Navy Lacrosse (NAVYLAX)

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02/23/2010

131 Wins and Counting !!

This article was published on USNA.com.

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Under Head Coach Richie Meade, the Navy men's lacrosse program has solidified its notable standing in the Division I landscape. The Midshipmen, who finished an incredible run in 2004 by losing to Syracuse in the NCAA title game, are one of only four teams to have played in the past six NCAA tournaments. Writer Gary Lambrecht recently spoke with Meade, who is entering his 16th season with a 131-80 record at Navy, where he teaches physical education, believes deeply in the academy's mission and has lost no passion for his favorite game.

Q: With the fall season behind you and the season in full swing, what are your impressions of this year's team?

A: Conditioning is not one of our issues. I like our leadership and our athletic ability. I could tell the players to get up at four in the morning and run for eight hours and swim four miles. No problem. Now, if I tell them to shoot the ball in the goal, we would probably hit the goalie in the face. We don't have physical problems. Stick work, shooting, ground balls - that's what we're focused on. We've got to get better at the game.

Q: Not that you need extra motivation to prepare for another season, but how much does that 14-5 loss to Duke in the tournament's first round last May still affect you?

A: No matter what the ending is, if you don't win the national championship, there's emptiness. There's still a bad taste in my mouth about that Duke game. They scored the game's first ten goals on us-they beat us up. Our fall practices were probably the most intense we've ever had.

Q: You've dominated Army over the years by winning 14 of the last 15 games against them, which is obviously important around here. What sticks out more in your mind, all those wins or that 9-6 loss at West Point in 2008?

A: There are probably three or four losses in my life I'll never get over, and one of them is losing at Army two years ago. Walking out of the locker room and warming up I knew we were in trouble. We didn't have that precision we usually have. We were off-we were mentally tired. I still think about that loss. It's never going away.

Q: By winning a school-record of 15 games before losing the national championship game to Syracuse in 2004, did you raise expectations at Navy to an unrealistic level?

A: I think it elevated expectations, and that's good. That says something about where your program is. What a lot of people don't remember about that year is how everything went right. The defending national champions (Virginia) didn't make the tournament. A young, unseeded Princeton team upset a really good Maryland team in the quarterfinals, which we didn't have to face. First-year goalie Matt Russell played great down the stretch. We had nine seniors, and they were a great class. We were healthy.

Q: Which is the bigger challenge, coaching lacrosse at the Naval Academy or raising three daughters?

A: Raising kids. The reality of coaching is that you're always behind as a father. I'm very sensitive to the girls (Jillian, 16, Shannon Grace, 10, Cassidy, 8), in terms of what they don't get. They don't get to go to the beach for three weeks in the summer. They get to pick up lacrosse balls at my summer camps. They don't get to do things on the weekends in the spring. My wife doesn't get enough help from me.

Q: How gratifying is it to see John Tillman's success as Harvard's head coach after the 12 years he spent here as an assistant coach?

A: John did an unbelievable job here, and all John has done up there is be us in terms of focus, philosophy and intensity level. That's the way he coaches and recruits. Serious lacrosse players are looking at Harvard as an option now because of him.

Q: You've built up quite a tenure here as head coach. Did you think you'd last this long in one place?

A: It doesn't seem like it's been that long. At the end of each year, you ask yourself -are you tired? Have you lost any enthusiasm. I'm not overly talented, but my one really good trait is I'm pretty determined. I feel we can still accomplish great things, and I believe in this place. Some of the guys I've coached are becoming captains and commanders. I'm the captain of this ship right now, and there's going to be end to that. All I want is to be able to look back and say I was a pretty good captain. And I'm not looking back yet. I want to win a national championship.

Go Navy !!

Buddy Garland '84