The Brown, White and Gold Standard
10/14/2019 5:51:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse, Student Athlete, Features, Intellectual Development
By: Justin Lafleur, Lehigh Sports Communications
When Lehigh head men's lacrosse coach Kevin Cassese interviewed for his current position 13 years ago, he had a very specific vision for the program which he shared with Dean of Athletics Joe Sterrett.
Thirteen years later, the program has measured up extremely well towards that vision by staying true to itself, pushing itself to the limit, and creating and cultivating a healthy and successful culture. As a result, the Mountain Hawks have put themselves squarely on the college lacrosse map as one of the top programs in the country.
That is where they intend to stay.
Cassese is happy with the progress that's been made, but he is not content. He wants more.
"The vision for the program has served as the road map from day one," said Cassese. "That vision has centered around not only wins and championships, although I will admit that naturally, they are both big pieces, but it has also centered around steady individual and team growth towards success in the big three areas – Academics, Athletics and Social Life.
"What you see today, 13 years in, is certainly a well-developed version of our culture, but I still believe there's room for growth as we work daily to further develop it and continue to strive towards our competitive aspirations of competing for championships annually at the Patriot League and national levels."
The Mountain Hawks aim to compete for greatness off the field as well. They want to do so by recruiting student-athletes who fit their culture and share their vision, then pour into them and develop them while they're here.
"There are a lot of talented players in the lacrosse recruiting landscape today," said Cassese. "We are certainly looking for talented players, but we are also looking for the right players for us. We're looking for great people, first and foremost, of the highest character. Our sport and our trade is lacrosse, but we are 100 percent in the 'people business.' We want great young people to come join our program and we want to develop them into great men.
"When they leave here after four years, we want to make sure they're ready to take on the world and become leaders in whatever industry or avenue they decide to pursue," Cassese continued. "While they are here, we want them to maximize the student-athlete experience and we want them to build great chemistry with their teammates. We want them to work hard, with and for one another. We want them to develop a brotherhood which goes beyond the lacrosse field.
"We believe if they do this, the scoreboard will take care of itself. The theory is that great people lead to great chemistry, and great chemistry leads to great culture and great culture leads to great success."
Where is the Mountain Hawks' culture today? Let's take a closer look…
Background
In 2011, Lehigh advanced to the Patriot League Tournament for the first time since 2006, and the Mountain Hawks haven't missed the postseason since. Their nine straight tournament berths marks the longest active streak in the league.
After the success of 2011, the program's true breakthrough came in 2012. Lehigh finished the season 14-3, winning its first-ever Patriot League Tournament Championship and advancing to its first NCAA Tournament. Ranked as high as No. 4 in the national polls, the Mountain Hawks were the No. 7 national seed and hosted eventual finalist Maryland, dropping a one-goal heartbreaker.
The following season (2013), Lehigh won its second straight league title and NCAA Tournament bid.
Since that point, the Mountain Hawks have reached Patriot League Championship Games in 2014, 2018 and 2019, making it five title game appearances in eight years.
"It's not a straight line to the top of the mountain," he said. "You're going to hit a couple plateaus, you'll have to take a few stops and some detours. Eventually, your goal is to get to the top of the mountain. That's the climb we're on. We feel like it's steady progress every single year."
Signs of Progress
Despite recently falling a little short of a Patriot League Championship, there are plenty of signs of progress. A singular championship is extremely important, but the Mountain Hawks are seeing signs of sustainable success.
One of those signs is simply the name Lehigh Lacrosse or in business terms, the brand recognition. It feels like the name brings with it more weight every single year and today, current, former and future players are consistently included among the best the game has to offer.
One example is sophomore Cole Kirst, who this past summer was named to the United States Under-19 Training Team. Also this summer, recent graduate Craig Chick (the NCAA all-time leader in caused turnovers) became Lehigh's first-ever Major League Lacrosse All-Star. He was also one of just two rookies up for the MLL's Most Valuable Player Award.
"I'm really proud of the accomplishments of all our guys," said Cassese. "Some have earned more distinguished achievements in certain spots. You look at guys like Cole Kirst and Craig Chick. You see Dan Taylor '15 win his second NLL Championship in the indoor professional league. You see other guys who are having success at the highest level our sport has to offer, and that's something we don't take lightly. We're really proud of that and we feel like there's more to come. Those guys have just been the pioneers."
Pioneers, On and Off the Field
Like the Mountain Hawks are raising the bar on the field, the same is happening off the field. Take the classroom as one example. Last spring, the Mountain Hawks eclipsed a 3.0 team GPA for a sixth straight semester, which isn't easy to do at a prestigious institution like Lehigh and with a roster around 50 student-athletes.
"I'm extremely proud of the academic achievements of the team," said Cassese. "It's a big roster with a lot of engineers and many different types of majors, which you don't necessarily see on a lot of college lacrosse teams in the country.
"You also look at what they do for internships over the summers and the jobs they end up landing when they leave here. It's impressive," Cassese continued. "A lot of guys are traveling the world and taking part in different programs and developing their leadership skills, but also helping others. It's a really, really neat thing to see.
"A big part of what we do is helping take really good kids and developing them into really good men."
Cassese loves winning championships, but developing Lehigh Lacrosse men is what keeps him coming back every day.
"I believe we're more focused on the process than the end result, and we're going to continue to stay focused on that process," he said. "I'm proud of what Lehigh Lacrosse represents."
Reload, Not Rebuild
By staying focused on the process, the Lehigh men's lacrosse program was able to fight through several significant injuries last season to earn a No. 2 seed and make a run to the Patriot League Championship Game. The Mountain Hawks lost preseason All-League attackman Andrew Pettit and defenseman Eddie Bouhall for the year, while eventual All-League honorees Lucas Spence and Christian McHugh were injured for key nonleague games in February as well.
Last season also showed off the Mountain Hawks' impressive depth of talent. Last year, Lehigh was ranked as a top 10 incoming freshman class in the nation by Inside Lacrosse while this year, the Mountain Hawks feature the No. 44 (Christian Mule'), No. 53 (John Sidorski) and No. 64 incomers (Justin Tiernan), as ranked by IL.
All of Lehigh's incomers are drawn to Lehigh for what it represents, and leading the way is a top-notch coaching staff.
A recent inductee into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame, Cassese is leading the way.
Behind the Hall of Famer is a young, up-and-coming coaching staff in 2019.
"We've had a lot of great coaches along the way," said Cassese. "To get to the point where we are now, they've all put tremendous sweat equity into this program. I am really grateful for that, and many of them have gone on to become head coaches or coordinators around the country and I'm proud of that, happy for them.
"Fast forward to this year and I'm really excited about the coaching staff we've put together," Cassese continued. "Will Scudder is entering year seven for us as our associate head coach. Nobody bleeds Brown and White more than Coach Scudder. He's a Lehigh alum (class of 2011) and has been a part of this program for as long as me. His has just had a little different experience. I lean on him heavily and he's a tremendous asset to our program."
The Mountain Hawks also have two new members of their staff in 2019, John Crawley and Jack Deragon.
"John comes in as a young offensive coordinator, still playing at the professional level in the PLL," said Cassese. "He's very much involved and around the top players and coaches in our sport. He had experience playing in the NCAA Final Four at Johns Hopkins and coached at Notre Dame for a year, getting experience in the ACC. He was at Colgate for a year running their offense, so he knows the Patriot League. I can tell already he's going to be an absolute star in this profession.
"You couple that with Jack, who comes in as a goalie coach and someone who played goaltender at an All-American level at Ithaca," Cassese continued. "He's coached for two years, coaching the defense and the goalies at Mount St. Mary. He comes with great experience and I believe having someone who has played goaltender at a high level, he'll be able to help develop the talent here."
With all the different talents each coach brings, there's a common denominator.
"The overall energy of the staff is at an all-time high," said Cassese. "It is a hungry group of coaches, and I believe that bleeds through to the ball players and everyone who is involved with our team."
Anyone who knows the Lehigh Lacrosse program knows the Mountain Hawks feed off energy. Heading into the 2020 season, to no one's surprise, the Mountain Hawks have a chip on their shoulder – especially after being so close to a Patriot League Championship last year.
"The approach coming into every year is we're never satisfied and we're always on the attack," said Cassese. "We have a very clear vision, specific priorities, and core values. The acronym we use for our core values is PSDT - P standing for passion, S for selflessness, D for discipline and T for toughness. These are the core values we seek in the recruiting process. These are the core values of the people who are typically drawn to our program, and these are the core values we aim to develop in the people once they're here.
"We do all of this while always operating with a chip on our shoulder. There are a lot of people out there in the lacrosse world who like to say we can't.
"So, we find great pleasure in proving to those people that we can."
The Lehigh Lacrosse program has already proven a lot, but they will always be striving to prove they can do more. That mindset will help them compete, on and off the field this year, and that mindset will be carried by every individual player once they graduate.
"While our student-athletes are here, we want them to maximize the experience and we want them to compete in everything they do," said Cassese. "When we release them to the world, we want them to bring that same level of compete and those same core values they fine-tuned for four years and we want them be great citizens, great leaders and high achievers in whatever they decide to pursue."
When Lehigh head men's lacrosse coach Kevin Cassese interviewed for his current position 13 years ago, he had a very specific vision for the program which he shared with Dean of Athletics Joe Sterrett.
Thirteen years later, the program has measured up extremely well towards that vision by staying true to itself, pushing itself to the limit, and creating and cultivating a healthy and successful culture. As a result, the Mountain Hawks have put themselves squarely on the college lacrosse map as one of the top programs in the country.
That is where they intend to stay.
Cassese is happy with the progress that's been made, but he is not content. He wants more.
"The vision for the program has served as the road map from day one," said Cassese. "That vision has centered around not only wins and championships, although I will admit that naturally, they are both big pieces, but it has also centered around steady individual and team growth towards success in the big three areas – Academics, Athletics and Social Life.
"What you see today, 13 years in, is certainly a well-developed version of our culture, but I still believe there's room for growth as we work daily to further develop it and continue to strive towards our competitive aspirations of competing for championships annually at the Patriot League and national levels."
The Mountain Hawks aim to compete for greatness off the field as well. They want to do so by recruiting student-athletes who fit their culture and share their vision, then pour into them and develop them while they're here.
"There are a lot of talented players in the lacrosse recruiting landscape today," said Cassese. "We are certainly looking for talented players, but we are also looking for the right players for us. We're looking for great people, first and foremost, of the highest character. Our sport and our trade is lacrosse, but we are 100 percent in the 'people business.' We want great young people to come join our program and we want to develop them into great men.
"When they leave here after four years, we want to make sure they're ready to take on the world and become leaders in whatever industry or avenue they decide to pursue," Cassese continued. "While they are here, we want them to maximize the student-athlete experience and we want them to build great chemistry with their teammates. We want them to work hard, with and for one another. We want them to develop a brotherhood which goes beyond the lacrosse field.
"We believe if they do this, the scoreboard will take care of itself. The theory is that great people lead to great chemistry, and great chemistry leads to great culture and great culture leads to great success."
Where is the Mountain Hawks' culture today? Let's take a closer look…
Background
In 2011, Lehigh advanced to the Patriot League Tournament for the first time since 2006, and the Mountain Hawks haven't missed the postseason since. Their nine straight tournament berths marks the longest active streak in the league.
After the success of 2011, the program's true breakthrough came in 2012. Lehigh finished the season 14-3, winning its first-ever Patriot League Tournament Championship and advancing to its first NCAA Tournament. Ranked as high as No. 4 in the national polls, the Mountain Hawks were the No. 7 national seed and hosted eventual finalist Maryland, dropping a one-goal heartbreaker.
The following season (2013), Lehigh won its second straight league title and NCAA Tournament bid.
Since that point, the Mountain Hawks have reached Patriot League Championship Games in 2014, 2018 and 2019, making it five title game appearances in eight years.
Winner, winner! Lucas Spence scores the game winner in overtime last night as @LehighLacrosse upsets Navy to advance to the @PL_MLAX title game. #NCAALAXpic.twitter.com/JbL2Wtzv3Z
— NCAA Lacrosse (@NCAALAX) April 28, 2018
The Mountain Hawks beat Boston U. 10-9 and are headed back to the @PL_MLAX title game! Lehigh faces Army Sunday at 12 p.m. with an NCAA Tournament berth on the line. pic.twitter.com/EOGvq0ElBG
— Lehigh Lacrosse (@LehighLacrosse) May 4, 2019
"It's not a straight line to the top of the mountain," he said. "You're going to hit a couple plateaus, you'll have to take a few stops and some detours. Eventually, your goal is to get to the top of the mountain. That's the climb we're on. We feel like it's steady progress every single year."
Signs of Progress
Despite recently falling a little short of a Patriot League Championship, there are plenty of signs of progress. A singular championship is extremely important, but the Mountain Hawks are seeing signs of sustainable success.
One of those signs is simply the name Lehigh Lacrosse or in business terms, the brand recognition. It feels like the name brings with it more weight every single year and today, current, former and future players are consistently included among the best the game has to offer.
One example is sophomore Cole Kirst, who this past summer was named to the United States Under-19 Training Team. Also this summer, recent graduate Craig Chick (the NCAA all-time leader in caused turnovers) became Lehigh's first-ever Major League Lacrosse All-Star. He was also one of just two rookies up for the MLL's Most Valuable Player Award.
HISTORY MADE! Craig Chick of the @RattlersLax has been named a 2019 @MLL_Lacrosse All-Star, @LehighLacrosse's first-ever alum named to the MLL All-Star Team. Congratulations, Craig! https://t.co/GIuwHt00Tn
— Lehigh Sports (@LehighSports) July 16, 2019
"I'm really proud of the accomplishments of all our guys," said Cassese. "Some have earned more distinguished achievements in certain spots. You look at guys like Cole Kirst and Craig Chick. You see Dan Taylor '15 win his second NLL Championship in the indoor professional league. You see other guys who are having success at the highest level our sport has to offer, and that's something we don't take lightly. We're really proud of that and we feel like there's more to come. Those guys have just been the pioneers."
We've got a one-goal game! Cole Kirst with the diving finish💥 | Team Blue leads Team White, 6-5, in Q4 of the @USAMLax U19 Blue-White Game | Watch FREE on https://t.co/oJkK8CQ2nw & the LSN app pic.twitter.com/xBhzOeOZCj
— Lax Sports Network (@LaxSportsNet) July 14, 2019
Pioneers, On and Off the Field
Like the Mountain Hawks are raising the bar on the field, the same is happening off the field. Take the classroom as one example. Last spring, the Mountain Hawks eclipsed a 3.0 team GPA for a sixth straight semester, which isn't easy to do at a prestigious institution like Lehigh and with a roster around 50 student-athletes.
Extremely proud to announce that our team posted a 3.19 cumulative GPA in the spring semester, the best semester GPA for our program in 15 years! 📓📝📚 pic.twitter.com/PAmKvuTXS3
— Lehigh Lacrosse (@LehighLacrosse) June 18, 2019
"I'm extremely proud of the academic achievements of the team," said Cassese. "It's a big roster with a lot of engineers and many different types of majors, which you don't necessarily see on a lot of college lacrosse teams in the country.
"You also look at what they do for internships over the summers and the jobs they end up landing when they leave here. It's impressive," Cassese continued. "A lot of guys are traveling the world and taking part in different programs and developing their leadership skills, but also helping others. It's a really, really neat thing to see.
"A big part of what we do is helping take really good kids and developing them into really good men."
Cassese loves winning championships, but developing Lehigh Lacrosse men is what keeps him coming back every day.
"I believe we're more focused on the process than the end result, and we're going to continue to stay focused on that process," he said. "I'm proud of what Lehigh Lacrosse represents."
Reload, Not Rebuild
By staying focused on the process, the Lehigh men's lacrosse program was able to fight through several significant injuries last season to earn a No. 2 seed and make a run to the Patriot League Championship Game. The Mountain Hawks lost preseason All-League attackman Andrew Pettit and defenseman Eddie Bouhall for the year, while eventual All-League honorees Lucas Spence and Christian McHugh were injured for key nonleague games in February as well.
Last season also showed off the Mountain Hawks' impressive depth of talent. Last year, Lehigh was ranked as a top 10 incoming freshman class in the nation by Inside Lacrosse while this year, the Mountain Hawks feature the No. 44 (Christian Mule'), No. 53 (John Sidorski) and No. 64 incomers (Justin Tiernan), as ranked by IL.
All of Lehigh's incomers are drawn to Lehigh for what it represents, and leading the way is a top-notch coaching staff.
A recent inductee into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame, Cassese is leading the way.
"Kevin Cassese is without question the greatest leader on the #lacrosse field I have ever been around," said former @DukeMLAX coach Mike Pressler on Duke's first-ever @Tewaaraton finalist, a 2018 National Lacrosse Hall of Fame inductee.
— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) September 24, 2018
📖: https://t.co/vLAC1Vdr4k pic.twitter.com/q3x2vOwCF1
Behind the Hall of Famer is a young, up-and-coming coaching staff in 2019.
"We've had a lot of great coaches along the way," said Cassese. "To get to the point where we are now, they've all put tremendous sweat equity into this program. I am really grateful for that, and many of them have gone on to become head coaches or coordinators around the country and I'm proud of that, happy for them.
"Fast forward to this year and I'm really excited about the coaching staff we've put together," Cassese continued. "Will Scudder is entering year seven for us as our associate head coach. Nobody bleeds Brown and White more than Coach Scudder. He's a Lehigh alum (class of 2011) and has been a part of this program for as long as me. His has just had a little different experience. I lean on him heavily and he's a tremendous asset to our program."
The Mountain Hawks also have two new members of their staff in 2019, John Crawley and Jack Deragon.
"John comes in as a young offensive coordinator, still playing at the professional level in the PLL," said Cassese. "He's very much involved and around the top players and coaches in our sport. He had experience playing in the NCAA Final Four at Johns Hopkins and coached at Notre Dame for a year, getting experience in the ACC. He was at Colgate for a year running their offense, so he knows the Patriot League. I can tell already he's going to be an absolute star in this profession.
"You couple that with Jack, who comes in as a goalie coach and someone who played goaltender at an All-American level at Ithaca," Cassese continued. "He's coached for two years, coaching the defense and the goalies at Mount St. Mary. He comes with great experience and I believe having someone who has played goaltender at a high level, he'll be able to help develop the talent here."
With all the different talents each coach brings, there's a common denominator.
"The overall energy of the staff is at an all-time high," said Cassese. "It is a hungry group of coaches, and I believe that bleeds through to the ball players and everyone who is involved with our team."
Grateful to have the hardest-working coaches in the country, a group that truly cares about our student-athletes' growth into becoming Lehigh Lacrosse men - on and off the field.
— Lehigh Lacrosse (@LehighLacrosse) October 6, 2019
On #NationalCoachesDay, our players wrote this message to the staff. pic.twitter.com/k7O1Sz4AQO
Anyone who knows the Lehigh Lacrosse program knows the Mountain Hawks feed off energy. Heading into the 2020 season, to no one's surprise, the Mountain Hawks have a chip on their shoulder – especially after being so close to a Patriot League Championship last year.
"The approach coming into every year is we're never satisfied and we're always on the attack," said Cassese. "We have a very clear vision, specific priorities, and core values. The acronym we use for our core values is PSDT - P standing for passion, S for selflessness, D for discipline and T for toughness. These are the core values we seek in the recruiting process. These are the core values of the people who are typically drawn to our program, and these are the core values we aim to develop in the people once they're here.
"We do all of this while always operating with a chip on our shoulder. There are a lot of people out there in the lacrosse world who like to say we can't.
"So, we find great pleasure in proving to those people that we can."
The Lehigh Lacrosse program has already proven a lot, but they will always be striving to prove they can do more. That mindset will help them compete, on and off the field this year, and that mindset will be carried by every individual player once they graduate.
"While our student-athletes are here, we want them to maximize the experience and we want them to compete in everything they do," said Cassese. "When we release them to the world, we want them to bring that same level of compete and those same core values they fine-tuned for four years and we want them be great citizens, great leaders and high achievers in whatever they decide to pursue."
Players Mentioned
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