S2 E5. The Brothers Byrne; Harvard Head Coach Gerry Byrne & UVA HOFer Steve Byrne.

We’re excited to release our second installment of our three part interview series with coaches and brothers, Gerry and Steve Byrne. Gerry Byrne is the head coach at Harvard and his brother Steve was selected as one the top players in ACC history as a 3X All American defenseman for UVA and gold medalist for Team USA back in 1986. 

In this episode, Steve describes what it was like for him as a freshman at UVA in 1979 coming in from a public high school on Long Island. A bit of culture shock is quite the understatement. However, Steve would go on to have an amazing season often covering top teams’ #1 attackman, as he did against John Hopkins in that year’s national championship game which UVA lost in sudden death OT in front of 16,000 fans. 

Gerry states he was quite exceptional himself at UMass Amherst, as he was on the team that would record Coach Garber’s only losing season during his over thirty year career. Things did improve however, as he went on to play,  also as a defensemen, on more successful campaigns  where he was a 2X All New England selection and led the Minutemen to the NCAA quarterfinals in 1986. 

Steve also describes what it was like to play for the legendary Virginia head coach, Jim ‘Ace’ Adams. As you’ll hear, it was not easy but it was rewarding as this penultimate Southern Gentlemen taught the rough and tumble Long Islander valuable life lessons and awarded Steve a full scholarship after his breakout freshman season.  

Coach Gerry Byrne also tells a classic story of how the Abott brothers, with Chris a player at archrival Brown and Robert, a top attackmen at UMass, placed a hefty wager on what would be their final game against each other and of their college lacrosse careers. As Brown had beaten UMass for three consecutive years, Chris was feeling over confident and bet it all that Brown would win the fourth contest. As you can imagine, they did not. Hear the resulting celebration as Gerry tells the tale in riveting fashion. This is another enlightening, fun, and dramatic interview you won’t want to miss! 

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!

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Transcript

Jay: 0:00

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.

0:59

Hello everyone. And welcome back to the show. We are super excited to give you the second installment of our three part interview series with brothers, Jerry and Steve Byrne. You will find this interview in progress. Wait. My brother was a perfect fit. But my brother was smart. He is a great rider. The fact that, you know, you felt behind as a rider, it's one of his His great skills and gifts. They always kill. That was that was the this thing. I I go I'm getting my ass kicked everywhere. I go out Creative writing. I know I can do this. First paper, d minus, red all over the page, and it was a it was a TA, this young woman. And I said, this can't be right. She goes, I I can see something in there, but you have to get disciplined on your so this woman, For that She saw something. Christmas. It wasn't an f. She she she she basically got me to, like, a b b plus. And she just hammered me, and I sat with her, and she hammered me. And that was it was it was such a Culture shock for my caravan and I were just, you know, walking. I mean, I remember day three, We're sitting in the dorm. It's it's boys and then upstairs are the girls. So our our RA was, uh, the next to ours. So he has everybody sitting in the hall to introduce themselves. So I'm sitting right next to him, and Mike's sitting next to me. So he goes this way. And it's all these guys from Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia, and one guy's a seventh, uh, generation, Uh, UVA guy and my daddy and my daddy, my daddy, my daddy, my daddy, and now me. And then it comes to Mike. So my wife's like, my Caravanna, uh, Flora Park, New York. That's it. And it's First generation. Keith Byrne, Levittown, New York. That's it. And then everybody's, like, staring at us like we had three heads. And then one of the guys goes, now None of you boys are gonna be robbing us, are you? That was that was, like, day two, day three. I took that one out. But I'm at when I when I'm my recruiting, I loved it. If they got me in, they got me in. It was It was a joy. It was a joy to to go to school there. Some of my best friends from from my fraternity and from from my teammates, I still I'm talk I've got chains with all those guys. Um, you know, Ace was a gentleman, But he, like, he he could snap if you didn't do something that he told you to do. And so he he get a little Scary right now and then. But he he was, you know, he Disciplinarian type? Yeah. I mean, he he he because he was at army in the sixties. I mean, he was head coach at our at West Point Yeah. During the Vietnam War. I mean, he and he so you you I mean, with when the plane starts being better, There was no everybody was buttoned up. Um, but he was just a he was just a great guy. I mean, he he he supported you. Um, he took care of me. You know, eventually, he gave me a full scholarship, which was, you know, was, you know, big time for me. That's great. Sound like you earned it for sure. Yeah. You know, the the the the cool thing was, you know, my first year going to a national championship. That was you know? Even though my my school the the drama not drama, the the pressure of of school, it was real. So when I got to practice, it was like I'd turn that off, and then I'd take it out in practice. And and it and it was it was it helped balance. But we had a great team. It's probably one of my favorite top three or four teams that I've ever been on. We had great leadership, seniors. Everybody knew what their roles were. We were competitive. Dan Krause, Garden City guy. I was gonna say it was Steve Krause on that team. Steve Krause was on our team. Yep. Um, I think Was that did you guys play at Hopkins in the finals? Was that right? That happens in the final. Um, you know, and and Ace, you know, Ace was very conservative. Mhmm. So if you watch that tape, which we all have on the team and, you know, is, uh, In the first overtime, you know, uh, we have a fast break, and it's a two on one. And coach calls time out Oh, man. As Pat Finn is shooting and scores. Oh, my gosh. Nullified. Oh, boy. That was the game. That is rough. And we and we have You never think about that, Steve. Right? It comes up. Never. No. No. No. Every every time every time I you know, it's they show I mean, they show it every now and then. The the best thing, though, in that year was Hopkins came down. This is, you know, this is in the seventies, and This is when, um, ESPN just started. This is nineteen eighty, and we got, I don't know. Fifteen thousand fans in Scott Stadium. We're number three or four. They're number one. Twenty five game winning streak. They have the band is down there. They did the the stupid chants. One, two, three, four. We want more. Right. So they go up on you know, so they their fans came down, And they painted JHU number one big on a brick wall behind our bench. Really? And then they Put JSU number one at the face off x and then some other places on the field. Mhmm. And, uh, the assistant, uh, athletic director comes running into our our Our, uh, locker room, he says, they painted the field. And we're like, what are you talking about? So everybody was fired up. Yeah. And it was it was a great back and forth game, Um, but we ended up, uh, beating them and and breaking the twenty five game winning streak. So that was Nice. That was a great memory. Something they'll remember. Right. Exactly. That's awesome. And, Jerry, how about you plan for coach Garber? We won our Garber's gorillas. Tell us what your your highlights of your college career were, and tell us about coach Garber. Coach Garber was like getting coached by, like, Robert Mitchum, The famous, like, nineteen sixty eight man some, like, charismatic guy who, You know you know, there's a lot of coaches that come out of Springfield College, and he was a Springfield College grad because it's, you know, it's a big PE school. And so he had been there, and And he was just you know, he wasn't an x's and o's guy. He was more about kind of the group and the culture, and he always had young assistants that, you know, did most of the the coaching. So he's more like a CEO. He he lived his house was right you played at Boyden Field, now Garber Field when you were in when you guys were in college. So he Mhmm. He lived right in Southwest, which was the the residential area that that I lived, and his house was right across the street from The entrance into my dorm. So he would shuffle home for lunch. You know? And, you know, he was just He was intentionally funny at times and unintentionally funny. He had a real salty, kinda snarky sense of humor. Like, he would, Yeah. He could he could kinda dress you down with his wit a little bit, which Mhmm. Which is not like, you know, being like, someone once told me that, You know, you can be anything to a player but sarcastic. Mhmm. You know, you can be mean and hard and demanding and stuff like that, but, you gotta be careful about your your your wit and your tongue because you can really it's really sticky. You know? Right. Right. And he He had a way of doing it at times. Uh, I think about that a lot as a coach. Mhmm. But no. Yeah. Like, listen. We had you know? I was much like it being at Chaminade, people are like, oh my god. You played there with a great program. I'm like, I played on the last losing team in Chaminade history. Like, we lost to two high schools that don't even exist anymore. That's what this That's true that went out of business. So Yeah. And so peep people are like, oh my god. I'm like, yeah. It appreciated really well. Um, and then at UMass, I played On Dick Garber's one of his years was the only losing team he's ever had. So I don't know if there's a beat there, but Wow. Jeez. But we play, you know, we played in the NCAA tournament a couple of times, and, um, you know, I'm trying to think, like, like, one of the great memories It's against Brown, ironically. Let's see. We had you know, my my roommate, Rich Abbott, his twin brother was a Round grad, Chris. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. So because I have a tour. And I would paint with them in the summer. They had a painting business in Manhasset, and They would you know, I think the statue of limitation, they they had a bet each year against each other. There's only been guys to do. And Levittown would be like, Yo. I'm gonna take the two tires off your car as the bet. They they were betting real money. Real money. And so Brown had beat us three times in a row, and we we it's so funny. I just had dinner with Rich in Florida, And the other protagonist is in the story I just talked to, uh, yesterday is so Rich goes in after three years of losing to Brown. He knows we have a guy coming in who's gonna be a real difference maker, Salud Castillo. Oh, yeah. Sure. Oh, yeah. I can argue the greatest goalie in the history. Greatest. He won everything. National team pro. Right. You know? And Sal was, you know, one of the great people from Lindenhurst. Just all time gone. Great Long Islander, Ron. Sorry. Great Long Islander. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Rich knew Sal was coming because we had hosted Sal on his recruiting visit, And and to take over was like, we have to get this guy. You know? Whatever he does, you guys need to get out of the car. I can see Sal and this Lindy Lindy, I like how would I know that Lindenhurst colors are green and gold other than Sal or a Lindy Lindenhurst didn't fit on the back of the satin Jacket. It just said Lindy with a bulldog football on the ballot. Lindy Lindy. Bulldog football. He didn't take my jacket off the whole weekend. He had an unbelievable time. But, anyway, we knew he was coming. So Rich, like like, not only does he go, like, double or think, but he he wants the net positive out of this thing. So I don't know what the number is. Long story short, we beat Brown that year. We could just that. And there's a famous, uh, there's a famous brunch place in Amherst called Plumlee's that, like, all the blue collar guys As on, UMass would never go into this place. It was right it was right across from Amherst College. It was fancy, fancy. Like, You know, they had waffle makers. Like, the only waffle I ever had was, you know, like, in a toast. What's a waffle maker? They actually make the Fuck. Right in front of you. You press it down. So Rich took the whole starting team out to Plumlee's. Wow. We're drinking champagne. They they have, like, an man, like a like a meat guy who's cutting meat. I'm like, what's an guy? Like, Oh, there's a gigantic side of meat where the guy cuts as big of a piece. So what's the And he asked you, au jus? Au jus? Au jus. You want some? So that was probably one of the great memories. It was less about Brown and more about, like, Just this unbelievable meeting. Guys back. Day coming back. And, you know, remember, we used to scrimmage Brown, And we played around in the fall and played in the spring. So this was like familiarity breeds contempt. And, you know, There there would be a sign at at at Boyden Field. It would say, what's the color of Oh, Oh, we never heard that one before, Jared. That was that was The people on that talk about batteries. The people on that hill were always very kind to us. Yes. Jared. Very kind. So that's one of my you know, it's not the same as playing the national championship or final four, but exacting some revenge in the in the last game was, uh, was pretty good. That's great. Beautiful. So, Jerry, when the what's the decision to go into coaching? And, um, who, Who kind of attracted you into coaching or were who you know? And and who were some of the mentors early on when you're when you're starting as a coach? You know, I I was working in Manhattan, you know, survived, you know, Black Tuesday, you know, which is now is like a blip in the You know, you think about whatever six hundred points in October nineteen eighty seven. That's like that's a bad afternoon now. That's a bit of a blip. And so, Uh, you know, but I I started thinking I didn't like, you know, finance and insurance and all that stuff. So I so I was thinking of, You know, going back to school or getting into coaching, and I was actually gonna Steve had knew somebody who had done the, you know, the English Lacrosse Association program, and I was all set to go to, you know, England for six or seven months to to coach and teach lacrosse. And And Kevin Corrigan, who was my brother's teammate at UVA. Kevin's dad was the AD at UVA at the time. It's just, you know, the whole kinda, like, I don't think Right. Small world. Small world of lacrosse, which is why podcasts like this are great is, um, you know, he had just become the The head coach at Notre Dame, and I you know? Yes. You know? I was playing at a really high level at that time, and I wasn't loving what I was doing. I was gonna be able to get my my my MBA in the business school at Mendoza, which was is now called Mendoza at at Notre Dame. And so it just felt like I'm not sure what I wanna do. I like school and go kinda shift my focus. I was always into communication and marketing and branding, And so I think it was a really good time being an Irish American, being at a place like Notre Dame. It's iconic, And it was great education. And so it was more of, like, I can help offset some of my costs even though it didn't pay Very well. Yeah. Kevin. Yeah. KC used to pay us in what's called coupes that they used to give athletes, like, athletes who were at scholarship. You could use these it wasn't cash, Although people probably converted. Give me fifty cents for this coupe. That was worth a dollar. Is I I used that to help pay for food and stuff like that and Ended up staying, and I and I left, and I got into the advertising marketing world when I got a college. I thought that was gonna be my end of coaching. And, You know, I I I worked for, you know, ten, twelve years in on both the client side on and on the, uh, agency side and really loved That and had a lot of, you know, professional success in doing that. And then I you know, I you know, I get, You know, like most people, I get kinda little antsy what I'm doing and look for the next adventure and the next kind of thing to do. And we were live my wife and I, and and we had adopted a couple Kids as well. We were living in New Hampshire. I got I got let go of a really good job, and I got I I think I alluded to this earlier. I got a a severance package for a year. We adopted a couple of kids, and I volunteered to coach at the high school in the town that we lived in. So that's how we got back into coaching, and that that was for two thousand. I was playing in the MLL at the time, And two thousand two, three, somewhere around there, and that's how I got back into I coached at the high school, and then I coached the division two at Saint Anton College in in New Hampshire and that and then I talked my wife into let's go back to Notre Dame. That's where we met. My wife was a softball player there. And, uh, oh, yeah. Never worked in the my life. Right. Yeah. That's great. That's that's really interesting. It's time for a brief JML commercial break. Mentioned earlier, we 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. We have big additions to the JML course catalog. Now we have a defenseman's course taught by none other than UVA head lacrosse, coach Lars, Tiffany, and to goalie course taught by former two time All-American and two time national champion 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 will return to our interview in progress. So when so when you got to decide it first high school team, Jerry. Oh my god. Yeah. Let's hear about that. This this guy used to make fun of me. You know? Like like, because I New Hampshire. Because because he was my supposed to be my friend and and, you know, mentor, You know, I I would vent to him because you, you know, you can't vent on your players because, you know, in this day, not only get fired, you might get arrested. And so Right. I tell him, I'm like, oh my god. These guys and, like, I went to the first meeting with the team, and they you know, the the Previous coach had gotten let go for sanctioning locker boxing tournaments. So if you know a lock Lockwood boxing is where you put all your equipment on, you punch each other. Oh. Oh my god. Run a tournament? Yeah. I was I was coming into that scenario. So I was like, I lived in this town. I knew they couldn't find anybody else. I was playing I was Playing in the MLL at the time. I'm like, there's not a lot of, you know, knees floating around in Little Amherst, New Hampshire. And So the first meeting, they were asking about, like, their custom gloves and stuff like that. I'm like, no. Bring a white T shirt and a marker. That's what you know, we're not Going no frills. Like, you that's the wrong question to ask, and it was It was it was it was rough. I you know, we ended up I ended up keeping mostly freshmen and sophomores because I wanted to kinda The kids the upperclassmen had gotten thrown off the team for this for the hazing and stuff that was going on. And so I, Like, I figured we're gonna take some lumps, and I figured take these young guys, teach them to hate losing because you're gonna get lumped up. I mean, love and we got lumped up. It was we were getting hit with so many lefts who were begging for a right. It was and but Couple years later, we made the playoffs and, you know, like, one of those almost like Disney moments where you you take you know, they The mod it's a montage scene of you get killed, and then it turns and you get Right. The guys that you kept around became really good players and really good leaders. And So it it is one of those moments, and it's just kinda like that feeling of those kind of relationships and that kind of transformation that you can have. It doesn't always you know, rarely ends up in championships, but, you know, you just I remember those guys. I can I can name their names? I could See him, and you you hunt that same experience that I had at Saint A's and and definitely had Notre Dame, and and we've had a little bit here at Harvard. You know? So it's, um, you know, it's not like got you hooked into coaching right there. Yeah. Truly, like, one door Close. I talked to my own players and my own children that you know, life is not up up into the right all the time. Yep. Yep. That's awesome. It's yeah. There's some really crappy days when you get fired or let go or you know? But, you know, all of those things that closed led to Some really good interesting journeys. I mean, Jerry, you know, it's kind of The door is open. This is what we've kinda loved about this podcast. Like, You know, I've I've known all of you and watched you to play and coach and and, uh, and I never knew the sort of path less traveled that you took Both as a player and as a coach, you know, and now it it's a it's a great lesson for folks that as you say, it doesn't have to be a straight line, know? And and here you are coaching at the highest level, um, at one of the greatest universities in the whole world. So it's it's a I I think, you know, your path is a pretty cool story. Well, I I think that's the thing we love about it. You learn a lot about people when you just ask these. It's not like when we're sitting around after a late classic game. These are the kind of questions we're asking. No. Exactly. We're going more in-depth here. You're asking about which did you pull your hamstring again and you could be iced the beverages. Yeah. Exactly. So, Steve, let's talk a little bit about your post college Career there. We know you're a great club lacrosse player, and then we're on the US national team eighty six, winning a gold medal. Why don't you tell us about that experience? Yeah. You know, I think, Jerry will back me up. At at that time, you know, they would they would pick, I think, a hundred or a hundred and ten players to come do the tryouts. And so, I got invited after my sophomore year at UVA, and and, like, I think I was, like, a last minute replacement. And so I ended up I was at a at a I was at a That's nineteen eighty that's nineteen eighty one. That's a Eighty one. Yeah. For the eighty two for the eighty two teams. They did it a year. They always did a year in advance. And so I was at a I was doing a, uh, camp in Virginia Beach With Tom Duquette and, uh, Bruce Arena and, um, and Jeff Long. And so Jeff Long I don't know. I literally, I think I was a a a last last minute invite. So Jeff Long goes, okay. I'll I'll drive you up. We're gonna go to Baltimore, and then we're gonna go to Penn State. Great. So I'm driving with Jeff. He's got, you know, a cooler of beers in the car. We're Of course. We're handing out beers to truckers, you know, as we're driving up Baltimore. Yeah. I guess, give that guy a beer. It's like, I get a stick. So we get to Baltimore. We stay at At, uh, Jimmy D'Arcangelo's house, you know, another legend who I knew the name, and then I'm, like, meeting the guy. So, You know, we're we're hanging out and having fun in Baltimore. So then we drive up to Penn State, and, uh, it was Friday afternoon, Friday night, Saturday morning, Saturday afternoon, Saturday night, Sunday morning, Sunday afternoon, you go. Two weekends falling, and it was Wow. It was brutal. Fourteen session. Fourteen session. You're I mean, it it you're playing against the best players. You're trying to get noticed, And you're going all out every session. Right. Every session. Every session. So, you know, And and I think now they are they're smart about it is they they have these long, um, residences where you're with The team for a while, they see you in different positions or situations, and then they slowly kind of Slice away. They get the personalities right. Back then, it was it was, you know, gladiator time. Alright. Meat grinder. Yeah. It was it was it was quite quite challenging. I remember, I didn't really know who Mark Millen was in one of the tryouts. Then it was the ninety three tryout. I go, who's this gal? A sudden You'll be surprised. Just Blast right by me. I mean, it was so Yeah. I mean so fast. You know, I said and that was part of a Shot out of a cannon. Right? Oh, literally. But, you know, making the team, getting that getting that notice. My dad, I I was working or something, and the letter came, and my dad opened this. He couldn't wait, though. Tapes are back up and writes on it. Your father opened this. That's great. So, uh, that, And, again, back then, if we we you know, it was a year out. So eighty five was to try out, eighty six was a team, and we did a bunch of, uh, exhibitions. Uh, you know, we played the the the the alternate team. And the ultimate team, I think, beat us. We played them three times. We won twice. They won once. Wow. Um, you know, because the First twenty three and then the second, they they always got it down after the first weekend to, you you know, here's the here the The the forty six we wanna look at, and then everybody else still still place you know, playing, but they don't know that they're out of contention. Right. Right. Um, and so we did a bunch of exhibitions, and we had to go up to, um, we played up in Rochester Yes. A Hobart team, and then we went to, um, Toronto. Mhmm. And, um, you know, at at the time, it's not as, Yeah. Of course, not as big as it as it is now. So we were staying at the University of Toronto in their, um, in their dormitories, And, uh, we were there for for two weeks. Um, you know, my parents came up, which was which was great. Um, you know, but we were somebody one of the Canadians, um, oh gosh. I think it was Huntley who said The eighty six team, and he's right. He was the eighty six American team was the last dominant US team. Mhmm. Because Yeah. Looking at the scores, it looked like you had dominated the Well, what happens, you had the Gates, Marachek, all those guys Right. Started to come. They they had they had more field players. And so, you know, ninety, ninety four got, You know, got closer and closer and closer. Right. Australians were actually pretty good. Um, you know, the the English were were were awful. Uh, that was awesome. They they did a nice job. They made it I think the USA lacrosse at the time, US lacrosse, did a good job. You know, they lost the Canadians lost the film for, like, thirty years. Really? And if if they finally found it, so now you can see it. It's on YouTube. Cool. Because I think the final, you guys probably won eighteen to nine or something like that. Yeah. I could've been over. So, Jerry, I wanna transition to, uh, you know, your time at Notre Dame where, you know, obviously, you did two different stints there as you talked about with a pretty good stretch in between. And, uh, you know, talk about you know, you guys were really in your early years, right, at the evolution of the game. I mean, there's one team in the Midwest then. You know? And what you has built from there to, you know, what is obviously a national champion now, but it's consistently been One of the best teams in the country for quite a while now. So what was that journey like over that period of time at Notre Dame and working with coach Corden? Yeah. I mean, Kevin Kevin is the constant. You know? Kevin went out there, you know, our first year, the first spring Together was nineteen eighty nine. You know? And that was the first year of the team back then, was it? No. They they became a varsity team in nineteen eighty one. Okay. So this guy, Rich O'Leary, was from East Meadow, which was just Levittown with a few more Italians. Right. Rich O'Leary had been the coach. Rich retired to run the intramurals, and Kevin came in. And his, you know, his father was the athletic director at Nerd aim at that time. And so Oh, wow. Yeah. So yeah. It was it was a you know, it was, like, for him, It was a, you know, lonely outpost. You know? There wasn't any Yeah. And, you know, I think it on a side note, one of the things that that Kevin has continued to do Is whenever a new team pops up in a nontraditional area, he plays them because he knows he didn't always get the same reciprocation when he was was there. So playing you know, we were together, you know, through his leadership, Playing Detroit and Cleveland State and Michigan State when they had a team Marquette. Mhmm. Playing all those teams were You know? That's why they play that. You know? Yes. Gotcha. It's important to to to do that. So, you know, for the first time out there was just I was I knew I was gonna get my MBA, and I had never coached before. And I had worked, so and, you know, when you're When you're and you have different kinds of managers. So you pick up whatever, you know, the combination of the all you know, when you're a coach or any sort of leader of people, you You have your own values, and then you have whatever you pulled from your parents or older brothers, you know, influencers, great teachers. It all kinda goes into a stew. So I had no experiencing coaching when I went to to Notre Dame. So I was able to And and Kevin was fairly new to coaching as well. He had done a little bit more and came from a family of coaches and a family of lacrosse players. My at that time, my brother and I were the only people in our family, I think, that have really played lacrosse, maybe one of our cousins. And so So you're kinda making it up, but not making up in the sense of, like, you're closing your eyes. You're you're pulling from all your your things. Then going and working and and continuing to play, you know, aspiring to be like my brother and try to become a, you know, a a really good player. So that when I when I had the when I got back into coaching, when I got fired from a job, I, You know, I had a lot lot more life experience, a lot more playing experience, a lot more exposure to the game, Really kinda cemented my thoughts on how I how to communicate with young people and how to, you know, how how less it's about your own Credibility as a player. It's more about how do you how do you electrify The best attributes of people. How do you Yep. How do you get that thing to plug in? Not for you. It like, we all grew up on movies where the coach was this charismatic, iconic, you know, pregame quote, always had the right thing to day. Mhmm. Cheekbones and you know what I mean? It was like and the reality is is that's that's just a mythology. It's more about How do you find these kind how do you get the tumblers to really click with an eighteen and nineteen year old? And I I I don't Think I figured it out, but I, you know, I just, you know, try to find a way to make that connection. And so when I came back to coach again and convinced my wife to Uproot from our great life that we had in in New Hampshire. Um, it was it was pursuing that feeling, The same feeling I had at Souhegan of connecting with young people. Like, that's I think that's the most powerful drug In management is Right. You know? My brother, you know, coaches high school and has really mentored a lot of people as well. It's like, you remember you'll I'll remember those guys till I go to the dirt. Sometimes it's the great player who also has those, you know, that do unlock that, but it's really, like, Pulling greatness out of the people who didn't even know they had it down there. And so, um, it's the pursuit of that feeling that That drives me because I think if you do that well, the wins and the championships and those iconic moments that you that we we both talked about earlier. They start coming. And so that you know, I felt like, you know, Kevin gave me an opportunity and, Uh, a a good amount of autonomy to to explore that and search for that, And I think it worked out pretty well. I'd say so. It's a little bit of an understatement, Sherry. Yeah. I think it worked out quite well. I I mean, you guys were an amazing job you guys out there. Uh, Jerry, speaking of relationships, I'm I I'm quite certain that this was A highlight of your career that you remember well. I was on the Brown staff, and, uh, we came out and scrimmaged Notre Dame. Um, that'd be a huge highlight. Had an indoor scrimmage, and and I just wanna commend you for the hosting job you did. We were with coach, Jim Finley, a a little Notre Dame roots that got us out there. And, uh, you did a hell of a job hosting us at the linebacker that I just that's why I just wanna thank you for that experience, a Notre Dame experience that you get. What? You get an extra entree or something, Ron. Like, what happened exactly? That's that's part of the cultural tour in South Bend, the linebacker. Yep. Yep. So I just appreciate that. That's awesome. So, Steve, as you mentioned, you traveled quite a bit, as you were working at General Electric and now have been coaching in high school In the, Cleveland, Ohio area now for fifteen years. And then as we said in the opening, you've played and coached in twenty different states. So Give us a little bit of your perspective on the growth of the game and and what it's like in all these different regions around the country. To hear the answer to that intriguing question, please tune in next week. As we continue with our series.

Ron: 35:25

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.