Byrne for Wojcik

[Gorilla Fan]

Kind of interesting that essentially Harvard and Notre Dame traded Wojcik for Byrne.

In 9 years at Harvard Woj had a record of 65-65, with one NCAA tourney bid, Ivy Champion, and 3 Ivy Tourney Final appearances.

Still early, but Byrne is 15-14 so far at Harvard, with an Ivy record of 3-9, and of course the controversial NCAA bid.

Although they coach different sides of the ball, Byrne was at Notre Dame for 16 years, made the finals twice, and pretty much coached up a consistent top 5 scoring defense.

Wojcik has been at Notre Dame for 3 years, has the NCAA title and the Irish offense has been more than impressive since he became the O coordinator. Obviously having a couple of Kavanagh's at your disposal, goes a long way to having making an offense look great.

[Laxfan23]

Your point?
Seems like Byrne did a nice job on D at ND and that coach W has done well with the O at ND, too.

Also seems that they have both performed similarly at Harvard though it is still somewhat early. Is the point that perhaps ND is more supportive or a more fertile place for success?? Not being a wise guy just asking what is your take?

[Gorilla Fan]

No definitive point on either side or coach.

Just think it is an interesting situation, and never really seen a scenario where a coach essentially gets a head job, and the guy he replaces takes his vacated assistant position.

Also, it does seem regardless who is leading the ship, Harvard's last 4 coaches (Anderson, Tillman, Wojcik, and now Byrne) hover around .500 mark.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_C ... s_lacrosse

[Laxfan23]

what is interesting about a .500 lax record at Harvard is the inherent recruiting advantage the big three have within the league. Every year it seems some early recruits from the nonbig three schools will decommit and recommit to one of the big three. That is simply shifting within the league. If lax helps get you in to one of the big three many players will take the opportunity to get a Harvard degree over the opportunity to play lax at another IVY school. With that perspective, a .500 record is significantly underperforming by all those coaches. I have also heard that once you have that Big H credential perhaps you lose a little but of that competitive hunger??

[ctbagataway]

Just a correction, but Harvard’s Ivy League record under Byrne is 5-7. They were 3-3 in 2022 and 2-4 in 2023.

[NNELax]

Both have shown that they are VERY elite assistants....Gerry still has time to elevate his HC status...Woj could get another job down the road...

I do think Woj will take the championship and potential future rings at ND over the headache of Ivy parents/alums all day long...

[MDlaxfan76]

Both have shown that they are VERY elite assistants....Gerry still has time to elevate his HC status...Woj could get another job down the road...

I do think Woj will take the championship and potential future rings at ND over the headache of Ivy parents/alums all day long...

well, I doubt that last sentence is actually true, but there are indeed offsetting "compensations".

[Laxinmay]

Are we certain Wojcik replaced Byrne? Not that it matters but looking at timelines looks like the other ND assistant replaced Byrne and Woj replaced Hutch when he left to join Byrne

[jersey shore lax]

IMHO Wojcik did less with more than almost any coach in the country, year after year he had top recruiting classes and players and proved that at Harvard Lacrosse, The parts were greater than the whole. Look at their IL class recruiting rankings
2012 IL Overall #4 - IVY #1
2013 IL Overall #7 - IVY #1
2014 IL Overall #9 - IVY #1
2015 IL Overall #15 - IVY #3
2016 IL Overall #8 - IVY #1
2017 IL Overall #11 - IVY #2

[MDlaxfan76]

IMHO Wojcik did less with more than almost any coach in the country, year after year he had top recruiting classes and players and proved that at Harvard Lacrosse, The parts were greater than the whole. Look at their IL class recruiting rankings
2012 IL Overall #4 - IVY #1
2013 IL Overall #7 - IVY #1
2014 IL Overall #9 - IVY #1
2015 IL Overall #15 - IVY #3
2016 IL Overall #8 - IVY #1
2017 IL Overall #11 - IVY #2

do those mean graduating HS in 12 through 17, or 08-13?

[jersey shore lax]

IMHO Wojcik did less with more than almost any coach in the country, year after year he had top recruiting classes and players and proved that at Harvard Lacrosse, The parts were greater than the whole. Look at their IL class recruiting rankings
2012 IL Overall #4 - IVY #1
2013 IL Overall #7 - IVY #1
2014 IL Overall #9 - IVY #1
2015 IL Overall #15 - IVY #3
2016 IL Overall #8 - IVY #1
2017 IL Overall #11 - IVY #2

do those mean graduating HS in 12 through 17, or 08-13?

those are recruiting classes so the 2012 mean they graduated HS in 2012

[flyerfan17]

Kind of interesting that essentially Harvard and Notre Dame traded Wojcik for Byrne.

In 9 years at Harvard Woj had a record of 65-65, with one NCAA tourney bid, Ivy Champion, and 3 Ivy Tourney Final appearances.

Still early, but Byrne is 15-14 so far at Harvard, with an Ivy record of 3-9, and of course the controversial NCAA bid.

Although they coach different sides of the ball, Byrne was at Notre Dame for 16 years, made the finals twice, and pretty much coached up a consistent top 5 scoring defense.

Wojcik has been at Notre Dame for 3 years, has the NCAA title and the Irish offense has been more than impressive since he became the O coordinator. Obviously having a couple of Kavanagh's at your disposal, goes a long way to having making an offense look great.

Having a couple of Kavanagh's at your disposal is a key phrase here