Desko

[orangecuse]

Like I said lets see if they can knock off UVA first. I'm not sure why you see Maryland upsetting UVA as probable? Maryland had a rough stretch prior to hiring Tillman.

Lets be honest here, If Desko had made 5 or 6 Final fours in a row and only had 1 title to show for it, you would not be pleased at all.

You can bend your argument any way you want to fit a certain narrative. And you really can't compare the difficulty in making the Final Four in basketball to lacrosse. Many more D1 basketball teams.

There's no narrative, if anything, I can argue you're the one with the narrative. You responded to by post about UM making it to 5 straight and a likely 6th, to only 1 championship in 40 years. That's not a narrative? Seems to me it's your argument to say, so what, how many titles have they one? That's fine, but let's not simply dismiss Maryland's feat of 5 straight in today's lax landscape. Again, that's the main premise of the argument most have been making here in general.

Additionally, UM had been ranked all season higher than UVA, and hovered around the 2 spot for quite a while. They had a late season swoon losing twice to arch rival Hopkins in the last week prior to the NCAA's, but don't kid yourself, they have plenty of talent to win it all. I doubt most in the lax world would say that UM beating UVA this weekend is much of an upset, let alone an upset at all, regardless of seeding.

 

[ThundrTroll]

Mike's a Syracuse guy, too - went to Nottingham. He knows the program.

I can see him making a horizontal move as I just don't see our next head coach coming from the assistant coach ranks. Galloway is ahead of him in my opinion.

 

[ivorytower]

Looking at the IL AA selections, there is not one single offensive player at either attack or middy on any of those teams, whether 1st-2nd-3rd-hm, from CNY. 28 offensive players and not one from CNY

Several offensive selections from LI and PA, a few from Conn. and NJ then plenty from Maryland area but nothing in Syracuse's backyard.

The local pool is part of the problem and Desko isn't responsible for that

 

[Cuse44ever]

but he is responsible for recruiting Cook...he played in every game with substantial playing time and underperformed...why the love for Cook? Did Desko have to play him because he was his #1 recruit like Evans?

 

[ivorytower]

but he is responsible for recruiting Cook...he played in every game with substantial playing time and underperformed...why the love for Cook? Did Desko have to play him because he was his #1 recruit like Evans?

The advertisements on this site featuring attractive women modeling clothing somewhat mitigates the acid reflux caused by this thread.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Whoever made a deal with the Devil for the Kenny Nims equalizer in 2009 ... Time to fess up.

 

[Newhouse_83]

I think talk of age is ridiculous. Maybe you get younger with some recruiters but talk of motivation and X and Os and things like that is stupid. Just look at football coaches. They can motivate. John Danowski is 65. Corrigan has to be 60, Lars Tiffany is early 50's, Andy Shay, Tambroni and Tillman are all 49.

<snip> Talk of parity ? Sure talent is spread around more, there's no denying it, but is there really parity ? it doesn't seem to effect a handful of traditional schools.

<snip> Yale, Penn, Duke and Notre Dame - all expensive schools with way more stringent academic standards than Syracuse. Oh and Loyola, MD tuition is higher than Syracuse so there's that to.

I'm sorry you found my point about age "ridiculous:" You seem to have missed the key elements.

First, EVERYBODY on SU's staff -- even the volunteer assistant -- is 50-plus. NO kid being recruited now has ever seen those guys play; for most recruits, SU's entire coaching staff has always been guys who are older than their parents. That's not the case with the schools the board seems to agree SU recruits against -- Hopkins, Duke, UVa, Yale: etc.

My pitch if I'm hard-core recruiting the next Prendergast or other upstate standout to choose Duke over SU: "Come here and win national championships for guys you watch on TV, guys whose posters you had on your walls as a kid. Or go to Syracuse, play for your grandpa and his buddies, see lots of trophies in the Dome and miss Championship Weekend."

Again, I'm NOT saying older coach = bad coach. I'm saying that when your three paid coaches and your operations director all are eligible for AARP, you're gonna have a much harder time than your rivals making a connection with today's recruits ... ESPECIALLY when said rivals have academic reputations that are as good or better than yours, and aren't in places where winter can run from Halloween to finals week.

The larger point you missed is the overall lack of diversity on that staff. Four of the five coaches learned the game from Mike Messere ... who, as we know, taught and coached the game one way, "the right way." That worked for a long time until it didn't. If you watched the last couple years, you saw he couldn't connect with today's teens, and results suffered. The four SU coaches (all but Rogers, who grew up one county away) also are from the RS Jr. coaching tree. Dude was a wizard as a coach, but when everyone's thinking the same way, it doesn't encourage innovation and quality adaptation as the college game changes.

The attempt at an "expensive schools" argument ignores SU's significant disadvantage: endowment size and the cost-of-attendance question. Because my mother is a Brown alumna, I know that school has made it that many middle-class kids who qualify academically can go to the school and pay very little -- at most, what they'd pay to attend a state school. Harvard has a similar deal, and they're likely not the only Ivies or selective schools to do so. Duke and UVa have endowments that far surpass SU's. I grew up in a middle-class household; the aid I got to attend SU was zippo. That appears to have changed little, and the "please donate money" pitches I get tend to be more along the lines of "donate money so we can make Newhouse bigger."

Finally, the "parity" idea. I think people are using that to mean that high school lacrosse players have more college choices now than they used to, whether they want to compete for a title, or just want to keep playing the game. Nobody's using like it's the NFL and an ideal season would be to have everyone go 8-8.

 

[CousCuse]

Seen this movie before. Nothing will change until the wheels come totally off.

 

[Laxwizard22]

I'm sorry you found my point about age "ridiculous:" You seem to have missed the key elements.

First, EVERYBODY on SU's staff -- even the volunteer assistant -- is 50-plus. NO kid being recruited now has ever seen those guys play; for most recruits, SU's entire coaching staff has always been guys who are older than their parents. That's not the case with the schools the board seems to agree SU recruits against -- Hopkins, Duke, UVa, Yale: etc.

My pitch if I'm hard-core recruiting the next Prendergast or other upstate standout to choose Duke over SU: "Come here and win national championships for guys you watch on TV, guys whose posters you had on your walls as a kid. Or go to Syracuse, play for your grandpa and his buddies, see lots of trophies in the Dome and miss Championship Weekend."

Again, I'm NOT saying older coach = bad coach. I'm saying that when your three paid coaches and your operations director all are eligible for AARP, you're gonna have a much harder time than your rivals making a connection with today's recruits ... ESPECIALLY when said rivals have academic reputations that are as good or better than yours, and aren't in places where winter can run from Halloween to finals week.

The larger point you missed is the overall lack of diversity on that staff. Four of the five coaches learned the game from Mike Messere ... who, as we know, taught and coached the game one way, "the right way." That worked for a long time until it didn't. If you watched the last couple years, you saw he couldn't connect with today's teens, and results suffered. The four SU coaches (all but Rogers, who grew up one county away) also are from the RS Jr. coaching tree. Dude was a wizard as a coach, but when everyone's thinking the same way, it doesn't encourage innovation and quality adaptation as the college game changes.

The attempt at an "expensive schools" argument ignores SU's significant disadvantage: endowment size and the cost-of-attendance question. Because my mother is a Brown alumna, I know that school has made it that many middle-class kids who qualify academically can go to the school and pay very little -- at most, what they'd pay to attend a state school. Harvard has a similar deal, and they're likely not the only Ivies or selective schools to do so. Duke and UVa have endowments that far surpass SU's. I grew up in a middle-class household; the aid I got to attend SU was zippo. That appears to have changed little, and the "please donate money" pitches I get tend to be more along the lines of "donate money so we can make Newhouse bigger."

Finally, the "parity" idea. I think people are using that to mean that high school lacrosse players have more college choices now than they used to, whether they want to compete for a title, or just want to keep playing the game. Nobody's using like it's the NFL and an ideal season would be to have everyone go 8-8.

i agree with you on the point that diversifying the staff would be a positive, however the fact that most of them played for Messere sure as heck isn’t a bad thing.
Tambroni-coach of the best team in the country=genny guy
Chemotti-best young coach in the country=genny guy
Galloway=best up and coming coach in the country=genny guy
Bill Wilson- Air force
Eric Seremet-Won multiple conference titles at AF before the emergence of Chemotti/the scandal
Not too mention all of the Genny guys dominating D2//D3/ juco w Sheehan at Lemoyne Bergan at Clarkson Beville at Cortland and Miccio/Donahue at Occ. But again I do agree with your main point that diversity is needed, but having a Genny guy or 2 on the staff has shown to be a great thing for an unbelievable amount of schools

 

[HtownOrange]

Good post with some excellent points.

I would certainly agree that Dekok was and still is an elite level coach, I think that is really undeniable. Your point about relying to much on savy versus on field judgement is a very interesting point and one I hadn't really thought of. Competition, Partiy, rise of other programs has all affected the landscape and its clear we and other schools like JHU have not adapted fast enough. Recruiting has been better the last few years after it really fell down in the 13-15 classes but this upcoming class was hurt big time by the late decommit of the best player to Michigan and through 3 waves has zero UA all-americans while schools like Duke and UVA have about 6 each. I am not even going to get into the 2020 decommit debacle.

I do think there a few issues you raised that I disagree with slightly. You noted that: "We saw a second half of the season stretch where the team played historical SU lacrosse: Pedal to the medal, balls to the wall, all out speed, punishing opponents for making mistakes". I am not sure thats 100% accurate. SU did push transition when it was there especially on turnovers which we did seem to do more of this year and you saw some of that tic tac toe passing that made SU famous. However, that was more of the exception versus the rule in my opinion. I can recall countless times when SU had a semi or secondary fast break and SU pulled up or chose not to take a shot. Guys like Kennedy would push it every now and then but I think our preference was still to get the ball in the offense half sub and start working the ball around. I think what we saw in the middle of the year was that SU especially in the 2nd half of games would start to wear down an opponents D due to dominating at the X or a locked in D (see Hobart/Duke) and SU would start attacking earlier in the clock then we had been. Now I am not saying that the current system is wrong as even UVA scaled it back this year after turning the ball over like it was going out of style the first two years under Tiffany but I didn't see SU and Desko turn back to that fast break style of SU lax in the 2nd half of the season. Flashes yes, but it didn't appear to me that we where making a conscious effort to run run run and to be honest I am not sure we have the players to do that on the roster even if we wanted to.

The other point you made about who could possibly replace Desko is the one I really disagree with. I never understood that type of argument. You see it sometimes on the bball board about JB and there was some of that on the fball board with guys saying if Dino can't do it no one can just close the program. Would someone replacing Desko have big shoes to fill? Of course. But being afraid of the unknown can't stop a school or an AD from making change. You noted that it would be almost impossible to bring in both a good person and an excellent coach, why is that? There are plenty of those guys in the game today and if the Syracuse job came open trust me there would be no lack of interest from across the lax world. I am not saying that Desko needs to be let go tomorrow but when you have to start using that kind of reasoning as to why a coach should stay on, that is a bad sign.

You are probably correct, in hindsight, that Desko let the guys play some fast break lacrosse as opposed to changing his overall outlook. I recall several plays where I was puzzled when we had a fast break and numbers and did not attack.

Regarding the second point of disagreement, and probably not as well stated as should have been, but my point was that there is no rush to replace Desko. He is winning, he has improved recruiting, and he has a very good team (not elite, but very good). You don't rush out and replace him unless you have a candidate in mind. Recall when Coach P was faltering, everyone knew he would have to go but timing is everything (yes, I know, circumstances were different) but the knee jerk reaction left the Good Doctor with little options. You don't simply fire a winning coach unless you have someone better in line. And that does not always work well.

Regardless, these are opinions and not worth fighting over. SU has issues but one or two key players and SU would be playing Memorial Day Weekend. If Tucker was healthy, that may have been sufficient difference to win a couple more games and play championship weekend.

 

[PhatOrange]

I'm sorry you found my point about age "ridiculous:" You seem to have missed the key elements.

First, EVERYBODY on SU's staff -- even the volunteer assistant -- is 50-plus. NO kid being recruited now has ever seen those guys play; for most recruits, SU's entire coaching staff has always been guys who are older than their parents. That's not the case with the schools the board seems to agree SU recruits against -- Hopkins, Duke, UVa, Yale: etc.

My pitch if I'm hard-core recruiting the next Prendergast or other upstate standout to choose Duke over SU: "Come here and win national championships for guys you watch on TV, guys whose posters you had on your walls as a kid. Or go to Syracuse, play for your grandpa and his buddies, see lots of trophies in the Dome and miss Championship Weekend."

Again, I'm NOT saying older coach = bad coach. I'm saying that when your three paid coaches and your operations director all are eligible for AARP, you're gonna have a much harder time than your rivals making a connection with today's recruits ... ESPECIALLY when said rivals have academic reputations that are as good or better than yours, and aren't in places where winter can run from Halloween to finals week.

The larger point you missed is the overall lack of diversity on that staff. Four of the five coaches learned the game from Mike Messere ... who, as we know, taught and coached the game one way, "the right way." That worked for a long time until it didn't. If you watched the last couple years, you saw he couldn't connect with today's teens, and results suffered. The four SU coaches (all but Rogers, who grew up one county away) also are from the RS Jr. coaching tree. Dude was a wizard as a coach, but when everyone's thinking the same way, it doesn't encourage innovation and quality adaptation as the college game changes.

The attempt at an "expensive schools" argument ignores SU's significant disadvantage: endowment size and the cost-of-attendance question. Because my mother is a Brown alumna, I know that school has made it that many middle-class kids who qualify academically can go to the school and pay very little -- at most, what they'd pay to attend a state school. Harvard has a similar deal, and they're likely not the only Ivies or selective schools to do so. Duke and UVa have endowments that far surpass SU's. I grew up in a middle-class household; the aid I got to attend SU was zippo. That appears to have changed little, and the "please donate money" pitches I get tend to be more along the lines of "donate money so we can make Newhouse bigger."

Finally, the "parity" idea. I think people are using that to mean that high school lacrosse players have more college choices now than they used to, whether they want to compete for a title, or just want to keep playing the game. Nobody's using like it's the NFL and an ideal season would be to have everyone go 8-8.

I didn’t miss any larger key point and disagree with a lot of what you said here. I’ll explain it out when I have more time.

Regarding cost. My nephew just walked from SU over the weekend and it hardly cost him a thing because of all the aid he got. Schools can give as much aid as they want based on whatever they want but certainly you’re better off coming from a lower income.

 

[HtownOrange]

The savy versus on field judgement is something I noted from Htown's post as well. Desko did not used to be this way. He used to let the players go because they made the right decisions. I think it's lower lax IQ and I've often wondered if it's from having too many players from non-traditional lacrosse areas. IDK, just a theory.

You make a fair point. Lax IQ seems down across the board.

Desko has to be the one to develop the kids. Also, you cannot teach people to make good decisions without repetition. Play fast, you get more repetitions.

I fully appreciate that SU offensively is not selfish. That may be a drawback in some ways as some guys did pass up opportunities they should have taken, both in transition and in the half-field offense. I cannot discern whether some of it was by Desko's design or hesitancy on the part of the players. I defer to the board experts

 

[sholokov2]

Good point phatorange. Being an SU alum as a requirement severely limits your choices for possible future coaching candidates. Having central N.Y. ties makes more sense, but even that shouldn’t be a mandatory requirement. If I were Wildhack I would want the best available candidate. Whether that is a current head coach at another school, an up and coming assistant, or even dipping into the D3 or even D2 ranks.

One name to keep an eye on is Mike Abbott at Penn. He is the older brother of Matt Abbott and is currently Penn’s offensive coach. Penn’s offense is currently ranked third in the country in goals per game and from what I’ve seen, pretty formidable. Abbott’s resume is impressive and his coaching career has an upward trajectory so I’m assuming his goal is to be a head coach in the near future.

In a bad year everybody doubts the coaching. I have said my piece about Desko, so I won't repeat it. He'll go when he thinks he can't do it any longer, not before. But just to indulge in fantasy, I suggest finding a coach who can bring talent from areas which have proven fruitful over the years. For that reason, I'll take Brodie Merrill over all the other possibilities. Not only is he a superior coach, but he can draw from Canada which supplies a lot of exceptional scorers to US schools every year and which includes many native canadian and american tribes. He is a fine teacher in addition to his strategical and tactical acumen. Ok, He's not an SU alum. Forgive me fans, but so what? If the old-timers don't recognize his gifts, then why pay them any attention.

 

[Newhouse_83]

i agree with you on the point that diversifying the staff would be a positive, however the fact that most of them played for Messere sure as heck isn’t a bad thing.
Tambroni-coach of the best team in the country=genny guy
Chemotti-best young coach in the country=genny guy
Galloway=best up and coming coach in the country=genny guy
Bill Wilson- Air force
Eric Seremet-Won multiple conference titles at AF before the emergence of Chemotti/the scandal
Not too mention all of the Genny guys dominating D2//D3/ juco w Sheehan at Lemoyne Bergan at Clarkson Beville at Cortland and Miccio/Donahue at Occ. But again I do agree with your main point that diversity is needed, but having a Genny guy or 2 on the staff has shown to be a great thing for an unbelievable amount of schools

This has been a great discussion. No doubt that Messere was a tremendous HS coach whose program spawned some incredible players and outstanding coaches, and I'm glad you cited a number I had not been aware were Wildcats -- I've been out of NYS for 10 years now, and out of CNY for 20.

Agreed that *two* WG guys on a staff would be great ... but it's not a good idea in 2019 that that 60 percent of our coaching staff (if we include RSIII and Scaramuzzino) played and coached under the same two guys for most of their careers. And when staffer no. 4 went to high school on the other side of the county, but played and coached for the same guy at the same college as the first three, staffer no. 5 looks like a world traveler because he's coached in Cortland County and the North Country, and Ohio 20 years ago and Illinois for a summer. It's still amazing to look at that '83 roster and think that the team that beat mighty JHU in one of the greatest games ever played was, essentially, the WGHS alumni association plus a (tremendous) player from Yorktown.

It would seem almost automatic that the HC at a D-1 title contender would have at least one, and possibly two, people on staff who had some legit ties to another another lacrosse hotbed.

Hypothetical, because he doesn't coach in a recruiting hotbed ... yet: A resume like Liam Banks' makes a ton of sense -- played HS downstate and certainly still has some connections he could easily expand, now runs a program out of state, but still understands the advantages and challenges that SU has -- as opposed to three guys who played at the same high school, played at the same college and coached at the same college.

A final thought: Our "peer" programs, in SU's heyday, were Hopkins and UVa (and maybe UNC), then Princeton, and a little later Duke. Strong company. Today, it seems the school we most seem like, in terms of expected results, is Cornell. We'll be ranked, we'll be a little under the radar because we're pretty far north, we'll perform decently against a tough schedule, we're a good bet to make the tournament and we usually have the horses who could do some damage. I can see some people being OK with that. Heck, I might be OK with that.

All that said, it's far better to be having a discussion like this than "how do we rebuild a program after G-Rob?"

 

[CousCuse]

This has been a great discussion. No doubt that Messere was a tremendous HS coach whose program spawned some incredible players and outstanding coaches, and I'm glad you cited a number I had not been aware were Wildcats -- I've been out of NYS for 10 years now, and out of CNY for 20.

Agreed that *two* WG guys on a staff would be great ... but it's not a good idea in 2019 that that 60 percent of our coaching staff (if we include RSIII and Scaramuzzino) played and coached under the same two guys for most of their careers. And when staffer no. 4 went to high school on the other side of the county, but played and coached for the same guy at the same college as the first three, staffer no. 5 looks like a world traveler because he's coached in Cortland County and the North Country, and Ohio 20 years ago and Illinois for a summer. It's still amazing to look at that '83 roster and think that the team that beat mighty JHU in one of the greatest games ever played was, essentially, the WGHS alumni association plus a (tremendous) player from Yorktown.

It would seem almost automatic that the HC at a D-1 title contender would have at least one, and possibly two, people on staff who had some legit ties to another another lacrosse hotbed.

Hypothetical, because he doesn't coach in a recruiting hotbed ... yet: A resume like Liam Banks' makes a ton of sense -- played HS downstate and certainly still has some connections he could easily expand, now runs a program out of state, but still understands the advantages and challenges that SU has -- as opposed to three guys who played at the same high school, played at the same college and coached at the same college.

A final thought: Our "peer" programs, in SU's heyday, were Hopkins and UVa (and maybe UNC), then Princeton, and a little later Duke. Strong company. Today, it seems the school we most seem like, in terms of expected results, is Cornell. We'll be ranked, we'll be a little under the radar because we're pretty far north, we'll perform decently against a tough schedule, we're a good bet to make the tournament and we usually have the horses who could do some damage. I can see some people being OK with that. Heck, I might be OK with that.

All that said, it's far better to be having a discussion like this than "how do we rebuild a program after G-Rob?"

Your ok with ok? Good grief.

 

[SUFaninNJ]

This has been a great discussion. No doubt that Messere was a tremendous HS coach whose program spawned some incredible players and outstanding coaches, and I'm glad you cited a number I had not been aware were Wildcats -- I've been out of NYS for 10 years now, and out of CNY for 20.

Agreed that *two* WG guys on a staff would be great ... but it's not a good idea in 2019 that that 60 percent of our coaching staff (if we include RSIII and Scaramuzzino) played and coached under the same two guys for most of their careers. And when staffer no. 4 went to high school on the other side of the county, but played and coached for the same guy at the same college as the first three, staffer no. 5 looks like a world traveler because he's coached in Cortland County and the North Country, and Ohio 20 years ago and Illinois for a summer. It's still amazing to look at that '83 roster and think that the team that beat mighty JHU in one of the greatest games ever played was, essentially, the WGHS alumni association plus a (tremendous) player from Yorktown.

It would seem almost automatic that the HC at a D-1 title contender would have at least one, and possibly two, people on staff who had some legit ties to another another lacrosse hotbed.

Hypothetical, because he doesn't coach in a recruiting hotbed ... yet: A resume like Liam Banks' makes a ton of sense -- played HS downstate and certainly still has some connections he could easily expand, now runs a program out of state, but still understands the advantages and challenges that SU has -- as opposed to three guys who played at the same high school, played at the same college and coached at the same college.

A final thought: Our "peer" programs, in SU's heyday, were Hopkins and UVa (and maybe UNC), then Princeton, and a little later Duke. Strong company. Today, it seems the school we most seem like, in terms of expected results, is Cornell. We'll be ranked, we'll be a little under the radar because we're pretty far north, we'll perform decently against a tough schedule, we're a good bet to make the tournament and we usually have the horses who could do some damage. I can see some people being OK with that. Heck, I might be OK with that.

All that said, it's far better to be having a discussion like this than "how do we rebuild a program after G-Rob?"

Don't overlook Jamesville-DeWitt grad Art Lux as well. He had a couple goals in the championship game against JHU. I graduated with his brother Steve from JD. He was a lacrosse AA but decided to pass on the lax offers and go to Harvard instead. What a dummy.

 

[Geode]

The advertisements on this site featuring attractive women modeling clothing somewhat mitigates the acid reflux caused by this thread.

Lol. We now know what is in somebody's search history

 

[OrangeXtreme]

What went wrong for Syracuse lacrosse team in 2019?

One of the biggest issues was that the Orange and coach John Desko were missing a dominant figure on attack.

www.syracuse.com

 

[JeremyCuse]

What went wrong for Syracuse lacrosse team in 2019?

One of the biggest issues was that the Orange and coach John Desko were missing a dominant figure on attack.

www.syracuse.com

Gee where I have heard that before.

 

[Zepharus]

i agree with you on the point that diversifying the staff would be a positive, however the fact that most of them played for Messere sure as heck isn’t a bad thing.
Tambroni-coach of the best team in the country=genny guy
Chemotti-best young coach in the country=genny guy
Galloway=best up and coming coach in the country=genny guy
Bill Wilson- Air force
Eric Seremet-Won multiple conference titles at AF before the emergence of Chemotti/the scandal
Not too mention all of the Genny guys dominating D2//D3/ juco w Sheehan at Lemoyne Bergan at Clarkson Beville at Cortland and Miccio/Donahue at Occ. But again I do agree with your main point that diversity is needed, but having a Genny guy or 2 on the staff has shown to be a great thing for an unbelievable amount of schools

And yet the kids from genny basically ran Messere out of town by not listening to him. The youth of today are a different breed... and not the good kind... entitled and narcissistic. and lax bros are even worse becasue of the helicopter parents. Sadly it is a youth game now

 

[Laxlover567]

The parents were the issue, make no mistake about that. We see it in school, MANY of this generation of parents have no backbone. You don't want to do your schoolwork? No problem, blame it on the teacher and get homework abolished. You don't want to show up for work? No problem, when you're fired there's always something else. It's endemic, I hope the 30somethings who have toddlers now will swing the pendulum back to something reasonable.

 

[Laxlover567]

I think talk of age is ridiculous. Maybe you get younger with some recruiters but talk of motivation and X and Os and things like that is stupid. Just look at football coaches. They can motivate. John Danowski is 65. Corrigan has to be 60, Lars Tiffany is early 50's, Andy Shay, Tambroni and Tillman are all 49.

I don't know what Desko's deal is. Are their schemes that awful? IDK. I think he relied on a bunch of Micheal Jordan's over the years and not having those caliber players sort of expose the schemes.

Talk of parity ? Sure talent is spread around more, there's no denying it, but is there really parity ? it doesn't seem to effect a handful of traditional schools.

Teams left right now:

Penn State (sure newbie team but not a newbie coach)
Loyola
Yale
Penn
Virginia
Maryland
Duke
Notre Dame

Same as it ever was if you ask me. And it's like this every year except you don't see Syracuse. And the board is wrought with a bunch of excuses.

Yale, Penn, Duke and Notre Dame - all expensive schools with way more stringent academic standards than Syracuse. Oh and Loyola, MD tuition is higher than Syracuse so there's that to.

I have several coaches I would make a play for (one being Andy Shay) but I'm all in on Dan Chemotti. No better pedigree imo. What he's done at Richmond is remarkable. Played for Messerre and played for John Danowski. In terms of influences it doesn't get any better than that imo. Has a NYS title, has 2 NCAA titles. Was an All-American and played professionally. He's a Syracuse guy.

Chemotti played for Mike Pressler, not Danowski.

 

[Laxwizard22]

And yet the kids from genny basically ran Messere out of town by not listening to him. The youth of today are a different breed... and not the good kind... entitled and narcissistic. and lax bros are even worse becasue of the helicopter parents. Sadly it is a youth game now

Agreed. To be fair though I don’t believe it was ALL the kids, mostly the senior class based off what I heard about the situation

 

[PhatOrange]

Chemotti played for Mike Pressler, not Danowski.

Good point. Still. Pressler is/was a phenomenal coach. Good lax influence.

 

[BillSU]

What rep does Desko have on the recruiting trail? Balls to the wall road warrior, or not so much?

19 seasons as an assistant, the Orange compiled a record of 229-43 (.842), earned 18 NCAA championships in 2000, 2002 and 2004.
In Desko’s 39 seasons on the Syracuse coaching staff, the team has reached the NCAA title game a stunning 17 times, or nearly once every other year.In his Tournament invitations, reached the Final Four 16 consecutive times and won six national championships.

His assistant coaching duties included coordinating recruiting and serving as co-director of the popular Syracuse University Lacrosse Camp. He recruited some of the best lacrosse players to ever play the game, including two-time National Player of the Year and Outstanding Midfielder of the Year Gary Gait, two-time Outstanding Attackman of the Year Tim Nelson, four-time All-American Brad Kotz, three-time All-American Paul Gait, and the Powell brothers (Mike, Casey and Ryan) — the school’s top three all-time leading scorers.

I would say that's balls to the Universe.

Lately I do not have access to info about how much he's recruiting - BUT he'd better there's many potentially great players out there - more schools playing LAX and we have to get them!