College lacrosse head coach updates: Fairfield, Harvard narrowing down candidates

With the official hirings of Mason Poli at Quinnipiac and Peter Burke at Holy Cross, there’s five Division I men’s lacrosse teams that are in need of new head coaches. Four of them currently have vacancies, while Hampton will officially have one after Lloyd Carter retires on June 30.

I tweeted out updates regarding Fairfield and Harvard Monday night, but have a few more updates as well.

Fairfield

Five assistant coaches have been identified to me as finalists per multiple sources. Andrew Baxter of Yale, Kyle Georgalas of Army West Point, Anthony Gilardi of Towson, Brad Ross of Ohio State, and Peter Toner of Penn State.

Another source has told me this morning that Baxter is further along in the process than any of the other four candidates. There’s mutual interest between the two parties involved. Additionally, per Ty Xanders of Inside Lacrosse, Fairfield is paying more than expected, which is what I’ve also heard. It sounds like this will be the first vacancy to be filled.

Harvard

Three coaches have been identified to me as finalists from multiple sources. Gerry Byrne of Notre Dame, Sean Kirwan of Virginia, and even Lehigh head coach Kevin Cassese. Additionally, I’ve also heard Navy’s Ryan Wellner and Boston University’s Ryan Polley are still in the mix for the position.

Harvard has done a lot of Skype and phone calls so far, per Xanders, with some visits still remaining. There’s some mixed opinions on who a leading candidate is. Some think Byrne, others think it’s Cassese. The search is not at the point of where Fairfield is at right now, but it’s further along than Navy and Stony Brook.

Navy & Stony Brook

There is nothing of substance regarding Navy and Stony Brook. Stony Brook is in no rush with their head coach search, per a source. The only names I’ve heard so far has been Duke assistant Matt Danowski and Marquette’s Joe Amplo.

Navy is an even bigger question mark, with Wellner still being the interim head coach. Names such as Amplo, who reportedly spent the weekend in Annapolis, Towson’s Shawn Nadelen, Loyola’s Charley Toomey, and Maryland assistant J.L. Reppert have been thrown out there for the job.

Hampton

There’s nothing on Hampton.

But who could be good candidates? Potentially former Lehigh assistant Errol Wilson, former Navy head coach Rick Sowell, maybe even Ohio Northern and Redwoods Lacrosse Club head coach Nat St. Laurent? Could a dark horse like Chazz Woodson appear? There’s no read on the potential candidates for this job whatsoever.

Overall, we have some answers. But there’s still plenty of questions left to be answered as well.