College Crosse Prospectus: Michigan Hires Women’s Lacrosse Head Coach

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING, College Crosse Nation!! From Omaha, Nebraska nonetheless! Thanks for making us a part of your day! Here are your links for June 27, 2017.

What You Missed

More names are coming out as possible transfers.

Steve Carell grew a mustache in high school so that he could look threatening when he played lacrosse.

Lacrosse The Nation

The Michigan Wolverines have named two-time Tewaaraton winner Hannah Nielsen as their next head coach of the women’s lacrosse team.

"I am extremely excited and honored to be named the new head coach of the women's lacrosse program at the University of Michigan," said Nielsen. "I am excited to take the next step in my coaching career in becoming a head coach, and could not think of a better place to start this new chapter."

"I would like to thank Warde Manuel and Bitsy Ritt for this incredible opportunity and for their support so far," Nielsen added. "I am also grateful to Kelly Amonte Hiller, the Northwestern staff and athletic department for their ongoing support, and to my previous coaching mentors who have helped me get to this position. I am so excited to get started and for the future of this program."

Nielsen, who becomes the second head coach in program history, comes to Ann Arbor as a four-time national champion and two-time Tewaaraton Award winner. As a coach, she boasts eight years of coaching experience at the Division I level.

"I am thrilled to welcome one of the most accomplished women's lacrosse players of all-time to lead our program," said Manuel. "Hannah has proven her ability to translate her skills and knowledge of the game into a successful coaching career. She has been a winner at every level, and I am confident she is prepared to lead our women's lacrosse program."

She’ll start on July 17, after the FIL Women’s World Championships.

Despite getting heavy interest from Michigan, Towson Tigers head coach Shawn Nadelen is fine with where he is now, pens Mike Preston of The Baltimore Sun.

“It’s a very simple philosophy,” said [Tony] Seaman, the former Towson head coach who hired Nadelen as an assistant before being replaced by him six years ago. “He lets them know there is only one way, and that’s his way. That’s the way it is going to be, and if you don’t like it, then you better find some other place to play.”

Towson athletic officials had to be relieved when they learned Nadelen was returning. Michigan probably put on a full-court press with its attractive Big Ten Conference affiliation and a $168 million sports complex that will house the lacrosse offices.

But Nadelen opted to stay at Towson, where he has a 65-37 record and won the Colonial Athletic Association title four times, including the last three. The Tigers advanced to the final four for the first time under Nadelen before losing to Ohio State in the semifinals.

Nadelen has guided the Tigers to four NCAA tournaments, knocking off the No. 2 seed each of the past two seasons.

“He is one of the best,” said Denver head coach Bill Tierney, who hired Nadelen as an assistant for two years when Tierney was running Princeton’s program. “Disciplined, a quality person, but he keeps it all in perspective.”

A great podcast on Inside Lacrosse with our good bud and NPR editor Scott Hensley!

Utah Utes head coach Brian Holman wants to stand out in being a Division I program, and he also wants to be a big supporter at the youth level, from Matt DaSilva of US Lacrosse Magazine.

There are nearly 10,000 lacrosse players in Utah, according to US Lacrosse participation data. On Feb. 15, Intermountain Lacrosse merged with the Greater Utah Lacrosse League, creating a statewide umbrella for the sport. The Utah Lacrosse Association, a local chapter of US Lacrosse, helped facilitate the merger. On May 4, the Utah High School Activities Association adopted boys’ and girls’ lacrosse as state-sanctioned sports.

“One of the uniform discussions from the Intermountain Lacrosse merger, a huge part of the partnership with the Utes and a key driver to the high school discussions is we need to do what’s best for the kids and what’s best for the game of lacrosse,” said Bob Caldwell, president of Intermountain Lacrosse. “When we started taking money out of it and doing what’s best for the kids, it’s amazing how quickly it all came together.”

Holman’s foray into the Utah lacrosse community is similar to what University of Denver coach Bill Tierney did when he left Princeton in 2009 to take over what at the time was the westernmost program in Division I men’s lacrosse. (Utah now bears that distinction.) Tierney’s son, Trevor, and assistant coach Matt Brown started the Denver Elite and local box lacrosse programs, respectively, while the coaches fostered relationships with Denver City Lax and the Colorado chapter of US Lacrosse.

“It’s a big job. It’s not one to be taken on if you don’t have energy,” Tierney said. “Brian obviously has done an amazing job already leading this effort and having the young people around him he does that want to make this thing work. You have to do it in the community.”

Big MCLA coaching news: Concordia-Irvine head coach Ryan Brent has resigned from his post less than two months after winning the MCLA Division II national championship. He was also named the MCLA Division II Coach of the Year.

Brent has accepted a position as founding director and head lacrosse coach at Crean Lutheran High School in Irvine. He will also teach AP and honors psychology at Crean Lutheran.

"I was blessed to be a part of this chapter of Concordia University lacrosse,” Brent said. “I want to thank the administration, our awesome parents, coaches and – most importantly – the student-athletes for making my time at CUI so special. It is with a heavy heart that I am stepping down, but I know I am leaving the program with excellent players and a strong culture that will lead to future success on and off the field."

In his four years at Concordia, Brent posted a 62-11 record, two appearances in the national championship game and one title. The Eagles finished with a 17-1 mark last year, avenging their only loss of the season to St. Thomas in the finals.

Let’s check how Penn State Nittany Lions attackman Mac O’Keefe is doing up in Canada:

Maryland Terrapins FOGO Jon Garino, Jr. on what it meant to play lacrosse at the school:

A big reason for the success of the Ohio State Buckeyes this season was due to some of their players coming from the state of Ohio, notes Dave Purpura of ThisWeekSports.com.

Despite such success recruiting in his own backyard, OSU coach Nick Myers said location is at best a secondary factor in picking players. Seven players are from the traditional East Coast hotbeds of Maryland and New York, and six are Canadian.

“I challenged my staff to evaluate the best players that North America has to offer,” Myers told The Columbus Dispatch before the national semifinal. “Every one of these guys has a different story. Whether you are from Alabama, Maine, Ontario, (British Columbia) or right here in Ohio, we want to find the right people for Buckeye lacrosse.”

[J.T.] Blubaugh, who coaches for the Resolute Lacrosse club organization, said before the national semifinal that he feels a responsibility as a top-tier player to educate younger players about the recruiting process.

“We’re some of the first people they know playing major-college lacrosse,” Blubaugh told the Dispatch. “They ask us a lot of questions about getting to major colleges.”

Soon.

Lehigh Mountain Hawks commit James Spence was named the 2017 Daily Times Boys Lacrosse Player of the Year after backstopping Springfield-Delco to their second consecutive PIAA state championship, from Matthew De George of the Delaware County Daily Times.

“Lucas [Spence] always told me he’s never beaten Conestoga before,” James recalled last week. “And I remember we came out strong, Lucas came out really strong, and we beat Conestoga by a lot that year.”

The victory became No. 4 of the 79 Spence tallied in his storied career. That success was shaped by a tale of three brothers, which has in turn determined the direction of what is, at the moment, Pennsylvania’s premier lacrosse program.

Lucas, who graduated in 2015 as a three-time All-Delco attackman, is two years James’ senior. Youngest brother, Jack, is a sophomore midfielder, brimming with all the promise you’d expect from the baby of such an illustrious family.

With James sandwiched in the middle, he believes he’s gotten the best of all worlds — as Lucas’ mentee and Jack’s mentor. And the nature of his position, a goalie to his brothers the goal-scorers, provides for engrossing sibling dynamics.

On the girls side, Archbishop Carroll’s Sam Swart was named the 2017 Daily Times Girls Lacrosse Player of the Year. She’s going to be a Syracuse Orange next year. That was a great choice by her.

The devotion has paid off. Swart is a two-time field hockey All-Delco and played a significant role on the Patriots’ basketball team. She’ll attend Syracuse University next year for lacrosse with a standing offer to pursue field hockey as well.

Part of the draw to Carroll was continuing to develop under [Lorraine] Beers, Swart’s club coach at Phantastix since fifth grade. Swart, who helps coach younger girls, and Beers have developed a connection that harnesses Swart’s unique blend of talent and tenacity.

“I’ve been working with her since I was little,” Swart said. “She knows my techniques and knows my weaknesses and knows when I get angry and knows when I need to calm down. Just having a coach like that helps you get through high school.”

“I think that as players mature, they want to win at everything and they want to score the most goals and they want to be the best player ever, and then as they get to be seniors, you hope that they realize, ‘OK, how do we win games?’” Beers said. “And sometimes winning a game means you only have one goal or two goals because you’re drawing a faceguard or multiple defenders.

Philly Jawns

Some guy on the Milwaukee Bucks named Malcolm Brogdon won Rookie of the Year over Joel Embiid and Dario Saric.

World News

Gas prices are falling!

LaVar Ball also appeared on WWE Raw last night and went shirtless. You can find that on your own.

Video of the Day

This guy plays Africa by Toto with all of his sounds and beats on his synth:

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