Feb. 12, 2007

When I talked with Marymount second-year men's lacrosse coach Jon Reynolds on Monday, I was expecting to hear the usual plaudits used to maintain the glowing spirits of a rebuilding team. With the Salisbury game looming on Tuesday -- a contest the Saints lost 29-0 last spring -- I figured there might also be some talk of moral victories and baby steps.

Most coaches coming off a tough season, like Marymount's 5-11 campaign in '06, possess a sort of medicated optimism. The period before the first game of the season is a time of rebirth and renewed expectations, however far-fetched they may be.

This conversation was not what I expected. Not even close. You see, Jon Reynolds is an angry man.

It's an anger that has evolved from a combination of frustration, pride, and embarrassment. He's had enough of the excuses for the precipitous drop in the Saints' fortunes over the past half decade and he's not one to sugarcoat the reasons why.

The figurative fuse that repeatedly lights Reynolds' current combustible nature is his unwavering allegiance to Marymount. A 2000 graduate of the Arlington, Va., university, Reynolds was part of the last Saints team that held any kind of relevance on the D3 level. The teams of his era battled with Salisbury into the final quarter and beat the likes of Hampden-Sydney, St. Mary's and F&M. The Saints were a ranked squad back then.

"I could have gone to a lot of other schools, but I loved Marymount," he said.

But since Reynolds' graduation, he and the rest of the proud lacrosse alumni contingent have witnessed a train wreck.

"We were sitting there watching the coaches use Marymount as a stepping stone. The alums were going to the games and watching more lacrosse players in the stands than were on the field," said Reynolds, his voice rising. "Twenty-nine guys had quit or transferred."

Reynolds felt the two coaches before him used Marymount. They were not interested in keeping a proud program competitive, but rather using the backs of the Saints' players as a stepping stone, simultaneously pushing Marymount further into the quagmire. It is hard for his disdain not to seep into his words when rehashing those times.

Unlike a lot of disgruntled alums, Reynolds put his money, and livelihood, where his mouth is. Although he was a successful coach at Yorktown High School in Arlington, Reynolds got wind that the last coach was preparing to bolt after the '05 season, so he signed on as an assistant during the fall in order to get his name in the mix.

The Saints struggles were eating at him, and he could no longer sit idly by.

"Yes, I took it personally. Marymount used to train as hard as anyone. We weren't the best team, but we would fight it out with anyone -- we took that kind of attitude. If you were going to show up and play us, we were going to give you everything we had."

It wasn't easy for Reynolds to reinstall that attitude when he finally took over 18 months ago. The team's spirit was broken, and just 17 players showed up for the first day of fall ball. The new coach managed to coax back five players who had quit, and that group comprised the 22 guys in uniform when the Saints were belittled by Salisbury in the season-opener. It didn't help that Reynolds was just trying to focus on fundamentals and didn't even have time for a scouting report on the Gulls.

However, a funny thing happened after that 29-0 loss -- Marymount won four out of its next five games and was actually sitting at 4-2 midway through March. The team was playing with a confidence it didn't know it possessed. Alas, the limited numbers eventually caught up with the Saints, resulting in seven consecutive losses to end the season.

"We had no wheels," admitted Reynolds. "If you could run three midfield lines at us, we'd run out of gas by the fourth quarter."

By the completion of the trying '06 campaign, Reynolds put an important finishing touch on his initial plan to resurrect the program. Unlike his coaching predecessors, he made an effort to embrace the lacrosse alumni, even going so far as promising them Marymount would get better every year and make them proud. (The pledge is incorporated into the team's season preview). Reynolds said he receives a call every other day from an alum wishing him luck or offering assistance.

"There are 110 guys who are extremely interested in seeing us do well," said Reynolds proudly of the alumni support. "That's something that has always been there, but others never took advantage of it. Why wouldn't you tap that asset?"

Marymount is going to need every asset during Tuesday's game against Salisbury, the preseason No. 1 team in the country. The Saints will not, however, be searching for incentive. There is no question in Reynolds' mind that the Gulls ran up the score on his undermanned team last year, and he is fine with that. To each their own. He's not predicting a win, but with a full scouting report compliments of John Danowski, among others, the Saints should be better prepared.

"I feel a lot better about the situation than last year," said Reynolds.

Bolstering the optimism is the fact Marymount lost only one senior and brought in players to boost the roster number to 29. The entire defense returns, anchored by junior Alex Hammer, the best goalie in the CAC. Senior DJ Tayman, who missed all of last season while undergoing cancer treatments, returns after finishing second in scoring in '05.

Another boon to the Saints will be the natural tendency for opponents to assume a win against Reynolds' team before the game is played. "People are going to be looking right past us. I hope people are taking us easy, because they will be getting something different."

All of the positives heading into the season do not temper the fires burning in Reynolds. He's not even close to where he wants to be, but he's confident there is a new recruiting class ready to join him in bringing Marymount back to where they once were.

"I'm not here and just happy to have a college coaching position," said Reynolds, smoldering anger in his voice. "That's what I'm telling our recruits. I want to win now."

Contact Jac Coyne at jcoyne@uslacrosse.org.