July 23, 2008

by Matt DaSilva, Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff

As first reported by LMO last month, Fairfield University offered men's lacrosse coach Ted Spencer, who has spent the last nine months battling neck cancer, a new position within the athletic department. Spencer accepted last week, retiring as a coach after 13 years.

Where does that leave the Stags? Well, just about the same position in which Harvard found itself this time a year ago.

When Scott Anderson became an assistant AD at Harvard after 20 years as its men's lacrosse coach in early August 2007, he voided the helm of a program many considered to be on the cusp. Former Navy assistant John Tillman, whose name always seemed to surface in such conversations, ultimately validated those rumors when he left Annapolis to inherit the Crimson the following month.

Now, Spencer has vacated a position many in the Division I men's lacrosse community consider equally as desirable.

When Fairfield left the MAAC, a conference it dominated, after the 1999 season, it shed the scholarship shackles to begin a transition into what is now a fully funded program. The Stags joined the GWLL in 2001, beating out heavyweights such as Notre Dame and Ohio State for the conference's automatic bid in '02 and '05, before joining the more geographically friendly ECAC in 2006.

As a result of shifting alliances and an ECAC-GWLL merger, Fairfield joins a new power conference in 2010. Moreover, the university wants men's lacrosse to be its premier spring sport, not to mention the Stags have a new friend in the front office.

"We have 12.6 scholarships. Sure it's an appealing job, because it's a program that now has clout," said Spencer, who was elevated to associate AD. "How many schools not in the top 10 can say they've been to the NCAA tournament twice in the last six years?"

As for his replacement, Spencer added, "I'd look to guide that person in the right direction if the university would allow me to oversee it."

It would behoove Fairfield to name that replacement sooner than later.

The uncertainty surrounding Spencer's health put the Stags in a tough spot in 2008. After starting 3-0, they lost nine of their last 10 games, including a 12-3 loss March 15 at Harvard to Tillman's neophytes.

"They've been to the NCAA playoffs. There's talent right in their backyard. It seems like the ideal setting. Kids go there and love it, and you can certainly recruit nationally," Tillman recently intimated about the Fairfield opening. "They play in a great conference. There are certain advantages and strengths all of us have on our campuses. I think a lot of people look for that."

But the Crimson is a prime example of why the Stags should act quickly.

Tillman inherited a team in mid-September minus a staff, faceoff specialist and its top scorer. He had to hire assistants on the fly and implement a new, motion offense with just 12 fall practices, followed by a comparatively late Feb. 1 start, as per Ivy League mandates for spring sports.

Not to mention he had just spent an entire summer recruiting under a different hat.

Harvard went 6-8 (1-5 Ivy League) in 2008, with five losses by two or fewer goals.

"It seems like it was a tornado the whole year. If someone said the cupboard was full, I'd like to see what they were looking at," Tillman said. "We were trying to find our way all year."

While Fairfield does not operate under the same restrictions as Harvard, the timing of Spencer's decision leaves the Stags in a similarly precarious position.

According to several sources, Andy Towers, the head assistant coach at Dartmouth, has expressed interest in the Fairfield job.

Towers was Spencer's top assistant for two years (2002-03) and is a Fairfield County native who played for New Canaan High School before becoming an All-American faceoff specialist at Brown. With roots in the community and a strong recruiting reputation, he could emerge despite a perceived blemish: he left Hartford after one winless season (0-14) as a head coach there in 2004.

Towers did not return phone messages Wednesday.

Other candidates whose names could surface are Navy assistant and former Butler head coach Stan Ross, who was among finalists for the Ohio State position, as well as Johns Hopkins associate head coach Bill Dwan and Georgetown assistant Matt Rienzo, both strong defensive minds who are considered rising stars in the profession.

Venturing more into the speculative realm would be head coaches Bill Wilson and Jim Nagle of Dartmouth and Colgate, respectively, the other finalists for the Ohio State job.

Some sources say Yale head coach Andy Shay might also be tempted to make a move on Fairfield, a half hour's drive from New Haven, and out of the Ivy League.

And just for one out of left field: what about Mike Waldvogel?

The Hall of Fame head coach's unceremonious departure from Yale just days before the 2003 season, which to this day remains largely unsubstantiated by either party, resurfaced as an assistant for Fairfield's women's lacrosse team in 2008 under interim coach Beth Loffredo. Those Stags went 17-2 and won a MAAC regular season title.

Waldvogel amassed a 151-129 record in 23 seasons at Yale, including a 16-2 mark and NCAA final four appearance in 1990, when he was the Division I Coach of the Year.

And though Fairfield hired Waldvogel as its permanent head coach for women's lacrosse in June, who's to say he or the school would not consider a lateral move to the better-resourced men's program?

Whichever way Fairfield goes, time is of the essence.

Movers and Shakers

In 2006, 25 Division I men's and women's lacrosse programs underwent changes at the helm. Extenuating circumstances, such as the Duke men's lacrosse scandal and Cindy Timchal's shocking departure from Maryland to Navy, contributed to the upheaval.

It was one of the most turbulent offseasons on record.

Two years later, the gears on the coaching carousel are grinding again. As of Wednesday, 14 Division I women's programs and five Division I men's programs will have different head coaches in 2009 than in 2008, turnover rates of 16.5 and 8.8 percent, respectively.

Those percentages could increase, with six Division I women's vacancies - including two for new programs Rhode Island and South Carolina in 2010 - and two Division I men's vacancies remaining.

The 2008 coaching carousel, at a glance:

Division I Women

Connecticut - Out: Megan Cersosimo; In: Angela McMahon (UMass assistant)
Davidson - Out: Betsy Economou; In: Kimberly Wayne (Columbia assistant)
Fairfield - Out: Beth Loffredo; In: Mike Waldvogel (Fairfield assistant)
George Mason - Out: Amy Bokker (to Stanford); In: Lauren Rywak (from Iona)
Iona - Out: Lauren Rywak (to George Mason); In (vacant)
Lafayette - Out: Kathy Frick; In: Allison Fisher (LaSalle assistant)
La Salle - Out: Julie Weiss; In: Candace Taglianetti (from Notre Dame-Ohio)
Long Island - Out: Regan Teti; In: (vacant)
Lehigh - Out: Liz Brode Ota; In: Jill Redfern (Lehigh assistant)
Loyola - Out: Kerri O'Day; In: Jen Adams (Maryland assistant)
Siena - Out: Jake McHerron; In: (vacant)
Stanford - Out: Jen Kasper/Adam Norton; In: Amy Bokker (from George Mason)
Wagner - Out: Karen Rife; In: (vacant)
Yale - Out: Laura Field; In: Anne Phillips (from Franklin and Marshall)

Division I Men

Hobart - Out: Matt Kerwick; In: T.W. Johnson (Hobart assistant)
North Carolina - Out: John Haus; In: Joe Breschi (from Ohio State)
Ohio State - Out: Joe Breschi (to North Carolina); In: Nick Myers (Ohio State assistant)
Fairfield - Out: Ted Spencer; In: (vacant)
Marist - Out: James Simpson; In: (vacant)