NFT: Thompson Lacrosse film #3 is now live

Thanks for posting these...

In comment 12972821 JCin332 said:

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Thanks for posting these...

No problem, glad people are enjoying them. The last film in the series goes live next thursday.

That kid is one quality kid and a tricky bastard.

I only follow UVA lacrosse very casually - never played the game, don't know much about it aside from the basic rules. Was letting Dom Starsia the right move? What happened to the program? How did we get so bad in such a short period of time?

In comment 12972952 Greg from LI said:

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I only follow UVA lacrosse very casually - never played the game, don't know much about it aside from the basic rules. Was letting Dom Starsia the right move? What happened to the program? How did we get so bad in such a short period of time?

I actually played against Starsia when he played for Brown and then Brine Lacrosse Club. Bright guy, excellent player who obviously knows the game. Questions that I have. Did he just get stale after all those years at UVA? Is he still relating to the "kids"? And did the issues with the Brattons reflect an issue with his coaching?

Bill Tierney is roughly his age and left Princeton for Denver when the program had slid a little (they were still in the tourney every year, just not winning it). He was revitalized out there. Maybe a change of scenery would be good for both.

Then you also likely played against my dad's best friend from childhood, who also played lacrosse for Brown in the early '70s.

I know you asked Giant Cuse, but I'm a UVA guy and was recruited to play there prior to Starsia's arrival. Never had the privilege to play, though.

I have heard from guys who played at UVA that it was an absolute mistake. Starsia led them through Will Barrow's suicide and the Huguely nightmare and he supported the players who subsequently created standards of conduct to prevent anything like these events from ever happening again.

The issue is recruiting. ACC Lacrosse is the most physical brand of lacrosse there is, but when Tuerney came to DU and MD and JHU left the ACC to go to Big10, the tides shifted. Recruiting has been more spread out over the past few years than ever before, and now the Big10, and teams like U of Denver, Marquette, etc are taking those tier 1 & 2 players away from the established programs. Big 10 teams see their Conference becoming the new powerhouse in the sport, and more players are headed to those schools from all over the nation.

I do know kids who've been recruited by UVA and other top programs. The word about UVA is that they have never openly assisted other programs in recruiting players they don't select. In other words, even when they don't plan on selecting a recruit, they wouldn't pass that player's info off to competing schools. It is certainly a competitive process, and that approach is within their right, but the work appears to have turned and it may be coming back to hurt them. I know for a fact DU feels that way about UVA, and they are enjoying huge success in recruiting wars these days. Not sure if you can pin this approach on Coach Starsia, but it might be the case. Guys I know who have played for him have loved the guy...

Go Giant Cuse!!! Spread the love...

In comment 12972983 Greg from LI said:

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Then you also likely played against my dad's best friend from childhood, who also played lacrosse for Brown in the early '70s.

Starsia was a year ahead of me, so if your Dad's friend played in the really early 70's ('71,'72) I wasn't there yet. If he stayed in New England and played club lacrosse I guarantee we met, 'cause after graduating I played club for the rest of the decade. Brown was loaded then, regularly making the NCAAs when it was an 8 team field.

Really enjoying the videos.

Being an SU alum I remember reading the really good article in the Alumni Magazine a while back. Linked below for those of you who would like more.
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Big lacrosse fan and Albany alum. Really enjoying these. Great job!

...and really showcases their humility. The most exciting players in the NCAAs over the last several years, and they are as genuine as your work depicts. Thank you. I am sharing these links with all my U15 players...

Assuming Joe was in college the same years as my dad, his last year at Brown would have been 1973. I have no idea if he played club lacrosse in NE afterwards, but probably not as he unfortunately developed agoraphobia after his college days. It got bad enough that he couldn't leave Long Island at all. He does fine around town in Massapequa, but I don't think he's ventured out of the area in many years. He gets debilitating panic attacks when he's in places where he feels uncomfortable or unfamiliar.



Pete-thanks for the info. An interesting dynamic I've noticed is that most hardcore UVA fans felt it was overdue to let Dom go, while the lax alumni apparently are furious about it. His old players have a lot of loyalty for him, and I've seen a lot of bitterness towards the alums from fans.

If he was Class of '73 he was 2 years ahead of me and I would have had little contact in college. I was strictly a bench warmer as a sophomore. But I competed against some Brown grads at the club level he would be very familiar with. A summer box league with Bob Scalise, who was an All American at Brown and was the HC of Harvard at the time. He eventually became Athletic Director. He was a year or two ahead of Joe. Also, both in box and in USCLA field lax against my nemesis, Jeff Wagner. He would have been in the same class as Joe. I had a solid face off record at the club level, good for about 60%. But I got SCHOOLED every time I went against Jeff. Not only was his initial move slightly quicker than mine, but he was 6'3" around 210 and I was 5'10" and 170. No way I could recover. He was also a mensch when both teams went out drinking after the games.

This made me curious, so after a little Google I'm linking Jeff's write up from the Brown Athletics Hall of Fame

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On a whim I looked it up on Brown lax's website, Joe D was actually a year older than my dad, class of 72. He actually was a team captain the year after Bob Scalise was. It's amazing what you can find on the internet!
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