Coaching Carousel (Part 1)

Intro

SPEAKER_06 0:40

I'm your co-host, Kevin Stenstrom, and with me as always is our Reggie Hammond, Danny Moran. Reggie Hammond. How's it going, Danny?

SPEAKER_04 0:50

I'm doing well, Kevin. How are you doing in Northern Virginia? How you been, my friend? Long time.

SPEAKER_06 0:56

How's it going? I know. We had a one episode, one quick one talking limestone during the summer, but we've been off. We've been feed up. We've been relaxing, and now how's the golf game going?

SPEAKER_04 1:09

How's the golf game? Yeah. Let's not talk about the golf game. It's not been good for me either. And you know what? I haven't had the opportunity to play a lot because the band has been playing so much this week this year. So kind of slowing up now, getting ready for fall. So our freshmen are back, you know, our freshmen are in town. They're in they're in their dorms. They've got their fall ball going. And uh some of the schools have had parents' weekend already. Some are coming up this weekend.

SPEAKER_06 1:42

Yeah, it's as we record this, it's at the very end of September, beginning of October. But I'll tell you what, Danny. I am pumped for this season. It starts with these episodes usually before the conference previews, but look at we've got a lot of things that are gonna be new for the 2026 season. We have a new logo.

SPEAKER_04 2:04

Yeah, baby.

SPEAKER_06 2:07

We're gonna have some new.

SPEAKER_04 2:11

That last one was tired. That last one was tired. It was tired.

SPEAKER_06 2:15

Well, look at it's the beginning of the season. You've got to kind of warm up. You know, it's gotta, it's uh, you know, it's a little bit tough right now. We we gotta get our juices going, but we're also gonna have a few new segments, I think, this season.

SPEAKER_04 2:25

A couple new new segments, you know, something new, something new and pajazzy, a little spicy for the for the listeners out there.

SPEAKER_06 2:34

We're hoping to actually have a website by the time the season starts, and maybe some merch to go along with it.

SPEAKER_04 2:42

Yeah, some merch with the new logo on it.

SPEAKER_06 2:44

Yeah, so so we but we need we need to hear from people. Message us, DM us, would you buy Indecrease merch? We need to know.

SPEAKER_04 2:53

I wonder if there's you buy. I wonder if there's any listeners out there that do merch stuff like that. Maybe do printing or can help a couple of knuckleheads out.

SPEAKER_06 3:03

Yeah, yeah. We can use that.

SPEAKER_04 3:06

We'll ask at the end of the program how's that?

SPEAKER_06 3:09

That'll be another shout out.

SPEAKER_04 3:11

Hey, you know what? People have been very helpful throughout, you know, the we're entering our fifth season, Kevin.

SPEAKER_06 3:18

Sixth season?

SPEAKER_04 3:20

Well, fifth year kind of it's like a half, not even a half season.

SPEAKER_06 3:26

If you if you look on the if you look on the podcast, it'll say sixth season, yeah. Sixth episode, whatever. So I guess it's a good idea.

SPEAKER_04 3:32

But this is really our fifth year. It's really our fifth year. And it's amazing. Congratulations, young man, for lasting five years with me.

SPEAKER_06 3:41

Yeah, well, people keep on asking, well, you still doing it. What can I say?

SPEAKER_04 3:47

We got nothing else to do. We're we're boring men other than lacrosse.

unknown 3:51

Right.

SPEAKER_06 3:52

Chasing a little white ball around that we can't find.

SPEAKER_04 3:55

That's right.

SPEAKER_06 3:55

So let me ask you this. Did you get the reference in the intro?

SPEAKER_04 4:00

What reference?

SPEAKER_06 4:01

Reggie Hammond. Our Reggie Hammond. No. Alright, so you will remember it when I when I 48 hours? Bingo. 48 hours to 48 hours the movie. Eddie Murphy's character was Reggie Hammond. As you may recall, in the movie, one scene, he enters a bar. Kind of a redneck bar. If I'm being polite. A redneck bar. He talks about all this. He plays a really tough guy, and then he says, There's a new sheriff in town, and his name is Reggie Hammond.

SPEAKER_04 4:40

I remember that. I do remember that.

SPEAKER_06 4:43

So this episode is kicking off our coaching carousel episode.

SPEAKER_04 4:48

Oh, the carousel. You gotta have carousel music if you're gonna talk about the coaching carousel in Division II, Kevin.

SPEAKER_06 4:59

It's gonna be a series of three or four episodes. We're not sure yet because we feel to get some more coaches, hopefully. But now let's go back to the reference. We are starting this episode. The first one is with two new programs or new sheriffs in town. And we also head west for this episode. So now, with all that said, I guess if you have to explain the joke, it's really not that fun.

SPEAKER_04 5:33

Uh there's a couple of new sheriffs in town, yes, too. The coach and chaos call continues as it does in division two every year, division one, division three, uh, NIAI, uh club. I mean, every year there's coaching changes, Kevin. You know, you and I have become accustomed to this. And we're lucky enough that we get information and we can get these guys on.

SPEAKER_06 5:56

Exactly. And they've been really great. It's uh a few of them we still have to try to get on. They're they're busy guys as they're trying to get their program started. So we're hoping we get all of them. We've got almost all of them except for two that we have to pull in, and we'll see how that goes.

Point Psrk Coach Golon

SPEAKER_06 6:11

Our first new program to talk about this year in the coaching carousel. Another new program to vision two, Kev. And another one added to the GMAC, Danny.

SPEAKER_04 6:23

Yes, the GMAC gets stronger and bigger too.

SPEAKER_06 6:26

Bigger. It's huge now. Point, I think it may be the largest conference in D2. With 10 teams? I think it may be uh we'll ask the coach if he knows. He'll he'll tell us. Because I think it's either 10 or 11. Point Park Pioneers is the team that we're talking about. And this coach that took over as their inaugural coach, he has GMAC experience at the highest level. He played for Seton Hill and he coached there. He also most recently was the head coach at Washington Jefferson. So why don't we just bring him in, Danny? Coach Cody Golan of Point Park. Hey coach!

SPEAKER_04 7:04

How are you going, guys? Hey coach, thanks for coming on tonight with the two knuckleheads from In the Crease. We really appreciate you taking the time. How are you doing tonight? I'm doing well, doing really well. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_06 7:14

Welcome back to D2 and the GMAC. How does that feel?

SPEAKER_01 7:18

Good. Yeah, I was I was really excited to get back to D2 when I was looking at at this opportunity. That was one of the big things that jumped out to me to just get back to D2, be able to be around the team more often in the offseason, and I'm a Division II guy, so it was perfect. Yeah, you've got it in your blood, don't you? Exactly. Yeah, I've been around it since like 2008, probably. My older brother started playing Division II as well.

SPEAKER_06 7:43

Okay. Oh that's awesome. So I mean, most recently at a D3 school, what differences do you see from D3 program vice what you have now and what you're looking at in D2?

SPEAKER_01 7:55

Yeah. So one of the big things, I mean, just from an NCAA role standpoint, is like one of the first things that that jumps out is we can just be around the guys more often in like what I would consider like a mandatory format in the fall. You know, once you get to the spring, I feel like D1, D2, D3 is all pretty much the same. There are differences, but pretty much the same. It's really in that fall ball where we can we can get with the guys on the field multiple times a week. We can get with them in the weight room, we can have team film, and and we're still having community service and doing all those things too, but just more time with the guys in that like mandatory setting is is one of the big ones. And then I think just across the board in D2, you tend to find those bigger, stronger athletes. And and it's a little less regional with the rosters for a lot of them, too. Like you can go, you can recruit guys, like we can go up to Canada and find some players. We can go all the way out of Florida and Georgia and Texas and California and Colorado. Like we can recruit all over, too.

SPEAKER_04 8:50

Now, when did you get the job at Point Park?

SPEAKER_01 8:53

Yeah, so they hired me last July, and then I my first day on campus was August 1st of last year.

SPEAKER_06 9:01

Okay. Okay. Yeah, go ahead. What was that first year like setting up the program? We've talked to a few other coaches, and it it it they were itching to get on the field.

SPEAKER_01 9:12

Yeah, it's it's a little weird because you go a whole season without coaching. So, you know, you're you're here to coach college across, and you don't even really get to be on the field outside of some some camps and clinics and stuff. So yeah, I got there. It was just me and a laptop when I first got there. I didn't even have an office to start. So me and a laptop, and 14 months later we have you know 40 guys or so ready to go. But uh the city view behind me now. So that's great.

SPEAKER_04 9:45

Wow, 40 on the roster to get going, huh? That's awesome. That's good. So how have practices look so far?

SPEAKER_01 9:51

Yeah, it's been awesome. I mean, we're mostly a freshman team. I'm sure we can talk about, but yeah. Um, you know, I I kind of made the decision to to not go the transfer route and bring in a mostly freshman team. So we have I think we have like 39 freshmen in one transfer, or maybe it's 40 in to in one transfer. But yeah, we have we have like 40 guys at practice right now. Praxis have been awesome. It's really just super competitive. The guys were itching to go. I mean, I I kind of put it off for a week or two when we first got to class because I was like, hey, we're all freshmen, let's let's get to class, let's finish out the school part of this first.

SPEAKER_04 10:27

Right.

SPEAKER_01 10:28

It was every day guys in the office. Like, when are we going? When can we scrimmage? Can we move up practice? Can we get off the field with you? So it's it's been super competitive, and yeah, it's been awesome. I mean, we're getting up and down the field, they're kind of finding that college pace. I think every day we're just trying to increase that level of play, like every single practice, and just kind of show them the show them the way of what the college pace is like for practice.

SPEAKER_04 10:52

You know, these kids are freshmen. They're saying to myself, hey, I can play on this team. If I bust my tail at practice, bust my tail in the weight room, I can get on the field and and play as a freshman. That's gotta be pretty, you know, a pretty good thing for a freshman kid, you know, coming in.

SPEAKER_01 11:10

Yeah, no, I mean that you guys asked about what the the first year of just recruiting was like. That was obviously a huge selling point. Like, hey, come in, everyone has a clean slate. You know, you can be part of building something special here. And obviously, there's the things that I bring in with the culture and whatnot, but like at the same time, how we break down huddles, what we wear to lift in, and stuff like that. Like you guys have a huge say in, but also, you know, there's no depth chart right now. So if you earn that playing time, you're gonna get on the field.

SPEAKER_04 11:38

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 11:39

Yeah, that that's attractive.

SPEAKER_06 11:41

That's attractive to young kids, man. What's impressive too is the number to get 40 uh for your first year is is very impressive. Very tough to do. We've seen a lot of other programs starting. They're usually around 20, maybe 25. Uh any secret to that? Or is it just is it just that beautiful field they're gonna play on? Probably Danny, I think I've got to go to the game. I was I was emailing the coach. I'm like, you know, my my he's right there in Pittsburgh, and my son, our oldest son, is getting his PhD at Pittsburgh. So I'm like, I think I can probably swing a trip to watch a game in the warmer weather because it's right on the river there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:25

Maybe hold off until it's uh a March or April game. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 12:29

That's what makes those conferences kind of special. These guys play in the weather, it's blue-collar kind of lacrosse, you know?

unknown 12:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:38

Yeah. Um I don't know if there was a secret sauce. I know when I first got the job, one of the first things I did was I went and looked at the last 10 Division II schools to add men's across and just looked at what their first year rosters were like and some other other statistical things. And to your point, it was like right around that 24 person average for a first-year team. So I came in with the goal of like, let's be a little bit above average and try to get 25 or 26. And uh we we hit that and I just kind of kept going. I think being in in division three, and to just speaking frankly, like on the lower end of division three, my last few seasons, it's it's a pretty dog eat, dog world in the recruiting and some of those conferences. And I think that kind of prepped me to to take this job and and uh just keep keep recruiting. We have huge huge selling points for the stadium, was a big one for a lot of the local guys.

SPEAKER_03 13:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:32

It's cool with us being in a in a city environment that's very unique, I would say, to division two and and also even just locally with like regionally with division three, that's where it's a lot more like rural or suburban. And yeah, um, you know, we are like in downtown Pittsburgh, so guys cut guys come to campus and they pretty much know right away whether it's it's for them or not for them. And I thought having a niche nowadays in in college athletics would be really important when I took the job too. So um, luckily for us, it's a lot of guys are are pretty into that. Like there's a lot to do. They can walk to Pittsburgh Pirate games, Steeler games, Pit Panthers games, and uh, and then obviously just being a new program, D2, and and selling that. And athletic scholarship money doesn't hurt either, right? No, no, no. It doesn't.

SPEAKER_06 14:20

So I have to ask you this. What is it going to be like to face your alma mater and coach Novotny?

SPEAKER_01 14:32

It's gonna be it's gonna be great. Yeah, it'll be it'll be an awesome experience. I mean, they're a great benchmark for us right now, right? Like for the top of the of the the conference and have been requesting.

SPEAKER_04 14:42

They were great last year. Wow, they were so good last year.

SPEAKER_01 14:46

Yeah, I mean, to come into a conference where you have a legitimate top five team in the country, and that can be your your benchmark, is is great for us. Me and Coach Nabani, you know, we talk weekly, we're really close. So um it'll be good. Yeah, it'll be fun, it'll be cool. Um for now, but for now, we're I'm full go on the pioneer side.

SPEAKER_04 15:05

It's got that sly little smile, doesn't it? Kevin's got this sly smile.

SPEAKER_06 15:10

He's got some some tricks up his sleeves. Yeah, he's got some. He's not gonna reveal them. Don't reveal them to us, coach. Not that we remember him, but the other thing about the GMAC, though, you talk about benchmarking against new programs. Think of all the new programs in the GMAC, Malone, Tiffin, Northwood, Thomas Moore. And all, I think, in a lot of ways, have done really well in their first few years. You look at Northwood last year, making it to the conference tournament, you know, somewhat the same model that coach there that you had. He was there a couple years ago. I think he had players there for uh one year early. And you know, he couldn't have any, they weren't really practicing, but they didn't practice and they do stuff.

SPEAKER_04 15:48

But and Malone had a great has had a didn't they win their first four games in existence? They were like four or no or something like that to start out. Like it's crazy. It's amazing. That's where the game has come to, you know. It really has, it's grown to that.

SPEAKER_06 16:02

Yeah. So yeah, so what do you think of that competition and being in the GMAC with them?

SPEAKER_01 16:08

Just really really looking forward to it, honestly. Yeah. I mean, again, like you said, I I just kind of can't wait to start playing some games to see where we fall in that mix, and then we can obviously make adjustments from there. But um looking forward to a lot of those games and just kind of seeing where we are in that conference. And um be some big games, I think, early on, like you said, some newer teams, and even out of conference, I have some some of the newer programs, as we would say in Division II. And I thought that'd be a good, a good first season or two for us. Like play some of the other newer programs. But yeah, in terms of just GMAC play, I think we're just really interested to see kind of where we fall in that mix right now.

SPEAKER_04 16:46

Right, right, right. How have practices look? How have practices been going so far?

SPEAKER_01 16:51

Good, yeah, yeah, good. Like they're really competitive. We're getting them up and down the field. It's nice because we have enough guys we can go full field scrimmage and we can we can ride and clear, and we have you know enough subs and everything, so that's been really helpful. You know, I think we have we have a lot of of guys that can come in and contribute right now, and and some other guys that are developing. Like that's the biggest thing.

SPEAKER_03 17:12

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01 17:16

Every practice at a time. I think some of them are starting to try to look forward a little bit too much. Maybe they've come from from high schools where there wasn't like a process in place throughout the entirety of the year. So we're just trying to keep them focused on this lift, this practice, this session. You know, let's get better at the things we've installed and not worry too much about man up, man down, you know, one week into practice type of thing. So no, practices have looked good. Like I'm I'm very hopeful for where we are right now.

SPEAKER_04 17:43

Oh, that's great. Sounds fantastic.

SPEAKER_06 17:46

Yeah, that so can you reveal? Would you like to reveal? Could you reveal uh some of your out-of-conference teams you're playing against? Is that is that legal right now for you to tell us? I'd love to hear who you're playing against.

SPEAKER_01 17:57

I think so. I should ask my compliance guy before I came on. No, um, we have we're opening up with Virginia State. So another guy.

SPEAKER_06 18:07

Oh, awesome! Awesome. Love Coach Church. He brings the energy. He's a great guy.

SPEAKER_01 18:12

Yes, we'll be down there to start the season.

SPEAKER_06 18:15

Excellent.

SPEAKER_01 18:16

Yeah. And then we have De Uville in the out of conference. That's actually our first home game. Should be that Deuville game. Oh, right. Uh we have Holy Family on the schedule. Oh, yeah. Another newer program there. And then we have we have Post as well currently. We're trying to find like uh a neutral site game for that one, but that's our out-of-conference.

SPEAKER_06 18:35

Then, like you guys said, we have like nine or ten GMAX games, which is out-of-conference games that you get to schedule anymore. Yep.

SPEAKER_04 18:45

Sounds great, Coach. I'm looking forward to seeing the Pioneers play. Uh, you know, I've never heard of Point Park ever. And then we're like, hey, we got a new team coming in, you know. Coach is going to be coming on. We schedule a date. And as turns out, I have uh a friend of mine from the neighborhood here in New York whose daughter is a freshman at Point Park. And she and she just posted, like, she was just there a couple of weeks ago for freshman orientation and everything. And I was like, wow, Point Park, like twice in one week. I never heard of this. And now it's like, okay, so it's a thing. So I'm I'm looking forward to seeing them.

SPEAKER_01 19:23

No, yeah, that's awesome. I was honestly, it's kind of the same way. I was unborn and raised in the Pittsburgh area, and they didn't have lacrosse at the time, and they don't have football either. So it wasn't really on my radar until I started hearing rumblings of adding lacrosse, and then it was, hey, they're moving Division II, and it's yeah, it's been awesome since I've been here.

SPEAKER_06 19:43

That's great, man. Yeah. It is awesome, and we are really excited to watch the Pioneers play. I I can't wait. I really am looking forward more to the games, like you said, against in conference, against the Malone's and the Tiffins, and because I think that's really I think all those teams need uh it it's it's gonna be incremental, but each year get the competition's gonna build to sooner or later you your those teams and hopefully Point Park Pioneers are can compete against the Seaton Hill and give them a game.

SPEAKER_01 20:18

Yeah, no, that's that's the plan. You know, are we gonna be there year one? I think we have to you know temper our expectations a little bit, but that is the goal, right? And like we said, that's that's the benchmark right now. But yeah, we're really looking forward to just kind of seeing where we are right now in that mix and just competing in the GMAC. Like that's I think that's all our guys want to do too right now is just get out and compete. So we're looking forward to it.

SPEAKER_06 20:40

That's awesome. That's awesome. Well, coach, great having you on. Can't wait to watch your team and good luck this first year.

SPEAKER_01 20:48

Yeah, no, I really appreciate it. If you guys come to Pittsburgh, let me know. We'll go out and grab some dinner.

SPEAKER_04 20:52

Absolutely. Coach Cody Golan, the Point Park Pioneers. First year in D2. Thank you so much for coming on. We wish you guys the best of luck. We really do. Thank you,

NNU Head Coach Tom Blanchard

SPEAKER_04 21:03

guys.

SPEAKER_06 21:04

Another new program to talk about in D2. This is Northwest Nazarene Nighthawks, and we're with Coach Tom Blanchard. Now, like I said, they're a brand new program to D2, but not to lacrosse. The Nighthawks are another club program jumping into NCAA D2 and in the AMAC, which, oh, by the way, a few schools have done that, which I found even more interesting. And I can't wait to talk to the coach about that. He actually started his head coaching uh career, his college head coaching career here at Northwestern Nazarene. And before that, I think he was the high school varsity head coach in Treasure Valley, which I assume is there. The other thing that's really interesting, Danny, this team is from Idaho.

SPEAKER_04 21:50

Very, very interesting.

SPEAKER_05 21:52

I can't wait to talk about Idaho lacrosse. Let's bring him in. Hey coach, how are you doing?

SPEAKER_00 21:57

Coach, how are you guys been?

SPEAKER_04 21:59

Well, congratulations. Welcome to the show. Welcome to the show. The two knuckleheads from the Indecrease Podcast. Welcome to Division II. Welcome to a different world. How's it going so far?

SPEAKER_00 22:13

It's interesting. So what it's going to take to build a contending team at the NCAA level. It's been fun, but it's been interesting.

SPEAKER_06 22:29

How excited are you and your team to make this jump?

SPEAKER_00 22:36

Yeah, I think we're all extremely excited. You know, I think the vision for this program was we were always planning on taking it NCAA. You know, when I was approached back in 2019, I was coaching high school lacrosse as a varsity head coach. You know, I think I was in that space for about 15 years. And I this opportunity was brought to me. And uh, you know, we kind of sat down with administration here, and they asked me, like, what is your vision for this program? Um, and my vision was let's be the first team out of Idaho to take lacrosse NCAA. And uh to be honest with you, I I don't think I would have expected us to go as quickly as we did, but I think the combination of uh the administration support, um, my fantastic coaching staff, and just the buy-in from our players really helped elevate us a lot quicker uh than maybe we initially thought it would be.

SPEAKER_06 23:32

That is awesome. And like we talked about, you're the third team in the RMAC to do this along with Dominican and CUI. So have you talked to those coaches, got any tips on transition? And what do you think about that? I find that really intriguing that the RMAC is now, I mean, half the schools, half the programs came from club and made that transition.

SPEAKER_00 23:52

Well, you'll you'll have to add Westminster to that too, because Westminster was an NCLA program as well.

SPEAKER_06 23:58

Oh, awesome.

SPEAKER_00 23:58

Yeah, I didn't know that. Four out of our uh you know, six teams, you know, they they were coming out of the uh the MCLA. And honestly, I think a lot of that just has to do with there's not that much familiarity on the West Coast, um especially within these universities, about what lacrosse is. But you know, if you get somebody that can kind of drive what lacrosse looks like and how it should be, like we've done here, um, I think the administrations um their eyes get opened and they're like, there's a huge opportunity, not just to grow enrollment, but to grow their athletic department. And I think that that's what our athletic department here saw was there was a a committed group of coaches and players that said, hey, we want to actually grow the game, right? We we hear that term all the time, grow the game.

SPEAKER_06 24:45

Right.

SPEAKER_00 24:46

Um but really the growth needs to take place on the West Coast. And so I think that us being a part of this um is exciting. Um, I I know that we have a lot of work in front of us, you know, that the talent that's back east, uh, it's it's it's amazing. But if we want to ascend to that, we know that we've got to put in a lot of work and it's gonna take some transition years to do that. But our coaching staff, we're fully committed to it, and I think uh in the very near future, you know, programs will start hearing more about us.

SPEAKER_06 25:19

So let's go to that. You talk about obviously being on the West Coast, you know, you can you can say that California probably would be more of a hot bet on the West Coast. Talk to us about Idaho lacrosse and trying to grow the game there. And and I I looked at your roster, you've got guys from Idaho, but you got guys from other places too. So what does that look like from trying to build the program? And are you trying to do it a lot from inside from Idaho to try to help grow the game there?

SPEAKER_00 25:46

Yeah, I I mean I think really we're we're we're just focused uh honestly on just finding talent. Um, whether it be coming from the east coast or the west coast, uh I don't think it really matters to us. But I I will say um I think there's a case to be made to to build our West Coast product with West Coast talent. You know, I I've seen a lot of talent that goes back east and within a year or two they end up coming back west. And whether that be, you know, they stop playing or maybe they're they're looking at an MCLA opportunity. Um, but I think some of that can be you know contributed to the fact that you know they're far away from home. You know, if if if we can give them an NCAA experience that's 1,500 miles, you know, not 1,500, 2,000 miles away, we can give it to them five, 600 miles away. I think there's intrigue for those players to look at the schools in the RMAC.

SPEAKER_04 26:43

Now, when you went recruiting this year, Coach, did you primarily stay on the West side of the town?

SPEAKER_00 26:49

Yeah, I really did. Um and I think you know, our messaging to our recruits have been, you know, we're confident that there's enough talent here on the West Coast that we can build this product with West Coast players. Um I wholeheartedly believe that. Um and it's not to say that we won't go back east. I mean, we just picked up a commitment from a kid out of Tennessee. Um, you know, we're having conversations with recruits in New York, we're having conversations with recruits in Florida. Um, so we're touching a lot of the hotbeds, but you know, I would say that you know, a significant amount of our time is funneling our West Coast talent here and getting those high-end club lacrosse teams here on the West Coast uh to start engaging in conversations with us. And and we're starting to have success with that. So I I do think that pretty quickly um we'll build up a pretty solid talent pool here.

SPEAKER_04 27:41

Great. So now you're out of conference schedule. What would you what would that look like?

SPEAKER_00 27:46

Yeah. Yeah. So this year, uh scheduling that's that's been an interesting part so far. Um a lot of these schools will schedule two to three years out on these.

SPEAKER_03 27:56

Right, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:57

I must have emailed 15, 20 teams, and we're not being shy about who we're reaching out to. Um you know, but but the reality is these teams, you know, most of them are got games scheduled through 2027, some 2028. Um so this year, you know, we'll take a trip to Missouri. Um, we're gonna we're gonna schedule with you know William Jewell. Uh, we we've got a trip to Quincy. Um you know, we've also got Dominican New York coming out west. Wow. They're actually going to visit the Dominican California. And so we're gonna pick up a game with them. But as things start developing here, um, I think for us, our plan will be to get as much exposure on the East Coast as we can. And and whether that's two or three trips a year, um, we we've got to figure out a way to make that happen. And that's something that we will we'll end up doing here.

SPEAKER_04 28:47

Yeah, you know, Colorado, Mesa, and Westminster have been, you know, that's what they've had to do for a couple of years. They've had to come out east, play that, you know, the Sunshine State Conference and some of those big teams. And that's what they needed for their RPI, really. You know what I mean? But now we have the conference and the automatic qualifiers. So it's winning that winning that conference is huge now. But coming out east, it it tests, it tests your team as well, you know. And you know, you play some of those teams, you're like, hmm, see, that's what we want to be like. You know, we'd like to be like that team. And and then the kids get to travel, and that's the worldly part of being in college. That's the culture part. Hey, we're going to Tampa or wherever, you know, we're going to St. Leo in uh Tampa. You know, they get to see something different, you know, the East Coast, maybe see the ocean, you know, that type of stuff. So that's that's I think that's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 29:42

Yeah. I mean, for us, like, you know, I've always kind of coached with this mentality of, you know, we we need to learn to play up. And we we fully understand there might be some years where where we take some on the chin. I don't care. I really don't. I think for me, this is about establishing a culture. Um, it's about establishing a brand. And I think at the end of the day, um, our willingness to make those trips and to schedule those games, I think is going to it's gonna appeal to a lot of recruits. And and for us, again, I go back to it. You know, if if you're gonna get the best recruits you can get, you gotta show them that you're willing to step on the field with some of the top-tier programs out there. Um, and that will be a part of what we do as we start building this program out.

SPEAKER_04 30:30

Yeah, look at what John Grant Jr. did, right? He made Belise McCrae, you know, a program that's been around, but kind of struggled over the years getting players there and what. So he comes first year. What does he do? His first game? Wingate. You know, and wingate was like all Americans on both sides of the field, you know, three, four deep at every position. And Grant threw him right into the deep end of the pool, you know. So this is where you want to be, fellas, you know.

SPEAKER_06 31:02

It's interesting though, coach, you look at your record the last two years. You were 30 and 6 the last two years. So do you like that's that's phenomenal. How are you seeing that translating for you into D2? And and what are the differences you're seeing or what you're trying to do from either a coaching perspective? Um obviously it's probably contact time and a lot of other things with the players, but can you just walk us through that?

SPEAKER_00 31:29

Uh yeah, I mean, I I think that you know, you talk about culture and you talk about foundation, and and all of that was laid by you know our graduating class of of 2025 who just who just got done. Um, and and there were some fantastic players that came in, they helped the coaching staff establish a culture that started attracting people here. But the reality is we're we're gonna be a relatively young team. Uh a lot of our core pieces have graduated. And so, you know, I kind of look at the footprint of what we did at the MCLA level, and I look at it from the standpoint and say, I'm confident that we can replicate that at the NCAA level to attract better talent. And I think that, you know, a lot of that stuff is what you do earn internally. Um, you know, recruits at the end of the day, they want to feel valued. They want to feel like they're wanted. And I think for us, we've established the culture here where I meet with every single recruit that comes onto campus. Um, I don't care if we're looking at them as a scout team or or a developmental player, or if we see them as a top-tier player. I think as the head coach of the program, it's my responsibility to set that vision and to set that direction. And when I can look across the table at parents and I can look across the table at the recruit and say, look, we want you here. Help help us be what we think we can be. I think it resonates with a lot of people. Um, but you know, it's gonna take us some time. You know, we've got 21 freshmen on this roster, and our 2026 class, we've already got 23 players committed. And wow, we're continuing going. Um, you know, when I did my research, you know, looking at the Sunshine State Conference and some of those East Coast conferences and looking at their rosters, you know, a lot of those guys are carrying 60 to 70 players. Now, obviously, that's a lot of players. Yeah, yeah. But but, you know, there's there's some merit in carrying a lot of players because you don't know what's going to happen with attrition. You don't know what's going to happen with academics. And so as a coach, you you want to head your bets and you want to make sure that you got key players and depth at every single position. And that really is what our focus is right now. It's building out our depth and figuring out who our NCAA players are.

SPEAKER_04 33:53

Okay, so I'm a 17-year-old senior high school mini offense. I'm second on my team in goals. I have 40 goals this year. I have 20 assists. Uh, our team was like, you know, nine and four. I'm really interested in coming. What do I have to do?

SPEAKER_00 34:11

We won't offer anybody until they come and they visit campus, right? Like I think, I think you have to understand who Northwest Nazarene University is. Um, we're a Christian-based university. There are Christian values that come along with our program. And we're not gonna we're not gonna bend on that. And so, like, when we when we're looking for prospects, we want them to embrace our community. We want them to see where they're gonna play. We want them to see what the university looks like and what Idaho has to offer. Um, so for me, uh, it's it's incredibly important that, yes, we establish a really good relationship. Um, you know, we'll spend 15, 20 minutes on a call, maybe have a follow-up call. And then if we think that there's enough interest there, uh, we do everything we can to get him out here. And and at that point, when we get him here, um, I'm pretty confident that we can close. Look at the smile on his face.

SPEAKER_05 35:07

He's he is confident when he close, when they get there. He's got it together, Kev. There's no doubt. There's no doubt. I'm in, Coach. I've got four years of eligibility. I'll be out in Idaho next week. I don't think you want me. I'm on Kevin.

SPEAKER_06 35:21

I might need it. I'm not young, but and I'm not fast anymore either. So there you go.

SPEAKER_00 35:28

Yeah, if you can play, you can play.

SPEAKER_06 35:30

Coach, this has been awesome having you on. I uh I'm really excited to see Northwest Nazarene play. What kind of brand lacrosse do you like to play?

SPEAKER_00 35:41

I I I mean, if you look at us traditionally, um, we've always been you know a pretty high octane offense. Um, you know, at the MCL, at the MCLA level, there was a couple of years where we were number one and number two in the country and put in putting up goals. Um, and so you know, we we definitely invest on the offensive side because at the end of the day, that's the fun part of the day. That's the that's the fun part of the game. We all know that. But uh, you know, I would like us to play a very disciplined style of ball. Um, you know, obviously we need to limit our mistakes and our penalties early on. But there's gonna be a maturation process here. Yeah, you know, a lot of these freshmen, um, and I expect a lot of our freshmen to play this year. You know, you don't bring in 21 freshmen and expect to stick them on the bench. Like, no, you're you're getting thrown into the fire, and we're gonna see what guys can handle it. But, you know, we we just want guys that play hard. We want guys that play for each other. Um, I I think that as long as we can get these guys connected, get that team chemistry right, um, I think we can be competitive. In year one, I really do think that we can be a competitive team. I won't put wins and losses on it because for for us, we're not measuring the success of our season on wins and losses. Um, maybe in a couple of years, obviously that'll be what the goal is, but we're looking at, you know, who are the guys who are willing to put in the work off the field so that we see it translate on the field.

SPEAKER_04 37:09

Well, you know, if you look at the history of D2, uh some club teams have done very well, very fast. If you look at Flagler, for example, five, four or five years ago they were a club team. Last year they were almost into the NCAA tournaments. They were beating good teams, they were playing a high RPI, and it didn't take long for Coach Duncan to really get that team going. And from what I'm hearing from you, Coach, I don't think it's gonna take you too long either. You got a little pedigree going with the MCLA, some good records and some and some things you've done well. Obviously, you can recruit. Obviously, you have an eye for talent. So I think it's gonna be interesting. I'm looking forward. Um we're psyched to have a new team to talk about. It's more homework for Kevin and I now. It's just another they just keep adding teams. It's adding time to my homework schedule here for the podcast. But no, it's all fun. And thank you so much for taking the time tonight to come on with us and talking about your program and where you want to be. It's it's really interesting having you on.

SPEAKER_00 38:14

I appreciate it, fellas. This was this was a good time. I appreciate you guys taking the time to talk to me and help us to get some exposure onto who NNU is. So hopefully this is just the first time, and there'll be many more times for us to talk. Absolutely. Awesome.

Wesminster Coach Lavoie

SPEAKER_06 38:30

All right, Danny. Here's the other coaching change in the RMAC this year: Westminster Griffins. Coach Brad Lavoie takes over, or Coach Joe Kerwin who'd been there. He actually moved on to the assistant athletic director, so he's still around. And Coach Lavoie takes over. What I found interesting about Coach Lavoie is like he's got Westminster blood in him. He was uh assistant for the past three years, I think, under Coach Kerwin. And he was an assistant at Westminster from 2010 to 2016. That's a long time. So he he seems like the right guy to take over the program. So let's bring him in. Hey coach, how you doing? Wonderful guys. Thanks for uh thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_04 39:18

I uh this is this is pretty exciting. Coach Lavoy, welcome to the podcast for the first time. Uh what do you think? What do you know? What do you see in Westminster this season that's different than before?

SPEAKER_02 39:32

Well, you know, I'm only the third head coach in the history of the program, and I've gotten to kind of see it from you know from the beginning portion of it, took some time off and came back, and now I see this new iteration, and um, you know, the values are the same. The way that we measure success is the same. But the athletes are bigger, they're faster, and um, we've got even more support from our athletic department and um you know some some realistic ambitions, I think.

SPEAKER_06 39:59

Fantastic. We've talked about Westminster every year. You guys are, I think, are always in the mix, not just in the RMAC, but really competitive when you have to do that, the road show, one of the road warrior teams having to go east when most of them do not reciprocate and come back to you because you're you're trying to build a tough schedule. You know, and and every year it seems like you're on the cusp, you know, obviously CMU being probably your big competition, CUI now coming on strong. What do you think uh it's gonna take uh to uh now I shouldn't say like just uh be at the top, win that championship in the RMA.

SPEAKER_02 40:42

You know, I think um you know we've had some some really solid up years. We've got a couple conference championships, a couple conference tournament championships, you know, before there was the AQ, you know, we were the the seven, you know, we were probably the seventh team left out a couple times, I think. Yeah until now. Um and then we've had some some years where we've gotten our butts kicked. So I think it it comes down to us. We've done a lot of work on the recruiting front, we've done a lot of work to get the experience I think necessary. We've played a lot of hard games on the road. I think now it just comes down to consistency. I think there's a lot of guys in this roster and in this program that are still learning how to win at the upper echelons, and that is a process that everybody continues to go through. But I think I think we've reached critical mass here where it's you know, for lack of a better word, shitter get off the pot time um to make those next steps. Um, you know, there's no reason why we can't. And um I think I think we have all the makings of a potentially consistent team, but the proof will be in the pudding.

SPEAKER_06 41:46

Yeah, I love that. You mentioned it, AQ. Danny and I have talked about this on the podcast infinite times probably now, and we actually love it. What do you see it as a head coach of Westminster, especially for the RMAC, you guys out there in the West?

SPEAKER_02 42:01

You know, I think you know, for being out here in the West, you know, 2,600 miles away from lacrosse land, so to speak, it comes with unique challenges, and anybody that's out here in this part of the country understands that. Um I think the AQ, what's great for our guys is that they have an opportunity to control their own destiny. Um if you want to go to the tournament, you it's pretty simple. Go and win. Um don't have to leave it to subjective committee things.

SPEAKER_04 42:31

RPI and strength of schedule and all of that. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 42:36

It takes a little pressure off of the scheduling because of course everybody out here, we go to great lengths to try to put together the toughest schedule that we possibly can to give ourselves a fighting chance.

SPEAKER_04 42:45

But for years too now.

SPEAKER_02 42:47

Yeah, and there's a lot that goes into that, as you would imagine. You know, the travel budget for a program in the West is monstrous in comparison to others. And even then, there's a lot of fundraising that goes into it and everything else to give the guys a an opportunity to chase their goals, but now it's you know it's pretty clear cut. Um go and go and win. You control your own destiny. And um winning the RMAC as you guys mentioned it earlier, it's never been more difficult. Um, you know, Mesa has you know consistently been the top dog, and um make no bones about it. We got our butts kicked a number of times by Irvine, and they are well coached and they have a lot of ball players. And there's a new team here called uh Northwest Nazarene.

SPEAKER_03 43:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:29

Um by all indications, has recruited well, and I've gotten an opportunity to meet Coach Blanchard, not in person, but over the phone a number of times, and um they are on their way, for sure. Um, so it's but it's never been more competitive.

SPEAKER_04 43:44

That's great, though, for the West and and and and the game of lacrosse out west, don't you think, Coach?

SPEAKER_02 43:50

A hundred percent. Um, the reason why I'm here is because I believe in this this game in the Western United States. I believe that there's a tremendous amount of room for growth. Um and yes, uh I would like the RMAC. I mean, gosh, there are schools in Denver, there are schools all over the West that need men's lacrosse, that need more young men on campus. And man, if you guys can figure out a way to get this thing to keep continue to pop and grow more teams, but um it can be a lot more fun than it is now, even though it's it's really competitive. We've got a lot of athletes out here, and um, you know, we're we're recruiting on a national level, I think, now.

SPEAKER_04 44:28

How is it taken? How has lacrosse taken to the high schools in Colorado, Idaho, and some of the western states in uh in the country? How is lacrosse growing there? How how is it coming along?

SPEAKER_02 44:42

It's growing like a weed, um, but there's you know, there's varying levels of what that means. So, for example, and this is my opinion, but it's probably shared by many. You know, Colorado is you know pretty far ahead of most of the West, with California being in a very close second. Um, maybe even tied. But I think California and Colorado are two different animals than Utah, Idaho, even Oregon and Washington. Um there are high-quality lacrosse players coming from out of those places. But I think the difference has been the sheer volume of high-quality coaching available in those places, whether it be Northern and Southern California or the Greater Denver area. Um that level of coaching has been vastly improved in the Seattle area, in the Portland area, um, even here in Salt Lake, the access that these players have to guys that have done it at the highest level and have some really quality teachers, but they're just still behind the volume that Colorado and California have had.

SPEAKER_04 45:48

I see.

SPEAKER_06 45:49

That's an interesting point, coach. And I think I've heard that before. It really comes down to having let's face it, having good quality coaches. That's like, you know, putting Danny and me out there, we always tell people, right, we've never played and we've never coached, and yet we talk about lacrosse like we know what we're talking about. I ran uh the box once uh one summer for uh the head coach of my son's high school team because he thought I was a coach in lacrosse. And I never felt more pressure in my life. I'm like, I'm like, and he's like, Well, you're a coach. I'm like, I've never coached before in my life, and that'll tell you the difference between like faking it and actually have being able to develop players. So it's good to hear that it's starting to come, especially in those other states, like you said, Utah, Oregon, Idaho, Washington. I think that's what's going to be needed because the level of athlete, high school athlete in the West, there is no difference, right? There is no difference. You have athletes galore that can play this game.

SPEAKER_02 46:48

I think you see it on the recruiting landscape. The sheer amount of you know, large-scale division one programs, high-end division two, and and definitely high-end division three, they have moved west with uh reckless abandoned. There are there are athletes everywhere, and I think you guys just hit it on the head. Look, there's high there's really high quality coaches and big names and a lot of experience in all of those metro areas in the West. I think the difference is when you think about a difference between the East and the West, there's just a different way about thinking about the game, and there's a different group and a different history that you grow up learning in New England or New York or New Jersey or in insert hotbed here that is still kind of catching up. And um it is, but you don't have the same volume. I was listening to you know Terry Foy's podcast about how recruiting works, and he was talking to uh to coach Sheehan at Le Moine, and he made a comment about just think about how many high-quality lacrosse players that we have that has this history of central New York ingrained in them from the first grade within 15 minutes of school. And that right there is the difference. It's it's that history of it and what it means to be, you know, a player in one of those communities. Uh a lot of this, these western um cities don't have that cachet, right? But it's building. The more kids that head east and the more kids that have success. I mean, every you know, Peter Baum was a Tour Ton winner from Portland not too long ago.

SPEAKER_03 48:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 48:30

And now you have kids in the West. You know, I have kids in my neighborhood that look up to Bubba Fairman, and you didn't have that 10 years ago. Um didn't have those those big figures that have gone off and done it. So it's on its way. And again, there are fantastic athletes out here that just are still a step behind from when you go watch, you know, one of those 91 teams from Long Island. Um Chaniel put out a group that is just and it's not about the athleticism. There's just uh a certain smarts that that goes with it.

SPEAKER_04 49:05

I was on the field one time, 91 was having tryouts, these kids were in sixth grade, coach. Ridiculous.

SPEAKER_05 49:13

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 49:14

Ridiculous. I couldn't believe that these kids were fifth going into sixth grade. Some of them were big, like they had like their early growing spurts, like you know, it was crazy. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_06 49:28

Well, I mean, you're you've got it, Danny. When my son, Northern Virginia area, right? When he was in like U-15 and there was a a club team that really won him, and the coach played at Virginia, and he's like, look, and I'm gonna tell you right now, I tell every player on our on our club team in the Northern Virginia area, very few, maybe one, one person not not just one person per team, but like maybe one percent in that club uh team is gonna go to a D1 school. Why? Because they didn't grow up in Baltimore or Long Island where they got a stick in their hand at age two. Right. And and I think that goes back to what you said, uh, coach, about the cachet, the history. It's it's ingrained in it. It's it's handed down. And and those players, Danny, trying them for team 91, I'm sure they had a stick in their hand very early.

SPEAKER_04 50:20

Yeah, some of them, one of them's at Air Force right now, though one of those kids that was there, and he's at he's a sophomore at Air Force right now. I was like, oh my God, it's just again, like the East is just a different animal, especially Long Island coach. You know that. There's a there's a net every 50 yards. My youngest son, um the I have three boys. The youngest had a fiddlestick in his hand at 18 months. You know what I mean? So that's the way it is. Now, do you come out east to recruit as well?

SPEAKER_02 50:49

Yeah, I mean it's it's kind of reached when I first started out here, gosh, working for Coach Goodhan as a volunteer in 2010, my first opportunity to work in college. Um, we weren't even in the NCAA at that point. Starting to learn how to recruit, you could do a tremendous amount without crossing the Mississippi River. I mean, gosh, without having to even go east from Salt Lake, you could do all your recruiting back then. And now, the best players in the West, you've got to go east to see those guys because they are spending their entire summer in in Baltimore and in Delaware and in New Jersey and in New England, um, just like everybody else is, because that's where they need to go to prove themselves. It's kind of the proving grounds, if you will.

SPEAKER_03 51:34

Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 51:36

And so if we want those guys, even if we're recruiting the West, we've still got to go spend the summer in uh in the cornfields of uh the DE Turf.

SPEAKER_04 51:46

Been there too.

SPEAKER_02 51:48

Yep, everybody, it's lovely. If you haven't been to Columbia, Maryland in late June, you're you're missing it, man.

SPEAKER_06 51:56

Now so coach, you grew up in New Hampshire, right? So what what brought you out west and what's kept you there?

SPEAKER_02 52:02

Is it um I mean what brought me out west was pretty simple. I I graduated from college um, you know, in that early 2000s um area, you know, 2003, 2004, took a job in Boston and um wasn't exactly loving corporate life, and I had some ties out west. So uh long story short, Mace Goodhan, who started this program, was my first mentor, um, his brother, his older brother, actually started lacrosse in my hometown of Nashua. And so I had some ties out here, and there was a guy named Fish Bartlett. I don't know if you've ever heard of Fish, but um, an eccentric, eclectic man. And um, he was looking for a guy to come help him open up a lacrosse store in Sandy, Utah, which happens to be at the base of Little Copwood Canyon, which is where Alton Snowbird are. And through a friend, uh I got hooked up with him and he said, Hey man, you can come out here and sell lacrosse gear. I'll give you a dual pass to Alt and Snowbird, and you can sleep on my couch. And uh two weeks later, all my crap was sold, and I was driving out of Boston for um for Utah, having never never been further than Denver. And um I found this really cool community out here that was super welcoming and and got an opportunity to learn and and see you know how things were growing in the West and got to learn about the lacrosse business. And uh long story short, after about a year of that, um I uh I ended up headed back. I went to Northern Virginia, which you were talking about. I lived in Boston and worked in DC for for three years and um always wanted to get back. I I felt this need to go back and get a real job again after a year out here, but always wanted to go back and uh had an opportunity to uh to get back out here after the economy kind of tanked in 2008. I was working in Boston and got a nice severance package as the young man on the uh the depth chart. Bought a Subaru and drove back out and said, I uh I want to get back in the lacrosse business. I miss it, and um got an opportunity to go work for coach right away and um never looked back.

SPEAKER_04 54:05

Had a beautiful school in a beautiful part of the country. Yeah. And and you know what? Westminster is a good team, man. They've always been good. They don't, they've never sucked. They're always a good squad. Goes out, competes. You know, sometimes they play hard and come out on the winning end, sometimes they play hard and just come up, fall up a little short. That's the game. That's the game of lacrosse, you know. And I just feel that Westminster is one of the better teams in the country. You know, I just they're they're always in the mix, if you ask me.

SPEAKER_02 54:37

I I think there's values there too that translate all the way back to the beginning of the program, because of course this is a a program that was kind of one of those first fully funded programs that competed in the MCLA. Um and we've been through the MCLA two, the MCLA won, and made the move into the NCAA Division II. And um in our first season, full you know, first full season, which was my last, uh, which was the spring of 2016, um, we were in the conference championship of the Arnac right away with MCLA guys, so to speak. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um I think it it has to do with the values and it has to do with the nature of this place. It's unique. Um, I don't think there's a more unique opportunity in all of collegiate men's lacrosse, period. Um and that kind of comes down to this, where we don't look and feel very much like your typical NCAA Division II school. Um, you know, we probably, if we were in New England, we'd probably compete in the art, you know, in the the NESCAC. You know, we look and feel more like an Amherst and Williams and a Bates and Bowden than we look to most of the people that we would compete with in the upper echelon of Division II. And, you know, we'd we've kind of prided ourselves on having a really solid academic program and team that doesn't measure their success based on wins and losses, but more, you know, how many doctors, lawyers, and business executives do we put out in the world. And we've stuck with that. And I think the winning and the success that we've had, which of course is hasn't reached where we want it to be. I think it's been a byproduct of the values and the human beings that we've we've brought into our orbit out here. And that, of course, all starts with Coach Goodhand, and then you know, Coach Kerwin brought it to a new level um in his tenure here.

SPEAKER_06 56:21

Well, I'll tell you what, Coach, that's another reason why I love D2. You go, you're here, all the things that are happening. It's not just D1 lacrosse, it's D1 football, D1 basketball, right? You talk about the student athlete. And you in Westminster are putting the student before the athlete because in the end, what we really need are good humans on this earth to be leaders.

SPEAKER_02 56:49

Yeah, I think you just kind of nailed it right on. I mean, that's what we do, that's how we measure success. It's how many guys we leave in here with a job. What kind of internships are they getting? Um, you know, we've got a pretty good track record. Almost 100% of putting guys in medical school that have said, I I plan to go there and go to medical school. We more about a hundred percent. You know, we get a guy who just whacked uh 168 on the LSAT the other day. Um, you know, it's it's not typical for the NCAA Division II, but it's it's not outside the realm. We just kind of are a square peg and a round hole, so to speak. Um if there was a division three infrastructure out here, um, we'd probably be more aligned with that. But this was the best place for our school as an athletic department writ large for all of our programs. And so uh we don't mind being unique. It's um it's it's pretty cool. And as I continue to learn more about, you know, more and more about this division two thing, there are fantastic athletes and fantastic coaches and fantastic families in all levels at every school. And uh yeah, we're trying to compete and um do our best.

SPEAKER_06 57:57

Well, I'll tell you what, coach, we really are glad that Westminster is in D2. Uh just a great team to watch. We've had Coach Kerwin on before you several times. We just think it's a great program, and we're excited about where the RMAC's going, and we're excited to see where you bring Westminster this year. So thanks so much for coming on today.

SPEAKER_02 58:17

Well, thank you for having me. And if there's ever another opportunity to talk more Division II Lacrosse and talk Westminster lacrosse, I'd I'd love to come on. And uh you've made a fan of me in uh in the podcast, and uh, I'm gonna put it on the uh on the list and see if I can learn a little bit more here as uh as we continue to move forward as a program.

SPEAKER_04 58:38

Uh thanks so much. Brad Lavoy, everybody, Westminster Griffith's head coach. We wish you all the best of luck. We really do.

SPEAKER_02 58:44

Thanks for having me, guys. Appreciate it. And again, if you guys ever want to get on an airplane and come out, I uh I got you guys for uh for a dinner.

SPEAKER_04 58:52

All right, sounds good.

SPEAKER_02 58:54

See you guys.

Shout Outs

SPEAKER_06 58:55

Great way to start with Coach Golan of Point Park, Coach Blanchett of Northwest Nazarene, and Coach Lavoie of Westminster. Yeah, interesting too, Danny. One of them is entering a stacked GMAC, and the other two are in a changing and growing landscape in the RMAC. But but the GMAC has certainly changed as well. That's what I find really interesting of these three coaches. Changing landscape and growing conference.

SPEAKER_04 59:24

Well, you know, with North Nazarene and and Point Park, we've got two new teams again now in Division II. You know, we lost Limestone last year, we lost St. Rose the year before, kind of lost in Mercy Hearst. You know, we've been losing teams and and we're gaining teams. So we're getting those teams back. I wish those guys best of luck. They sound like they're raring a go. And uh I'm interested to watching uh some of these new teams to see how they how they look out there on the field, Kev.

SPEAKER_06 59:52

Yeah, I agree. I think it's gonna be interesting with Point Park and see how they match up against some of the other new programs in the GMAC. And Northwest Nazarene, a strong club program. Which seems to be the norm. I didn't think it was, but Westminster start office club. There's C UI and Dominican now. It'd be interesting to see where they uh end up, not at the beginning of this season, how they look at the end of the season and how they match up in their conference. I think they're gonna be great. And of course, Westminster's uh steady eddy. Yeah, always always in the if they're not in the top twenty, they're tease in the top twenty.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:35

Oh yeah, they're one of the better teams in the country year in and year out. Always a team that's gonna compete, and you just can't ever take them for granted. Westminster, they'll they'll put up points on you, they play defense, they go after ground balls. They're a team that's kind of well oiled, Kevin, in the Division II landscape, you know, and uh you know they've been. Yeah, that's right, that's right. Yeah, and he seems uh ready to go, doesn't he? He has uh he he had his sergeant stripes working, didn't he?

SPEAKER_06 1:01:11

Yeah, but he's a pensive guy. Did you get that? Like very pensive.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:15

Yeah, I it's in a scary kind of way, right?

SPEAKER_03 1:01:18

Yeah, you're right.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:20

But that's good, you know what? You want a coach like that that's gonna demand and and be hold you accountable, and he's he's been there, done that. He's not new. He's not new. Right. You know, he's not new at the university, he's not new to the team, he's not new to the conference, you know, he's just new as a head coach, and I think he's gonna be just fine. Exactly.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:43

Okay. Now let's move to shout-outs. We talked about one of the Shout outs! Do you want to kind of give that shout-out of what we need?

SPEAKER_04 1:01:54

Well, you know, we've always had a very good rapport with our listeners. Uh always, you know, hey, anytime you need anything, let us know. And they've let us know. And they've now we're asking our listeners maybe to help us out trying to sell some merch. We're gonna need some hats made up, Kev. Maybe some shirts made up. And if there's anybody out there that listens that has an in or knows somebody or even owns a print shop, yeah, and how we could do it through the website would be awesome. Yeah, you know, I'm I'm not savvy through that kind of stuff, Kev. The website stuff, I'll be honest with you.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:32

Well, that's why I mean that's the that's the way we gotta figure it out because we what we want is like a one-button push that people can get stuff and we don't have to be packaging things up saying.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:44

Yeah, well, I'm sure there's something out there help us out again. Yeah, maybe Melody can. But um, in the in the interim, hopefully one of our listeners is listening and can drop us a DM or an email and uh help us out.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:57

Yeah, I like it. I like it. Okay, I've got another shout out here. This goes to De Uville attackman Aubrey Tallchief. He was named to the Hodan Shoney National Team Sixes in the Atlas Cup, which just played this past weekend. Now, when this episode comes out, it'll be a little time late. It'll be a couple weeks after it actually happened when this drops. But still, that is frickin' awesome. So congratulations to him.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:27

Oh, excellent. Good job, buddy. Excellent.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:31

And do you have any other shout-outs tonight?

SPEAKER_04 1:03:33

I have no real shout-outs. It's too early in the season yet to really shout out.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:40

Perfect, perfect. Well, with that, Danny, that's the first episode of the coaching carousel.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:51

Coaching carousel continues, Kev. You say that five times fast.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:57

Hey, it's good to be back. It's good to see you, Kev. And I think with that, Danny, that's a wrap.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:04

That's a wrap.