Coaching Carousel Pre-2020 Season

[youthathletics]

You forgot combing through years of social media posts, interviews, & high school year book photos and friends.

[wgdsr]

Does the length of time Harvard is taking to make an announcement tell us anything? Maybe a hire that is more complicated than would be typical, like a coach whose wife has to relocate her medical practice?

BU Twitter
We're thrilled to announced that Ryan Polley has agreed to a multi-year contract extension and will continue to lead our program!

Or maybe one who had to see how his current employer would respond?
Does the same go for Cassese? Or others?

Yep. He must have gotten an offer from Harvard. Otherwise, I can't see BU doing another extension now when they just gave him one (a "long term" extension) 18 months ago. They must have had a gun to their head. Could make it interesting with their other candidates, who may have moved on by now, or in any event will realize they were not the top choice.

assuming this is true, that's a helluva shot over the bow to the other side of town (in context) to announce this in the middle of their search. can't say i blame them.
"when you come at the king, you best not miss..."

i know one candidate that won't care. he's up for any opening he can get a sit down.

[CC10]

Harvard is losing out on recruits by the day. It is Harvard but losing records and no head coach is allowing other programs to grab the top recruits.

[FannOLax]

New Haven Register reporting that Ed Williams is new OC, Tom Compitello new DC, both of them having already worked both with Andy Shay and elsewhere (Williams at Lafayette and Scranton; Compitello at Lehigh , Sacred Heart and Bryant).
https://www.nhregister.com/colleges/art ... 056893.php

[Typical Lax Dad]

Harvard is losing out on recruits by the day. It is Harvard but losing records and no head coach is allowing other programs to grab the top recruits.

If a player wants to play at Harvard, he should wait. Why not?

[callaxdad]

Harvard is losing out on recruits by the day. It is Harvard but losing records and no head coach is allowing other programs to grab the top recruits.

CC10, just curious, what recruiting class are they losing out on by the day?

[boredatwork]

Harvard is losing out on recruits by the day. It is Harvard but losing records and no head coach is allowing other programs to grab the top recruits.

And once a Junior/Senior makes a verbal commitment he has never changed his commitment...

[callaxdad]

Harvard is losing out on recruits by the day. It is Harvard but losing records and no head coach is allowing other programs to grab the top recruits.

And once a Junior/Senior makes a verbal commitment he has never changed his commitment...

Do I detect a note of sarcasm??!!!

[Chips O'Toole]

Harvard is losing out on recruits by the day. It is Harvard but losing records and no head coach is allowing other programs to grab the top recruits.

And once a Junior/Senior makes a verbal commitment he has never changed his commitment...

Do I detect a note of sarcasm??!!!

Yep, sounds like the Harvard mentality that has led to so much success recently. We don't need no stinking recruiting! I bet it sounds great to their head coaching short list, too. (Polley was super impressed.) Yale was at every major recruiting event this summer (which is basically over now). Penn, Brown, Cornell and Princeton, too. I guess they were just wasting time. Why bother?

[Typical Lax Dad]

Harvard is losing out on recruits by the day. It is Harvard but losing records and no head coach is allowing other programs to grab the top recruits.

And once a Junior/Senior makes a verbal commitment he has never changed his commitment...

Do I detect a note of sarcasm??!!!

Yep, sounds like the Harvard mentality that has led to so much success recently. We don't need no stinking recruiting! I bet it sounds great to their head coaching short list, too. (Polley was super impressed.) Yale was at every major recruiting event this summer (which is basically over now). Penn, Brown, Cornell and Harvard, too. I guess they were just wasting time. Why bother?

The rising seniors are spoken for already....if a kid wants to flip to Harvard, he has time.... the rising juniors can't be contacted until 9/1.... Harvard has some time.... the next coach is likely already recruiting......no?

[Chips O'Toole]

Harvard is losing out on recruits by the day. It is Harvard but losing records and no head coach is allowing other programs to grab the top recruits.

And once a Junior/Senior makes a verbal commitment he has never changed his commitment...

Do I detect a note of sarcasm??!!!

Yep, sounds like the Harvard mentality that has led to so much success recently. We don't need no stinking recruiting! I bet it sounds great to their head coaching short list, too. (Polley was super impressed.) Yale was at every major recruiting event this summer (which is basically over now). Penn, Brown, Cornell and Princeton, too. I guess they were just wasting time. Why bother?

The rising seniors are spoken for already....if a kid wants to flip to Harvard, he has time.... the rising juniors can't be contacted until 9/1.... Harvard has some time.... the next coach is likely already recruiting......no?

Yes, all great points. But not just any kid can pull off a flip to Harvard. The ones who can are probably committed to another Ivy or great school they are very excited to attend. They've gotten to be friends with their other recruiting class members, maybe have plans to share a dorm room, etc. And yes, the next coach is out there. But who is he evaluating? Kids who want to go to Amherst? Is he fishing in the right pond?

[PicLax]

So Chips you’re assuming it’s JT?
This delay not only hurting Harvard recruiting, but other schools as well. What are JT and KC telling potential Amherst and Lehigh prospects? Who are they recruiting for?
My money for the Harvard HC is Sowell. HC and Ivy experience. Able to walk into an HC job right away, important in both recruiting rest of this summer, fall recruiting and start of fall practices. JT probably a top ten coach in all of college lacrosse, but can’t see him leaving a program he has built and gotten to within one win of a championship, especially with all the talent he has returning. KCs departure from Lehigh would be disruptive as well.

[Typical Lax Dad]

Harvard is losing out on recruits by the day. It is Harvard but losing records and no head coach is allowing other programs to grab the top recruits.

And once a Junior/Senior makes a verbal commitment he has never changed his commitment...

Do I detect a note of sarcasm??!!!

Yep, sounds like the Harvard mentality that has led to so much success recently. We don't need no stinking recruiting! I bet it sounds great to their head coaching short list, too. (Polley was super impressed.) Yale was at every major recruiting event this summer (which is basically over now). Penn, Brown, Cornell and Princeton, too. I guess they were just wasting time. Why bother?

The rising seniors are spoken for already....if a kid wants to flip to Harvard, he has time.... the rising juniors can't be contacted until 9/1.... Harvard has some time.... the next coach is likely already recruiting......no?

Yes, all great points. But not just any kid can pull off a flip to Harvard. The ones who can are probably committed to another Ivy or great school they are very excited to attend. They've gotten to be friends with their other recruiting class members, maybe have plans to share a dorm room, etc. And yes, the next coach is out there. But who is he evaluating? Kids who want to go to Amherst? Is he fishing in the right pond?

There are strong students at lots of schools. We saw a player from Hofstra go to Penn, a player from Stony Brook go to Duke and. Player from Albany go to Yale. Good students and I am sure they can do the work. Harvard’s issue is not attracting the “wrong” kind of players. Harvard’s 2020 Class is full. The 2021 Class is in the works. If a player wants to go to Harvard to play lacrosse and he is a high level player and a high level student, he will have a chance. Contact is Sept. 1st. Worst case scenario, the 2021 Class could be soft. Will just be recruited over.

[GBMan]

So Chips you’re assuming it’s JT?
This delay not only hurting Harvard recruiting, but other schools as well. What are JT and KC telling potential Amherst and Lehigh prospects? Who are they recruiting for?
My money for the Harvard HC is Sowell. HC and Ivy experience. Able to walk into an HC job right away, important in both recruiting rest of this summer, fall recruiting and start of fall practices. JT probably a top ten coach in all of college lacrosse, but can’t see him leaving a program he has built and gotten to within one win of a championship, especially with all the talent he has returning. KCs departure from Lehigh would be disruptive as well.

Sowell does make a lot of sense, at least on paper. For one thing I can't see him turning down an offer - no chance of him squeezing more $$$ from his current gig, after all. And if they finalized this today no one would be talking about recruiting tomorrow. So what's the hold up? Personality issues? Control issues? Bad reports from Navy?

[FannOLax]

At least in Harvard's recent history, the problem hasn't been bringing in talent; on paper, they've had plenty of talent, with the problem appearing to be one of developing, getting the most out of, that talent.
Since Pressler's success at Duke coming from D3 Ohio Wesleyan, the few D3 coaches who have been hired by D1 schools haven't had much success; but if there is a path from D3 to D1 that would appear to be the best bet, it would be from the NESCAC to the Ivy. After outrageous success at NESCAC Tufts, Daly has kept Brown in the Ivy League tournament, but that's about it (although maybe Brown will re-assert itself in 2020, which will be Daly's fourth season in D1). Sowell makes sense to me...

[Chips O'Toole]

Harvard’s 2020 Class is full. The 2021 Class is in the works.

Ok, I didn't know that. IL shows 3 players committed for 2020, replacing an outgoing class with 13 players who accounted for over 100 points last season. I guess their info is incomplete. As for the 2021 class, I'm sure some work has been done, I'm just not sure by whom.

[MDlaxfan76]

Harvard is losing out on recruits by the day. It is Harvard but losing records and no head coach is allowing other programs to grab the top recruits.

And once a Junior/Senior makes a verbal commitment he has never changed his commitment...

Do I detect a note of sarcasm??!!!

Yep, sounds like the Harvard mentality that has led to so much success recently. We don't need no stinking recruiting! I bet it sounds great to their head coaching short list, too. (Polley was super impressed.) Yale was at every major recruiting event this summer (which is basically over now). Penn, Brown, Cornell and Princeton, too. I guess they were just wasting time. Why bother?

The rising seniors are spoken for already....if a kid wants to flip to Harvard, he has time.... the rising juniors can't be contacted until 9/1.... Harvard has some time.... the next coach is likely already recruiting......no?

Yes, all great points. But not just any kid can pull off a flip to Harvard. The ones who can are probably committed to another Ivy or great school they are very excited to attend. They've gotten to be friends with their other recruiting class members, maybe have plans to share a dorm room, etc. And yes, the next coach is out there. But who is he evaluating? Kids who want to go to Amherst? Is he fishing in the right pond?

There are strong students at lots of schools. We saw a player from Hofstra go to Penn, a player from Stony Brook go to Duke and. Player from Albany go to Yale. Good students and I am sure they can do the work. Harvard’s issue is not attracting the “wrong” kind of players. Harvard’s 2020 Class is full. The 2021 Class is in the works. If a player wants to go to Harvard to play lacrosse and he is a high level player and a high level student, he will have a chance. Contact is Sept. 1st. Worst case scenario, the 2021 Class could be soft. Will just be recruited over.

Particularly big chuckle at the notion that most of the recruiting events are over. I'm not sure what folks thought were the major recruiting events, but I suspect they don't realize that the top ones are upcoming.

It's also puzzling that anyone thinks that kids are committing right now...anywhere...other than the last few rising seniors. The 2020 class is virtually done in the Ivies, and have been done since last fall. My hunch would be that Wojcik's 2020 class was already solid. Sure, there's a little bit of movement throughout the year, and can even be a little bit the summer and early fall pre actual ED admission applications, but if someone in that class can be persuaded to switch to Harvard they have plenty of time to do so.

The 2021 class can't be spoken to yet. So, zero kids have locked in commitments. And none of these coaches being discussed are unaware of who the top targets are for that class, as well as the rising potentials.

That includes a coach who has been focused on NESCAC level recruits. Any NESCAC coach worth their salt is at the same top tournaments, reviewing film from spring seasons, from the same top HS programs and club teams as would the Ivy coaches. Moreover, they know who the kids are who could be in AI range for an Ivy. Again, the top D1 targets are well known. It's the kids just below that level that need to be watched. A top NESCAC coach is looking for those exceptional kids who are missed, who are blooming late. I can guarantee that the kids who stay on the bench at any Ivy would be beaten by the kids on the field for the top NESCAC teams, so bringing in the best of that tranche would upgrade most Ivy teams.

Now, that doesn't mean HU has forever. My alma mater missed a full year of recruiting as we landed our current coach so late in the summer that he wasn't able to bring in top assistants with him. Burned a year. But that was much later than now, and it was in the era of ER when coaches could talk to kids and secure 'commitments'. HU has a few more weeks before this gets to be an actual problem for them for the 2021 class, the attraction of assistants, etc.

I wouldn't read into the Polley/BU decision anything more than the usual jockeying that occurs when your name gets brought up as a top prospect. It definitely needn't be seen that he was the #1 choice, just that we was high in the mix.

Coaches love these periods as there's a ripple effect across the landscape, including those not actually being mentioned. When Shay was being wooed at UVA and Tiffany jumped, everyone in the Ivies got a raise.

[steel_hop]

First, I doubt Harvard really cares what happens at Lehigh or other schools if their coach leaves to take the Harvard job. That is a problem for the school losing a coach to solve not Harvard's.

Second, it is June 28th. UVA filled their open position with Tiffany on June 21st (https://www.roanoke.com/sports/college/ ... 070fd.html)

This is going back a ways but Tony Seaman was fired by Hopkins on June 23, 1998. I can't find a date but Haus was hired in mid-July. When he walked to UNC (since UNC he's been all over the place), Petro was hired on June 20, 2000.

Still plenty of time.

[Chips O'Toole]

Particularly big chuckle at the notion that most of the recruiting events are over. I'm not sure what folks thought were the major recruiting events, but I suspect they don't realize that the top ones are upcoming.

It's also puzzling that anyone thinks that kids are committing right now...anywhere...other than the last few rising seniors. The 2020 class is virtually done in the Ivies, and have been done since last fall. My hunch would be that Wojcik's 2020 class was already solid. Sure, there's a little bit of movement throughout the year, and can even be a little bit the summer and early fall pre actual ED admission applications, but if someone in that class can be persuaded to switch to Harvard they have plenty of time to do so.

The 2021 class can't be spoken to yet. So, zero kids have locked in commitments. And none of these coaches being discussed are unaware of who the top targets are for that class, as well as the rising potentials.

All correct, and I know you are much more knowledgeable than I -- and most everyone -- on this. And yes, there are several big events left this summer. My point was that having no one representing Harvard at Showtime, Blackcard, Crabfeast, Big 4, Sweetlax, and probably Naptown and the other events next weekend, just doesn't strike me as optimal. All of their conference foes were at those events evaluating 2021s. And as I mentioned, IL shows Harvard as having THREE 2020 commits, but you obviously have inside info on some still unpublicized commits. If they do have a full 2020 class already locked up by Wojcic, then they will be fine. You're certainly right that their eventual coach will show up on day 1 with a robust set of evaluations of 2021s to work with come September.

[DALaxDad]

Brown announced Daly as its head coach to replace Lars on 7/1/2016.