As a player, Dave Pietramala is widely regarded as one of the best defensemen to ever play lacrosse. During his collegiate career at Johns Hopkins, Pietramala was twice honored as the nation’s top defenseman and in 1989 he won the Lt. Raymond J. Enners Award as the nation’s top overall player.
Pietramala also enjoyed a distinguished career with the U.S. Men’s National Team, helping the USA capture world championships in 1990 and 1994. He was named to the All-World Team at both championships and in 1990 became the first defenseman to be named the MVP of the championship tournament. He was inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2004.
Pietramala has said that two of the things that fueled his passion as a player were his competitive nature and his commitment to game preparation. Having the chance to test himself against an opponent and to vigorously prepare, both mentally and physically, for the battle always served as great motivation.
Now, as a national championship coach at the collegiate level for over 30 years, those same traits continue to fuel his passion.
“Coaching gave me an opportunity to continue to compete and be a part of a sport that I had developed a passion for,” Pietramala said. “It was a chance to be in a locker room and to prepare for an opponent and be a part of game day. Once you graduate from college, there really aren’t too many opportunities to address your competitive nature. Getting into coaching was a chance for me to be a part of something that was bigger than myself.”
Pietramala’s coaching journey has led him to the same mountaintops that he enjoyed as a player, with individual awards and recognition as well as team championships.
The newest accolade coming his way will be on June 4 in New York City, where Pietramala will be honored at the 5th annual USA Lacrosse Foundation Gala in appreciation for a lifetime of contribution to lacrosse.
After college, Pietramala’s path in coaching began as a high school and college assistant for eight seasons, with guidance along the way from Hall of Fame coaching legends like Don Zimmerman and Bill Tierney. Pietramala then landed his first head coaching position in 1998 at Cornell and quickly helped to restore the Big Red back into a top 10 program while earning USILA National Coach of the Year honors.
“Quite frankly, the impact that Coach Zimmerman and Coach Tierney had on my life was immeasurable,” Pietramala said. “I like to believe that while I’m a demanding coach, I’m also a fair coach, and I took that from Coach Zimmerman. He always set high standards, but he believed in the preparation that was needed to meet those standards. And from Coach Tierney, I learned very quickly that coaching is all about people and relationships. If you're going to be demanding of a young man, he needs to know you love him and that you care about him. He taught me that the relationships you develop really drive the bus.”
After three seasons at Cornell, Pietramala returned to his alma mater, Johns Hopkins, in 2001 and led the Blue Jays to 18 NCAA tournament appearances over the next 20 years, highlighted by national championships in 2005 and 2007. Pietramala became the all-time winningest coach at the storied program with a career record of 207-93.
“Ultimately, the joy in all this is the young men that you're working with,” Pietramala said. “That's what it's for. It's to help them become the best version of themselves and hopefully they have as good of an experience, if not a better experience, than I did.”
Aside from being on the practice field, Pietramala says that his favorite time of each day is the early morning and the evening.
“I'm a big believer that the greatest work a coach does is between 6 and 9 in the morning and 6 and 9 at night,” he said. “The morning is when no one is around and its quiet and you can get a lot of work done. And six to nine at night is when the players sometimes pop by the office to grab something, and you get that 15 or 20 minute conversation. You know, maybe it was a tough day, and you just ask, ‘What's going on? Is everything okay at home? How is your mom? What's going on with your girlfriend?’ Those are, to me, the most important moments as a coach. That's where the enjoyment comes from.”
Pietramala is currently in his third season as the defensive coordinator at North Carolina, where he coaches his sons, Dominic and Nicholas. He says he loves the environment and the fact that he coaches alongside his good friend, UNC head coach Joe Breschi.
Pietramala’s passion for coaching appears to be as strong as ever.
“I work at a wonderful place right now and I work for a great guy who was a friend prior to working for him,” Pietramala said. “And I love the routine of coaching. You get up, you do this, you do that. I like that. And of course, I love competition. I think I almost love competition more than I love lacrosse sometimes. But more than anything, it’s the people component of this. The people are the biggest part of it. If I had to stop tomorrow, that would be the thing I miss the most.”
The USA Lacrosse Foundation Gala
Launched in 2022, the USA Lacrosse Foundation Gala was created to honor the influential roles of players, coaches, fans and supporters in shaping the sport’s future – while also raising critical funds to advance initiatives that drive lacrosse’s continued growth. Over the first four years, the Gala has raised nearly $4 million to help support USA Lacrosse initiatives and programs. Each year, the USA Lacrosse Foundation Board of Directors selects honorees who have made outstanding contributions to the game of lacrosse. This year’s honorees are Dave Pietramala and Chris Sailer, the retired women’s lacrosse coach at Princeton.
