Johns Hopkins Coach Search

[10stone5]

"Hopkins was Nadelen's dream job and now it's been ruled out (his choice, not theirs), so he can stay and focus." Has anyone else heard this ?

you're asking this board? have you been on here the last 3 or 4 days?

I think he’s still in shock,
Nads was all but gone.

[Homer]

Maybe you don't need a "great" coach, just players who can pick up a GB, are athletic, and can catch & throw.

Thing is, if you can get enough of those players, after a while people are going to start calling you "great."

[nyjay]

So what's everyone's take on Milliman? I'm entirely ambivalent. Certainly not a great hire and certainly not a terrible one. Has a solid HC record at an academically comparable school. Though he wasn't there long enough to really make Cornell his program. Teat was recruited by his predecessor for example. And Cornell for whatever reason didn't seem to want to give him the job (maybe why he left?).

I'm all in favor of the change (had to happen), but entirely sure Milliman is the one to bring the program back to long-term national prominence. The Petro hire felt that way. Though I'm not sure the answer was really out there at this point. So, I'm OK with the hire, but feel like it's a bridge hire rather than the hire of the guys who's going to be at JHU for decades. Hope I'm wrong. Really interested to see his staff.

[Chuckman]

Congrats to Coach Milliman if true. A tremendous honor.

The question now becomes the rest of the staff.

Dwan, Benson, Quinn, Dyer

[Hoponboard]

Total break from the past.

As an alumnus and someone who has been going to games since Seaman was the coach (which is longer than some but not as long as many others), let me be the first one to say won't no one care if he wins.

Good Luck Coach M

Another alumnus here, who sees Milliman’s hiring as a way to clear the air at Hop. Program had grown stale with series of failed restarts. Old regime failed to adjust to the shot clock era. Looking forward to filming fall ball—hopefully, this fall.

[Homer]

So what's everyone's take on Milliman? I'm entirely ambivalent. Certainly not a great hire and certainly not a terrible one. Has a solid HC record at an academically comparable school. Though he wasn't there long enough to really make Cornell his program. Teat was recruited by his predecessor for example. And Cornell for whatever reason didn't seem to want to give him the job (maybe why he left?).

My sense was that Milliman was largely responsible for recruiting Teat and other key players brought in under Kerwick. That's a large, maybe even primary component of his appeal, his track record as a recruiter.

Objectively Milliman's record as a head coach would seem to compare favorably to e.g. Tillman or Petro at the time they were hired, both of whom also had 3 seasons of experience as an Ivy HC.

I think my overall sense is the opposite of yours, in that I take you to be seeing this as a low ceiling/high floor type of hire. To me, it's high ceiling/low floor. Time will tell.

[nyjay]

Homer - I actually agree with your variance point. Not sure I know where either the floor or ceiling are for PM. He hasn't been an HC long enough for comfortable predictions. Since I don't really have well formed expectations and I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the hire. Nads was the high floor guy if you ask me.

[calourie]

Just thinking If Hopkins hires Millman, it would indicate that the Admin. has decided to "institutionalize" the lacrosse Coach position. None of the Yale, Cornell, Princeton or Penn Coaches came to their Univs with renown lacrosse playing or coaching backgrounds. Those Univs attract lacrosse players based on the Univs general reputation, not the Coaches' reputation. That makes the coaches fungible, and more easily replaceable. Maybe you don't need a "great" coach, just players who can pick up a GB, are athletic, and can catch & throw.

So if Hopkins hires Millman, it will mean that the Admin is entirely in "control".

Also, one thing for sure: Hopkins will NEVER EVER hire as the Coach someone who is a former Maryland lacrosse player. So count out the Georgetown Coach.

President Daniels, Alanna Shanahan, and the current JHU AD run the Show. That is the message here. The Coaches are fungible. It will be interesting to see what happens going forward, BUT Hopkins lacrosse alumni are not going to hang around the Cordish Center and shoot the breeze with the lacrosse coach anymore. Want to talk with someone about lacrosse? Make an appointment with Alanna or the AD from now on.

Interesting two post comments by Chitown. Would point out that things changed at Yale after initially hiring Shay in much the manner that Chitown seems to think applied to the four Ivies mentioned as well as the JHU just now with Millman. Once Shay clearly elevated the Yale program from meh to stellar the Yale administration actually recognized this advance by paying Shay his worth within reason, as well as making him the face and mouthpeice for Yale lacrosse, moves which rendered him non-fungible enough to indicate he wasn't interested in the JHU job when they reached out to see if he would be interested. Things may well work out for Millman in a similar fashion should he reenergize the Hopkins program in short order. I doubt Hopkins will give Millman the seven year benefit of the doubt Yale gave Shay without exercising the fungibility clause, but success has a way of dramatically changing the dynamic for all involved.

[HopFan16]

So what's everyone's take on Milliman? I'm entirely ambivalent. Certainly not a great hire and certainly not a terrible one. Has a solid HC record at an academically comparable school. Though he wasn't there long enough to really make Cornell his program. Teat was recruited by his predecessor for example. And Cornell for whatever reason didn't seem to want to give him the job (maybe why he left?).

My sense was that Milliman was largely responsible for recruiting Teat and other key players brought in under Kerwick. That's a large, maybe even primary component of his appeal, his track record as a recruiter.

Objectively Milliman's record as a head coach would seem to compare favorably to e.g. Tillman or Petro at the time they were hired, both of whom also had 3 seasons of experience as an Ivy HC.

I think my overall sense is the opposite of yours, in that I take you to be seeing this as a low ceiling/high floor type of hire. To me, it's high ceiling/low floor. Time will tell.

100% agree.

Milliman took over a historic program that had been struggling—two straight losing seasons—and in his first year at the helm, they won 13 games, won a conference championship in which they handily beat the eventual national champions Yale, and then won his first-ever NCAA tournament game on the road in the Carrier Dome. Didn't make the NCAAs last year at 10-5 with wins over Notre Dame and Towson, though if you ask many observers, they probably deserved to over Hopkins. And this year, they were 5-0, and had just beaten Penn State when the season was cut short. Some polls had them ranked #1.

If that's not a high ceiling, I don't know what is. Milliman took them from slipping into irrelevance into a national power in a short period of time. It looked like the start of a very long and successful tenure there. Money aside, the fact that he'd willingly leave that situation for Homewood suggests the guy sees some potential in us. And I know a lot has been said about this administration, and if even half of it is true then Milliman will have some treacherous waters to navigate (though familiarity with the new AD may help), but the fact that they went out and got the head coach of a top 3 program in 2020 tells me they want to win. This was not an ambivalent hire. This was not a "let's just fall into perpetual mediocrity and hope people won't care" hire. Of the pool of realistic candidates (we were never going to get Tillman or Danowski, for instance), not many had as much recent success as this guy.

It's not easy to change the culture of a program that's been around for a very long time and has had success doing things a certain way for a good portion of that. But Milliman is one of only a few guys out there who was actually doing it.

It would be a nice gesture if Milliman threw us alums a bone and hired someone like Koesterer or Durkin or moved Stanwick over to the men's program, but he's well within his right to choose the staff that he thinks is best. He had a pretty good one at Cornell—very curious to see if they move here with him.

[wgdsr]

So what's everyone's take on Milliman? I'm entirely ambivalent. Certainly not a great hire and certainly not a terrible one. Has a solid HC record at an academically comparable school. Though he wasn't there long enough to really make Cornell his program. Teat was recruited by his predecessor for example. And Cornell for whatever reason didn't seem to want to give him the job (maybe why he left?).

I'm all in favor of the change (had to happen), but entirely sure Milliman is the one to bring the program back to long-term national prominence. The Petro hire felt that way. Though I'm not sure the answer was really out there at this point. So, I'm OK with the hire, but feel like it's a bridge hire rather than the hire of the guys who's going to be at JHU for decades. Hope I'm wrong. Really interested to see his staff.

teat was not recruited by his predecessor. milliman was the recruiting head and credited with teat and the bulk of their team's recruits.

he was the head coach for 3 years and had been there since the summer of 2013. it's not like he just got there.
you do realize jhu hired petro after 3 seasons going 23-17 at cornell, right?

[Typical Lax Dad]

So what's everyone's take on Milliman? I'm entirely ambivalent. Certainly not a great hire and certainly not a terrible one. Has a solid HC record at an academically comparable school. Though he wasn't there long enough to really make Cornell his program. Teat was recruited by his predecessor for example. And Cornell for whatever reason didn't seem to want to give him the job (maybe why he left?).

My sense was that Milliman was largely responsible for recruiting Teat and other key players brought in under Kerwick. That's a large, maybe even primary component of his appeal, his track record as a recruiter.

Objectively Milliman's record as a head coach would seem to compare favorably to e.g. Tillman or Petro at the time they were hired, both of whom also had 3 seasons of experience as an Ivy HC.

I think my overall sense is the opposite of yours, in that I take you to be seeing this as a low ceiling/high floor type of hire. To me, it's high ceiling/low floor. Time will tell.

100% agree.

Milliman took over a historic program that had been struggling—two straight losing seasons—and in his first year at the helm, they won 13 games, won a conference championship in which they handily beat the eventual national champions Yale, and then won his first-ever NCAA tournament game on the road in the Carrier Dome. Didn't make the NCAAs last year at 10-5 with wins over Notre Dame and Towson, though if you ask many observers, they probably deserved to over Hopkins. And this year, they were 5-0, and had just beaten Penn State when the season was cut short. Some polls had them ranked #1.

If that's not a high ceiling, I don't know what is. Milliman took them from slipping into irrelevance into a national power in a short period of time. It looked like the start of a very long and successful tenure there. Money aside, the fact that he'd willingly leave that situation for Homewood suggests the guy sees some potential in us. And I know a lot has been said about this administration, and if even half of it is true then Milliman will have some treacherous waters to navigate (though familiarity with the new AD may help), but the fact that they went out and got the head coach of a top 3 program in 2020 tells me they want to win. This was not an ambivalent hire. This was not a "let's just fall into perpetual mediocrity and hope people won't care" hire. Of the pool of realistic candidates (we were never going to get Tillman or Danowski, for instance), not many had as much recent success as this guy.

It's not easy to change the culture of a program that's been around for a very long time and has had success doing things a certain way for a good portion of that. But Milliman is one of only a few guys out there who was actually doing it.

It would be a nice gesture if Milliman threw us alums a bone and hired someone like Koesterer or Durkin or moved Stanwick over to the men's program, but he's well within his right to choose the staff that he thinks is best. He had a pretty good one at Cornell—very curious to see if they move here with him.

It’s a very good hire. Hopefully the Hopkins alum get behind him and make his job that much easier. All the best in 2021.

[kramerica.inc]

So he played there a few years. Out of curiosity, why didn’t Milliman ultimately graduate from Gettysburg?

[Wheels]

Looking at Cornell's roster, they're going to be really young on offense next year. They do have some great young players and will have Piatelli and Donville back as senior leaders. But losing Teat, Fletcher, and Telesco obviously hurts. Perhaps Milliman left right at his peak market value.

For the Hop fans, at least he's going to bring a fun brand of lacrosse to Homewood.

[WOMBAT, Mod Emeritus]

So he played there a few years. Out of curiosity, why didn’t Milliman ultimately graduate from Gettysburg?

Maybe due to Pickett?

[WOMBAT, Mod Emeritus]

Looking at Cornell's roster, they're going to be really young on offense next year. They do have some great young players and will have Piatelli and Donville back as senior leaders. But losing Teat, Fletcher, and Telesco obviously hurts. Perhaps Milliman left right at his peak market value.

For the Hop fans, at least he's going to bring a fun brand of lacrosse to Homewood.

I hope it’s a fun brand. I’d like to see winning by 5+ goals return. Blowouts are more fun than cardiac arrest.

[kramerica.inc]

He’s also familiar with the Centennial Conference when Hopkins drops to D3.

[WOMBAT, Mod Emeritus]

He’s also familiar with the Centennial Conference when Hopkins drops to D3.

Shhh! No leaking of Comrade Baker’s Five Year Plan.

[faircornell]

He’s also familiar with the Centennial Conference when Hopkins drops to D3.

Shhh! No leaking of Comrade Baker’s Five Year Plan.

You've got a coach who wants to win a DI NCAA NC. I seriously doubt that he would have left Ithaca without assurances that this objective was in line with the school's plans as well.

[CU77]

Talk of Hop moving to D3 is nonsense. Hobart tried that a few years ago, and the alums stopped it cold. And that was Hobart. At Hop, the campus wouldn't survive the nuclear combustion.

Insider tip: no university president really likes big-time sports of any kind, but they all make their peace with it. Daniels is no different.

[WOMBAT, Mod Emeritus]

People getting serious all of a sudden.

We’ve beaten that horse to death already.