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S2 E3. Reunited & It Feels So Good. Coaches Lars Tiffany and Kevin Cassese, Part III.

March 06, 2024 Jay McMahon, Ron Dalgliesh, & Steve Gresalfi/Lars Tiffany, Kevin Casses Season 2 Episode 3
S2 E3. Reunited & It Feels So Good. Coaches Lars Tiffany and Kevin Cassese, Part III.
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Get The Lax Scoop
S2 E3. Reunited & It Feels So Good. Coaches Lars Tiffany and Kevin Cassese, Part III.
Mar 06, 2024 Season 2 Episode 3
Jay McMahon, Ron Dalgliesh, & Steve Gresalfi/Lars Tiffany, Kevin Casses

In this third and final installment of our interview series these two lacrosse legends discuss how their twenty year relationship, which started back in 2004 when the two coached together at Stony Brook, has culminated in Kevin Cassese electing to join head coach Lars Tiffany as the associate head coach at the University of Virginia for the 2024 season and beyond.

Coach Cassese discusses one of the main elements that attracted him to the opportunity at UVA; coaching elite players. He references his experience playing with coaching elite players such as Paul Rabil and the Powell brothers for Team USA. He describes what it has been like to work with the elite players of this perennial powerhouse that is UVA lacrosse, detailing his first sit down meeting with Connor Shellenberger and how impressed he was when the three X First Team All American’s first words were “How do I get better Coach?”

Coach Tiffany reviews some of the similarities and some of the differences between Coach Sean Kirwan-the former Virginia offensive coordinator who is now a head coach at Dartmouth-and Coach Kevin Cassese’s approach to offense and offensive tempo. 

Tiffany also shares some humorous yet awkward moments when Cassese, who after being a successful head coach at Lehigh for sixteen years and is accustomed to calling the shots, has done just that at team meetings and practices more than a few times. 

All and all this is another exciting interview that gives us a real behind the scenes view of the way two great coaches work together for the success of their team. 

If you enjoy this episode and want to hear more, you can support the show by joining our Patreon page, checking out our online store (links listed below) , subscribing, telling a friend, and writing a review… we’d really appreciate it!




NEW BOOK!
Inside the Recruiting Game: Insights From College Lacrosse Coaches
-available for FREE on the JML Training App at:
https://jay-mcmahon-lacrosse.passion.io/checkout/79608
-And available on Amazon.com as an Ebook and paperback

Link to the FREE JML Mini Course-now with a FREE defense course taught by Lars Tiffany and a FREE Mini goalie course taught by Kip Turner- on our own App: https://jay-mcmahon-lacrosse.passion.io/checkout/79608

Check out our Patreon page with the link below:
patreon.com/GetTheLaxScoop
And take a look at our new virtual storefront here:
jml-online-store.company.site

Link to Video of the Week:
Master The 5 Best Dodges From the Wing!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_7LDOcQQ6Q&t=88s

Blazing Shots... on the Run!
https://youtu.be/XiptPlM63oQ

Check us out...

On YouTube @jaymcmahonlax23
On Instagram @jaymcmahonlax23
On Facebook @: facebook.com/jmcmahonlax23. Page name: Jay McMahon Lacrosse

SuccessHotline with Dr. Rob Gilbert on Ironclad & Apple Podcasts

Brian Cain Daily Dominator on Apple Podcasts

Jon Gordon Positive U. Podcast on Spotify

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Carol Dweck, PhD on Amazon.

Show Notes Transcript

In this third and final installment of our interview series these two lacrosse legends discuss how their twenty year relationship, which started back in 2004 when the two coached together at Stony Brook, has culminated in Kevin Cassese electing to join head coach Lars Tiffany as the associate head coach at the University of Virginia for the 2024 season and beyond.

Coach Cassese discusses one of the main elements that attracted him to the opportunity at UVA; coaching elite players. He references his experience playing with coaching elite players such as Paul Rabil and the Powell brothers for Team USA. He describes what it has been like to work with the elite players of this perennial powerhouse that is UVA lacrosse, detailing his first sit down meeting with Connor Shellenberger and how impressed he was when the three X First Team All American’s first words were “How do I get better Coach?”

Coach Tiffany reviews some of the similarities and some of the differences between Coach Sean Kirwan-the former Virginia offensive coordinator who is now a head coach at Dartmouth-and Coach Kevin Cassese’s approach to offense and offensive tempo. 

Tiffany also shares some humorous yet awkward moments when Cassese, who after being a successful head coach at Lehigh for sixteen years and is accustomed to calling the shots, has done just that at team meetings and practices more than a few times. 

All and all this is another exciting interview that gives us a real behind the scenes view of the way two great coaches work together for the success of their team. 

If you enjoy this episode and want to hear more, you can support the show by joining our Patreon page, checking out our online store (links listed below) , subscribing, telling a friend, and writing a review… we’d really appreciate it!




NEW BOOK!
Inside the Recruiting Game: Insights From College Lacrosse Coaches
-available for FREE on the JML Training App at:
https://jay-mcmahon-lacrosse.passion.io/checkout/79608
-And available on Amazon.com as an Ebook and paperback

Link to the FREE JML Mini Course-now with a FREE defense course taught by Lars Tiffany and a FREE Mini goalie course taught by Kip Turner- on our own App: https://jay-mcmahon-lacrosse.passion.io/checkout/79608

Check out our Patreon page with the link below:
patreon.com/GetTheLaxScoop
And take a look at our new virtual storefront here:
jml-online-store.company.site

Link to Video of the Week:
Master The 5 Best Dodges From the Wing!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_7LDOcQQ6Q&t=88s

Blazing Shots... on the Run!
https://youtu.be/XiptPlM63oQ

Check us out...

On YouTube @jaymcmahonlax23
On Instagram @jaymcmahonlax23
On Facebook @: facebook.com/jmcmahonlax23. Page name: Jay McMahon Lacrosse

SuccessHotline with Dr. Rob Gilbert on Ironclad & Apple Podcasts

Brian Cain Daily Dominator on Apple Podcasts

Jon Gordon Positive U. Podcast on Spotify

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Carol Dweck, PhD on Amazon.

Jay:

It's time for get the La Scoop, a podcast bringing you all the people and stuff you should know. In the game of lacrosse, we take LAX seriously, but ourselves, not so much. Join hosts, big Dog and Jaybird, and the biggest names in the game. Brought to you by Jay McMahon lacrosse. That's J M L Skills, mindset, and LAX IQ training. Ron Doish, the big dog, was a collegiate football and lacrosse player at Brown. He was also an assistant lacrosse coach and the executive director of the sports found. and Jay McMahon, the Jaybird, a three time All-American Midfielder Brown. He was a captain of the US Junior National team and is the founder of J M L. And joining us in the studio, Steve gfi, who's collegiate lacrosse career statistics equals one goal against Dartmouth. Brought to you by Jay McMahon lacrosse. That's J M L Skills, mindset, and LAX IQ training. Helping the next generation cross players. Get to the next level.

Hello, everyone. And welcome back. We are super excited to have you here. For part three of our interview series with legendary coaches, Lars, Tiffany and Kevin Cassie's of the university of Virginia. You will find our interview in progress as coach Tiffany is describing how they're budding bromance, blossomed. mean, I remember that first year, you know, Stony Brook's lacrosse stadium, Laval stadium there. They've got these it only seats about 9, 000. So we're not talking about a a power of five football conference. venue, but we would, we were running up and down every aisle up all the way to the top and then just going around the whole little, the whole stadium and just pushing each other, pushing each other, trying to see who's going to quit first, you know, and nobody was going to quit. It was just, it was just like this kindred spirit of someone who was a better looking and a better athlete than me, but other than that, it was just this, it was, there was a lot of similarities and you're, you're not going to get any argument here, Lars. A lot of people would have left you at the stadium stairs. And so we just like, Hey, Kevin, I got a problem here. Kevin's, you know, he's he's helped me out with players like Kevin. Cause, and what, what's been great about him is I, you know, I had some really great, some really, really good lacrosse players at Stony Brooker Brown. You know, some great lacrosse players, especially at the end, you know, when I was a Brown, Bill Molloy, Larkin Kemp, Alec Tulla, Jack Kelly, and a bunch of others, I can't say right now, but I, but then I get to hear, and it's like, now all of a sudden you have a great player who's always been a great player. They were highly touted. They were recruited by everybody. And fortunately for me, they chose Virginia, whether Dom recruited him or I recruited him. And then sometimes trying to get through these relationships and. You know, I've, I've leaned on Kevin for a couple of the guys. Like Kevin, I, what I, he is like, well explain what's going on and, Mm-Hmm. he's so strong with his personal relationship skills and he's dealt with elite athletes, both as a player and as a coach. Mm-Hmm. through team USA and, and Duke that he was able to give me such great insight and advice to help me be a better mentor and coach. to my elite player who's struggling with me or something else. And so I've just always leaned on Kevin and, you know spending time in it with his family. And, and so when the opportunity came up and Sean Kerwin's looked at a few jobs. And he turned down the Colgate job about five years ago. He looked at the Harvard job, Jerry Byrne obviously got that job, and there has been a few times, and you know, just a little twinkle in my eye, and just sort of a little fantasizing. You had mentioned this to me probably about five years ago, and I was like, really? He's a head coach. Would he come back? And you're like, believe me, he'd come back. I was like, alright. Just a little bit of fantasizing, and And then boy, this past summer, summer, 2023, when, when Sean jumped on the opportunity to be head coach at Dartmouth and, you know, my first couple of feel outs to Kevin, I'd get off the phone and talk to Tara, my wife. I'm like, I think we got a shot. I think we've got a realistic shot here. He's he's. The way he's talking about it, this is a dream come true. He's interested. He's interested. So, so Kevin, let's get your perspective on this. I mean, you know, there are only so many division one head coaching jobs and you had one of them at a very young age and I think had been. Widely respected for the success you had brought to Lehigh. Not a, not exactly a well known lacrosse Mecca in the college world. And, you know, you had made that program incredibly successful. And so, you know, given, given your resume as a player and a coach, not hard to believe that you would have other head coaching opportunities. And, and as you said, you know, off camera, when we, when we started, this is an interesting part. A next chapter in your journey. So, talk, walk us through this decision making. You know, you have Lars, you've got this relationship, and it's one thing, right, to maybe joke about it while you're out on the recruiting trail, quite another thing to move your family and to make this step. So what went into your thought process? Well, the number one thing is, you know, relationships and relationships are, are everything to me. And so the relationship that Lars and I developed in that, that one year at Stony Brook, and then how that continued as he described for the next 19 to 20 years you know, there there's. very short list of people that I that, that I would go to and turn to and lean on and, and Lars was there he was there for me at every turn. And, you know, all the challenges that that I went through whether it was, you know, that, that year. After I left him and went back to Duke and went through that, I would, I would talk to him at times. I would talk to him almost daily to get his advice and then, you know, becoming a young head coach and, and asking advice there. And, and it just continued as we went through it. So relationships are really important to me. And when I find relationships that are. Really meaningful to me. I don't want to let go of him and I don't want to keep continuing to lean into him. And that's what I've done with Lars for my entire career. And and I get the chance to do that now every single day when, when I go into the office. And he's someone that I trust someone that I can confide in. And, you know, it's not just about lacrosse with him. It's about everything everything that's going on in my life. You know, and these are things that are really. Really important to me. And life changing. So the relationship aspect of it has been huge. The decision to take the opportunity to come to Virginia. I'm very proud of what I was able to accomplish at Lehigh and what we were all able to accomplish at Lehigh. And I wouldn't change any of that. I got the job as we talked about when I was young and I'm very proud of it. 16 years there. I'll be honest. I thought I'd be there for five years and try and turn that place around and then move on to the next one. But to the credit of the administrators at Lehigh and the alumni there, they were able to step up and be able to show some success you know, with with, with very little support and and then they were able to provide a little bit more and to help us to become even more competitive. And I guess at some point for me after 16 years, I said, you know, I kind of, kind of got the itch again to. to dive back into the highest level of our sport, and that's no disrespect to Lehigh. It's just the facts is you know, the opportunity to go and, and, and, and coach on Memorial Day weekend and championship weekend. That's something that I, it was an itch I needed to scratch. And then when you. Combine that with the fact that I get to go and do it with one of my closest friends in the world. It's to me, it was, you never know when that opportunity might present itself again and would it be the right time? And this just seemed like if I was going to make a jump, it had to be now. And so very very excited to, to be here now, obviously, and to be with Lars and to coach these men that's there, they're incredible And you know, we're, we're three weeks away from, from an opening game here. And to me, it feels like, you know, 19 years ago, and I was getting ready for the first game coaching and. I'm thrilled and excited and anxious and all those things. So it's it's been everything that I've hoped it would be. And I can't wait to, to get going for real. That's awesome. And no, no offensive talent there that you've got to work with. Must be, must be I mean, but I was going to ask that, you know, everybody, everybody knows people who don't know what it is to be a head coach, have no idea. Of the non sport stuff that eats up your day, right? When really what you love to do is work with young people and coach the game. So, on the one hand, has it been really fun to let Lars do all that stuff and go work with these? No, but I mean, seriously, like, it must be coming back to what you love to do in some ways. I mean, getting to be on the field and coach that group of offensive players? Yeah. Yeah. I, I'll be honest, at times it it feels weird'cause for, you know, for 16 years, I, I feel like I, I've been juggling a million things and you know, at times I'm, I'm in the office and I'm like, I feel like I should be doing something here. I should be watching film and and meeting with the guys and, and developing schemes and all that. And that, that's been really fun to, to be able to jump back into that. And, you know, I, I just, I say this with, you mentioned the offensive talent. That we have here. And yeah, no doubt there's extremely talented individuals. A passion of mine has always been to, to work with high level elite players and to be able to coach them and help them to get that much better. That, that's been a passion of mine forever. And, you know, I, I've always looked at it this way and, and my time spent, whe whether it's in the, the professional league or team USA as a player or as a coach being around the best of the best guys like the Powell Brothers or Paul Rabel was a teammate of mine in, in 2010. And the list goes on and on. But the one common thread amongst all of those. Incredible players was the fact that they wanted to be coached that they were starving for coaching. And I feel like a lot of people when they get around players like that, when they have the opportunity to coach players like that there's a little bit of a stigma that I got to back away and I, I, I just got to let them, let them be and do their own thing and they'll figure it out. And the fact is, is that those guys actually really want to be coached. And I found that to absolutely ring true. My first meeting with Conor Schellenberger, I sat down with him. And the first question he asked me and he didn't need it. We haven't spoken at all. And first question he asked me is coach, how do I get better? Like I'm talking about one of the guys, he's maybe one of the best to ever do it. Yeah, he's starving for coaching. And to me that that's, that's exciting. And that's something I'm really passionate about. And that's one of. A lot of guys on the UVA roster that feel that way. So it's been really fun and refreshing to be able to dive in. So Jay, I'm kind of on a roll here and I'm just going to keep going. Lars Sean Kerwin was not exactly like, you know, chop liver as an offensive coach, and you would have had a ton of coaching stability. Over a long period of time with your staff. So as great as Kevin is, it's still new on your staff and one of those core positions for the first time in a long time. So what do you see Kevin doing? That's already, you can tell like, Oh my God, this is going to make us so much better. And how are the dynamics? On the staff, you know, cause it's also, he has been a head coach, right? And so we can all pretend that that's an easy transition because you know each other, but there's still some different dynamics going on there. So what's, what's it been like? Boy, Ron gets on a roll. Just watch out. Yeah, I love it. I love it. Good question. There, there are some different dynamics. Like for example, if we're doing six, two, six, one end. You know, I'm the head coach. I wanna blow the whistle to start the 66 Kevin's old name whistle I'm like, Hey, hey, hey, 16 years of doing it, maybe I should just let him happy you. Yeah, you're 60. Therein lies the secret of being a great head coach. Hey, I want to blow the whistle. Can I do something around here besides write up job descriptions and you know, discipline issues and all that, you know? That's, that's so funny because I, I didn't even think twice about it. It's great. I know it's been fun going through it. There's definitely a couple of moments, you know, like, Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah. You know, this is, you know, my family tree is pretty straight, you know, there's some coaches who have some incredible family trees, you know you think like, like college football, Nick Saban, how many guys were there only a couple of years and they branched off and so many branched off and, you know, it's kind of lucky to have that straight tree with, you know, Kip Turner and Sean Kerwin with me for nine and now years total and then combined and then Kip, he's on his 14th year with me. So we've been fortunate to have that a little bit more of that Tom Osborne, Nebraska football, you know, keep the staff together and what you're thinking. But but I'm a guy who's always liked change and I think this has been tremendous for me as his coach, as a head coach and, and, but really for our men it's not easy to replace Sean Gruen. I mean, he's exceptional chess player, that guy X's and O's. I don't think you want to, you want to get into a, you know, sort of a grease board, you know, the grease marker pen, you know, he's gonna, he's gonna find it, he's gonna see it. You know, what's, what's interesting, it's a with the distinctions between the two, I think Kevin has created a 66 offense that gives them more options. That the Dodger, there's not like, Hey, do this takes two steps. You left, Hey, no, you know what? And the second quarter, I want you to start the high crease cut a little two yards higher because of the way that that was more Sean, whereas Kevin is like, okay, let's, let's make some reads here, but I'm going to give you more things on the menus, more options to choose from, which when you have incredible across players, like we do at UVA, we recruit them for a reason, let them play. And so Kevin has created a 66 that we've struggled to defend, you know, in practice you know, because it's less predictable. What's interesting, you know, and I was telling my wife this the other day, flip it around. Kevin, having 16 years of Lehigh experience where his coaching, he willed his team to wins. He's always been great at the face of facts in recruitment and development. And he is just absolutely through X's and O's and sheer determination, toughness, grit and willpower. They've won games. And that might mean controlling the game flow, holding possession a little bit. Hey, this is up with lots of calls for everything. Where, that's where Kevin comes in with a little bit more of the control and then Sean Kerwin, even though he was exacting in a 6v6, when the ball was loose, it's full on scramble. We're going to play brown lacrosse, wilds, up and down, let the players make plays and let's see if we can score 25 goals today. And so there's this sort of inter, intermixing of some, in some points, you know, incredible chess player, but let him play it versus others, give the guys, but. Let's, let's massage this clock a little bit. Let's maintain this possession. And that might be who we have to be this year, to be honest with you. With PD LaSalle after five years gone. And Gable Braun is a very capable man to step in and take that role, but he's got to prove himself. And we may not be winning face offs at 65 percent and scoring two goals a game because of our face off guy inverting his man and going to the goal. So we may have to be a little more under control. So that's where Kevin fits in really well. That is cool. It's true. It might need to be a little more methodical.​Hello, everyone. We're so glad to be back. And we're so glad you're joining us for season two of the, get the lack scoop podcast. Due to popular demand. We have put together a Patrion page for the show. This will allow those interested in supporting our efforts. To do just that and to get exclusive access to unedited interviews. Big discounts on JML online courses. And merchandise from our new online store. Big additions to the JML course catalog. Now we have a defenseman's course taught by none other than UVA head coach, Lars, Tiffany, and a goalie course taught by former two-time All-American and UVA assistant coach. Kept Turner. You can check out our Patrion page with the link that is listed in the description, as well as taking a look at the online store again, with the link listed in the description. We're super excited to get back to our interview and you will find that interview in progress. Now let's do a quick question on the D, Lars, for 2024 season. And you guys lost a few key pieces on defense, but you returned a number of really good players, naturally with two time All American Cole Kastner. Matt Nguyen Jogoli between the pipes was great. as the year progressed last year, especially in the semi final. He had like 22 saves, I think. And now you've got a lot of new faces, and one of them is grad transfer from Harvard, Chase Yeager, as a short stick D Middy. He looks really good. I've been to practice a number of times. And then you've got red shirt freshman, Joey Terenzi, playing some short stick D Middy, playing a little offense. So tell us And our listeners, what your impressions and expectations are here for this UVA offense in 2024. I'm in defense. Whoops. I'll talk about defense. I got that editing software. I can't wait just to edit that right out. Jay, you had it all the way right to the end and then you just scrapped the bed. Easy. Easy. Well I'll talk generally first. You know, is it a good thing or a bad thing to have some parody? You know, we've in a lot of years here on who's going to start on close defense, who's the best short stick to midi, it was crystal clear this year we've got parody now again, maybe that's a bad thing, you know, when you got two or three quarterbacks, you have no quarterback, right? The old saying says, you know, I'm trying to still figure out who is the starting defense right now. Colcaster is obviously there. And Ben, where, who, who is playing like a mad, he's really good at it, you know, and he's picking up every ground ball. But there's a lot of parody from there, which again, it's a little concerning, but it's also exciting. We're seeing in the short 16 defensive midfield position to Jay, we, we literally had six guys who had short six defensive midfield listed as their position graduate last year. Three of them playing a lot, a lot of minutes. And yet through the fall, kind of as a coaching staff kept looking around, like, I don't think it's going to be a weakness for us. How did this happen? You know, the acquisition of Chase Yeager, who has a fifth year after he graduated from Harvard, certainly helps. Joey Terenzi, who redshirted last year, certainly helps. Mac Till he went from really struggling as a first year to understanding our schemes to being the smartest guy in the defensive meeting room. Yeah, he looks really good. Licks, you know, and then Noah Chismar, you know, who is this? I think he was most improved last year. Noah Chismar, he was awesome. He looks really good too. And then there's he's fantastic. And Will Erdman is again. And then all of a sudden, Will's Burt. Very, very athletic, rugged, tough. first year midfielder for us. He just came, you know, back and said, I'm a defensive midfielder. Now he made that decision. And you know, so he's got a little, little to learn. It's got a lot to learn with the X's and O's, but in terms of one on one he's, he's tough to beat. And so, so all of a sudden, you know, we're, we're certainly in miss grace and solid a Jeff Conner played a role there. Evans in and and we're gonna miss some of those guys, but in terms of athleticism and intensity. So it's a, it's a defense. There's definitely question marks. Got to prove it. But you know, facing coach Casillas offense in practice during 66. We're getting some really tough looks that we have to administer and to, to get through. So I'm Yeah. I'm optimistic. Probably because we do have Matt Nunes behind us. That guy erases a lot of mistakes. Right. Nice. Lars, it's it's so interesting to the so few people talk about the short stick D middies and you could argue that the most important guys on that end of the field, the way the game's played these days, like the cornerbacks and the NFL, you know, yeah, it really are. Do you have to slide every time they're dodged? Yeah. If they inverted, are you getting into a zone and losing your matchups? You know, Cole Castner is no longer guarding the opponent's top attackman because you had to get into an invert zone because you don't trust the matchups back there. Boy, it is wonderful when you've got the middies who can defend one on one who can pump return the ball out of there, who can pick up tough ground balls coming in and who have the brains to understand the slides schemes. Yeah. So Kevin, let's turn to you for a little preseason inside. Look at the UVA offense and and like the D, you know, you lose Xander Dixon. That's just a couple of goals that that guy scored last year and Jeff Connor and, you know, Thomas McConvey. But, you know, You do have a couple of guys that that came back and and Connor Schellenberger and Peyton Cormier and and now you got the D3 player of the year and your Tufts grad transfer Jack Boyden and you know, it's really good. You just go through the list Griffin Stotts and Truett Sutherland and oh yeah there's this there's this kid named Millen who comes from a pretty good lineage in the game of lacrosse so so what are your impressions of their offense and it's interesting. To hear Lars talk about, you know, maybe a little bit of the difference in how you approach offense than, than Sean Kerwin. How are the guys responding? What are you looking forward to in the offense? And, and what maybe are some of the challenges? Sure. Yeah. Obviously it's a, it's a really talented group overall. The, the, challenge in the fall was that, and there's a little bit of two sides. It was a blessing and a curse. So Conor Shellenberger and Peyton Cormier missed a lot of time in the fall. Either one of them played in the fall ball tournament against Colgate and Towson. So while that was disappointing not to be able to, to work with with those guys, Peyton in particular, he missed the entire fall. Connor got a little bit you got, you got a handful of work in but didn't get the two of them together, which is magical, as you know, while that was, that was disappointing not to be able to do that. It also gave opportunity for others to step in and get minutes and develop. And so I do think that's going to be a blessing in the long run. It allowed us to, to, Get really good looks at some of our other players that, you know, maybe would have been playing in different roles. And so I was happy that we were able to do that. Now, obviously, getting those guys back, it'll, it'll be huge for us to be able to, to start to build that chemistry again which we're already working on. And then obviously to develop that depth which will be will be it. Incredible for us throughout the year. So the talent level is great. The thing that I've seen that has been interesting is the, this, the UVA style of offense and how much is done in transition and early offense and the pace of play and attacking early. And there's this dichotomy of, you know, having that aspect of the game of coming and trying to be as climatic as possible early on in a set. And then all of a sudden, now you get to a 6v6 set and you almost have to shift gears a little bit and, you know, be a little bit more patient and methodical throughout the course of the set. It's tough for 18 to 21 year olds to figure that out and say, all right we're just, we're going to take the first shot that's available. Once we get to that point. So been working hard on the guy or with the guys on that, I'm trying to figure out shot selection and you know, what, what, what is a good shot when we get to the six V six and is it a good shot or is it a great shot and, and all of those things and decision making. So I feel like a big part of my job has been. Coaching the decisions that are made and helping them understand the decision making process through a course of an offensive set, whether that be an early offense transition or in the settled 66, that's been really fun, really fun to be able to have those discussions with them and, and have that dialogue and, and then, you know, help them to understand what that should look like. Obviously the most important thing is seeing the ball go in and getting into the back of the net. CoachingBadminton. com If that happens in the first three seconds of the set or it happens in the last three seconds of the shot clock, as long as it goes in that possession, that's what we care about. And we're trying to figure out the best way to do that. So that's been something that's been interesting. And then the other part of it's been the, the, the cool part is Sean and I have very similar styles of coaching offense. So there's a lot of pieces and schematics that are similar which has been, I think, really refreshing for the guys just to be able to, To take a deep breath and say, okay, not, not everything is getting overhauled here. And, you know, I knew coming in that that wasn't going to have to be the case. Sean's an incredible coach, someone I respect a lot. He and I are someone over the years that have exchanged ideas as well. So that was that was pretty nice to be able to come into that situation. I think in particular for the players. So it's it's, it's, for me, it's been trying not to change too much for them, but also. Coaching offense like I have for 19 years. It's, I have some things that I think would be helpful and beneficial too. So I don't want to throw too much at them. That's going to be changed because then they'll get paralyzed. I want to have some consistency to what they're doing. But also be able to be diverse in what we do. And I think that'll be helpful as we move into the meat of our season. Beautiful. Well, guys, thanks so much for coming on, helping us kick off our podcast season. And we're so excited for you guys to be getting into it and kicking off the 2024 men's lacrosse season. Yeah. And Jay, you know, our, our third co host who usually comes on with some different questions. Steve Grassoff, he couldn't be with us today. Unfortunately, in Hawaii, tough life for Steve. But, Jay, I did bring a couple of things that I thought we could do here at the very end. And Coach Cassis, since all three of us, you and Jay and I know Lars very well. He's just an incredible person. We love him so much. And God bless, is he weird. I mean, let's be honest, coach, so, you know, I know, you know, you've been away from him and the day to day for so long that I, I just want, I just want to, if you could share with our listeners, you know, you're a couple of days into the office and you're like, Oh God, I forgot about this. What's that, any of those things, coach, that you'd like to share? Oh, let's see. I will say this is big picture, right? Like, is he a weirdo? But yeah, but he's my weirdo. He's our weirdo. Oh, that's what we say! Exactly! Exactly! Kevin, no question about it. He is our weirdo. No question. I'll throw, I'll, I'll, I'll start it off. You know, it's like we come in from these cold days for practice, you know, and the coach was like, Hey, you want me to get the shower going for you? And I'm like, well, just, just get one going. All right. Can we be conservative? All right. I got one planning reduce, reuse, recycle, not have hot water running for five minutes before you step into the thing and all five showers. That's Lars right there. The big, the big thing that I saw, we had we had a couple of recruiting visits in September when the recruiting cycle opened and Lars had had some of the players and, and their parents over to the house and you know, as a vegetarian, which we, we very much respect. Trying to, to predict and, and, and factor in how much meat do we need here? So we we ran out of meat pretty quickly in the first one. So the next one, I make sure that we we sent out for reinforcements. You got to take over the meat consumption quantities on any group gathering. Okay. We got a lot of those recruits that first weekend. I got to let you know though. All right, they did. They went away hungry, but they came back. Here's another one coach Kevin, that coach Kerwin shared with us. We had him on the podcast as a new head coach and we asked him and he, he said, Lars, you know, early on would say, Hey, I'll buy your lunch if you get a vegetarian you know option and after a while he was just like the hell with this. I don't even want the vegetarian. Coach Kerwin also said, you know, he didn't actually pay for it. Yeah, yeah, he's just trying to trick me. Doing that again. He like paid for it once and then it's like, ah. So, so Lars, I'm going to give you a chance too here because I mean, You know it's a, it's a 1030 podcast on a Sunday. I barely have my cup of coffee and splash water on my face. Captain America over here. It looks like he's ready to run the marathon is apparently, I mean, is there, are there any chinks in this guy's armor for God's sakes, Lars, anything that there really aren't, you know, it's just, it's the, the subtle things we've hinted at, you know, who gets to blow the whistle of 66. It's the, he, he still has a time. He still works on a timescale that like he's the head coach. Cause you know, when you're the head coach, you're never late. Oh, it doesn't start till you get there. That's right. Kevin still thinks the 10 a. m. meeting starts when he rolls in at 10, 10 or 10, 15. So I've, I've become more patient though. I'm a little, little, little short when somebody pops their head into my office at 10 20. Hey, do you want to have that meeting now? Yeah. Oh, but but yeah, it's a it's, it's a blessing. It really is. I mean, he's just, he's so damn good at this thing called life. Taking care of his family, his. His wife and you know, always being there for them and being there for our men, you know, bottom line, we get excited and animated. It's all about winning. The pressure is greater at Virginia and the A. C. C. Internet. We get that, you know, but he just he's got it. He keeps it in perspective. We will. We will not step on anyone's hearts or emotions in the West that we all have for national championship. He's going to take care of people first and yeah, really, really lucky to have him here in Charlottesville. Yeah. Alright Jay, I'm going to turn it to you to close it off. I just want to, I just want to comment for a second that all this nice, nice relationship. I love Kevin. He's great. Kevin, there's no doubt the only damn reason he brought you there. Can you please help me beat Duke? I mean, let's be honest, okay, you're, you're his Duke voodoo doll figures. If he brings a Duke guy on, he can finally get over that Duke cup recipe. Absolutely. Well, that's the plan. We're going to try and beat them and everybody else on the schedule. So we're, we don't discriminate. We're going to, we're going to try and beat them all. Awesome. Well, guys, you've been super generous with your time. We're just so psyched to have had you on to kick things off. I need to say it again, Ron, so you don't jump into another whole pile of questions, but thanks a million. No, we're wrapping up here. What a hell of a first episode, Jay. Yes. Best of luck in 2024. We can't wait to see what you guys put out there on the field. Huge thank you, guys. A lot of fun. Thank you. A really fun way to start a Sunday. Thank you, Ron. Thank you, Jay. This is awesome. All right, guys. Take care.

Ron:

until we meet again, here to, hoping you find the twine. We're signing off here at the Get the LAX coop. Thanks again so much. We will see you the next time.