new head coach. So he's taken over there at Davison Elkins. David Salter, former assistant at Lander, was named the new head coach for Walsh University. You remember Alex Scarch used to be the head coach. He went over to field college in D3. So David Salter, really good assistant. We've talked to his head coach, Coach Laporte, of how good he is. He's taking over for Walsh. And then we've got a few of those dominoes falling. Mars Hill, Coach Joe Turner, moved on as an assistant at D1 Queens. And so Josh Coons, who was a former assistant at Meryville, was named the new head coach. Next domino to fall, another D1 going going over at University of Alabama, Huntsville. Coach Connor Doyle follows Coach Turner. They coached together at UAH. That's right. Turner as the assistant. They're good friends. Doyle now followed him as the other assistant at Queens under Nick Kolpitz. Now, no new head coach was named as of yet. That just happened like I think last week. And then finally, UDC, the Firebirds, longtime assistant Matt Merritt. You may remember he was like a volunteer assistant for like eight years. He was he was full-time last year's assistant. He was now named the head coach taking over for Joe Stanelos. Well, good luck to him. Well deserved.

SPEAKER_01 34:53

He's been there a long time, you know, in politics.

SPEAKER_00 34:56

He lives he was a and he was a player there. So he lives and breathes UDC. I think he's a great choice. We got to get him on. Yeah. So hopefully we'll have all of those folks on as we do our coaching changes in the next few weeks. But one last thing before we close. Inside of the cross has been doing some interesting podcasts recently on recruiting. And as we head into September, when that those calls start happening, when the juniors get to be called by by head coaches or by by programs uh for recruiting, Terry Foy of Inside the Cross did several of these. He talked with Joe Amplo of Navy, Nick Myers of Ohio State, Lars Tiffany of Virginia, and Annie Shea of Yale, all on their process for recruiting and what they look for and how they go about it. I would really recommend it. It was it was it's really good. It's really cool insight, something different. But it got me thinking, Danny, that we have some good recruiting episodes ourselves. All the way back in our first season, basically, we did a two-part series in episode seven and eight about things that parents and high school players should think about. So kind of the opposite way. The they uh Terry Foy talked with the coaches on what they did. Great insight. We kind of talked about it from being a parent and what to look for and what things to do. We did two episodes on that, and then remember the one we did last year. It was actually season three, episode six. We had Reedmeier from Athletes to Athletes on. He came and shared his story. And and for me, that really pointed to keeping your mind open and looking at really what you want to get out of your total college experience. Vice just lacrosse, look at the whole picture, you know. And we've talked about that before with other coaches and everything. Everyone's got that D1 or bust mentality, and I think you have to open that aperture to look at other avenues because other schools like D2 or D3 may have something that fits you better totally, total package. That's right. I agree with you. And and I actually even shared that episode uh with Reed Meyer with several people, uh, parents of high school players, and they were blown away by it. They they thanked me of it and they passed it on because so many of them are going through that that stress with their kids. What do they do? Do they want to play? Where should they play? Et cetera, et cetera. And it kind of got them level set. You know what I'm saying? Not like it's kind of like you just take a deep breath and look at the total picture.

SPEAKER_01 37:23

It's a lot for these kids and these parents when you, you know, the recruiting and the heavy recruiting and going through, and then all that coach didn't get back to me, and I'm really interested in that school. And again, the D1 or boss mentality, yeah. Parents got news for you. Not a lot of kids get money at D one, and they're not taking a bunch of kids. So, you know, you might want to just think about that next level down. And and and Division II is growing exponentially, Kevin. Yeah, lots of opportunities with spots for kids and scholarships for kids that just keep growing and growing. So think about division two when you're gonna be able to do that.

SPEAKER_00 38:02

Yeah, and I'd say who who are listening to this right now, if you haven't checked those episodes out, I would do so. I think those were really good that we did, and I think they would they'd be helpful. They're not the total answer, but I think they would help.

SPEAKER_01 38:17

And parents, if you like that, you know, just share them with high school guys that you know, or people that you know that have kids in high school that are going through it. Share, share it with them, and maybe they'll learn something, and maybe something good will come out of it.

SPEAKER_00 38:31

Totally agree. And then, as always, like, subscribe, and leave us a review, tell us how we're doing, and then pass it along. Like you just said, Danny, pass it along, pass those recruited ones along to other people. Give them good food for thought. Absolutely. And with that, Danny, that's a wrap. That's a wrap, guys.