A few relevant articles came to my attention (or I remembered them) shortly after publishing the earlier post, and I’ll recap them so as to not let them get stale before bringing them to your attention.
Michigan’s John Paul sat down with the official athletics website for a quick summer interview:
What do you see as the team’s biggest strength heading into next season?
Our culture. We’re used to working very hard and competing at a high level, and we’re used to winning. That culture is going to carry forward, which is what we’re counting on. We expect some challenges going forward, certainly, but leaning on tradition and culture gives us an advantage over other new Division I programs who are starting from scratch.
Much more at the link.
Ann Arbor’s final high school athletics plan includes a drop to club status for lacrosse, but it won’t take effect until 2012-13, giving one more year of full varsity status in the school district.
Brother Rice is included in LaxPower’s virtual tournament. They advanced past Mercer Island (WA), but were unanimously voted to lose to Jamesville-DeWitt (NY) in the second round of the Charlotte Bracket. DOES IT MEAN LACROSSE IS DOWN IN THE STATE?!!?!?!?
Inside Lacrosse got around to mentioning the commitment of TX Attack Will Perkins, whom I’ve already profiled. Their contribution to the literature:
Perkins stands at 6-3, 200 lbs. He lettered in both football and lacrosse. Perkins attended Nike Blue Chip junior and senior camps, and played at the Brine Shootout with Team Dallas. The three-year starting attackman posted 45 goals and 16 assists as a junior. He also considered Maryland, Air Force, High Point and Drexel.
Maryland is a new addition to the list of interested schools, and as last year’s NCAA runner-up, a strong one.
Inside Lacrosse also mentions the commitment of NY Midfielder Matt Graham. Profile post on its way in the coming days.
The official Detroit site covers the summer Canadian Junior season for some of the Titans. Joel Matthews, who sat out the 2011 season to focus on academics, is back on the field and performing. Could he help lead a strong Titan offense in 2012?
Since there’s still a Division-1 lacrosse coaching position open in the state, I reached out to Michigan’s Athletic Department for an update on the women’s coaching search. Here’s what a spokesman told me:
We are actively searching for a coach. That’s the best update that I can provide you with.
Not much of an update, but I’ll try to stay on top of the situation.
Its strength is its culture? Michigan lacrosse has a culture of winning? Winning what? Winning some joke college club league? The kids that were part of the club team will not be on the Michigan’s team two years from now that is if Michigan wants to be some what competitive. So what are you building on? This guy is in a fantasy world even making any kind of comparison to his club team versus what they are going to be up against this coming spring. He is not taking a Div II team and going DI like Bryant did several years ago. He is taking a bunch of club guys and is getting at best maybe DII recruits coming in for the 2012 season. Talked to some lacrosse people back east, Marquette will do better. They don’t have the Michigan name but its coaching staff is more qualified than the staff at Michigan with realistic expectations, far superior experience, lacrosse credentials and a stronger recruiting network. The prediction is 3 years at best for the club coaches and the AD at UM will go looking for a real coach.
Ok man.
I’m starting to think JP might have stolen this guy’s girlfriend back in the day or something.
Tim you got to more creative like your buddy AndyD. That’s funny stuff. Love it.
More qualified? JP goes to every convention and coaching seminar the big coaches go to, and not to mention he is friends with all the coaches “back east” that you speak of this magical wonderland like it’s some forbidden place to us Midwest people. May I remind you that the “back east” players must not be everything they once were because the young guys from the Midwest were one game away from matching up against the Northeast in the Under Armour finals, they only lost to Long Island by a couple. This “back east” you speak of must not be thinking about academics as well because Michigan tops Marquette in every category. Why go to a sub-par school like Marquette and get a decent degree in a decent area when you can come to one of the most diverse cities in the world and pick from many degree programs that are rated in the top 5? It’s not all about NOW, it’s about the future as well, not all these guys are the future Rabil’s that can market themselves and live on lacrosse wages.
Hap, you must also not pay attention to college sports much either because how many college coaches in any sport have come from low ranks to do spectacular at D1? MANY. Get your facts straight and quit relying on what other people say because you obviously just admitted you can’t form an opinion for yourself. Ignorance. Go Hap off a cliff.
All due respect Josh…I agree that Paul is qualified, but going to conventions and seminars is not how you learn to coach. Anyone can go to those, and hundreds do. I don’t know that he’s friends with “all the coaches” either, and that also doesn’t qualify you. I do know that he’s respected by many of them and I assume he’s friends with some of them. That doesn’t assure that he can coach at the D1 level though. Hopefully Dave Brandon will give him time to prove he can. It’s going to take 5 or 6 years to become really competitive, no matter who is there. Hap is right about that.
The bottom line to me is that D1 lacrosse at Michigan is a great thing for the sport. Starsia called it the biggest news in the sport in 25 years, and Tierney has made similar statements. D1 lacrosse wouldn’t be happening at Michigan without Paul. That’s pretty clear. He has my respect and gratitude for that. Nobody else has been able to make that happen at this level for 30 years. Hopefully what he’s done there will influence some other big time athletic departments to consider adding lacrosse. In that sense he may end up being one of the influential people the sport has seen in quite some time, off the field at least.
At the end of the day, John Paul may be underqualified to coach Division-1. Who knows? Maybe he flames out as coach. However, if Michigan didn’t get the varsity promotion this offseason, there’s a damn good chance that he would be coaching D-1 ball next spring either way. Sure, hopping right in as an ECAC head coach isn’t where he likely would have been, but to act like he’s undeserving just because he’s a club coach is simply ignorant. On top of that, he’s hired a top offensive coordinator. Judd Lattimore may not be the best offensive mind in the game, but he’s certainly among the top few out there. Nobody on Marquette’s staff is more proven than Judd is. To say otherwise is nothing more than trolling.
Josh- don’t get your panties all in bunch. Sure there are talented players from the mid west not too many from MI specifically. However, Long Island/West Chester NY, Upstate NY(Rochester-Albany) and Baltimore are still the top areas for lacrosse talent no question the midwest is not there yet. Just look at one school like Chaminade from the Island, it has produced more DI guys than the entire state of MI year over year for the past decade and those kids weren’t just recruited they played. Secondarily you can now consider DC Metro(mostly the private schools), NJ, CT and Philadelphia a close second.
Tim brings up an interesting point regarding Lattimore’s solid qualification. In reality he should be the head coach not JP. Getting back to the Marquette staff versus UM, Marquette has the advantage. Marquette’s head coach has played or coached in 10 NCAAs tourneys, his top assistant was a 2 time All American at Loyola and had coaching stints at Drexel and Princeton and his third assistant an All American from Hofstra. In addition, both assistants played professionally. That kind of playing and coaching experience gives you an understand of the game at a higher level, an understanding of the commitment needed to win at a higher level and the experience of recognizing and recruiting talent. All three of these guys hail from the Island or upstate so most likely they either played high school lacrosse, club lacrosse or college lacrosse with half the high school coaches in NY/NJ/PA/MD/CT. So they no where to go for talent and then they will be able to mold that talent.
So the qualification of JP: has he coached in the NCAAs? – no, coached at a DI, DII or DIII program? – no, played in the NCAA tourney? – no, played college lacrosse at any NCAA program be it DI, II or III? – no, played high school lacrosse?, that’s a no. Boys there is no comparison. He’s done a great job of getting the UM to go DI and marketing this to alumni and the AD, but there were so many other candidates with better qualifications.
In addition, I am not sure the diversity of Detroit has a lot of pull with 18 year old lacrosse players and UM isn’t competing against the other Big 10 schools it has to compete academically with the IVY’s, G’town, UVA, Duke, UNC, the academies and JHU ect.
The question I would pose to Josh is have you ever played lacrosse in high school or college(not club)? Based on your response my guess would be no.
Your new great point is that JP doesn’t know where good players come from? Look at the recruiting class. Hell, look at the club roster, for God’s sake. Give me a break.
West coast to East coast is covered! Not to mention he just got the commitment from the LSM from Haverford, but Tim, he can’t recruit for crap because he didn’t come from a hotbed and doesn’t wear Armani suits and slick his hair back like Miami vice people. Funny thing is he had Coach Euker, a coach at Mizzou come to get advice from John Paul at HIS Michigan camp last summer. Guess where Euker played Hap? Loyola UNDER Cottle years ago. Played and beat Syracuse, played in the finals, and he is ONLY an MCLA coach that looks up to JP and his friend who played in the MLL, played at Maryland, went to the same high school, Coach Malone at Arizona State looks up to John Paul as well and is ONLY an MCLA coach as well. Do some damn research because a good individual player can come from anywhere just as a GREAT coach can do the same.
Whoa? Have I ever played? HA, actually I did, funny thing you ask. Glad you did actually because out of high school I had D1 offers and decided to join the military instead (many of my family members served.) Moreover, since being out, I have had many schools offer me an opportunity to play again! I was 26, I am now 27, and these were NCAA teams, so to put it kindly, I am more than just a little good at what I do and how good I play. I wouldn’t be working for Lacrosse Playground with the Alford’s, running a camp with Kyle Harrison in Kansas City this fall, helping Ryan Flanagan get a camp going in MN, helping Tom Kessler, Hofstra great and All-Time leading scorer there get his venture going with MLVG, chat with Tambroni about this very topic on his cellphone, need I go on? I am much bigger than you, and know a hell of a lot more than you about lacrosse, trust me. Panties never were in a bunch, just can’t stand ignorance driven statements from people who don’t know facts.
JP was offered the job at High Point. Would have taken it if he didn’t know Mich was going D1. I know its not a huge deal, just wanted to fill you in.
Hap,
My point the other day, which I tried to make light-heartedly, was why all the vitriol directed at Coach Paul? I don’t see any negative comments from you about Detroit Mercy, and there are certainly parallels. Coach Holtz had no NCAA experience before he got that job. Played club ball at State. Coached a mediocre State team that only got better when Dwayne Hicks took over after he left. Yet he has done a pretty good job at UDM. I personally think he’s done an outstanding job, considering what he has to work with.
Paul had way more success at Michigan. He’s well connected and liked. Made a great hire in Judd Lattimore. Has already started landing some pretty good recruits even though they got a late start. And he’ll have unbelievable resources at Michigan. I’d be surprised if he isn’t successful as a D1 coach there, just as the other club coaches at Michigan who have become varsity coaches have done.
Paul did play professionally, by the way. He was drafted by the Detroit Turbos. I don’t think that has anything to do with his coaching ability, especially because it was indoor, but for a guy who didn’t play in high school and just played bad club ball for a few years that’s impressive.
Ok guys check back with you May 2012.
Once again, like I said, you are speaking from nothing that you know…please check back. I shall be waiting!
Nobody is saying the team is going to be great (or even good) in 2012. Way to build a straw man argument.
Agreed. No way they win more than a couple games in year one, if that. It’s going to take 3 or 4 to get good and 5 or 6 to get great. Anyone who knows the game would expect that.