Coaching Carousel Pre-2020 Season

[10stone5]

Wow
Nice.
Be a great addition to an already good roster of CAA coaches.

[Typical Lax Dad]

Baxter the D-Cord from Yale is atop the Fairfield HC search wish list is what I am hearing and could be announced by end of the week.

I hope that is true.

[Tdemling6]

Holy Cross has removed the interim tag from Peter Burke.
https://lacrossebucket.com/2019/05/29/h ... terim-tag/

[Charlie Don't Surf]

Well deserved. Congratulations to him!

[thetruth]

Well deserved. Congratulations to him!

Totally agree. Watch out for the Crusaders.

[thetruth]

Here are my predictions

Harvard, Kirwin
Navy, Wellner
Stony Brook, Sowell
Fairfield, Baxter

[GBMan]

How does it work at this level - anyone know? Is there a search committee that essentially goes out and makes a favorite choice an offer they can't refuse, or do they wait till someone knocks on the door and says I'm interested in being your new HC?

[LaxPundit07]

Depends on the institution.

A "search committee" will almost certainly be assigned at each school looking for a new head coach. Their role will vary. Some schools have the AD do the whole search and only pull in the search committee on the interview day (to take the candidate to lunch and offer feedback after the interview). Other schools will have the search committee review the initial pool of candidates and their resumes, offer feedback, take part in the initial round of phone or Skype interviews, etc.

My experience has been that the athletic directors with intimate knowledge of the sport of lacrosse will lead the charge. AD's that aren't familiar with the sport will lean on their search committees more. As for how they create an applicant pool: Again, it depends on the AD's knowledge and connections to the sport. Well connected AD's will contact other AD's for permission to speak with candidates or ask for suggestions. Other AD's will post the position on NCAA job boards, etc. and wait to see what comes to them.

I have interviewed, coached, and served on search committees at the Division 1 and 3 levels and each individual search was its own unique experience. The only consistent factor was the AD's involvement being determined by their connection and knowledge of the sport.

Lastly, the $$$ piece of this will vary as well. At schools that are REALLY strapped for cash, they will share their salary range with the candidates from the very beginning; they want to save the trouble of losing a candidate when that candidate finds out the offer is only 40,000/year. Other schools, know they will be offering well into the six figure and don't really find a need to discuss the offer until later in the process. As you can imagine, the bigger the athletic department, the more leeway the AD has in making a significant financial offer. They may be tied down financially by budgetary restrictions or by their own "thin ice" standing at an institution.

Hope this helps.

[CC10]

Thanks for the info, curious on what is the salary range for Top 25 coaches, outside of camps..etc.

[GBMan]

Depends on the institution.

A "search committee" will almost certainly be assigned at each school looking for a new head coach. Their role will vary. Some schools have the AD do the whole search and only pull in the search committee on the interview day (to take the candidate to lunch and offer feedback after the interview). Other schools will have the search committee review the initial pool of candidates and their resumes, offer feedback, take part in the initial round of phone or Skype interviews, etc.

My experience has been that the athletic directors with intimate knowledge of the sport of lacrosse will lead the charge. AD's that aren't familiar with the sport will lean on their search committees more. As for how they create an applicant pool: Again, it depends on the AD's knowledge and connections to the sport. Well connected AD's will contact other AD's for permission to speak with candidates or ask for suggestions. Other AD's will post the position on NCAA job boards, etc. and wait to see what comes to them.

I have interviewed, coached, and served on search committees at the Division 1 and 3 levels and each individual search was its own unique experience. The only consistent factor was the AD's involvement being determined by their connection and knowledge of the sport.

Lastly, the $$$ piece of this will vary as well. At schools that are REALLY strapped for cash, they will share their salary range with the candidates from the very beginning; they want to save the trouble of losing a candidate when that candidate finds out the offer is only 40,000/year. Other schools, know they will be offering well into the six figure and don't really find a need to discuss the offer until later in the process. As you can imagine, the bigger the athletic department, the more leeway the AD has in making a significant financial offer. They may be tied down financially by budgetary restrictions or by their own "thin ice" standing at an institution.

Hope this helps.

Super helpful, LaxPundit07! So let's take Harvard, for example - my sense is that they (the school, the AD, the alumni network) aren't happy that Yale and Penn are in the NCAA's and they're not, which is why they ditched Wojick. So I'd assume they'd have someone special in mind and are or soon will be making their pitch, rather than wait to see what's in the inbox. Kirwan from UVA? Kind of the OC version of Bill Tierney in 1989, who'd been the DC at Hopkins before Princeton got him. Not sure if Kirwan's looking to move, though...

[LaxPundit07]

Again, salary will depend on institution. But in 2019, I would say the vast majority of head coaches are in six figures. Maybe a few of the smaller programs (think SoCon or MAAC) may be in the 80-90 range.

You can look at state salary databases to find what most of the state schools are making. A number of the Big Ten coaches are over $300,000 (Ohio State Meyers, Maryland Tillman). I think Michigan was in the high 100's, low 200's.

It is pretty much right in line with what you would expect. BCS programs are paying the highest, and your smaller programs are paying less. Obviously experience, success, resume will all dictate a school's initial offer and any potential increases in salary a coach may receive.

In terms of contract length, that again is right in line with size of the school and program. Most of your BCS coaches will have multi-year deals and the small schools will go year to year. Granted those "year to year" contracts at the smaller schools are nothing more than a formality. Obviously most coaches are not operating year to year despite whatever the contract may say. However, the smaller schools will do that to protect themselves financially. If Mercer (just an arbitrary example) fires their coach they probably can't afford to pay off the last three years of his contract the same way a BCS school could; hence, why a smaller school will do one year contracts renewed yearly. To be fair about the "paying off the contract" situation, most schools in lacrosse are not doing that anyway. They are just letting coaches go at the end of their deal. This is by no means football or basketball where coaches are fired and paid the rest of their contract with regularity.

[Typical Lax Dad]

Here are my predictions

Harvard, Kirwin
Navy, Wellner
Stony Brook, Sowell
Fairfield, Baxter

Thompson to Harvard is a strong possibility

[laxitydoda]

Thompson at Harvard would be a great fit! Would love to see that!

[HopFan16]

College Crosse reporting that Harvard and Fairfield have narrowed down their searches to some interesting names...

Some coaching search news, per multiple sources.

Andrew Baxter, Kyle Georgalas, Anthony Gilardi, Brad Ross, and Peter Toner in the running for Fairfield.

Gerry Byrne, Kevin Cassese, and Sean Kirwan in the running for Harvard.

More later on this week's College Crossecast.

https://twitter.com/Chris_Jast/status/1 ... 5164549120

Does Byrne finally leave ND to run his own program?

[hsllax]

Maybe Byrne's time has come. His kids have both graduated from ND, daughter is heading east for med school. I know Byrne and I think he would be fantastic. I hope he takes the leap.

[Muleski]

Harvard list surprises me. Not sure if that's accurate, unless we have a couple who have already taken themselves out of the picture.

Toner, Baxter and Ross are all very good friends. Adds an interesting dimension. Along with Brad Ross, all have connections to OSU coach Nick Myers.

I would think that Georgalas might be a dark horse candidate for Harvard. Great experience, Ivy guy, etc.

Kevin Cassese has been linked to almost every decent D1 job opening that I can recall over the past 5-6 years. Also used to come back to the fact that he wants to end up at Duke. "Want" is no guarantee.

I have been on two search committees where Gerry Byrne would have been a great fit, and took himself out. One that probably looks a great deal like the current Harvard search. He would be great, IMO. And it would crush ND.

Kirwan would blow me away. I just don't think he's ready for that, yet. Of course, he could prove me wrong. Lars sure does seem to be selling his stock!

Have to believe that JT is/was on that Harvard list. Prominently. Confused.

[Typical Lax Dad]

College Crosse reporting that Harvard and Fairfield have narrowed down their searches to some interesting names...

Some coaching search news, per multiple sources.

Andrew Baxter, Kyle Georgalas, Anthony Gilardi, Brad Ross, and Peter Toner in the running for Fairfield.

Gerry Byrne, Kevin Cassese, and Sean Kirwan in the running for Harvard.

More later on this week's College Crossecast.

https://twitter.com/Chris_Jast/status/1 ... 5164549120

Does Byrne finally leave ND to run his own program?

Gerry’s wife is moving her practice?

[HopFan16]

College Crosse reporting that Harvard and Fairfield have narrowed down their searches to some interesting names...

Some coaching search news, per multiple sources.

Andrew Baxter, Kyle Georgalas, Anthony Gilardi, Brad Ross, and Peter Toner in the running for Fairfield.

Gerry Byrne, Kevin Cassese, and Sean Kirwan in the running for Harvard.

More later on this week's College Crossecast.

https://twitter.com/Chris_Jast/status/1 ... 5164549120

Does Byrne finally leave ND to run his own program?

Gerry’s wife is moving her practice?

No idea, but Xanders also confirmed what College Crosse reported so it seems as though Byrne is at least humoring Harvard about this. Maybe he's just looking for a raise at ND.

I think Kirwan would be interesting. It's not a bad idea to go for a creative offensive mind to compete in a conference with Penn, Yale, Cornell, and Princeton.

[sguy9]

I think Kirwan would be interesting. It's not a bad idea to go for a creative offensive mind to compete in a conference with Penn, Yale, Cornell, and Princeton.

And Dartmouth!

[Typical Lax Dad]

College Crosse reporting that Harvard and Fairfield have narrowed down their searches to some interesting names...

Some coaching search news, per multiple sources.

Andrew Baxter, Kyle Georgalas, Anthony Gilardi, Brad Ross, and Peter Toner in the running for Fairfield.

Gerry Byrne, Kevin Cassese, and Sean Kirwan in the running for Harvard.

More later on this week's College Crossecast.

https://twitter.com/Chris_Jast/status/1 ... 5164549120

Does Byrne finally leave ND to run his own program?

Gerry’s wife is moving her practice?

No idea, but Xanders also confirmed what College Crosse reported so it seems as though Byrne is at least humoring Harvard about this. Maybe he's just looking for a raise at ND.

I think Kirwan would be interesting. It's not a bad idea to go for a creative offensive mind to compete in a conference with Penn, Yale, Cornell, and Princeton.

I heard Ross is the front runner for Fairfield.