July 11, 2007
by Clare Lochary, Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff
Lehigh has the building blocks of an elite lacrosse school - a solid academic reputation, a recruiting-friendly location outside of Philadelphia and equidistant from Long Island and Baltimore, a good facilities base and membership in the up-and-coming Patriot League. The Mountain Hawks just needed a person to leverage all that potential into a leading program.
Enter Kevin Cassese.
"With our aspirations for the program, we do want to compete at a very high level. Where we are with our program right now, it would be great if we could identify someone who could experientially identify what it's like to be a top-10 team," said Lehigh athletic director Joe Sterrett.
Cassese, a former Duke assistant and player, was named Lehigh's head coach July 5. He succeeds Chris Wakely, who stepped down from the position due to health concerns. Cassese garnered All-America honors in 2002 and 2003 as a player and helped to guide his former team to two NCAA finals in the past three years as an assistant coach. He briefly served as interim head coach for the Blue Devils during summer 2006, but Lehigh marks his first real opportunity to lead a program of his own.
"Most important was the people," said Cassese, when asked what attracted him to the school. "The athletic department, the athletic director, just what I heard about the players and the people who worked with the players - they're terrific people and they have a great vision for where they want to take Lehigh athletics."
Geography also played a part. Cassese's wife, the former Katie Granson, is a Bethlehem, Pa., native and the two have close ties to the area.
"A lot of things sort of lined up," said Cassese. "Obviously I love Duke and I love Duke lacrosse. It's tough to leave a place that you love. As an alum, I want to see Duke continue to do well, but at the same time professionally, this is the next step for my career."
Cassese has his work cut out for him. The Mountain Hawks finished 4-9 last season and went 2-4 in the Patriot League, finishing fifth in a seven-team conference. While his preparation and thoughtfulness made him stand out for the Lehigh athletic department, the coach himself takes a workmanlike approach to the job.
"Coaching, it's one of those things where you don't want to overthink yourself," said Cassese. "Show passion, show a tremendous work ethic, and you're going to have a team that enjoys playing together and enjoys playing for the coach. I don't think there's any secret to that. You're going to build a culture of success."
While building a culture of success may take a bit of time, Cassese can already pat himself on the back for beating out some tough competition in the interview process. Sterrett was blown away by the quality of the candidates.
"I've been doing this 19 years, in lacrosse and in sports like lacrosse. This is as good a crop of upcoming coaches as I've seen in virtually any sport," said Sterrett. "I think it says a lot about the sport of lacrosse and where it's going."
Yale elevates assistant to top spot
Former Yale assistant coach Laura Field recently got a promotion. She is, officially, the interim Joel E. Smilow Class of 1954 Head Coach of Women's Lacrosse.
"It's the longest title in the world," Field said with a laugh.
Lofty-sounding job descriptions aside, the 2000 Princeton grad and three-time All-Ivy League player is ready to get to work. Field spent the previous seven seasons as an assistant under former Yale coach Amanda O'Leary, who left after 14 seasons to start a new women's lacrosse program at the University of Florida.
Yale's standard procedure is to designate promoted assistants as "interim" for one season before committing to a longer contract.
"I'm fine with proving myself for the year," she said. Field has a good base to start with - the Bulldogs finished 13-4 last season and had a tough out in the first round of the NCAA tournament against Maryland.
"I'm an Ivy League kid and I believe in the Ivy League tradition - cultivating the balance between academics and athletics," Field said. "The ability to teach lacrosse is something I believe in. I recruit a lot on personality. When a team's dog tired at the end of a tournament, I look for the kid who's picking her teammate up."
Stick Checks
2007 NCAA Division II women's lacrosse championship coach Karen MacCrate Henning has stepped down from C.W. Post to become the head coach at Division III Colby College...Oneonta State alum Dan Mahar has been named head coach of his former team. The Division III position was vacated by Stuart Moan, who heads to Susquehanna University next season...Former Richmond standout Allison Nuzzi will rejoin the Spiders as an assistant coach. The 2006 graduate was a two-time captain and four-year starter at Richmond.
"The Loch-Down" is a weekly column on college lacrosse by LMO's Clare Lochary. Check back on Wednesdays for more offseason news and features. Send comments to clochary@uslacrosse.org.
