Professional PLL
Final
Jun 2
Car
Den
I
n any other year since 1971, the NCAA would have crowned a Division I men’s lacrosse champion yesterday. Who might that have been and what is the nature of their journey that lies ahead?
I am related to Brian Gill, the head soccer coach at the University of Pennsylvania. His grandmother and my mother were sisters, and I spent a lot of time with Brian’s father growing up on Long Island. We have stayed in touch over the years, and I saw him when I visited with the Penn lacrosse team in January.
Brian recently asked if I would like to join a call with another half-dozen Division I soccer coaches. This was a close group of coaches who were all proteges of the longtime and respected former Dartmouth, Stanford and Notre Dame head coach Bobby Clark. Included in the group was his son, Jamie Clark, head coach at Washington and Brian Wiese, head coach of defending NCAA champion Georgetown. The Hoyas actually beat UVA in penalty kicks in a tremendously exciting 2019 final.
A call that went 90 minutes could easily have gone another 90 as we discussed leadership, discipline, culture and the requirements for athletic success. I had an opportunity to conjure up some memories as an assistant soccer coach during my first six years at Brown. We actually won four Ivy League titles and twice reached the semifinals of the NCAA tournament during those years, and I have lived with an elevated opinion of my influence on those teams. These coaches could not have been more gracious and sharing during this call.
Later that evening, I received a very nice response from Coach Wiese, who appreciated the time and asked if we could talk again about preparing his team for the year after having won a national championship. We are currently making those plans and I am, of course, happy to continue the conversation. I did tell him that one of the few things I may have left on the table in my career was “the season after a championship.” When someone asked recently whether I had any coaching goals left to pursue, the one thing that comes to mind is winning consecutive championships. Of course, you need to win one to pursue a second, implying a good stretch of success.
I would suggest to Brian that it is a very unique coaching challenge in the year after winning a championship. Imagine the psychological differences for UVA men’s basketball coach Tony Bennett between the year having been the first No. 1 seed to lose to a No. 16 in the first round of the tournament to winning the championship the very next year and being told that you walk on water. To Tony’s great credit, a team that was floundering a bit midseason was on a late-season run when the season ended prematurely due to COVID-19. We will never know how this would have played out. Lars’ UVA lacrosse team may still be the defending champions if and when play resumes in 2021, but they will be a little further removed from that role.
We had our chances to address this issue over the years, and while we had some good efforts, I never felt that we got it quite right. (That may be based simply on the result, that we did not repeat.) It is hard to find people to talk to about this; coaching peers do not want to hear your complaints about preparing to win again. They all wish for such a problem.
As with personal grieving, any approach to this question may be the right one. There is simply no straightforward answer. “We are not going to talk about ‘defending’ the championship. … OK, fine, we are going to talk about it. …OK, fine, it’s a hard thing to do. No argument here. … I am going to be really hard on them. … Understood, etc.”
In the end, your approach is going to be whatever you are comfortable with. When your standard is, “We are going to do what we think is right,” then you can manage whatever the result.
What I would suggest is that the players want to get it right while, at the same time, they are preoccupied with thoughts of inadequacy. “Are we as good as last year’s team? Are people looking at us differently? Are we up to the task? What will people think of us if we don’t win? Will we disappoint everyone?”
I am not sure there is a greater burden for athletes than heightened expectations, and the returning national champion starts the season with those packed onboard.
If I had to do it again, I would engage the team in a series of active and open discussions intended to evolve into them taking ownership of the issue. What do they want for themselves? What are they willing to do?
At the same time, I would go out of my way to make the year after an enjoyable experience for all involved. While we do not need to constantly revel in the glory of yesterday, it should contribute to a joyful atmosphere around the program. Let’s get to work, knowing that we can scale that mountain of anticipation. The players have earned some genuine confidence in themselves, in the program and in the coaches.
Smile. Push through any early adversity knowing it’s a long season. Revel in the uniqueness of being a national champion. Practice and play with a joy in your heart, knowing emphatically that all the hard work and sacrifice is actually worth it.