Men's Lacrosse: Bates, Tigers look to future

The 2009 princeton men’s lacrosse season seemed so promising for so long. But it ended in a pile of a dust with a 6-4 loss to Cornell in the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament.

Then, coming off a 13-3 season that marked something of a renaissance for Princeton lacrosse, head coach Bill Tierney departed for the University of Denver. Tierney had won 14 Ivy League championships and six national titles in his 22 years at the helm of the men’s lacrosse program, rocketing the program into the national spotlight.

What happened after Tierney left was almost as surprising. Long-time associate head coach David Metzbower, whose late ’90s offenses were some of the greatest in the history of modern collegiate lacrosse, appeared to be Tierney’s heir apparent. But Metzbower chose to retire to spend more time with his family, and his departure left the Tigers with two vacancies to fill instead of one.

After an extensive interviewing process, Director of Athletics Gary Walters ’67 selected Chris Bates to succeed Tierney. A Dartmouth graduate, Bates had been the head coach at Drexel for the last 10 seasons, and in his last three years at the Philadelphia school, he amassed 31 wins. Princeton managed 30 in the same period.

Bates certainly has large shoes to fill with Tierney gone. But the new head coach has a simple plan.

“I have to wear Chris Bates’ shoes,” Bates said. “Obviously Coach Tierney casts a big shadow, and I’ve got much respect for him as a person and everything he’s accomplished as a coach, but ultimately I have to sort of become comfortable in my own shoes and do the things that I think can help this team make progress day in and day out. I can’t be anything I’m not.”

Bates also brought to Princeton his two top assistants from Drexel, Greg Raymond and Stephen Brundage. Raymond is a 2005 graduate of Johns Hopkins and a former second assistant at Princeton. He joined the Tigers’ staff immediately after graduating before leaving after the 2008 season to be Bates’ top assistant. Having worked with 26 of Princeton’s current players and having helped recruit 14 others, Raymond is familiar with the team. He will serve primarily as the team’s defensive coordinator.

Stephen Brundage will be the second assistant. He will continue to assist Bates with the offense, as he did at Drexel. And like Raymond, Brundage graduated in 2005 and joined Bates’ staff last season. He replaces former second assistant Kevin Unterstein, who followed Tierney to Denver.

The youth of the new coaching staff immediately contrasts with the old school feel of the previous staff.

“One thing I’ve noticed — not saying that it’s for better or for worse — but with the old coaches, they’d been here for so long, and they knew the drill pretty well,” junior attackman Jack McBride said. “They more or less had a routine and really felt that routine was the way to go, and most of the time it was. But with a new staff, one thing that’s been really good is communication between the players and the coaches. We’re able to talk to them about stuff that we have problems with, and they’re able to talk to us about stuff that they have problems with. That’s something a little new and so far it’s been real beneficial.”

Sophomore defenseman Chad Wiedmaier said the team’s familiarity with Raymond has helped.

“We still have the same goals,” Wiedmaier said. “It’s been really fun so far. It hasn’t felt like an entirely new coaching staff because a lot of us knew Coach Raymond before and so there’s some familiarity there. Fall ball practices have been much more intense than last year. A lot more intense but for less amount of time.”

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The staff has begun to put some changes in place that could end up giving the 2010 Tigers a somewhat different look than that of past teams. Defensively, the Tigers will stick to their bread and butter, but they could be slightly more aggressive and will look to push the ball in transition more often than before.

“I think defensively we’re all trying to do the same thing,” Bates said. “I think we’ll be pretty conservative. We may or may not extend out and put a little bit more pressure, but the backbone is there, and the nice part is the goalie position is solid.”

“Coach Raymond talked to our defense already when we had team meetings, and he really pounded in the idea that we’re going to be real aggressive and really physical,” Wiedmaier said. “And I don’t see why we couldn’t, because we’ve got so many good athletes.”

Offensively, Princeton has been known for a slowed offense. That might be about to change.

“We’d like to be up-tempo,” Bates said. “I think we’ll likely give our guys a little bit more freedom than they’ve had and a little bit more of a motion offensive set. I think we’d like to push the ball in transition and play a little bit more up-tempo ... I think our philosophy is maybe a little bit different in that regard, but time will tell.”

“So far it’s been real up-tempo,” McBride said. “We’ve been moving the ball real fast. We’ve been pressuring down on defense. Everyone’s been real excited to try this new look.”

Personnel-wise, Princeton was hit hard by graduation, losing three of its top four scorers, its starting defensive midfield and one of its defensive stalwarts. But the Tigers return a boatload of talent, particularly in the defense. Princeton will field two second-team All-Americans in McBride and Wiedmaier this season, and it also brings back honorable mention All-America sophomore goalie Tyler Fiorito.

“I’m impressed with the depth and the skill level,” Bates said. “The guys that received accolades last year, I think, are as billed and pretty talented. Those guys are kind of the staples. What we’re trying to find is that next wave of guys that are really going to fit into what we do. That’s really the challenge of the fall.”

“We have a bunch of kids with a ton of talent but might have just been a little bit behind, just because of age and experience,” McBride said. “It’s now their time to play. They’re taking it real seriously.”

McBride also explained he anticipates having a rotation of four or five attackmen, something the Tigers used very rarely last season.

Despite the accolades earned by many of the returning players, Bates has made clear that all of the starting positions are open, and that players must earn their spots.

“Everything’s open,” Bates said. “I said to the team it’s a blank slate. I could care less what you did in years past. I have a healthy respect for it, but you’ve got to earn it.”

The Tigers’ alumni game is this Saturday, and it will be in that game that the coaching staff will put together a depth chart for the first time.

“Guys are playing hard,” Bates explained. “I think they’re excited — not necessarily at the coaching change, but they’ve responded well to it. We’re trying to keep practices upbeat and fast, and I think guys appreciate that, and they’ve competed, which is where you want to start. They’ve been great. It’s a good bunch of guys, and we kind of can’t wait every day to get to practice.”