At 24, Brian Geffroy led a platoon of 40 Marines. Today, he’ll stand in front of the Duke men’s lacrosse team and talk about what service means.
The Blue Devils won’t practice. But they will still gather to recognize Veterans Day. Two teammates — Geffroy and fellow graduate student Casey Collins — are U.S. military veterans in their first year with the program.
“They certainly bring chemistry,” Duke coach John Danowski said. “They bring in these life experiences that our guys just don’t have. They have a perspective of, ‘Don’t tell us how hard it is because it’s not hard, what you guys have here at college.’”
The talk was Geffroy’s idea. He asked Danowski if he could address the players. The 28-year-old midfielder from Chevy Chase, Maryland, played four years at Division III Haverford College, but his final two seasons were disrupted by the pandemic. After graduation, he served four years in the Marine Corps and ended up stationed about three hours from Duke at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
“Having served and having had a lot of family who served, it’s something that you can’t take for granted,” Geffroy said. “I didn’t serve in combat, but having been adjacent to a lot of guys who did and gave so much for the country, it’s just something that’s important and something that Coach Danowski and his whole staff prioritizes at the utmost. I want to emphasize to the guys how good it is that people still raise their right hand to serve for the country and go on the wall to defend us.”
Geffroy didn’t want to start a desk job after graduating from Haverford. He wanted to serve his country and maintain a high level of fitness, and he was drawn to the leadership opportunities of the Marines.
“The Marine Corps delivered,” he said. “It gives you a platoon at age 24. You’re in charge of 40 people and you learn a lot. You fumble and make mistakes, but you grow. That delivered on its promise. It was great.”
Collins enlisted in the Coast Guard after playing four years of lacrosse at Hanover High School in Massachusetts. He served four years, spending a year in Jacksonville, Florida, before training in Yorktown, Virginia, then finishing his contract in Hawaii.
“Duke lacrosse was always a dream for me, actually,” said Collins, a 27-year-old short-stick defensive midfielder. “Once I was out in Hawaii and I finished up my contract, I was playing in a men’s league, a club thing out in Hawaii. I played once a week, and I did my undergrad there because I fell in love with Hawaii. It’s a beautiful place.”
He continued to play lacrosse in the men’s league while completing his undergraduate studies at Hawaii Pacific University. He also joined the cross-country team as a senior. He had the highest GPA on the team and was its only veteran, which is not the case at Duke. Danowski welcomed him when he knocked on the lacrosse office door this summer.
“He just instantly made me feel comfortable,” Collins said. “He told me to tell him a little bit about myself. I told him some of my story and he said, ‘Yeah, come out. Let’s see how you do.’”
Collins and Geffroy are both in the two-year MBA program at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business. They also follow a long line of Duke lacrosse players who have served.
Jimmy Regan, a 2002 graduate who went on to become an Army Ranger, was killed in Iraq in February 2007, just two weeks before Danowski coached his first game at Duke.
Last year, Duke endowed the Sergeant James J. Regan Scholarship in his honor. Duke players’ helmets have long borne a small “JR 10” decal in his memory.
“There’s been so many guys before me who are so great,” Collins said. “We talk about Regan all the time. Every time there’s 10 seconds left on the clock, we yell that out. I’m just so happy to be a part of it.”
The program has had many players serve since Regan, whose service in particular inspired Casey Carroll. A 2007 All-American defenseman, Carroll returned after five years as an Army Ranger to play on Duke’s 2013 and 2014 NCAA championship teams. Army Rangers Joey Manown and Joe Hardison, Navy SEALs Greg DeLuca, Dan Fowler and Ethan Powley, Navy officers Charlie O’Connor and Seamus Connelly and Marines Chris Coady and Kevin Mayer are among former Duke lacrosse players who have served.
“There’s a lot of veterans that have a tremendous amount of humility,” Danowski said. “They serve because they have the calling. They don’t do it for the money. They put themselves in harm’s way. They train for the worst. And they’re under an incredible amount of stress for most of their careers.”
Collins and Geffroy are grateful to play lacrosse again after their service. Collins is living out an opportunity he didn’t have as an undergraduate.
“I’m just so grateful of everyone and how they opened their arms up and let us be a part of the program,” Collins said.
Geffroy is getting what amounts to closure on his playing career. He hadn’t considered finishing on his own terms until he saw the story of Matt Ganyard, who joined the Virginia football team in 2023 as a 34-year-old kicker after serving 10 years in the Marines. Like Geffroy, Ganyard was an MBA student, at UVA’s Darden School of Business.
Danowski worked with Fuqua administrators to get Geffroy on the roster — his only chance to play Division I lacrosse before his eligibility clock expired.
“Coach is just giving me one opportunity,” Geffroy said. “It’s been amazing.”
Roster spots come at more of a premium these days, with Division I teams limited to 48 players if their schools opted into the House settlement. But Danowski believes the veterans’ character, experience and passion for the game are worth the investment.
“They’re both going to be assets certainly on the field, but they’re also going to be incredibly valuable off the field,” Danowski said. “And also, [they bring] experience as MBA students, which none of our guys are and some of our guys aspire to be. They can talk the talk academically. They can bring a whole different social aspect to the team.”
The age gap has not been an issue. The younger players have been welcoming, and they’ve kept the two veterans in good spirits with jokes and antics that give them a break from the grind of graduate school.
“They’re just people like us,” Collins said. “We’ve had maybe a couple more spins around the earth, but at the end of the day, we all just have our own unique personalities. That’s what shows more than the age difference.”
Adjusting to the level of play and coaching has been a challenge for Geffroy and Collins. But both played in Duke’s fall scrimmages. Geffroy scored against UMBC and High Point off assists from James Gillis and Ian Dykes, respectively.
“I don’t think I will be a playmaker this year, but helping out on the field if guys get injured, plugging in as a scout team player,” Geffroy said. “I expect to help as much as I can on the field so if that’s my role, so be it. If my role is to sweep the locker room, that’ll be my job too. This is a gift. It’s borrowed time, so I’m lucky just to be around these guys.”
The feeling is mutual, especially today.
“The guys love them both,” Danowski said.
