A new era of Men’s Lax

Bates was offered the position after former associate head coach David Metzbower declined the opportunity to succeed his old boss. Bates brought with him Drexel assistant coach Greg Raymond, who was the second assistant at Princeton for three years before leaving last year to work under Bates as the top assistant at Drexel.

Bates expressed excitement and enthusiasm about the opportunity to coach Princeton’s men’s lacrosse team.

“This is a great opportunity for me and my family,” he said in a statement. “The University speaks for itself in terms of the caliber of what Princeton stands for and what it does. The second piece of that is the tradition and history of the men’s lacrosse program. I’m honored to be taking the reins.”

A member of Dartmouth’s Class of 1990, Bates was an All-Ivy League attackman and midfielder. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and pursued a master’s degree in education from the University of North Carolina.

Bates began his coaching career by starting a lacrosse program in 1992 at the Archbishop Ryan High School in Philadelphia.

Bates is the 10th head coach in the history of Princeton’s men’s lacrosse program. He replaced Tierney, who led the Tigers to six national championships and 14 Ivy League titles during his 22 years at the helm of the program.

Bates led the Dragons to a 70-71 record during his 10 seasons as head coach and a 31-17 record in the last three years. He was an assistant coach at Drexel for five seasons before being promoted to head coach.

“We tried to create a culture of excellence and hold our student-athletes to a high standard in everything they do,” Bates said in a video interview posted on goprincetontigers.com. “Not only on the field in terms of preparation, skill development and those kinds of things, but also as citizens across campus, and I think that has served us well because our guys have bought into a bigger picture, and it’s allowed us to have a foundation of success.”

Bates was seen as a desirable candidate in part because of his relationship with Tierney and former associate head coach David Metzbower.

“Coach Tierney and Coach Metzbower are both mentors and friends to me, and I’ve admired what they’ve done here,” Bates said. “The track record of success is quite impressive.”

Bates also presumably received a seal of approval from a search committee that included Jon Hess ’98 and Mark Kovler ’09, both former first-team All-Americans as players under Tierney. Volunteer assistant Bryce Chase ’63, who has been with the program since 1970, was also involved in the process.

While it seemed for a time that Cornell assistant coach Ben DeLuca was the frontrunner for the job, he withdrew his name from consideration following the interview process. DeLuca is the defensive coordinator at Cornell, and it was under his direction that the Big Red held the Tigers to a season-low four goals in their NCAA quarterfinal match this past season.

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Bates’ hiring should make the upcoming Ivy League season one of the most intriguing in recent memory. With an Ivy League tournament — an event Tierney envisioned and pushed for — set to take place for the first time, the conference will be as competitive as it has ever been.

Princeton returns from last season its starting goalie, two starting defensemen, a starting midfielder and two starting attackmen, in addition to several key defensive midfielders and all of its faceoff men. But Cornell returns a team that came four seconds from a national championship, Brown returns a team that reached the NCAA tournament, and Harvard returns a team that made huge strides under first-year head coach John Tillman. The Ivy League is as strong as it has ever been, and Bates will be tested early and often.

Metzbower’s departure

Princeton offered the head coach position to Bates after Metzbower unexpectedly declined the offer to succeed his former boss.

“The reason I’m leaving is because of the fact that I’m always on the road and have very little time to spend with my family,” Metzbower said in a statement. “I feel like I’m at an important juncture of my life. When Bill decided to leave, it shocked me so much. It made me take stock in my life and take a look at what I was or wasn’t able to do for my family.”

“I don’t know my kids’ teachers,” he added. “I don’t know what they do. I’ve been to about three or four of their sporting events. I hear other people talk about time they spend with their family, and I get jealous. I feel like I was putting Princeton lacrosse in front of my family.”

Metzbower had been at Princeton for 20 seasons. He arrived in 1990, two years after Tierney came to Princeton, and was a vital part of the outstanding run for the men’s lacrosse team that included six national titles and 14 Ivy League championships.

Metzbower was seen as the top candidate to replace Tierney, and many in the lacrosse community assumed he was a shoo-in for the job, which may have deterred other candidates from applying for the position. Some have suggested that Metzbower’s departure is more of a shock than Tierney’s decision to leave for the University of Denver.

Director of Athletics Gary Walters ’67 said in a statement that the announcement was an “enormous surprise.”

“Sometimes when you are faced with a tough decision, it focuses your mind,” Walters said. “[Metzbower] was given the opportunity to succeed Bill and made the decision not to do so for personal and family reasons, and we respect him for that.”