According to a post on their team Twitter account last night (and several people getting in touch to fill me in), Michigan State’s MCLA team has fired head coach Dwayne Hicks and assistant Chris Cooper.
We have parted ways with head coach Dwayne Hicks and assistant coach Chris Cooper. We wish them the best of luck in future endeavors.
They are both class acts & helped us reach new program heights. We will continued to grow our program off the foundation they helped build.
I can’t help but think this is an awful decision for Michigan State. As mentioned, the program reached new heights under Hicks, and I have a very hard time they’ll continue to grow – at least without a couple big steps back – under new leadership, barring an unexpected blockbuster hire. My sources indicate that it was not a mutual parting of ways (as implied by the first tweet), but rather both being axed by the players, and unexpectedly at that.
And here is one of the problems with the MCLA. There are the teams that really want to succeed, and work to become top programs: the Michigans, Colorado States, and BYUs of the world. There are also teams that really want to just have a good time continuing their lacrosse careers as a casual club deal in college. Both are fine, but when coaches are caught in the crossfire, things can get pretty awkward.
All indications are that a lot of the Michigan State players would prefer to be a team that posts things like this on their official Twitter account:
These ground ball battles are getting sloppier then a sorority girl on a Saturday night at ricks.
Oakland coach chirping our shorts.
#hardo
…than one that’s willing to do what Coach Hicks asked of them to contend for national championships. At the end of the day, that’s their right – it’s a club league, after all – but results don’t come without hard work.
The coaching hire for the Spartans will play a huge role in determining the future of their program, and (to a lesser extent now that Davenport is moving up), of MCLA-1 in the state.
This is the dunbest coaching move I’ve ever seen. I can absolutely say Coach Hicks is the best coach in the state.
As noted both coaches are dedicated to the game of lacrosse. Coach Hicks and Cooper gave them the support and training needed to Win this year. Clu or not every player should strive to be the best they can be or play intramural. I wish the best to both coaches and the Team that gets them all the successes they deserve.
I agree 100%, when I began playing lacrosse the sport consumed my life. After a season playing as a chubby freshman at defense, I took the off-season to fine tune my game and ended up losing 100lbs and moving up to varsity attack. There was never a time when I was not at the field all alone with a rock sack full of balls and a weighted vest on, I would give anything to be in one of those lazy players positions with a coach that would have praised my hardwork and dedication. Spartans, there needs to be an awakening. Remember how much lacrosse means to you, and get that fire roaring again. This is the time to bring spartan lacrosse to a higher level, and show east lansing what spartans are made of!!
Welcome to the world of club lacrosse: where 20-21 year olds who often don’t get the playing time they think they have purchased; and/or won’t work hard enough both in and out of season to improve; chose firing coaches over holding themselves accountable. PS This was NOT a team decision. Plenty of players were completely blind sided by this. Next coach needs to have the chops to get the job and then move the problem children off the roster. Sound familiar?
Why doesn’t UDM try to go after Hicks?
They’re pretty happy with the one they have, disappointing 2012 notwithstanding.
Assistant coach at D1 school is a full time job. Head coach of an MCLA team is a part time job. When the UDM job originally opened I know there was mutual interest, but Hicks also has a career.
They did before they hired Holtz. And I don’t think the school is that unhappy with Matt… Something that should be up to debate is Holtz’s job security.
Until you’ve played under coach hicks you might just want to keep your opinion to yourself. Of all the nay-Sayers have been paying attention this season the MSU team is doing great and the new coach is leaps and bounds better than Dwayne.
The team of guys that play now are focused on taking this team to the highest point they can. Dwayne Hicks may be a good coach but he wasn’t the coach for this program.
I’ve spoken to dozens of people who played under Hicks, and several more who have played at Michigan State in a variety of other eras. To a man, every single one of them (that isn’t on the current team) has said it was a horrible idea to fire Hicks.
Now, it’s worked out well for State so far (OK, at least, I actually think they’d be a bit better with Hicks still in charge), but that doesn’t necessarily mean that these dozens of people are wrong.
Get a grip.
Looks like it’s worked out pretty well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDATXlLMY7M
Posting a video with an ambiguous statement is far from proving it worked, haha. They didnt make it any further without Hicks. Call it a draw.