Johns Hopkins 2021

[jrn19]

Not arguing the point, but do we know for a certainty that Steele has zero experience coaching men's lax?
No summer ball coaching, etc?

He has no experience coaching college men's lax is the point. Hasn't been a volunteer assistant or OC or anything like that. Only job he's had coaching college lax at any level has been as the women's team OC

[Homewood15]

[/quote]

Lol how can you possibly say that? The guy has never coached a minute of men's lacrosse in his life. Yes, in theory he COULD be good and it's certainly an interesting idea to throw out there but it's wild people keep bringing him up as if he's a certain upgrade over the previous OC, who has had a top 15 offense more often than he hasn't. Could there be improvements? Absolutely. Saying a guy who's never coordinated a men's offense before would "definitely" be a step up is ludicrous.
[/quote]

Steele coached Shack's Boys' Latin offense in 2013 and 2014 when they went 37-1 in arguably the toughest HS league in the country. That offense, to this day, is the best I've ever seen at the high school level.

While I understand that we are talking about Division 1 NCAA Lacrosse here and not HS, it's inaccurate to say he's never coached on the men's side at all. Add on top of his time at BL the hundreds of boys camps he's run as Founder of Stanwick Lacrosse.

I'd say he knows the Men's side of the game pretty well, you don't think?

-All-Time points leader at UVA
-2011 Tewaaraton Trophy Winner
-2011 National Champ
-2x 1st-Team All American
-MLL Champion
-2014 USA Team Member

I think his resume in the sport speaks for itself. His ability to help recruit would be much stronger than Benson's influence on recruits ever was, IMO.

All coaches have to start somewhere........

[HopFan16]

Again, I am not automatically against the idea, but flatly stating that he'd definitely be an improvement over Benson—who, whether you like him or not, has had actual success at the D1 men's level—is silly. As jrn19 pointed out, Benson's offenses were routinely in the top 10 for offensive efficiency. That's not to say there weren't areas that could be better, but that's pretty darn good. Expecting a guy who has no D1 men's coaching experience, regardless of his pedigree as a player himself, to immediately come in and do better than that doesn't make sense IMO.

[Homewood15]

Again, I am not automatically against the idea, but flatly stating that he'd definitely be an improvement over Benson—who, whether you like him or not, has had actual success at the D1 men's level—is silly. As jrn19 pointed out, Benson's offenses were routinely in the top 10 for offensive efficiency. That's not to say there weren't areas that could be better, but that's pretty darn good. Expecting a guy who has no D1 men's coaching experience, regardless of his pedigree as a player himself, to immediately come in and do better than that doesn't make sense IMO.

I agree that the offense during the last decade was never really the problem and defense/face-offs/goaltending was. I also agree that it's not exactly fair to make this claim against Benson given his offense's statistics. However, my point was that I think in the long-run Steele could have a more successful career as an OC than BB did at Hopkins. Especially on the recruiting/player development side.

[Mr3Putt]

Just a diversion for a minute. Seeing a few twitter posts yesterday from media alumni, and experts: “ top5, top3 players of all time”. Sorry, Quint, Dixon, he is the best player of all time! Joe Cowan can find a mirror somewhere. Del love ya but you were playing w Rolls Royces. Jeff Cook is right up there. Federico - sure! Rabil.... is a typical better player after College. Kyle Harrison perfected the Len Bias jump shot.

Number 43 was a monster on University Pkwy.

[MDlaxfan76]

Not for nothing, but seems to me that Steele would never be described as 'dumb as a rock'.
Can't say that for every coach discussed.

I'd also say that there are a whole lot of programs who would love to give him that OC job opportunity.

That said, this is all moot...the call as to who would be on staff is made by the HC.

[DocBarrister]

Great article on Coach Pietramala, focusing on his players’ views of him. Petro not only prepared them to play lacrosse, he prepared them for life beyond lacrosse.

The lessons went beyond riding or the intricacies of defense.

“He prepares you for life after lacrosse,” Stanwick said. “He teaches you how to work hard, how to be a competitor and how to get things done.”

When two-time Schmeisser Award winner Tucker Durkin took a job as an intelligence analyst at Exelon after he graduated from Johns Hopkin[s] in 2013, he remembered a lot of colleagues “freaking out” over the everyday conflicts that arise in the workplace. Durkin remained unfazed. “This is nothing,” he thought, compared to the intensity of a Pietramala-run practice on Homewood Field.

https://www.uslaxmagazine.com/college/m ... ramala-era

DocBarrister

[johnnyonthegunpowder]

Great article on Coach Pietramala, focusing on his players’ views of him. Petro not only prepared them to play lacrosse, he prepared them for life beyond lacrosse.

The lessons went beyond riding or the intricacies of defense.

“He prepares you for life after lacrosse,” Stanwick said. “He teaches you how to work hard, how to be a competitor and how to get things done.”

When two-time Schmeisser Award winner Tucker Durkin took a job as an intelligence analyst at Exelon after he graduated from Johns Hopkin[s] in 2013, he remembered a lot of colleagues “freaking out” over the everyday conflicts that arise in the workplace. Durkin remained unfazed. “This is nothing,” he thought, compared to the intensity of a Pietramala-run practice on Homewood Field.

https://www.uslaxmagazine.com/college/m ... ramala-era

DocBarrister

Those are great quotes. The Durkin is hilarious.

[jhu06]

Doc, that part was never in question but the last line of this tweet was what sealed the fate. I don't get these players of his claiming this was a surprise or shock and it shows how much complacency had set in. They weren't competitive this year and the number of losses the last 4 years was more than his first 8. All these stories, all the intros for games for years and the narrative has been about the 80s and aughts because of how bad the last decade has been. The next coach will only be judged on what he's done lately.
Patrick Stevens@D1scourse Apr 14 Think you can break down the last 20 years of Hopkins lacrosse into three segments:
2001-08: 96-25 (.793), 2 NCAA titles, 7 F4s, 8 QFs, 8 NCAATs/8 years
2009-14: 62-30 (.674), 0 F4s, 4 QFs, 5 NCAATs/6 years
2015-20: 49-38 (.563), 1 F4, 2 QFs, 5 NCAATs/6 years (Big Ten era)

Harrison and Rabil continue to show love for Jay Dyer. Athleticism and strength particularly at the midfield, ssdm and defensive areas have been key problems. His bio is still up but there badly needs to be a change there.

[WOMBAT, Mod Emeritus]

Doc, that part was never in question but the last line of this tweet was what sealed the fate. I don't get these players of his claiming this was a surprise or shock and it shows how much complacency had set in. They weren't competitive this year and the number of losses the last 4 years was more than his first 8. All these stories, all the intros for games for years and the narrative has been about the 80s and aughts because of how bad the last decade has been. The next coach will only be judged on what he's done lately.
Patrick Stevens@D1scourse Apr 14 Think you can break down the last 20 years of Hopkins lacrosse into three segments:
2001-08: 96-25 (.793), 2 NCAA titles, 7 F4s, 8 QFs, 8 NCAATs/8 years
2009-14: 62-30 (.674), 0 F4s, 4 QFs, 5 NCAATs/6 years
2015-20: 49-38 (.563), 1 F4, 2 QFs, 5 NCAATs/6 years (Big Ten era)

Harrison and Rabil continue to show love for Jay Dyer. Athleticism and strength particularly at the midfield, ssdm and defensive areas have been key problems. His bio is still up but there badly needs to be a change there.

Margin of playoff defeat is another category to look at.

[Sagittarius A*]

At least we'll have a new goalie between the pipes next year.
There's no way the new coach will play the guy that got the last coach fired.

[MDlaxfan76]

Great article on Coach Pietramala, focusing on his players’ views of him. Petro not only prepared them to play lacrosse, he prepared them for life beyond lacrosse.

The lessons went beyond riding or the intricacies of defense.

“He prepares you for life after lacrosse,” Stanwick said. “He teaches you how to work hard, how to be a competitor and how to get things done.”

When two-time Schmeisser Award winner Tucker Durkin took a job as an intelligence analyst at Exelon after he graduated from Johns Hopkin[s] in 2013, he remembered a lot of colleagues “freaking out” over the everyday conflicts that arise in the workplace. Durkin remained unfazed. “This is nothing,” he thought, compared to the intensity of a Pietramala-run practice on Homewood Field.

https://www.uslaxmagazine.com/college/m ... ramala-era

DocBarrister

Those are great quotes. The Durkin is hilarious.

Very nice article. Appropriate send-off.

Obviously not addressing all angles, but that wasn't the purpose of that tribute article.

[51percentcorn]

Wow again alot here:
As far as Steele - and I came up with these stats before - the women's team consistently scores more than 200 goals per season since he's arrived - the year before he came it was well under. Their rankings are likely more connected to joining the BIG and having to play Maryland, Northwestern and others in what probably adds up to a pretty nice SOS for the women - Loyola, Georgetown, Penn all ranked - Michigan ranked etc. When Benson became the OC he was 26 years old or thereabouts - if that could be done I would trust Steele at 30/31 whatever. He has the best mind - admittedly as a player - I have seen in a long time.

Hopkins going DIII - could happen someday easily - not today - Cordish would have a load of C4 delivered to University Pkway and KABOOM

The timing? EH - what would have been a good time? In case this virus issue somehow abates - or we figure out a way to deal with it - kids are going to be logging on to their computers or showing up on campus in about 4 months. The athletic administration probably thought this was the best time to try to protect the recruits and give the coach enough time to talk to the Epsteins of the world and get things up and running to the extent they can.

Loyalty of the former players? No doubt - how many kids have come through the Hopkins program in the 20 seasons he has been here - 250 ish? You are going to find many that had a good experience - there are probably a few that did not have a good experience. Cattoni probably should have not tweeted what he did - it didn't look good - and likely has to do with his senior season as much as his brother. His brother was playing - blew out his knee early (after the third game or something like that) - so hard to see how that relationship soured really. Holden on the other hand was coming off 52 goals from the midfield the past two seasons as an every game starter shooting 32-33% - Tinney suspended, Reed/Supinski gone from knees and he starts only half the games? I remember several doghouse - what's going on - discussions back then. Still put up 20 goals that year and 78 goals from the mid-field - aside from Tinney not many middies putting up 20 goals per season on average in Blue and Black these days.

Dave did a great service to the Hopkins program - the trajectory on the field and frankly somewhat off the field was not a positive sloping line, however.

[MDlaxfan76]

+1 51percent

BTW, the only player I've seen as 'smart' on the field as Steele was Ryan Boyle.
I give Ryan the nod, but then, I'm a Gilman alum too...

[Catbird]

MDLax I would put Conor Gill was up there also.

[HopFan16]

Wow again alot here:
As far as Steele - and I came up with these stats before - the women's team consistently scores more than 200 goals per season since he's arrived - the year before he came it was well under. Their rankings are likely more connected to joining the BIG and having to play Maryland, Northwestern and others in what probably adds up to a pretty nice SOS for the women - Loyola, Georgetown, Penn all ranked - Michigan ranked etc. When Benson became the OC he was 26 years old or thereabouts - if that could be done I would trust Steele at 30/31 whatever. He has the best mind - admittedly as a player - I have seen in a long time.

Hopkins going DIII - could happen someday easily - not today - Cordish would have a load of C4 delivered to University Pkway and KABOOM

The timing? EH - what would have been a good time? In case this virus issue somehow abates - or we figure out a way to deal with it - kids are going to be logging on to their computers or showing up on campus in about 4 months. The athletic administration probably thought this was the best time to try to protect the recruits and give the coach enough time to talk to the Epsteins of the world and get things up and running to the extent they can.

Loyalty of the former players? No doubt - how many kids have come through the Hopkins program in the 20 seasons he has been here - 250 ish? You are going to find many that had a good experience - there are probably a few that did not have a good experience. Cattoni probably should have not tweeted what he did - it didn't look good - and likely has to do with his senior season as much as his brother. His brother was playing - blew out his knee early (after the third game or something like that) - so hard to see how that relationship soured really. Holden on the other hand was coming off 52 goals from the midfield the past two seasons as an every game starter shooting 32-33% - Tinney suspended, Reed/Supinski gone from knees and he starts only half the games? I remember several doghouse - what's going on - discussions back then. Still put up 20 goals that year and 78 goals from the mid-field - aside from Tinney not many middies putting up 20 goals per season on average in Blue and Black these days.

Dave did a great service to the Hopkins program - the trajectory on the field and frankly somewhat off the field was not a positive sloping line, however.

Agree with pretty much everything in this post except for the timing thing. The season effectively ended more than a month ago—why wait a month to make the call? The program is rudderless at a time of great uncertainty when there are all kinds of questions about eligibility, scheduling, transfers, recruits, funding, the list goes on and on and on. You need a captain of the ship right now. Not to say the transfer market should be a reason not to make the decision, but just one example of this: If a guy in the portal wanted to go to Hopkins, who is he supposed to talk to? There literally isn't a person in place who can have those conversations and make those things happen. Petro had been in serious talks with the St. Joe's goalie when he was let go—the kid will look good at Koskinen stadium next year. If a 1-year extension was not possible—either because it wasn't offered or because Petro didn't want it—then I guess I just don't understand why the 4+ week wait. What did they know on Tuesday that they didn't know a month ago?

[Sagittarius A*]

Agree with pretty much everything in this post except for the timing thing. The season effectively ended more than a month ago—why wait a month to make the call? The program is rudderless at a time of great uncertainty when there are all kinds of questions about eligibility, scheduling, transfers, recruits, funding, the list goes on and on and on. You need a captain of the ship right now. Not to say the transfer market should be a reason not to make the decision, but just one example of this: If a guy in the portal wanted to go to Hopkins, who is he supposed to talk to? There literally isn't a person in place who can have those conversations and make those things happen. Petro had been in serious talks with the St. Joe's goalie when he was let go—the kid will look good at Koskinen stadium next year. If a 1-year extension was not possible—either because it wasn't offered or because Petro didn't want it—then I guess I just don't understand why the 4+ week wait. What did they know on Tuesday that they didn't know a month ago?

There could be many reasons for this. They could have been waiting for approval from higher ups. They could have been canvassing the landscape before making a move.

If you look at the AD's bio, she doesn't strike me as someone who would make rash moves without planning. She'd get her ducks in a row first. My suspicion is that she already has some people in mind and may have found her pathway forward before doing anything. There would certainly be a lot of details involved in this and it would be unfair to criticize timing issues without knowing those details. Again, look at her bio. You can't afford many mistakes in aviation or engineering and people in those fields have to be very very thorough or they don't succeed in them.

As far as transfers go, from a player perspective, what's the rush? It's a long offseason right now. If a transfer candidate is seriously interested in JHU, he'll wait to see who the new coach is going to be. If he's not interested, he wouldn't have come here anyway. There were a number of very good candidates in the transfer portal last year and Petro didn't land any of them.

[steel_hop]

Great article on Coach Pietramala, focusing on his players’ views of him. Petro not only prepared them to play lacrosse, he prepared them for life beyond lacrosse.

The lessons went beyond riding or the intricacies of defense.

“He prepares you for life after lacrosse,” Stanwick said. “He teaches you how to work hard, how to be a competitor and how to get things done.”

When two-time Schmeisser Award winner Tucker Durkin took a job as an intelligence analyst at Exelon after he graduated from Johns Hopkin[s] in 2013, he remembered a lot of colleagues “freaking out” over the everyday conflicts that arise in the workplace. Durkin remained unfazed. “This is nothing,” he thought, compared to the intensity of a Pietramala-run practice on Homewood Field.

https://www.uslaxmagazine.com/college/m ... ramala-era

DocBarrister

Good article and definitely provides the nice send off without hitting on the many issues that were plaguing the team. One thing I did pull out was this little nugget.
The Blue Jays earned the No. 1 seed entering the NCAA tournament every year for four straight years starting in 2002

2005 was the last time Hopkins was seeded no. 1 in the tournament. From 2006 to 2012 the team was seeded 2 (1x), 3(2x), 4(1x), 5(1X), 8(1x) and unseeded (1x). From 2013 to 2019, Hopkins was seeded only twice as a 5th and 6th, unseeded 4 times and missed the playoffs once.

From 2009 to 2019, in the playoffs, they lost only 1 really close game - the SF game against UMd in 2015. The next closest game was the 2008 championship game where they lost by 3 (though I don't considered that a close game since SU was in control). After that every other loss was by more at least 5 goals. Three playoff losses were in excess of 10 goals. Two of those losses were by 13 goals (one of these losses was as a home seed).

Over the 2009 to 2019 stretch, Hopkins beat only 3 teams that were ranked higher then them - 7 and 8 seeded UVA in the 1st round (don't really considered that an upset) and the 2nd seeded SU in 2015 by the skin of their teeth.

[steel_hop]

Not to say the transfer market should be a reason not to make the decision, but just one example of this: If a guy in the portal wanted to go to Hopkins, who is he supposed to talk to?

This shouldn't enter the calculus at all. This decision was made for the long term and not the short term. Getting a 5th year, while great for next year doesn't solve the systemic issues in the program. I can't tell you why it was decided on Monday instead of back in March but I'd imagine there was a number meetings by the Hopkins administration (that would have happened after the season given the contract decision) with respect to what to do and that the outbreak and how it would look played into those meetings. You also have to figure that if there were some negotiations between the two parties and on Monday both sides felt neither was going to move and it was time to move on.

[51percentcorn]

In terms of making the decision BEFORE 2 days ago - I maybe imagine there might have been several factors:
- Obviously the virus - the university administration - including Baker actually did have more important things to do and think about than Petro
- Maybe they were open to a one year extension - i.e., your last year of the contract was essentially wiped out by external forces - you get a do over and we'll talk in 2021 after we see what happens - maybe DP wanted more security - I have admittedly zero idea - but you obviously play MSM on Tuesday the 10th of March, its a couple few days until everything starts to cancel and unwind, you have to think about closing down an entire school (even a smaller school) - etc. etc.
- As much as folks think it was poor timing to do it now - what would folks have thought if they had done it in the Teens or early 20's of March? Likely even more howling from the rooftops as the virus thing was getting real serious - admin was in the rock/hard place situation.
- Likely needed some time to pass to get an idea of who might be interested if they pulled the trigger - if Shay/
Raymond/Nadelen or anyone would have a conversation about the job it probably couldn't start until April
- I still believe the folks that really fund the toys for the lacrosse program have a mighty say on this issue. Then there is a lacrosse advisory board. No matter what value or sham you think that board has/is - if I am a member of that august body - I better be consulted on the head coach of the team I am supposed to advise you about. So there were likely several conference calls/admin dotting of the i's and crossing the t's, some lawyers earned or took some money, etc. etc.
- They clearly wanted the narrative - as predicted - to be mutual with no public hard feelings - I feel like the press release was 1000% what I thought it was going to be whenever it happened if it happened - it probably took some time and maybe a lovely Jeopardy parting gift to achieve that at least for now.