Forever a Flyer: Jack Moran Retires After 45 Years, 629 Wins

Before becoming one of the greatest goalies on the planet, Liam Entenmann was a nervous fourth grader at Chaminade lacrosse camp, intimidated by the larger-than-life figure that was Jack Moran.

His uncle, Ken Entenmann, was one of the first to play for Moran at Chaminade (N.Y.), so Liam was well versed in Moran’s standing in the Long Island lacrosse community.

“Although it was scary to talk to him when I was younger, he was one of the most approachable, respectful, and kind people I’ve been able to be around in the sport,” Liam Entenmann said. “He’s a very genuine guy, but at the same time, he’s someone who’s going to hold you accountable if you make a mistake.”

After 45 years as the Chaminade boys’ lacrosse coach, Moran has retired. He has 629 career wins (the seventh-most all-time in boys’ lacrosse history) and 21 CHSAA championships on his resume, but the 73-year-old quietly closed out his run in the most Jack Moran way possible.

“I don’t think he would ever tell anybody before the season that this is it, because he wasn’t a victory lap guy,” St. Anthony’s (N.Y.) head coach Keith Wieczorek said. “His humility is at the forefront. It’s always about the program and the kids, and that’s one of the things I try to emulate. It’s never been about him for one minute.”

Moran said he hasn’t been contemplating retirement long, but he knew it was the right time with his extended family growing. His middle son, Patrick, an English professor at Princeton University and an academic advisor for the men’s lacrosse team there, recently adopted three girls with his wife, Colette.

His daughter, Shannon, is expecting a baby boy in August, and his son, Ryan, the head men’s lacrosse coach at UMBC, has three daughters. The oldest, Maddie, is a standout lacrosse player at Maryvale Prep (Md.).

“They won the IAAM this year, and she started as a freshman, and I’ve never seen her play,” Moran said. “My family life has become a lot more prevalent now.”

Moran’s extended family for more than four decades featured thousands of players who have come through his program, many of whom went on to play Division I lacrosse like Entenmann, the Kavanagh brothers and the Fowler brothers.

“Not that you’re not always playing hard, but if Jackie Mo is catching a glimpse of freshman practice, you’re definitely trying to make a play,” Brendan Fowler said. “He’s a guy you wanted to impress and looked up to. As a freshman, you don’t know much, but you’re just looking forward to playing for him.”

Like Entenmann at Notre Dame, Fowler went on to win a national championship, doing so with Duke in 2013. But Moran’s imprint on his life went far beyond the lacrosse field.

“As good as he is a coach in lacrosse, I think it wouldn’t even compare to who he is as a man, a leader, a guy who molds young kids,” Fowler said. “I’m in my 30s with one kid and a second on the way. I think the impact he had on me as a man far outweighs what he did to me as a lacrosse player.”

Since word of his retirement filtered through the lacrosse community, Moran said he received dozens of congratulatory text messages, the attention a bit hard for him to comprehend.

“I’m humbled,” Moran said. “This is a lot of attention for a guy who never went to work for the last 45 years.”

One of those messages came from Entenmann, who said he received plenty of texts from his former coach after championship wins or solid performances.

“I shot him a text when I found out about his retirement, and he said it was an honor to coach me,” Entenmann said. “Things like that mean a lot and go a long way. I’m sure a lot of guys feel the exact same way.”

While he’s stepping aside as head coach, Moran will still be around the program in a “player development” role, working on fundamentals on the other side of the field while Greg Kay, the newly named head coach, and associate head coach Thomas O’Connell run practice.

Kay is a 1998 Chaminade alum who went on to play college lacrosse at Siena. He returned to his alma mater to teach and coach in 2002 and spent the last eight years on Moran’s staff.

“I’m stepping into that role, but I really look at our entire team as a collaboration. I’m taking that title, but Tom O’Connell has just as much say, and Jack’s been doing the same thing with him,” Kay said. “He just brings everybody along to the point where he empowers the entire staff. … The debt Chaminade as a whole owes Jack Moran will never be paid.”

O’Connell, a 2015 graduate, won a pair of state championships at Chaminade before capturing a national title with Maryland in 2017. He said getting to work closely with Moran in the travel lacrosse circuit is where he got the coaching bug.

That continued on his staff at Chaminade.

“He’s always been a steady force, a great motivator,” O’Connell said. “It’s been very impactful for me, and I hope to continue that going forward.”

Moran’s oldest son, Jack, went to St. Anthony’s and played for Wieczorek on the junior varsity team. In 1995, father and son were involved in a nine-overtime thriller won by the Friars.

It’s when the Moran-Wieczorek friendship was born, and the two grew closer over the past 20 years, both as competitors and co-coaches with the Long Island Express.

“Jack Moran is Catholic League lacrosse. His program set the way for others to follow and put the Catholic League on the map,” Wieczorek said. “He is a coach who brought attention to our league, his program, and by proxy, our program over the years. He’s been a stalwart, and there is no Catholic Lacrosse League without Jack Moran.”

Still, it’s not the wins, or even the losses, that had the greatest impact on Moran in 45 years as Chaminade head coach.

It’s the deaths of former players Ron Winchester and Jimmy Regan in service of their country.

“It’s guys like that, that whole group after 9/11, we had so many kids go in the military and serve,” Moran said. “We’ve got three Navy Seals right now, we’ve got helicopter pilots and Green Berets and Army Rangers, and to me, coming from a military family, it’s really rewarding that a lot of the kids have taken Chaminade’s model of service to others and have done that.”

Moran said he’ll miss the camaraderie of the coaches’ meetings, which were often more about personal lives and highlights of days than Xs and Os. But he knows where he’ll be when St. Anthony’s makes the trip to Gold Star Stadium in the next chapter of what he believes is the best high school lacrosse rivalry in America.

“I’ll be on the end of the bench,” Moran said.

Moran’s final game as Chaminade coach, almost fittingly, was against rival St. Anthony’s for the CHSAA title in May. The Friars pulled out a come-from-behind win at Hofstra’s Shuart Stadium, and when it was over, Wieczorek and Moran had an emotional embrace on the field.

“Of course, in Hollywood, we would have won, but life is reality, it’s not fiction,” Moran said. “I have no regrets.”