Luchsinger Brothers Officiate NCAA Division I Men's Championship Game

Anytime. Anywhere. Any level. That’s the mentality NCAA lacrosse referees Bryan and Tim Luchsinger adopted from their father, Jim, and his longtime friend Tom Abbott, the current NCAA national coordinator of men’s lacrosse officiating.

On Memorial Day, that place happened to be on the biggest stage in the sport. The brothers officiated the NCAA Division I men’s lacrosse championship game for the first time in their over 20-year-long careers. The crowd of 31,524 raucous fans represented the biggest game they’ve officiated.

“No matter how big the situation is, when we’re together, we’re out there having fun, smiling and keeping each other loose,” Tim Luchsinger said. “I think outside of the two of us … it brings my dad back to the game that he got us into.”

They not only model how their dad treated them as a father, but how they watched him behave as an official. As teenagers, the brothers monitored how their father and Abbott operated together at the annual Lake Placid Summit Classic, which laid the groundwork for how they officiate now.

Because of their father, they met and learned from some of the best lacrosse referees from a young age — particularly Abbott, who the brothers said often officiated alongside Jim in the MLL and NCAA.

“The officiating world in lacrosse is just the third team on the field,” Bryan Luchsinger said. “It really is a tight-knit family.”

Jim Luchsinger suffered an injury that has since kept him out of officiating, but Tim Luchsinger said his father still calls them after games to offer constructive criticism or other pointers. He’s close friends with almost every lacrosse official he’s worked with, and that sentiment remains true with the brothers today — as most of their contacts are lacrosse officials.

“[With] moving up and all that, that’s how you learn to get better, to have those conversations,” Bryan Luchsinger said. “And that started with us seeing Dad have those people. We’ve kind of carried that, they’ve also carried it to us. Dad [has] shown us the way.”

After a season-long process of scouting officials across the country, Abbott said he made the decision to include the Luchsingers on the officiating crew toward the end of April. He added that it’s rare for brothers to officiate well together, but the Luchsingers have a tremendous demeanor for it.

“It runs in their family, it runs in my family and it runs in a lot of families,” Abbott said about the brothers' passion for lacrosse. “There are a lot of brothers and sisters like that; [The Kirst family] is a great example.”

Tim Luchsinger said that one of the best traits to have as an official is to be reflective and to make sure you’re improving after every game. He mentioned that a past critique he received was that his restarts weren’t great, so now that’s always in the back of his mind. Ironically, Abbott complemented the Luchsingers for how they handled a scenario during the national championship game when Cornell restarted play too quickly — further showing the dedication to their work.

“They’re looking for guys … that have the ability to see a situation once and know, ‘This is what I had, this is what it was,’ and then apply it continuously,” Bryan Luchsinger said. “None of us call a perfect game ever. We like to hope we do, but there’s always situations where you’re like, ‘Shoot, I wish I had that one,’ or, ‘I think I missed that one.’”

While red-faced coaches can berate referees and fans on social media can nitpick calls, the Luchsingers called their humility a “defense mechanism.” Bryan Luchsinger, who has a daughter who plays goalie, said he stays loose on the field by asking players about good websites to train or helpful ways to string a goalie stick. He added that former first-team All-Big Ten Maryland goalie Logan McNaney recommended a website for his daughter.

Despite the unique opportunity to officiate the national championship game, Bryan Luchsinger didn’t say the exciting matchup between Cornell and Maryland was his favorite game he’s worked with his brother.

“For me, it’s always the next one,” he said. “That means we’re still doing it.”