Era of greatness: A look at all of Mike Messere's all-Americans at West Genesee | Syracusefan.com

Era of greatness: A look at all of Mike Messere's all-Americans at West Genesee

Well done Syracuse.com. Trip down memory lane. I still have no idea why Cuse didn't recruit Mike Zoanetti back in the mid 90's. He was a very good goalie.
 
Messere’s list of collegiate All-Americans would be quite a slideshow - probably more than double his list of high school AAs.

IIRC, Messere was in SI’s “Faces in the Crowd” way back in the day and I think it said he coached 30 something high school AAs and 60 something collegiate AAs.

Unreal. Schools like Nazareth built their programs on second/third string WG kids who starred for them.
 
The culture has certainly changed at WG since I was a kid - I've talked to quite a few parents and the buy in is no longer there. Don't get me wrong, they still produce a lot of really talented kids who have been playing since they were 7 years old (and younger), but there is an awful lot of complaining going on behind the scenes by parents and recent alumni. It's the kind of stuff that has gone on at every other program for years, but not at WG. Why does my kid have to go to practice at 6AM the day after prom? Why isn't my kid starting? My kid is better than that kid. Coach Messere demands a certain buy in to the program - you didn't have to play for him to respect the level of commitment and dedication he demanded from his players. Didn't matter if you were a starter or last guy on the bench - if you didn't meet the standard you didn't play. WG will still be a top team without him for years to come, but the new standard of excellence is Victor...and as a central new york guy that pains me to say. Glad to see Coach Messere leaving on his own terms - class act all the way.
 
The culture has certainly changed at WG since I was a kid - I've talked to quite a few parents and the buy in is no longer there. Don't get me wrong, they still produce a lot of really talented kids who have been playing since they were 7 years old (and younger), but there is an awful lot of complaining going on behind the scenes by parents and recent alumni. It's the kind of stuff that has gone on at every other program for years, but not at WG. Why does my kid have to go to practice at 6AM the day after prom? Why isn't my kid starting? My kid is better than that kid. Coach Messere demands a certain buy in to the program - you didn't have to play for him to respect the level of commitment and dedication he demanded from his players. Didn't matter if you were a starter or last guy on the bench - if you didn't meet the standard you didn't play. WG will still be a top team without him for years to come, but the new standard of excellence is Victor...and as a central new york guy that pains me to say. Glad to see Coach Messere leaving on his own terms - class act all the way.

I think that statement says less about Messere than it does about the WG parents. And WG is certainly not alone in that regard. The number of horror stories I could share just about the crap that goes on at my kids' high school...

Parents, and by extension their kids, believe they have a level of entitlement that is OOC...
 
Messere’s list of collegiate All-Americans would be quite a slideshow - probably more than double his list of high school AAs.

IIRC, Messere was in SI’s “Faces in the Crowd” way back in the day and I think it said he coached 30 something high school AAs and 60 something collegiate AAs.

Unreal. Schools like Nazareth built their programs on second/third string WG kids who starred for them.
I would think it is closer to 3-4x not double. There were years in the 80s and 90s that saw double digit college AA from WG. Here is the list of college AA from 70s-90s...
All Americans
 
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I would think it is closer to 3-4x not double. There were years in the 80s and 90s that saw double digit college AA from WG.

Google helped me find the SI blurb I was thinking about - 33 high school AAs and 56 college AAs as of 1995.
 
The culture has certainly changed at WG since I was a kid - I've talked to quite a few parents and the buy in is no longer there. Don't get me wrong, they still produce a lot of really talented kids who have been playing since they were 7 years old (and younger), but there is an awful lot of complaining going on behind the scenes by parents and recent alumni. It's the kind of stuff that has gone on at every other program for years, but not at WG. Why does my kid have to go to practice at 6AM the day after prom? Why isn't my kid starting? My kid is better than that kid. Coach Messere demands a certain buy in to the program - you didn't have to play for him to respect the level of commitment and dedication he demanded from his players. Didn't matter if you were a starter or last guy on the bench - if you didn't meet the standard you didn't play. WG will still be a top team without him for years to come, but the new standard of excellence is Victor...and as a central new york guy that pains me to say. Glad to see Coach Messere leaving on his own terms - class act all the way.
He was my gym coach and wanted me to play for him one season when he had a couple of players become ineligible at the last minute. I turned him down once I found out that I would have had to quit my job in order to be on the team.
 
Here goes, All-Time West Genesee Team...
A - Mike Buzzell - Navy
A - John ZulburtI - SU
A - Rick Gilbert -Hobart
M - Brad Kotz - SU
M - Todd Curry - SU
M - Phil Willard - Maryland (snuck in past Brian Keith due to faceoff numbers at WG)
M - Charlie Lockwood - SU
D - Joe Fletcher - Loyola
D - Jeff McCormick - SU
D - Mike Schattner - Virginia
G - John Galloway - SU
 
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A few notes on some of the guys listed in the previous post. Like a few of the other posters, I went to WG and had the great fortune to grow up watching a lot of these guys play at
shove and in the Dome. Then, I had the opportunity to play with and against a lot of them. It’s like watching baseball games from knothole at yankee stadium then getting to join the Bronx bombers.

Mike Buzzell - never really saw him play, but we used to run a drill in practice called the Buzzell drill. This is the only drill I can recall that messere named after a former player, so he is in.
John Zulberti - most will remember him for the orange chucks, but I’ll remember him as one of the nicest guys to the kids at shove park when he was a star at SU. He also has the best ambidextrous stick skills around. His wall ball demo is legendary.
Brad Kotz - He delivered SUs first championship. Great leader and all-world player.
Todd Curry - Man could he shoot on the run, fast and accurate. Played against him in my first men’s league Shove Park game. It was ugly for me.
Phil Willard - middle brother of Brian and David, all great athletes and tireless middies. Some of the first guys from upstate to head to Maryland for lax. Played against him this summer at Shove and he can still get it done.
Laser Lockwood - Charlie was a man amongst boys at a young age. One of the best athletes ever to come through the program. And boy did he love to shoot. He became a better feeder as he matured, but he wasn’t the “laser” for his passes.
Joe Fletcher - World Team, still getting it done. Probably the best defender to come out of the program.
Mike Schattner - doesn’t get as much recognition because he went to uVa before it was cool. Played on the first USA U19 team with fellow WG alum Todd oudermool.
John Galloway - I first heard of John from lemoyne coach Danny Sheehan. I was watching a regional final between WG and Orchard Park in Rochester in the mid 2000s. Sheehan said they pulled Galloway up for playoffs and messere thinks he is the best goalie he has had in the program. We are talking all time, and he wasn’t even starting, he was called up from JV for playoffs! He is my guy. I hope that he is the next coach for SU. He is a remarkable young man and anyone that has met him would say the same.
 
Here goes, All-Time West Genesee Team...
A - Mike Buzzell - Navy
A - John ZulburtI - SU
A - Rick Gilbert -Hobart
M - Brad Kotz - SU
M - Todd Curry - SU
M - Phil Willard - Maryland (snuck in past Brian Keith due to faceoff numbers at WG)
M - Charlie Lockwood - SU
D - Joe Fletcher - Loyola
D - Jeff McCormick - SU
D - Mike Schattner - Virginia
G - John Galloway - SU

I think Tom Nims in goal and Lundblad over Gilbert. Nims was a fantastic all around athlete.
 
I think Tom Nims in goal and Lundblad over Gilbert. Nims was a fantastic all around athlete.
It’s hard to argue against either of those two. I was looking at more of each players total lacrosse career, not just time at wg. While his play preceded my time as a lax fan, Ricky Gilbert held the NCAA scoring record (444 points at Hobart) for a long time.

As for Tommy Nims, basically he is the reason I became a goalie (and I hated running). He was awesome in the cage and ahead of his time with his play outside of it. That said, if you look at what Galloway has done, it’s really hard to argue against those accolades.

And man the middies were tough. I feel like I left out a bunch of guys that were awesome.
 
It’s hard to argue against either of those two. I was looking at more of each players total lacrosse career, not just time at wg. While his play preceded my time as a lax fan, Ricky Gilbert held the NCAA scoring record (444 points at Hobart) for a long time.

As for Tommy Nims, basically he is the reason I became a goalie (and I hated running). He was awesome in the cage and ahead of his time with his play outside of it. That said, if you look at what Galloway has done, it’s really hard to argue against those accolades.

And man the middies were tough. I feel like I left out a bunch of guys that were awesome.
I think the key for Galloway was that he started playing Goalie so early..just my IMO...My daughter started playing goal at a very young age as well & I think it makes a huge difference
 
Google helped me find the SI blurb I was thinking about - 33 high school AAs and 56 college AAs as of 1995.

LMGTFY


1985
MIKE MESSERE
SYRACUSE, N.Y.
Messere, 41, has coached the West Genesee High lacrosse team to a 190-9 record, with nine league and seven regional titles, since 1976. With 91 consecutive wins from 1981 to '84, his Wildcats tied the U.S. record set by Sewanhaka High in 1957.

1995
Michael Messere
SYRACUSE, N.Y.
Messere, 51, the lacrosse coach at West Genesee High, was inducted into the Lacrosse Hall of Fame. In his 19 years with the Wildcats he has won eight state titles and has a record of 390-20. He has coached 33 high school All-Americas and 56 players who went on to become college All-Americas.
 
I think the key for Galloway was that he started playing Goalie so early..just my IMO...My daughter started playing goal at a very young age as well & I think it makes a huge difference
true. I grew up near tom. I think he got in the net because the rest of us were afraid to in backyard games.
 
I think that statement says less about Messere than it does about the WG parents. And WG is certainly not alone in that regard. The number of horror stories I could share just about the crap that goes on at my kids' high school...

Parents, and by extension their kids, believe they have a level of entitlement that is OOC...
Definitely a parent issue. Same stuff going on with the Bville girls' volleyball coach. Parents want kids to be part of the success, but not buy in to the program.
 
Curfew was no joke. Captains divided the team and called everyone, then reported back to coach. All this time later, I still have his number locked in from dialing every night. Probably one of five phone numbers I have memorized.
 

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