OMG LOOK AT THE DATE. ALL 1s!
Coachin’
Last night was Michigan’s second of four off-season coaching clinics, and there was a much better turnout this time around:
A small sampling of the clinic attendance
At the last clinic, there were about 15-20 coaches in attendance; this time I stopped counting at 67 (and a few more filtered in). Topics covered:
- Recruiting (head coach John Paul)
- Shooting (volunteer assistant Keith Euker)
- Man-up offense (assistant coach Judd Lattimore)
- Man-down defense (assistant coach Ken Broschart)
Again, it was a helpful experience – and I’m not a coach, just an interested observer – and I’d recommend it to any coaches in the state who want to help their programs reach the next level.
I may have scooped myself above, but the Wolverines have added former Missouri (MCLA) coach Keith Euker to the staff as a volunteer assistant. Like Lattimore (and Broschart), he brings a pedigree to the game for those who use the silly argument that John Paul can’t have success at the Division-1 level because he didn’t play varsity ball in college:
A native of Baltimore, Md., Euker played for Coach Dave Cottle at Loyola (Md.) University from 1995-98. As a senior, he helped the Greyhounds to a No. 1 national ranking and an appearance in the NCAA Final Four.
You may remember Euker from a minor internet war when Missouri’s team fired him earlier this fall. Of note from one of those posts (the one linked with “internet”):
We’ve had the pleasure of having Coach Euker on staff at our summer camp for the past two years. He’s a very good coach, and an even better person. I don’t know what happened at Missouri, but I have no doubt he’ll end up in another coaching position helping young men develop on and off the field. – John Paul, Michigan
Interesting.
Holland Christian has hired Andy Pawlkowski as their head boys coach. There are still a few openings in the state, including what seems to be a newly-available job at Orchard Lake St. Mary’s.
Recruiting
Check out the Signing Day post from yesterday for a rundown of expected commitments. It sounds like a few prospects have already signed, judging by local articles and/or tweets, but let’s wait for the press releases from the schools confirming their early signing classes.
Michigan’s coaches were among those taking in the Quaker LaxFest showcase event outside Philly last weekend.
Detroit
The Detroit women will be changing conference affiliations for the 2013 season, joining the Atlantic Sun Conference, along with current NLC conference-mates Jacksonville, Longwood, and Howard.
The Titan men spent a day working with Habitat for Humanity. They seem to do a lot of charity work in the offseason, which pays major dividends in the communities they’re helping, as well as from a team-building perspective.
MCLA
I missed this in the last Lax Links post, I believe, but MCLAFan checked in with Davenport a few weeks ago.
General Things
The Michigan Chapter of US Lacrosse is holding their Hall of Fame Celebration this Saturday. Click through for more details.
Mike Costello examines (in the Examiner, of all places!) what is wrong with lacrosse in the state of Michigan. Some of it (” Parents who lack backbone”) comes off as a little complain-y, but he makes salient points, as well:
Back in 2003, Brother Rice went to Maryland and beat Landon Prep out of Washington, D.C. The whole lacrosse community was talking about it. Michigan high school lacrosse was something. Enter the MHSAA in 2005 and that momentum came to a screeching halt. No more trips to Maryland and Michigan teams were prohibited from even playing in a tournament if a school from a non-neighboring state was playing.
I talked about a lot of these things in my summer series about the State of the State (part 2, part 3, part 4).
If you missed former Michigan player Pat Stansik‘s Inside Lacrosse posts, you can see the full lineup of them here.
As always, I appreciate Coach Costello’s articles, however, I disagree with him on a few key points. First, I don’t see a need for more than two (official) divisions. Even prior to 2005, there were only two actual state championships. The third tier was a developmental tournament “championship”, not a state championship. For better or worse, as a state sanctioned sport, the MHSAA isn’t in the business of running developmental divisions, much less awarding “beginner championships”. To do so would harm the credibility of the sport as well as the state governing organization.
Second, as ‘bad’ as MLive can be at times; the criticisms of certain “high profile” individuals/programs is (unfortunately) often more than just opinion. I hate to say it, but in today’s PC culture (having to take business/political/professional/legal considerations into account), a good number of the “behind-the-scenes” posts are things that need to be pointed out publicly, but can’t be said in “polite society”. Let’s be honest. Everyone isn’t out to help student-athletes and to grow the sport. For some, it’s all about money and power. And some people will do anything to protect (and/or increase) their piece of the pie.
Third, I’m torn about the travel rule. The lacrosse side of me thinks it absolutely must be lifted, or at the very least adjusted. However, another side of me looks at the abuses that take place when there aren’t travel restrictions (i.e. during Lebron’s era, his high school team traveled all over the country on a private jet).
Finally, I’ll disagree with Tim for a bit. There are at least a few lacrosse programs where the parents are notorious for being out of control. It happens in all sports, especially with certain societal standards going down the tubes, so naturally lacrosse isn’t exempt.
I am just happy Coach Euker is only a volunteer, that’s all I will say on that topic.
Whew. Good thing that’s all you will say on the topic. Because heaven forbid you should make some cryptic statement and actually explain yourself.
You did see he was fired from Missouri, right? There are many reasons, not to mention I know many MCLA players and coaches, not to mention NCAA players and coaches all the way up through the professional level, with that said, I live in Columbia, Missouri. Wait, that’s right where he coached, so I know exactly why he was fired, needless to say, it doesn’t need to be explained until matters are settled here soon.
1. He was fired weeks ago and has been at Michigan for awhile now. So there are still matters to be settled? There is some controversy here? The way I read it is the players at Missouri didn’t mesh with the way he wanted to run the team…they fired him…Michigan picked him up because they feel like he does fit what they want. End of story.
2. Why mention anything at all unless you have something to contribute? Your statements seem to indicate that he shouldn’t be a paid coach.
3. OK. You know a lot of people. You’re a lacrosse “insider” from Columbia, Missouri. Congratulations. That obviously qualifies you to know exactly what is going on.
Andy, I have been recruited, even now, by top NCAA programs, I know a lot more than you. Not to mention Euker even tried to pick me up. It wasn’t just the “meshing,” it was much more than that, you can try to pry it by making comments about something you know NOTHING about. The only reason they picked him up his the fact he is a volunteer, meaning he volunteered, you know the term? He was a coach over the past two summers and came to JP about it, and don’t you think it’s very odd that after Mizzou was having issues, then winning and bring in good recruits, they all of a sudden release the coach when he was recognized for many elements he did? Many underlying issues only a person like you would never know. I am more than an “insider,” and why I won’t contribute is because certain things need to not be said until it all comes out, and I am just pissed he is there and hope it doesn’t affect the program if and when it ever does.
I take pride in all the hard work I have put in across the nation with many people I have worked with, while you call me an insider, I do a hell of a lot more than that, more than work for Lacrosse Playground, more than help with My Lacrosse Video Game, more than help grow the game, more than spread the word about new products, more than an individual who was contacted by IL about working for them, I am someone who cares about the sport, can you say the same? Absolutely not, so don’t ever act condescending towards people like me just because I have great pride towards U of M and my sport.
Wow
Wow indeed. I’m don’t even know where to begin deconstructing those claims, so I’ll just point out a few key aspects of the situation instead.
1. The school year had already begun when Coach Euker left Mizzou, so it’s highly unlikely that he could have gotten another collegiate coaching job.
2. You might want to take a look at some of the names of coaches who are currently and/or have previously been a volunteer assistant. Point being, after a year, they generally go on to become the first or second assistant at the program where they volunteered or another program.
3. Michigan certainly needed another coach. Just about every D1 program has more than 3 coaches these days, and just about every D1 program has a volunteer assistant. Furthermore, he was already known to the Michigan program and its head coach.
4. No, it’s not odd that a program that was having problems would end up having a problem like this.
Get over yourself. Nothing more pathetic than an internet tough guy doing the “do you know who I am” in some blog’s comments.
You don’t like Euker we get it.
Tim,
Can you clarify something please? You mention that JP covered recruiting. In what aspect?
Was this how to get your HS players recruited by college coaches?
Recruiting players to the sport?
Recruiting top talent from other high schools (insert Rice joke here)?
Recruiting talented coaches?
Recruiting players at the youth level?
All of the above? None of the above?
Primarily for high school coaches to understand how they can help kids go through the recruiting process. Deciding what level of play they can reach (D-1, D-3, MCLA, etc.), whether they need to attend recruiting events, whether they should give up other sports for lacrosse year-round (no), if recruiting services are worthwhile, how to interact with high school coaches, etc.