Is There a Place on the Sideline for Goalie Coaches?

Each season lacrosse becomes more and more specialized.  It started decades ago when teams decided to implement defensive midfield lines. Teams decided to utilize their athletic scrappy midfielders who perhaps lacked the stick skills and finesse that the first and second lines possess giving the offensive midfielders the chance to refresh on the sideline.  More recently, in the late 1990's and early 2000's, we started to see the emergence of the FOGO position. These players do not need to dodge, shoot, or play defense.  Their only job is to face off and get off the field.  It doesn't get more specialized than that.  As lacrosse evolves into a specialized game we find teams are hiring coaches to work with the specialized positions.  It is common to find a coach on the sideline of most college teams who specifically works with face off personnel.  But what about the oldest specialized position on the field?

Many teams do not feel the need to hire a goalie coach.  Sure every team has a coach who "works" with the goalies.  This coach will handle goalie warmups before every practice and game and give pointers like "stay in the crease" or "step to the ball" but does this person really know how to coach the position?  The goalie coach needs to have the ability to recognize when a goalies technique is improper and have the know how to correct it.  He must work with the goalies during practice to develop and maintain proper stance and positioning as well as administer drills that quicken feet, speed up reflexes, and improve hand-eye coordination.  This coach must also teach communication and leadership.  Goalies are too prone to bad habits for their technique and skills to go unchecked especially in todays game when shots are faster and more accurate than ever.  

Last years NCAA Champions, Loyola Greyhounds, started Jack Runkel between the pipes.  Runkel had one of the highest save percentages in Division I.  Loyola's head coach Charley Toomey, a former national champion goalie himself, is extremely qualified for goalie training.  Even with all of Runkel's success Coach Toomey could see that the coaching staff needed to dedicate more time to the goalie position than the head coach could commit. As a result Loyola added to their staff one of the most famous goalie coaches in the business, David Metzbower.  Before coming to Loyola Coach Metzbower trained 3 Ensign C. Markland Kelly Award winners (the award given to the top goalie in college lacrosse) and won 6 NCAA Championships while coaching at Princeton.  Another team that has had great success and values goalie coaching is Notre Dame.  For years the Irish have utilized the expertise of Brian Fisher who coached team USA member Scott Rodgers and Ensign C. Markland Kelly Award winners Joey Kemp and now senior John Kemp.  Last year John Kemp had the highest save percentage of all goalies in Division I.  Do you see a pattern?

Lacrosse is not as complicated as it may seem.  The team that scores the most goals (or gives up the least amount of goals) will win.  Having a goalie that is fundamentally sound and properly trained will result in fewer goals against which theoretically will equal more wins.  Not having a coach who has an expertise in goalie play would be the same as a football team not having a special teams coach.  If a program wishes to be excellent at every position then they must provide the resources for every position  player to develop and maintain a top level of performance.  So to answer the question posed in the title, yes there is a place for a goalie coach on the sideline.

Shots to the Sideline

On January 27, 2013 team USA faced off against defending NCAA Champions The Loyola Greyhounds during the Champion Challenge at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. The game was surprisingly competitive and came down to the final minutes of the fourth quarter. Normally blogs about goaltenders for these type of games would be about heroic saves or perfect outlet passes or goalies quarterbacking the defense but this year is a little different. Sure the game had all the fantastic goalie excitement of one-on-one saves and saves that we're turned into fast breaks, the goalie being the catalyst, but what stood out to me most was how the new rules affected the game.

During the first quarter, USA goalie John Galloway deflected a shot towards the sideline. Galloway being one of the quickest goalies playing today noticed Loyola star attackman Mike Sawyer running three quarter speed towards the errant shot. That's when Galloway decided to turn on the jets and attempt to beat Sawyer to the sideline. Even with the diving effort of Galloway, Sawyer was able earn possession. With the quick whistle Galloway had to sprint back to the crease but as we all know the ball travels quicker than any player. After 2 passes Greyhound Nikko Pontrello was able to score a mostly empty net goal. If this game was being played last season not only would Galloway have 5 seconds to get back to the crease but either team could have demanded a substitution horn.

Whether Galloway took a calculated risk or just forgot the new NCAA rule (not an international rule) during the heat of the battle, the lack of a 5 secound grace period will affect goalie play. During the chase for the sideline, Mike Sawyer turned his head a couple times to see where Galloway was in the race. Was last years Tewaaraton Award winner moving three quarter speed because he was baiting Galloway to continue running away from the crease knowing the quick whistle was coming? Not a bad strategy.  When it comes to taking risks outside the crease, goalies are taught "if your gonna go down, go down in flames" meaning if your going to go for the ball do everything you can to get it because whether you go halfway or all out, you are still going to be out of position so you might as well go all out.  That lesson may have to be abridged in the college game to "if your gonna go down, go down in flames unless your chasing a shot towards the sideline".

Will the Rule Change Affect the Goalie Position?

Every year the NCAA Rules Committee sits down and make attempts to fix the glitches that lacrosse’s evolution has brought about. In recent years many of the reactions from players and coaches are negative. I remember my freshman year of college at Hofstra University being told I had something like 10 seconds to clear the ball over my restraining line, then I had all the time in the world in between the restraining line and the midline, then once over the midline something like 10 seconds to get it in the offensive box. Then on top of that once the ball was out of your own box on a clear you couldn’t retreat back in with the ball (similar to a backcourt infraction in basketball), unless it was off a dead ball then the first pass could go back in the box and the 10 second count would start. It was a little confusing.

This past August the committee sat down in Indianapolis with its chair Jon Hind for four days. The end result was what Lacrosse Magazine called “Major rule changes”. These changes affect everything from stick regulations to substitutions. It seems that the biggest uproar came from the faceoff circle where many new rules are being implemented to prevent the sleight of hand tricks that these faceoff magicians use which would make David Blaine jealous. Lets be honest, in the faceoff circle, if you ain’t cheating you ain’t trying. But what about the goalies? It seems that the new rule changes try to give the offense the advantage of catching the goalie out of position. The goalie no longer has 5 seconds to get back in the crease off a dead ball (full summary of the rule changes affecting goalies can be found here at about 13:00 http://s3.amazonaws.com/ncaa/web_video/lacrosse/2013/MLAX_1212.html ). How will this affect the goalies role in clearing the ball or chasing errant shots? Will we see more open net goals or perhaps goalies getting pegged in the back during the all out sprint to the crease? Will teams try to force the goalie up field before applying heavy pressure with their ride? I cannot answer these questions with certainty. What I can tell you is every time a goalie chases a shot out of bounds, the further he goes the more risk he takes of being out of position especially shots that go out of bounds on the sideline.

I have heard a portion of the lacrosse community say the purpose of these rule changes is to have higher scoring games because thats what people want to see on television. More shots, more goals and lower save percentages. They are not 100% wrong but not 100% right. Yes, the new stalling regulations will prevent teams from running the Maryland style offense of slowing the game down by having long possessions. But with the new stick regulations offensive players will not be able to run through 2 maybe 3 defenseman before getting a shot off. The take-away defenseman was an endangered species. The ball would just not come out of the opponents stick. With the new rules teams will be forced to run actual offenses (I know, it’s a crazy concept). Teams will have to move the ball quickly and dodge to feed. With the new rules we will see much more transition and perhaps in a couple years the rejuvenation of defensive surgeons.

The rules of lacrosse have been evolving for as long as I have played and coached and they will continue to do so well after we have hung up our cleats and whistles. As players, coaches and fans, all we can do is evolve and adapt. People who claim to be purists believe the game is just fine and should not be touched. If these people were in charge the college game would have never evolved. We would still be facing off with the ball placed in the back of the pocket and Syracuse would still be running a 9 pole ride off a horn. Those who fight or ignore the change usually get left behind. In order to truly enjoy this sport one must embrace its change and adapt.