(Assistant) Coaching Carousel: Moves & Other Departures

With the coaching carousel stopped for the moment, the smaller assistant coaching carousel has begun spinning.

Terry Foy of Inside Lacrosse has learned of multiple spots being filled across the Division I landscape.

We’ll start with the Delaware Blue Hens and new head coach Ben DeLuca. He’s brought on two faces that are familiar to him in former Georgetown Hoyas assistant Matt Rewkowski and former Harvard Crimson Lacrosse Operations Coordinator Noah Fossner.

We heard a few rumblings about Rewkowski reuniting with DeLuca a few weeks ago, and those two go back to their days with the Cornell Big Red. Fossner is a newer face for DeLuca, as he was at Harvard last year. He’s bounced around recently, including stops with the Boston University Terriers and a stint back with the Blue Hens under Bob Shillinglaw, along with the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Fossner was a stud goalie with the Blue Hens when he played from 2008-2011. He should be a great mentor for rising sophomore Matt DeLuca, as he coached Conor Peaks and Christian Carson-Banister, and they both turned out to be pretty good.

The other big assistant coaching change for a single team is with DeLuca’s former team, Harvard. With DeLuca leaving for Delaware and former assistant Eric Wolf out and now at Division II’s LIU Post, head coach Chris Wojcik has added former Army West Point Black Knights assistant Justin Turri and former BU assistant Stephen Toomy as his newest assistants.

Turri is a former Duke Blue Devil and spent the past three seasons with the Black Knights, working with their offense, extra-man units, and face-off specialists. He won a national championship with the Blue Devils back in 2010, Duke’s first ever lacrosse national title. Toomy spent the past two years with the Terriers working as their defensive coordinator. He also had a similar role with the Colgate Raiders for two seasons and was the director of lacrosse operations with the North Carolina Tar Heels for two seasons.

Harvard still has assistant Joe Nardella on their coaches page. He would be entering his fourth year with the program if he stays on.

Finally, the Ohio State Buckeyes have promoted volunteer assistant Travis Crane to a full-time role with the team. A Penn State Nittany Lions graduate, Crane was previously the defensive coordinator for Calvert Hall in Maryland for three seasons before making the jump to Nick Myers’s staff this past year.

Foy mentioned other assistants leaving their programs:

Penn State has an opening after sources tell IL that Chris Doctor is leaving the college coaching profession. Other openings include Jacksonville, where Casey Powell has moved on from a full-time college coaching role; High Point, where assistant Ron Garling left to join the staff at Cabrini; Bryant, where Tom Compitello has parted with the staff; and Vermont, where Chris Miller will not return.

Five assistants are leaving their current Division I jobs, but one has found a job with a Division III school.

The biggest surprise on the list here is the legend in Casey Powell. Last year, he tweeted out that he was looking to become a college coach:

He landed with the Jacksonville Dolphins and with former Syracuse Orange alumni and current head coach John Galloway last June. The Dolphins won three of their final four regular season games and went to the SoCon Tournament. Powell has been running camps and clinics, starting up Speed Lacrosse (beach lacrosse), and he plays a huge role with The Casey Powell World Lacrosse Foundation. It appears he’s become more of an ambassador for the sport, and maybe coaching was a little too much for him? I’m not sure, but I wouldn’t rule out a possible return to coaching in the future.

This carousel will still be going for some time, and it’s far from over.

Maryland Updates

We’ll start with who Kevin Conry’s replacement might be. Foy mentions a familiar name for some Maryland Terrapin fans:

Sources tell IL that the job has yet to be formally listed so the search has not yet begun, but informed speculation suggests that former Terrapin longstick middie and current Princeton assistant Jesse Bernhardt will emerge as a leading candidate for the position.

We’ve discussed this amongst our own staff as well and it seems like Bernhardt is the best fit for this job. He’s the brother of rising sophomore Jared Bernhardt and the entire family has a deep connection with the program.

Finally, this one doesn’t involve coaching. It’s another possible transfer. We’ve heard some rumblings that rising junior attackman Timmy Monahan is looking to transfer. He’s not listed on Maryland’s 2018 roster that doesn’t include incoming freshmen or transfers coming in (h/t Bailey Kennedy). He was a highly touted recruit coming from nearby Gonzaga High School, but he’s got plenty of players jumping him. He played in nine games last season, scoring two goals and one assist on six shots on goal.

With seniors Matt Rambo, Colin Heacock, and Dylan Maltz all graduating, I thought that he would be a possibility to get a starting spot. But Bernhardt could move down to attack, along with midfield linemate Tim Rotanz, and there’s also Louis Dubick available. Based on the rumblings and the Terps’ website, Monahan might not have been in the team’s plans for the near future. His father played baseball at Johns Hopkins, and he has a sister that goes to Syracuse. We’ll see how this plays out.