ACC Tourney

[8meterPA]

The player honors make complete sense. The COY, not so much. Gary loses two Tewaarton candidates to calamitous injury, including perhaps the best offensive player in the college game today, finishes (before the NCAA tournament) 14-3, but Levy gets the coach of the year award. AWW had a better case for COY, given what I think most people expected from BC and the subsequent trajectory of enormous improvement on the backs of a lot of freshmen and sophomores. It's not "Best Record of the Year Award."

The awards sector of women’s lacrosse is too safe and polite. I would also say the same thing for coach of the year in the Big Ten. I think coach Lehman deserved the award for what she did with Rutgers this year. The powers that be seem too timid to rock the boat or offend people or whatever. The commentary on the whole from women’s lacrosse is too safe and polite. Mutual admiration societies get awfully boring awfully quick.

Cletus - agree with you on coach Lehman, what she has done with Rutgers in a short period of time is incredible and I thought deserved the COY. Also feel the same way about GG - what he has done with this team after losing those 2 players is amazing and deserves the award as well.

I wonder if the coaches actually care about those awards?

[Laxallday]

The player honors make complete sense. The COY, not so much. Gary loses two Tewaarton candidates to calamitous injury, including perhaps the best offensive player in the college game today, finishes (before the NCAA tournament) 14-3, but Levy gets the coach of the year award. AWW had a better case for COY, given what I think most people expected from BC and the subsequent trajectory of enormous improvement on the backs of a lot of freshmen and sophomores. It's not "Best Record of the Year Award."

The awards sector of women’s lacrosse is too safe and polite. I would also say the same thing for coach of the year in the Big Ten. I think coach Lehman deserved the award for what she did with Rutgers this year. The powers that be seem too timid to rock the boat or offend people or whatever. The commentary on the whole from women’s lacrosse is too safe and polite. Mutual admiration societies get awfully boring awfully quick.

Lehman absolutely deserved the COY award. Beat three teams for the first time this year (including Maryland), win a round in the Big10 tourney and earned some well deserved respect for a Team that historically has had challenges. No offense to NU but navigating the Big10 undefeated this year with that much talent wasn’t as hard as what RU did.

[Laxallday]

The player honors make complete sense. The COY, not so much. Gary loses two Tewaarton candidates to calamitous injury, including perhaps the best offensive player in the college game today, finishes (before the NCAA tournament) 14-3, but Levy gets the coach of the year award. AWW had a better case for COY, given what I think most people expected from BC and the subsequent trajectory of enormous improvement on the backs of a lot of freshmen and sophomores. It's not "Best Record of the Year Award."

The awards sector of women’s lacrosse is too safe and polite. I would also say the same thing for coach of the year in the Big Ten. I think coach Lehman deserved the award for what she did with Rutgers this year. The powers that be seem too timid to rock the boat or offend people or whatever. The commentary on the whole from women’s lacrosse is too safe and polite. Mutual admiration societies get awfully boring awfully quick.

Cletus - agree with you on coach Lehman, what she has done with Rutgers in a short period of time is incredible and I thought deserved the COY. Also feel the same way about GG - what he has done with this team after losing those 2 players is amazing and deserves the award as well.

I wonder if the coaches actually care about those awards?

They do when they renew their contract!

[Laxfan500]

The player honors make complete sense. The COY, not so much. Gary loses two Tewaarton candidates to calamitous injury, including perhaps the best offensive player in the college game today, finishes (before the NCAA tournament) 14-3, but Levy gets the coach of the year award. AWW had a better case for COY, given what I think most people expected from BC and the subsequent trajectory of enormous improvement on the backs of a lot of freshmen and sophomores. It's not "Best Record of the Year Award."

Gait or AWW would have had to win the Championship for either one of them to win COY

Why? is that (winning a championship) a metric for COY?

I agree with Sea.

Im saying for this year with UNC being the presumptive favourite in ACC then the only way, imo, that Levy wouldn't get it would be to lose in final game.

[DMac]

In other words, the team is so loaded that even I could coach them (by just getting out of the way and letting them just do what they do) to the title. Meanwhile the coach who patched his team together, went through a couple of wars to get to that game, and gave 'em hell in the title game isn't the ACC COY. Okay, that makes sense. To someone, but not me. As has been mentioned, this feels like a very soft call to me. Give the deserving girls their trophies, give the deserving coach his too.

[Laxfan500]

In other words, the team is so loaded that even I could coach them (by just getting out of the way and letting them just do what they do) to the title. Meanwhile the coach who patched his team together, went through a couple of wars to get to that game, and gave 'em hell in the title game isn't the ACC COY. Okay, that makes sense. To someone, but not me. As has been mentioned, this feels like a very soft call to me. Give the deserving girls their trophies, give the deserving coach his too.

I’m not saying I disagree with you ...just maybe that’s what the other coaches were thinking . I think they got it right with the players ...the other thing I would have done was make a DOY and GOY - seperately .

[hsllax]

I think you're all underestimating Levy's role in her team going undefeated and BLOWING OUT pretty much all competition throughout the season. She recruited these kids, she got the right coaching staff in place, she created effective practice plans and strategies to get them playing exceptional team D. In a year where dynamics could get toxic due to 5th years and transfers reducing the role of younger players, she seems to have avoided that. Her team could not have more pressure on them to win it all and so far are navigating that extraordinarily well. She has created a training plan that seems to reduce injury or manages the injuries that her players do have in an effective way allowing her to get her best team on the field. That's no small feat. When you see multiple ACL tears within a program over the course of 1 year, is it bad luck or is there something that they could be doing to more effectively reduce the risk? There's some great research out there on strength and conditioning protocol that reduces ACL tear risk in female athletes (it's always going to happen and some are more predisposed than others). Levy deserves all accolades she gets this year.

[Brownlax]

I think you're all underestimating Levy's role in her team going undefeated and BLOWING OUT pretty much all competition throughout the season. She recruited these kids, she got the right coaching staff in place, she created effective practice plans and strategies to get them playing exceptional team D. In a year where dynamics could get toxic due to 5th years and transfers reducing the role of younger players, she seems to have avoided that. Her team could not have more pressure on them to win it all and so far are navigating that extraordinarily well. She has created a training plan that seems to reduce injury or manages the injuries that her players do have in an effective way allowing her to get her best team on the field. That's no small feat. When you see multiple ACL tears within a program over the course of 1 year, is it bad luck or is there something that they could be doing to more effectively reduce the risk? There's some great research out there on strength and conditioning protocol that reduces ACL tear risk in female athletes (it's always going to happen and some are more predisposed than others). Levy deserves all accolades she gets this year.

+1

[DMac]

Does the research include what kind of surfaces they're playing on too?
Maybe Gary should ask for a new turf? You watched Carney go down,
what could have been done to prevent that injury? Better preparation?
I'm going with the bad luck.

[Laxfan500]

Does the research include what kind of surfaces they're playing on too?
Maybe Gary should ask for a new turf? You watched Carney go down,
what could have been done to prevent that injury? Better preparation?
I'm going with the bad luck.

And hawshruck and Constantino ....

[njbill]

At least it’s not like the turf at the old Vet.

A Chicago Bears football player blew out both knees at the same time back in 1993.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct- ... story.html

[laxagainsthumanity]

Seems a little ridiculous to tacitly blame coaches for their players going down with ACL injuries. Besides, I can't think of a team that has lost more players to ACL tears in the last ten years than UNC...

In 2018, Levy coached up a very young team that was completely reliant on McCool and Hazar in the beginning of the year, and got them all the way to the Final Four. That was a masterclass in coaching. She has managed this year's team extremely well (and has a ring to show for it, and maybe another coming) but IMO her work does not compare to GG and AWW.

[hsllax]

To clarify, I'm not blaming GG for the ACL injuries. You can do all the prevention in the world and they can and will still happen.

I am simply noting that a part of the role of a coach is managing and reducing injury risk and impact. If I were a coach and suffered multiple ACL tears to my players in the same season, I would evaluate the strength and conditioning program and see if we might add in intentional stabilization work, look at the lifts we're doing and the balance of work on different muscle groups etc. and see if moving forward we might do anything differently. You will always have bad luck with injuries and some years you have more than others but great coaches are always doing what they can to reduce that risk. See: every NU player wore 2 ankle braces for a while during their streak. KAH may have had players get injuries and miss games but it wasn't because of a sprained ankle.

[Dr. Tact]

Does the research include what kind of surfaces they're playing on too?
Maybe Gary should ask for a new turf? You watched Carney go down,
what could have been done to prevent that injury? Better preparation?
I'm going with the bad luck.

there is alot to that....many (I wont say most) are non-contact. Look at Loyola's middie who is out with lower body injury for the season...no contact at all, Bad Luck.

[Can Opener]

Seems a little ridiculous to tacitly blame coaches for their players going down with ACL injuries. Besides, I can't think of a team that has lost more players to ACL tears in the last ten years than UNC...

In 2018, Levy coached up a very young team that was completely reliant on McCool and Hazar in the beginning of the year, and got them all the way to the Final Four. That was a masterclass in coaching. She has managed this year's team extremely well (and has a ring to show for it, and maybe another coming) but IMO her work does not compare to GG and AWW.

100% agree with both of your points.

[Cletus]

To clarify, I'm not blaming GG for the ACL injuries. You can do all the prevention in the world and they can and will still happen.

I am simply noting that a part of the role of a coach is managing and reducing injury risk and impact. If I were a coach and suffered multiple ACL tears to my players in the same season, I would evaluate the strength and conditioning program and see if we might add in intentional stabilization work, look at the lifts we're doing and the balance of work on different muscle groups etc. and see if moving forward we might do anything differently. You will always have bad luck with injuries and some years you have more than others but great coaches are always doing what they can to reduce that risk. See: every NU player wore 2 ankle braces for a while during their streak. KAH may have had players get injuries and miss games but it wasn't because of a sprained ankle.

Who's to say that Gait hasn't already been doing this? I don't know either way. Who knows if he recommends following a certain workout plan and not all of his players are on board? It's awfully difficult to know for certain what goes on internally.

[Laxallday]

To clarify, I'm not blaming GG for the ACL injuries. You can do all the prevention in the world and they can and will still happen.

I am simply noting that a part of the role of a coach is managing and reducing injury risk and impact. If I were a coach and suffered multiple ACL tears to my players in the same season, I would evaluate the strength and conditioning program and see if we might add in intentional stabilization work, look at the lifts we're doing and the balance of work on different muscle groups etc. and see if moving forward we might do anything differently. You will always have bad luck with injuries and some years you have more than others but great coaches are always doing what they can to reduce that risk. See: every NU player wore 2 ankle braces for a while during their streak. KAH may have had players get injuries and miss games but it wasn't because of a sprained ankle.

Who's to say that Gait hasn't already been doing this? I don't know either way. Who knows if he recommends following a certain workout plan and not all of his players are on board? It's awfully difficult to know for certain what goes on internally.

Suggesting that Coaches are responsible for ACL injuries is a bit naive. Yes the coaches and training staff can contribute if they don’t think about the combination of activities (like lift days and strenuous running or scrimmaging) that can fatigue muscles and create certain conditions where injuries can be more likely. Most coaches are now running their plans by professionals to ensure maximum performance and injury reduction. Before I offer my opinion next, I am not a scientist or medical professional, but have watched about 10 years of a lot of games. I actually believe the surfaces have a lot to do with a rash of injuries for certain teams, particularly when they are changed out. Believe SU had a new field installed as per of the renovation of the Dome. Wonder if other teams had a bunch of knee injuries as well? Would be good to study.

[DMac]

Inasmuch as Gary's daughter has gone through several (at least three and maybe four) ACL injuries I'd be very surprised if he's not very much up on best practices to try to avoid them. You can also bet your bottom dollar that surfaces play a role in this, I don't think there's any question about that.
lah summed the whole thing up perfectly with, "Seems a little ridiculous to tacitly blame coaches for their players going down with ACL injuries." Thanks for the new word (for me) too, I like that one.

[JoeMauer89]

Inasmuch as Gary's daughter has gone through several (at least three and maybe four) ACL injuries I'd be very surprised if he's not very much up on best practices to try to avoid them. You can also bet your bottom dollar that surfaces play a role in this, I don't think there's any question about that.
lah summed the whole thing up perfectly with, "Seems a little ridiculous to tacitly blame coaches for their players going down with ACL injuries." Thanks for the new word (for me) too, I like that one.

And she still is the FASTEST player I've seen to date in Women's College Lacrosse. Would actually OVERRUN offensive players from behind when pursuing ballcarriers frequently!

JoeMauer89!

[DMac]

I don't think I'd go as far as to say THE FASTEST but I sure wouldn't disagree the she was mighty damn fast and I too have seen what you're describing. Imagine if that girl had a Majorana stick handling and shooting ability...oh my!!