DII Coaches in the World Lacrosse Men's Championships

SPEAKER_04 0:11

Welcome, welcome, welcome to another episode of In the Crease with Danny and Kevin, a coast-to-coast discussion of D2 Men's Lacrosse. I'm your co-host, Kevin Stenstrom, and with me as always is the ever-worldly Danny Moran.

SPEAKER_05 0:26

You're digging deep for that stuff. How are you doing, Kevin? Good to see you again. It's been a couple of weeks since the championship.

SPEAKER_04 0:32

It has, yeah. We're just, you know, kind of in our summer, summer routine and doing this is the first of maybe a couple episodes this summer, but that that intro was a not so subtle segue as we approach the World's Lacrosse Men's Championship. So you're so God, you're just so cool with the words, man. Well, it's getting tougher and tougher to come up with platitudes for you all the time. I know there's plenty out there, but uh, you know, the interesting thing about these games, Danny, is that D2 is is well represented. I know what it should be. There are players that are playing on different national teams. We talked to other coaches who have have coached, and there are D2 coaches coaching right now, and that's who we have on tonight. We thought it'd be a lot of fun. There are three head coaches on three different D2 teams that have banded together to coach the French national team. It's awesome. It really is. So I've we thought it'd be really cool to have them on and just talk about that, how that impacts their coaching style, how it impacts their maybe coaching for D2, what it's even like to coach internationally. You know, you and I just sit at home and we talk about it all the time. We don't, you know, we don't know how to coach at all. So it'd be great to hear what they've got to say. So why don't we welcome them in, Coach Bonicum from Felician, Coach Wilson of De Vuville, and Coach Steigart from Dominican. Welcome, guys. How you doing?

SPEAKER_05 1:57

Doing all right. Good to see you guys again. All three of you, you all look good. The season's over. You're a little relaxed a little bit now. The blood has come back to your face. You're getting good.

SPEAKER_03 2:11

That says high blood pressure.

SPEAKER_05 2:15

Well, it's really good to see you guys. Thanks so much for taking the time. We really do appreciate it. Well, thanks for having us.

SPEAKER_00 2:22

Thanks for having us back on. I think all three of us have been on already, right?

SPEAKER_04 2:24

Yeah, all three of you have. All three of you have. We we got uh Coach Diggart last year when uh he actually was DMing us uh via Instagram, and I found out he does not only uh everything, he's a man of uh international talent himself, but then he's like the social media guy, he does everything. So we run, and then of course, I know Coach Wilson coached with you before down at Felician, and now he's up at uh at the Duville. So we think that's really cool. But let me start off with you, Coach Bonicum. Walk us through the process. How do you even get selected to be the head coach of a of a national international team like the French national team?

SPEAKER_00 3:02

So it actually all started back in 2016. Um, believe it or not, they had a posting on Lax Power before it got shut down for their defensive coordinator position. Um, kind of went through a couple interviews with the organization and uh got a phone call on my way to a um a New Year's Eve party in Vermont. Um on the way up there, called me, said, Hey, we're gonna, we want you to come in, be our defensive coordinator uh for the 2018 World Games. Um and was kind of hooked with being with the organization right away. Um, had the chance to have our first tryouts in 2017 in that uh June over in um we actually did it in Paris that time. Um, went through the whole process that summer and got ready for worlds that year. Um, and then after worlds, they decided to go in a different direction. Wasn't sure if I was gonna be brought back or not and how they were gonna go with everything. And kind of got word while we were there a little bit that there was a chance I was gonna be promoted to head coach, and it was official not shortly after, and have kind of been running with it ever since. Um, unfortunately, this will be my first time uh doing world championships with them as a head coach since COVID messed everything up a little bit, but yeah, we're we're excited to get out to San Diego.

SPEAKER_04 4:15

That's awesome. That is really cool. So, Coach Wilson, I mean, we talked about it just a minute ago. You've coached with Coach Bonicum before at Felician. How did he trick you two guys into helping coach with him? How did how did how the band get together?

SPEAKER_01 4:32

I'm kind of the the last piece of the puzzle if we're being fair here. Coach Steiger comes next if we're going in sequential order. I'm just uh an added pickup um for Euros for last year. Um, but Coach Steiger, you want to take it away from there when you were added or Coach B?

SPEAKER_02 4:50

Yeah, I mean I was sitting in the office one day and I got a text from Brendan that says, Call me when you can, give him a call right before practice. He says, Hey, I got this uh this offer for you. And I said, What's up? He said, Do you want to be the offensive coordinator for the French team? And without hesitation, I was like, Hell yeah, man. Yeah, and a couple months later we were uh we were in France doing tryouts and uh the rest is history, you know, to Euros and Poland. We we so there we are in Poland for the qualifiers and now headed to San Diego. So it's been uh it's been a great journey. Um, you know, the the team's great, the organization's great. Um, I love working with these guys, and uh it's been a lot of fun so far, but got a lot of work to do, and uh we'll get to that in a few minutes here.

SPEAKER_01 5:44

Yeah, so so I was kind of brought in last minute at the It was a yellow, it was a yell across the office, is what it was. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it was easy like, hey, like this is kind of worked out already. We're coaching men's lacrosse, we're coaching women's lacrosse, like let's do international lacrosse. Jack, you think you can do this? Yeah, sure. Um, so I just I kind of just took the vacancy from Brendan being promoted to head coach um from the last year. Oh so I just kind of stepped into that role and it's been pretty uh pretty great ever since. We work really well together, and uh yeah, it's echoing Coach Steigert's um sentiments. Excited to get out there, excited to get to work and and get rolling with this group again.

SPEAKER_05 6:20

Oh, it sounds like so much fun! Like you guys are like really you I see the looks on your faces. You guys are excited for this, like you're really up for this, aren't you?

SPEAKER_00 6:29

Oh, it's a it's a good time. I mean, it's a good group of guys to be around and kind of coach, but then at the same time, like off the field stuff, it's it's very easy going. It's you know, it's it's comparable to the college game, but at the same time, it's not where you know you've got a lot of guys with a lot of a lot of adults, is what it comes down to. They've got the life experience, they're out there to have fun, they're out there to enjoy this, but at the same time, they want to go and they want to win, so they know when to turn it on, when to turn it off. So it's a nice change of pace for all of us, at least, I think.

SPEAKER_04 6:57

Does that mean you you don't have to monitor those players as much as you do your college athletes?

SPEAKER_00 7:03

No, we have to monitor them, they they gotta be monitored just as bad. Um it's it's tough when you got to do eight games in nine days. Uh you really only get one off day, and you try to let them cut loose a little bit then, but and you're in San Diego too.

SPEAKER_04 7:20

My gosh, those guys will probably be like, I know, you know, that that's just a beautiful area.

SPEAKER_00 7:24

Yeah, it's between and we're very lucky that the Padres aren't home that week, or at least the first week we're there. I don't know about the second week. Um, but you know, hopefully a couple of them don't make a run for the border to go down to Mexico and hang out down there on the beach at all while we're there as well.

SPEAKER_04 7:38

So do you want a good idea? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:49

So how many guys are on the team? We'll have 23 on the roster.

SPEAKER_05 7:54

23. And now, are they both from France and from the estates? Are they from anywhere else? Anywhere any other countries that are representing the on the French team?

SPEAKER_00 8:05

So we have our guys from the United States, we have a couple guys from Canada, uh, we have our French residents. Um, we have a couple guys who have French residency that, but they live in um Great Britain. Um and I think that's it on our roster right now. You guys can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think we when we went to Euros, we had a gentleman who lived in Germany. Um, we had well, he lives back in uh France now, but he was living in uh the Netherlands for a little bit. Um, so we're pretty well represented across the board. It's not like we just pulled, you know, the straight North American Canadian card. Um, we try to keep as many of the Europeans involved as we could for this event. That's interesting.

SPEAKER_04 8:44

You you guys talked about this quickly. Um, so anyone can chime in, tell me how it is. But how do you guys, how does the French national team qualify for the world championship? Because I, you know, Danny and I are used to seeing just the US team, they're going, right?

SPEAKER_02 8:59

So so we're we're a good team, that's why. Yeah, well, I know that, but how how did you get to be a good team coach?

SPEAKER_00 9:06

Okay. So what to qualify for worlds, you have to go through your regional qualifiers. So for us, it's the European Championships. Um, we actually all took time off during our season in 2022. Um, took a week off, we flew over. Uh, we were in uh Poland for the qualifiers. Um, to be honest, and I'm not gonna hide it at all, like it didn't go our way. Um, we actually technically missed out on qualifying originally by a goal in goal differential. Um, we were kind of in the group of death while we were over there between us, Sweden, Finland, and the Dutch. Um, everyone had the ability to qualify for the world championships. And it came down to an overtime win uh that we had against Finland, who then turned around and beat Sweden. Um, and then uh we actually lost to Sweden by two. Um, so in the grand scheme of things, everyone was one and one against each other, and we were the odd man out because one was plus one, one was even, and we were minus one in the three-way tie. And to be honest with you, we had a lot of we were really heartbroken when it was kind of over. We sat, it was coming down to, I believe, correct me if I'm wrong, guys, it was Sweden versus Poland that day, or the Finns versus Poland. Yeah. Um, and we had finished our game that morning against Greece, come back. We were all sitting and watching and hoping that Poland could pull up uh an upset for us. Um, unfortunately, it didn't go our way. And we thought we were just kind of done until the next European championships. And then I it was around Christmas time. I can remember it really well because I was I was deathly ill. And I was getting a phone call from our general manager and a player on the team, and they were like, Hey, you got to pick up your phone. I'm like, guys, I'm I'm sick, I can't get away. Like, whenever you get five minutes that you can control yourself, call us. And um picked up the finally got in touch with them and they said, Hey, somebody from Europe backed up. We're next in line because of how we finished. Do you want to go? And we without hesitation, uh, I said yes. I texted Jack and Danny um and said, Hey, are we good with this? They said, Yeah, let's get approval. And that's how we ended up in San Diego. So a little bit of a backdoor, but at the end of the day, it's you know, we're still there, we're still competing, and we're gonna be fighting for a pretty high ranking in the world from from this point on.

SPEAKER_05 11:22

That's a great story, and you're in, you know, then you're in. So now you go play and you go have fun. You know, it'll work.

SPEAKER_00 11:29

And the the thing we've been sharing with the guys the whole time is, and we understand like we're gonna get some backlash on this while we're out there, and some people are gonna feel a certain type of way, but at the end of the day, you're there. You're it doesn't matter how you got here. Um, you're playing to obviously win games, world rankings, everything like that. It doesn't matter what people say. Go out, play your game every day, and it's not gonna make a difference, is what it comes down to. Show that you belong is really what it comes down to. And yeah, you know, a couple things would have gone different back in April, we wouldn't even be having this conversation, right?

SPEAKER_04 11:58

Right, right. So so then, Coach Steigart, uh, how do you how are you preparing the team when you uh how how do you do that when you're in so many different countries? And when do you when do you first get together as a team? Is it right out in San Diego?

SPEAKER_02 12:14

So um what's gonna happen is we'll get all get in over the weekend and then Monday hit the ground running, uh, do a couple two a days, uh whiteboard sessions, film sessions, this and that. Um really just getting getting the the the rust off, um doing what we gotta do. Then um, you know, from there, we we gotta we got a very mature, talented group as well, uh, where we don't, you know, have to do too much except get on the same page. Um they there are, you know, especially on the offensive end, and Jack, you could talk on the defense. The offensive end, you know, they're they're very, very talented players, they're very smart, they're very mature. Um, so it's a lot of just getting them on the same page, getting the uh the rust off. And um, in terms of preparation, you know, we've been sending them stuff, um, you know, wall ball workouts, um, shooting workouts, uh, regular workouts, weightlifting, conditioning. So we have uh a large group chat uh where the guys are are holding themselves accountable with each other, which is uh you know makes the biggest difference. But um, we've given them all the resources uh to do it on their own and they gotta come in ready to work, ready to go. And uh our job once we get there on Sunday and Monday is to just get them on the same page. Um and this is something we've talked about as a staff too, where the majority of the group um, you know, and their experience and everything like that. I don't want to say that we can sit back and just let them play, but you know, you know, compared to the the college game, you know, we can basically, you know, let them go out there, give them the green light, you know, tell them to be creative, especially on the offensive end. We got some very, very talented players. Um I I think we we might be one of the the faster offenses in this tournament. Um you know, the the ability to play fast, push transition, you know, keep that ball moving. Um, but play a really fun brand of lacrosse too, you know, something that's going to be a fan favorite. So we have the talent to do it. And um, I'm excited to see, you know, what the team can do. And, you know, a little bit more specifically on my end with the offense, what the offense can do. Um, you know, we were one of the higher scoring offenses in Poland at the Euros, and um, I expect you know to be one of the higher scoring offenses in San Diego as well. You know, we we have the talent to do it.

SPEAKER_01 14:44

And I think for our guys on the defensive side of the ball, it's uh it's actually something that Coach B and I have talked about quite a bit, but just really going back to the pure fundamentals of it, as as easy as it sounds, like us communicating at a really high and effective rate and just full volume and sliding together as a group, doesn't matter when we don't have to overanalyze, like we're gonna slide early, we're gonna slide late, doesn't matter, like let's just all be on the same page. I think that that's my biggest thing going into it uh for our side of the ball and working with coach um on that. We're we've kind of just come to the conclusion like, hey, we're gonna have a conversation with the guys when we get out there and um defensively, especially in an international tournament with no shot clock, right? Being on the same page, being able to communicate, um, being able to clear it up at an effective rate as well, is gonna be huge. And and then just establishing that level of trust with them that hey, if we're gonna hit on all these non-negotiables and and make sure that we're doing things the right way when we're playing lacrosse, we'll be able to throw a couple interesting looks at people that we as college coaches are not foreign to seeing them, but maybe internationally somebody's not used to seeing that on their day-to-day when they're training. So uh throwing different zones, different looks at people defensively is definitely gonna be something that you're hopefully gonna see from us. And um, I think that that's gonna kind of couple well with the transition and then right into a high flying offense as well. So um I B, if you want to tie it all together for us.

SPEAKER_00 16:12

I think it's I think they both said it perfectly. I think at this point it's just trying to find the right, you know, mix of what's gonna work and how one thing's gonna translate with the other. Um, I mean, I think, you know, leaning on like Danny was saying, like we were one of the higher scoring offenses when we were at Euros. And I think, you know, playing at that speed because we have a good amount of NCA experience partnered with the European game, which you know, believe it or not, is much faster than you would think at times. Um, you know, is a huge factor. And then, you know, how can we get those guys the ball a little bit more? Um, I think that was one area coming out of Euros that Jack and I agreed that we've got to take maybe one or two more chances and, like he said, throw a couple of wrinkles here and there to throw people off. Because again, three head coaches at the division two level, I'm you know, you give us uh three hours post-game to get ready for the next day, we're gonna come up with some weird stuff from watching film for a little bit. So um it's kind of just you know, hey, what can we what's gonna work in this game? What's not gonna work? How can we attack these guys? And I think, you know, leaning on the experiences we have now, because uh again, you know, this team's uh get and you know, I will say it's an older roster uh with um some young blood injected into it going into this event, but leaning on the experiences of those guys who have been around this roster since you know 2014 is gonna be a huge factor for us. They've seen it all, so I think that is a unrecognizable factor going into this for sure.

SPEAKER_05 17:40

Now, this might be a stupid question, but Coach Wilson, you mentioned communication. Um is that communication in English?

SPEAKER_01 17:48

Uh no, no, it's not. And uh as I've been working through my French, and uh I'm not the greatest with any other foreign language besides English. Um, my my favorite joke to make is that I can speak lacrosse to the French team, but I cannot speak French to uh the French team. So I we we try to work through some stuff defensively, actually. Interestingly enough, um last year I was working working in the huddle with them, and I was like, Oh, who's talking back? They're like, No, they're translating for you, it's all good. Um that was actually something that totally shifted me in that huddle, obviously internationally. And um, we do we do um use French words and terms and and getting everybody on that same page, and that's something that they've been doing, like B said, since 2014. So I'm not gonna come in and now change anything. We're gonna I I adapt with them, I do with I communicate with them how they are gonna want to communicate with me. So um, we make it a lot easier on that.

SPEAKER_05 18:47

All right, so let's hear a little something that you might say in the huddle.

SPEAKER_01 18:50

Oh no, no. They're gonna give me about three keywords uh, hot, two, and fire. And that's gonna be it.

SPEAKER_00 18:58

Um, but I think the good thing for us is a good amount of them, even the guys who are French residents, they speak pretty solid English.

SPEAKER_05 19:06

So, yeah, most a lot of Europeans do speak English. I would say most Europeans speak English, you know.

SPEAKER_00 19:12

For three guys from the Northeast, we may have to slow down a little bit when we talk, but at the same time, like at least they know what's going on.

SPEAKER_05 19:19

That's pretty cool. That's interesting, though, because that's you know, communication kind of, but it's well, Danny, you guys it's not a good question.

SPEAKER_04 19:27

It is a good question, it's not a stupid question because I had in the back of my head and forgot to ask it. Like, what is the communication? Do you have trans like with the thought, like you said, Danny? A lot of these, uh, especially you know, Central Europe, uh, Southern Europe, uh, uh, and northern Europe, Eastern Europe, probably a little bit less, but they you can get many people that speak English and make it a little bit easier. But uh, I'm gonna be listening on the on the broadcast to hear some of your your one-word calls uh on defense and offense, you know. Sure.

SPEAKER_00 20:03

You'll hear us screaming go go in French. Like you won't be able to miss it. Like, yeah, we're we we know that one a hundred percent.

SPEAKER_05 20:11

Now, are the rules a little bit different than the states? So how how does how does the game run at at the your at the in the international level?

SPEAKER_00 20:19

Um, so the the the first biggest difference is just kind of there's really I mean you look at the NCA game, like especially the old rules, right? Like when you had to keep it in the box at the end of the game, I had the lines parallel to the sideline, those are gone. So now if you at the end of the game, that's still that rule's still in effect. The the two minutes you got to keep it in, everything like that. Um, so but they get a little bit more time space in the um in the box area to kind of avoid you a little bit. Um, the one I've only seen once, and I can't tell you how it could ever happen. Um, it happened to us in the 2018 Worlds against, I believe it was Uganda. We had a situation, I think it was a ball that went out of bounds that neither of the officials could tell you who kicked it out. And what they do is they don't go to AP. Um, they actually have you face off, I think it's about five yards off the sideline. Um, and you have to kind of keep your guys away from it. Once the whistle blows, you can everyone can come in and scrum for it there. Um, it was the weirdest thing to see, and as it happened in my defensive zone in the box, and I was like, uh, so like, can I get a timeout? Because I have no idea what to do here. Um, that's one of the biggest differences. Besides that, it's it's really the same. You know, there's actually no the one big difference is the the clearing clock. There's none of that as well. You got yeah, I didn't think there was no shot clock and there's no clearing clock, right? No, you you have all the time in the world, and and for for guys like us who are used to that and want to push and want to take chances, it's very easy on the offensive side. When we go to the when we're in the riding game, we have to be smart with what we do because. We can't really over pressure or 10 man. You know, don't get me wrong, we can, of course. But at the same time, you're going to run into the problem of if you exert yourself too much, you're going to be screwed when you come back to the other end.

SPEAKER_04 22:10

Right, right. And the fatigue comes into a huge factor, I assume, because they can just hold on to the ball and they're on their defensive side and kind of play keep away if you're trying to press. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 22:22

And the other big rule, and I mean, you see it at our level a lot. Um, we're not actually allowed to go onto the field during the game. We have to stay on the sideline in our box. Um, and these two can tell you I have the tendency to wander out a good amount. Um, so we rely, I rely on my uh we rely on our our athletic trainer John Bourne um to be the get back coach for us um and kind of watch and be like, hey, and it's hard for him because he's probably smaller than all three of us, but at the same time, at least he's smart enough to be like, hey, like, come on, man, back up a little bit. And I think there was one instance in Poland where I kind of turned around and I was like, get the hell away from me, or I'm gonna punch you.

SPEAKER_05 23:01

Like, did he say it in French or did he say it in English?

SPEAKER_00 23:04

No, he's English, he's from Georgia, so he he's gonna be the one guy who can't speak French at all. He's just you know, um, but he's he's uh how how often do they call that?

SPEAKER_04 23:14

Do they call have you seen that call a lot for it being outside the box?

SPEAKER_00 23:18

I got called for it in 2018, yeah, and I was the defensive coordinator.

SPEAKER_01 23:22

You warned me, B, and Euros like because you we you can't even go outside of the coach's box, like I you can't go further down to the top of the substitute above the possession box, like they're constrained, yeah. So I I definitely I I could I think I can speak for all three of us.

SPEAKER_00 23:39

It's not fun as college coaches, like that's not that you can't you're in this box and you can't and and I'll be the first to to say this, and those two may not, but the the biggest difference in my mind sometimes is the officiating, some things that we can get away with here in the NCA level or the high school level, you're gonna see it be called in the international game, especially when you go overseas, um, because they are so raw to the game. And you know, tying in the rule of you can't come out of the coach's box. Can imagine how that can get sometimes. And again, me in Poland getting worn because I was not so happy. I actually think I got a minute penalty because I told the ref that he didn't know how to do uh basic math or you know anything like that, and it got bad there for a couple minutes.

SPEAKER_04 24:29

Uh it's all good, it's all good until someone gets hurt, but uh it's all good. Uh so I had let me ask you this uh to all three of you, what do your pla college players at Duville, at Dominican, at Felician think about you guys uh coaching the French national team? Do they talk about it as anything that goes around, or do you I'm just curious? Are they are they all backing you after the after the USA and Canada, depending where they're from?

SPEAKER_00 24:56

So I hope so. I mean, I'm I'm kind of hoping, but I mean, like my guys my guys like technically have bragging rights, and I think Danny's guys have bragging rights over them as well, like the French guys, um, because the last time they were in the States, they scrimmaged each other. Um, my guys beat them uh by three or four, and I think the last time Danny's guys saw them, they beat them pretty handily. Um, so as as much as you know, yeah, they're supporting us, they kind of like to remind us too like, hey, we beat you when you brought them here. Like, just don't don't forget that. Bring them back next time. We'll we'll be ready for them. But um, I know my guys are gonna be following along pretty closely. They've all made it known, like they're gonna have ESPN plus on and watching as many games as they can.

SPEAKER_02 25:42

Yeah, my guys are are, you know, I think really excited about it. Um, you know, with uh myself being there, one of our players is gonna be with um the Irish heritage team out there. So um, and one of our other players will also be with the Irish Heritage team. So I know they're really excited about the uh the world games in general, uh, but but to have their coach with the French team, you know, on ESPN, um, I think they're really excited about that. Um, so you know, they they ask me all the time, you know, how it's going and how we're gonna be, and then you know, uh asking me for updates about the team as well. So um I I know they're pumped for it too.

SPEAKER_05 26:23

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 26:24

Yeah, I I would echo the same sentiments. I think my guys are pumped. I think we're gonna have quite a few people from Buffalo, New York tuning in for the French lacrosse team.

SPEAKER_00 26:33

Cool, man. And for a recruiting standpoint, once Jack gets back, we're gonna send him over the border to go find the French Canadians for the next. I already started working on that.

SPEAKER_05 26:41

There last week. Uh, that's awesome. Well, this has been great. I mean, I I think it's so much fun. You guys look like you're so excited for this. And and when does everything start next week?

SPEAKER_00 26:53

So the first games will be Thursday, I believe it's the 21st. Um, we open up at one uh 4 p.m. Eastern time against Japan.

SPEAKER_04 27:04

I'm putting that in my calendar right now. Japan's a good team. No, weren't they? We got it.

SPEAKER_01 27:09

We got a couple things up our sleeve. We'll see what happens.

SPEAKER_04 27:11

I'm I'm excited. I'm telling you, I'm excited. I'm putting it in my calendar. I may just have it. If I'm still working, it may be. I hope my boss isn't listening to this. It's gonna be on the side as I work.

SPEAKER_00 27:24

It's always it's always hard to pull the first uh the the one blue division team removed from you know, and has to be bumped down. Of course, we're the group that gets to play them right away out the gate, so should be a fun one.

SPEAKER_05 27:40

It's all right. You just go out and play and have fun. I think it's such an awesome thing. I mean, what you guys get you get to go to these places and you get to be with these guys, it's different, it's a different level, and it's just I don't know, man. I just sounds cool to me. I don't know. I just I I love the idea of it.

SPEAKER_00 27:58

I openly say to anyone whenever I talk about it, like I would have never gotten to go to some of these places if it wasn't for this team, like having the chance to do, you know, uh Edinburgh, Paris, Lille, um, spending uh 16 hours in Munich airport because we got delayed going to Israel, um, you know, doing Tel Aviv in 18. Like these are places I would have never dreamed of going. And it's all because, you know, uh uh an international team took a chance with me and uh, you know, let me coach. And you're never gonna have the chance to repay those guys for any of that stuff, is what it comes down to.

SPEAKER_05 28:31

Yeah, that's cool stuff.

SPEAKER_04 28:33

Yeah, it's been great having all three of you on. A lot of fun getting to talk to you guys again. And and we will definitely be watching once again. I'll be rooting for USA over France. But if France is on and they're not playing the USA, which would have to come after pool play, obviously. Um, I'm just gonna be tuned in to watching you guys coach and watching your team play. It's gonna be a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_05 28:53

I'm rooting for France. I want them to pull the upset over the USA. I'll root for it. Yeah, let's go. I'm rooting for my D2 boys, my D2 boys, man. I gotta go with those guys. Screw that. It was funny.

SPEAKER_00 29:06

We were all texting each other. We were all texting each other last night. We said we should probably just call Danowski and ask if he wants to scrimmage when we get out there. Get it out of the way now. What the heck?

SPEAKER_05 29:15

Yeah, no, that's that's great, man. You go out to play and you just go out and just give it hell, man. I love it, I just love it. The D2 guys representing big time, Kev.

SPEAKER_04 29:26

Yeah, oh yeah, it's it's awesome. So, thanks all three of you for coming on and taking the time before you go out there. Uh, we couldn't be happier. This will probably come out uh probably after you finish your practice, maybe on the day before your first game, which will be awesome. So, thanks so much again.

SPEAKER_01 29:43

Thanks for having us. Thank you guys. Yeah, thanks for having us. Thanks for everything you guys keep doing. Keep pumping out a couple uh extra podcasts this summer. People keep listening, don't worry.

SPEAKER_04 29:53

Thanks, coach. Appreciate it. Danny, that was really cool. I mean, I I knew a little bit about the when I watched the games, some of the rules of international lacrosse, but hearing how they they're gonna just start practicing next week, and they're gonna, you know, put the team together, and they've been had doing this the the team chats and everything. It was just really interesting.

SPEAKER_05 30:16

First of all, those guys are great. Coach Steigert, Coach Monicum, and Coach Wilson, phenomenal guys, and and very personable and a lot of fun to talk to. Um, they're gonna have a ball out there. Uh, I it was a it was a lot of fun talking about the international game. I don't know a lot about the international game, Kev. I haven't watched a whole lot of it in my lifetime. Last year I kind of got into it a little bit when Mike Connor, the former Wingate bully, came on and talked about being on the UK team. And I kind of got interested in a little bit and I saw how well Japan played, and I was like, wow, you know. So I did get interested in it, but now this, you know, next week it starts, and uh I'm looking forward to watching some international lacrosse, it should be really interesting.

SPEAKER_04 31:04

It should be really good. The PLL is on break, so for the world uh championships, so you can turn your attention to international lacrosse, and like we like I said on the podcast, and I I love how you went over me and said now you're rooting for France over the USA, which I thought was awesome, by the way. But I I'm gonna these coaches are representing D2 at the international level. That's right, we should all be watching France and rooting for them.

SPEAKER_05 31:32

That's right, that's what I say. That's what I say. God, it's they're representing division two, man. And I'm I'm I'm excited for those guys. Yeah, they look they were they were excited if you saw the looks on their face. They're like, they are so ready to get away from their wives and girlfriends for two weeks and go hang out with the boys, and it's it's a it's all good thing, it's a really good thing, and they were great guests.

SPEAKER_04 31:57

Yeah, as always, it's great to have all three of them on together. But so as we close out, Danny, there is some actual D2 lacrosse news. Yes, there is. Dominican University of California, which is in San Rafael. I hope I say that right, really near San Francisco, will be joining D2 as an independent in the 2023-24 season. This next season. Not only that, both women's and men's will be joining D2. That's awesome. It's awesome. Get this the men's team actually was in D2 from 2009 to 2014. Then they switched to MCLA Division I level. But they I think they always had that uh mindset of getting back to D2. Here's a quote from their head coach, their men's head coach, uh Sammy Vogel Seidenberg. I hope I said that right too. This is what he had to say about the move. We are very excited to go be going back to NCAA D2. The goal when we moved from D2 to MCLA was to always get back to Division II lacrosse. I quickly realized that to make this happen, we needed to add women's lacrosse. Luckily, with some hard work, we were able to do that. And Coach Manna, who's the women's coach, did an amazing job building a competitive team, which made it clear we were ready to move back to NCAA D2. What I am most excited about is how we are growing the game on the West Coast. And the hope is that we can continue to bring NCAA lacrosse to the West Coast.

SPEAKER_05 33:32

Well, that's an awesome thing, you know. And again, I think one of the problems with Division II is the growth of lacrosse in the West. It's starting, it's beginning. It's not where it should be yet. But now we'll have two Dominicans in Division II now.

SPEAKER_04 33:48

Two Dominicans, one on the East Coast, one on the West Coast, two in count two teams in California now with Concordia Irvine and a Dominican University of California. And that could bring the Armac to six teams in the 24-25 season.

SPEAKER_05 34:05

Which is awesome. Which would be huge for Division II. Pushing closer towards the maybe automatic qualifiers and and uh having a larger uh tournament, you know, squads, having a larger field. So we're I think we're headed that way. It looks that way. The RMAC's gonna have their six six teams. Now we just gotta get that peach belt up to six teams. And and and and we'll be headed to automatic qualifiers, and we'll be just like division one. Yeah, that's it's awesome.

SPEAKER_04 34:37

So with that good news, Danny, that's a wrap. That's a wrap.