Where it's been, where it's going, and what coaches
need to know...
Interview With Coach Jack Emmer

Q: You are the winningest Lacrosse Coach in NCAA history! How long have you been involved in the game?

I played four years at Rutgers University and have been involved with the game for 41 years since then.

Before "retiring" three years ago, I had been a Head Coach in many different settings, including my first job for a JV team. I was a Varsity Head Coach, Head Coach on the collegiate level, Head Coach of the gold medal-winning Team USA. Then I retired, and I accepted a position as an Assistant JV Coach in my home town of Skaneateles, NY.

Do you know the lesson I learned after all those years of coaching (laughing)? That I'm not a very good Assistant Coach!

Q: Have there been any big changes in the game since you started coaching?

Sticks: When I first started playing, there was no plastic sticks. And that's been a big difference in the game. There were wooden sticks back then. Every stick felt a little different. The defensemen had long, wooden clubs for sticks. And, if you broke your shaft in those days, you had to get a new stick, because they were all one piece.

Positions: There was no specialization in the game. Back then, there were no defensive midfielders. Let's say all the middies were two-way players. The game was not very sophisticated. You didn't find any zone defense. Defensively, as a whole, it was all kind of a "match up." There were very few defensive "slide packages."