Michigan State lacrosse, off their best season in MCLA history, fired head coach Dwayne Hicks and assistant Chris Cooper last night. Though it outwardly appears to be an indication that the club is headed in the wrong direction, club president Seth Clickner, a junior defenseman from Albany, N.Y., explains that’s not the case.
“This was an entire team thing,” Clickner said. “Michigan State lacrosse is bigger than one person. I can’t say enough good things about them.”
However, with a talented roster coming back next year, the Spartans are looking to take the next step from perennial tournament participants to national title contenders. That includes a change at the top.
“They’re just not right for us,” Clickner said. “With our personnel, we can reach an even higher level with a new coach. It’s not about making it to nationals anymore, it’s about winning it.
“We’re committed to winning, and that’s all that matters.”
Clickner says the team’s reputation as a casual club, rather than an elite athletic outfit couldn’t be further from the truth. Although the Spartans have fun, they’re committed to doing whatever it takes on the field to win. Adding a top coach is the next piece of the puzzle in building a serious program.
MSU is confident in landing a high-level coach. Though a few candidates are in mind, last night’s tweets announcing the departures of Hicks and Cooper were made with the intent to draw any other potential applicants out of the woodwork. The club expects to compensate the coach with a reasonable monetary package, and is advertising their program as a stepping stone to an NCAA position for qualified candidates.
Another piece of bringing the Michigan State program to the next level is talking to someone who’s done it just down the road.
“I talked to JP [Michigan coach John Paul]. He did what every program wants to do. He built Michigan into a winner.”
Paul also took Michigan from the ranks of the MCLA to the Division-1 level, something that’s not on the horizon for the Spartans. However, with a new structure to the coach’s duties (such as no longer being responsible for travel arrangements, which a current player’s parent will do for the time being), MSU is looking to take the next step from being a club or team, into being a program.
What a joke. Like you said, if they got rid of Hicks because they would rather have fun than win championships then more power to them. For them to pass it off as MSU somehow upgrading after this move is pure poppycock. Hicks was one of the best, if the the best, coach in the MCLA and his record shows it.
Any ideas where Hicks will be headed next?
“They’re just not right for us” – Because you lack heart – MSU alumni
Ugh..and with the U of M reacharound… the only reason they went D1 was money, not that good (1-11 with the big boys). End of conversation. MSU could do the same thing tomorrow with a $10 million dollar check.
I just want to touch on the “it’s an entire team thing”… Several of the players, who were the pro hicks guys, never recieved the email about letting hicks go and strongly disagree. State, you messed up.
To say I am dumbfounded is a major understatement. Davenport is licking their chops thinking that they are making the move at the right time.
Jac Coyne’s take
http://www.laxmagazine.com/blogs/author/coyne/06.08.2012_at_11.04_a.m._by_Jac_Coyne
After 4 years, 3 CCLA finals, 3 national championship appearances, 2 CCLA COY honors, 1 National COY honor, a CCLA Championship (2012), and a 100% graduation rate, many of the current seniors players feel they need to go in another direction. That’s their prerogative because they pay the bills. I guess that will give me 40 hours a week for nine months to do something else. It’s been a fun run. The MSU vs. UM games where some of the best games I’ve coached in since my years at Oakland. But just like at Oakland, it was the players’ decision to go in another direction. Where MSU goes from here, we’ll all have to wait and see. I wish them well.
A class act as always. I expect to have more than a few teams ring you up to chat about the future. Best of luck Dwayne!
This whole thing seems absurd to me, your record speaks for itself. I’m sad I’ll never get to play for you, but I will still continue to pursue playing at MSU. Thanks for all the clinics you hosted at wixom and thanks for all the help, Best of luck to you!!
– Garry (Black laxer from Huron)
Not even being a player on the team I can tell you that this was a grave mistake. After meeting Hicks I can tell what kind of team he ran. A WINNING team. One that I was hoping to play under.
So the AD thinks great teams are built when players make the decisions as to how to run things? And we see examples of this where? Does J Paul at U of M just step back and allow the players to ecid how hard to run, how hard to practice, what plays, etc? Is MSU football run that way? How about basketball? And you expect some “high level” coach to step down from D1 NCAA program to take on a club team that will not follow the directions of the Coach, and this magical D1 coach will just step back and allow the team to run things? LOL…ok.
This is a club team. AD Mark Hollis has nothing to do with decisions. The students elected to be team officers were the ones thy made the decision. Get. Clue.
Yeah, the AD mention is weird here. This is how MCLA teams work.
Yeah, the AD mention is weird. This is a club team. That’s how MCLA squads operate. Players’ dues are the club budget, therefore they are technically the bosses. A school like Michigan (or some of the MCLA squads that are considered varsity programs by their schools, like Davenport) can change that paradigm a bit, but they’re the exception, not the rule.
Huge mistake. I’ve played in the MCLA CCLA against Hicks and I think this is a HUGE mistake. MSU, from looking at Hicks previous records, I’d say your chances of rising above just dwindled….drastically.
That’s… kind of a late response, but I think given most opinions about Hicks, a correct one. We’ll see soon whether Schwind can take the team to the next level as the MSU team hired him to do.
MSU went the right way, 2 years later this is obvious. Where is Dwayne now? If he was THAT good of a coach, surely he would have been hired by another up and coming team. MSU has done better in the last two years than Dwayne’s teams ever did.
He has been focusing on his club teams (and day job), he’s not out looking for new college gigs. What he’s doing now isn’t relevant to whether it was the “right way” anyway. The stated reasons for making the change were to take MSU to the next level… has that happened?
Under Hicks, MSU was the No. 9 seed (first-round exit) in 2010, No. 6 seed (first-round exit) in 2011, and No. 9 seed (second-round exit) in 2012. Under Schwind, they’ve been the No. 10 seed (second-round exit) and No. 7 seed (second-round exit). The results have basically been the same. I would say the jury is still out on whether the program has or will change significantly with the coaching change.
Rory’s comment is indicative of a person who doesn’t understand how coaching in college works.
I would be willing to bet that the majority of starters the past two years under whatever this new guy’s name is (I don’t care enough to Google it, honestly), were brought in and taught by Hicks. Drew Brees doesn’t stop being Drew Brees because Joe Lombardi left. Peyton didn’t stop growing when Caldwell moved on. Players don’t unlearn whatever a brilliant coach taught them, even if the new coach blows.
If you want to see whether or not this new guy is any good, this year and next year are the years you should be paying attention to.