S2 E25. A Compilation of The Best & Most Hilarious Moments Thus Far, in S2.

It’s the week of the famed Lake Placid Lacrosse tournament so our crew is up playing and enjoying this epic event! 

So, in the meantime, we’ve put together a compilation of the top moments of three of our interviews from Season II.  We start off where this season began, with Coaches Lars Tiffany and Kevin Cassese of UVA. 

Next, since our interview with Ric Beardsley, the lacrosse skills trainer extraordinaire and 4X All-American defensemen from Syracuse, occurred after our previous compilation we’ve added a great clip of how he overcame adversity as a freshman with the Orange. 

 And finally, we hear some classic clips from our interview with Gerry Byrne, the current head coach at Harvard and his brother Steve Byrne, a 3X All A-American and member of Team USA. 

We hope you enjoy this compilation. If you do, please go ahead and give a like, subscribe and share with a friend. Also, please leave a review, it would really help our podcast grow!

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Link to Video of the Week:
Master The 5 Best Dodges From the Wing!
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Blazing Shots... on the Run!
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Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Carol Dweck, PhD on Amazon.

Lacrosse Charities Mentioned in S2 E36:
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Transcript

Jay: 0:05

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.

1:05

Hello everyone. And welcome back. We are up at the wondrous lake Placid lacrosse tournament. Representing our beloved brown state. A team that is actually being in trined and the lake Placid lacrosse hall of fame later this week. And our absence, we have put together a compilation. Of some of our best moments from the first quarter of season two. We sure. Hope you enjoy them. Everyone, welcome to season two of Get the LAX Scoop. It's exciting to be back for round two. We had a hell of a lot of fun in season one and Jay, we certainly delivered on bringing our guests, the biggest names of the game, and we're not going to disappoint. As we start off season two with our first return guest because we thought episode one started so well, we thought we'd bring him back and we'll tell our guests about that in a minute. Jay, it's hard to believe lacrosse is on the way because I'm freezing my ass off up here in Rhode Island right now. It's awfully cold up in Rhode Island. 13 degrees. Welcome to lacrosse season, baby. That's right. They're out there practicing all through New England, all through the country. Super exciting. And exciting for us. I can't believe we made it to that first season, Ron. Here we are for season two. Somehow, Jay, we haven't been banned on the internet at all. They've let us continue, so we'll We've managed to get you on schedule, which is really quite an accomplishment for myself. Here we go. I see, I see somehow Jay found another member of a U19 team, so he can talk about his accolades. It's amazing how that happened. Don't spoil it for our guests. Our guests might think that that's about him, but it's really not. It's so Jay can bring up his experience 68 years ago on the U19 team, but I just thought we'd start off again. How, you know, set the tone. Jay, why don't you get us started? It's all about our guests. So why don't you? Get our intro started. Right. Ron, please just stop. Our first guest was inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame. Please everyone, give a warm welcome to our first guest, aka Captain America, the one, the only, Coach Kevin Cassis. the current head men's lacrosse coach at the University of Virginia and friends. He is our first returning guest. He and coach Dom Stars, he did a heck of a job and really meaningful for Jay and I to have them. be our first guest, but because he's already been in the show and because he's our friend and teammate, there's no way in hell we're going to read through that kind of introduction for Lars again. I mean, the last thing we need to do is stoke this guy's ego anymore than it already is. Having said that, he is one of the biggest names in the game today. We have to acknowledge facts are facts, right? Four time Ivy champ, two time ACC and NCAA champ, ACC coach of the year. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, but he has coached the Haudenosaunee Nationals at the World Championships. And I know that's among his most meaningful accomplishments in the game, having grown up next to a reservation and talking about those Native American roots, Lars, I do know they're very important to you as they are to the entire game. Call them the Haudenosaunees, if you don't mind. Haudenosaunees. Haudenosaunees. Haudenosaunee. Both of you are butchering it, so just quit now, all right? Just saying. The Haudenosaunee. Welcome to Coach Lars Tiffany, dog, if you wouldn't mind stating the phrase. Thank you. I'll just introduce myself. Well, thank you for having me on a second time. It was so unfulfilling and unsatisfying the first time you had to give me a second chance. So I, that's more of what this is. You were overstaged by Don Starzia, perhaps. Yes. I see that happening again today by coaches. Much more accomplished than I am. All right. In all seriousness, Lars, great to have you here. We're psyched to get another season of get the lax scoop going. And we're really excited to get another season of college lacrosse underway. So look forward to talking to both of you, Jay. Get us going here. Oh, actually I'd like to but Ron you're first. Yeah, I am jay. I'm really follow the script I'm in real pre season form here jack Get with it. Oh my gosh. All right, In this clip, Kevin can see states that for any team to achieve greatness, they must have top competition. Top competition that tests them and literally takes them to their limit. And I'll let Kevin Cassie's take it from here. it was it was an amazing experience, especially considering the history there and you know, how really we came, we came late to the. to the party on the lacrosse scene. we would play them every single year in the Suffolk County Championship. And until we got to high school, we always struggled to beat those guys. Essentially it was the kids that, that were in the Ward Melville school district so, you know, their backgrounds in the cross, you know, probably five, six years longer than we were applying. So it was a big hurdle to be able to, to get past them. On the, just in the Suffolk County landscape and then to be able to win a state championship. Once you get past Tony Brooke, who are you staring in the face? Well, you're staring at someone from Nassau County. Who's really good. And for us that happened to be garden city and garden city was exactly now. And before, before it was the garden city of the year before my freshman year was Beth page. And these teams were just loaded with. All Americans, potential future all Americans at the, at the college level. And, you know, the Beth page team had guys like AJ Hogan on it and, and Chris Searcy and countless others and garden city BJ Prager and Doug Stahl and others, and right. So. You know, we took our lumps my freshman and sophomore year and we lost in the Long Island championship, but then eventually got over the hurdle of my junior year and were able to beat Garden City. So we figured we made it that far. We might as well keep it going. And we were able to, to, to win a couple more games after that. We beat John Jay also a powerhouse. Eventually you know, we're able to, to beat Canton in the state championship and win that. It was a great experience. And that's awesome. Lars, good morning. Oh, thanks for having me. Thanks for having me on, Ron. Yeah. Lars, we're happy to have you. And Lars, I thought we were doing your program a service, having your new assistant coach will be a key to your program and a key to recruiting, giving him a little time to share his story with our listeners. It's all about supporting your program. Associate head coach, actually, not just assistant. Associate head coach. There you go, Lars. Get it straight, Ron. But Lars, going back to the roots of playing careers, you know, last time we had you on and we were talking with Dom, we didn't, we didn't spend a lot of time on, on your high school career. And so talk about Lafayette outside of Syracuse and what, what your high school career was like. That might, that might've been intentional why we didn't talk about my high school career. Especially in comparison to. Coach Casis that we just heard from. But I'll, I'll give it a little bit. Lafayette is a is a town just south of the Syracuse tangent to the Onaga nation, one of the six tribes of the Haudenosaunee. AK used to be known as the iis a town in terms of athletics, very good at football and basketball and baseball once in a while. But when it came to lacrosse we had this incredible history because when there was no youth lacrosse programs. Those existed with Lafayette because on the Onondaga Nation, Boxercross was being played by young boys and so they had sticks in their hands when they were three, four, five years old. Whereas most of the country, most of the lacrosse world, you weren't picking up a stick until maybe 6th or 7th grade 50 years ago, if even that. As we learned from Dom Starza, who didn't even pick up a lacrosse stick until he got to Brown. And so, it's a sport that is just, just a part of the fabric, a part of the of the community and entrenched and ingrained as much as possible. The game of lacrosse was actually introduced to Lafayette by a man named Kep Weist. Who's still alive today. Just just about 90 years old. And one of the reasons he brought it to Lafayette was there was some really tough relationships and tension happening between the native young men who were at Lafayette High School and the non native, the white men. And and they thought, Hey, we've we've heard some examples in the past. You know, this is obviously a different era where you got racial desegregation happening, where the examples of sport where you bring the two together. You bring the races together through sport, that's where things sort of fall off, right? That's where in the locker room can bind because now you have a mission regardless of Mm-Hmm, your skin color or your, your beliefs in religion. So it's that was one of the main reasons Cat Weiss brought the game of lacrosse to Lafayette at the varsity level. You know, it's been being played box across and all that. And so that's cool. I'm really lucky to go 25 years later. I come along and I jump into this tradition. I'll give you one little story. You know, my sophomore year in high school, it's the very first game of the year. And you know, I was, we were we're, we're heading to Homer high school, the big game, you know, Lafayette Homer, and I'm sure it was on ESPN later, but it's, it's the coach comes to the back of the bus, take during, you know, with Jerry Brenner. Hey, Lars, you got to start, you know, so and so is not feeling well. And you know, you're going to be the starter and I am scared. geared to death at this point. And luckily, luckily, Jerome Lazor wins a bunch of faceoffs. The ball doesn't come to the defensive end of the field till it's we're up four zero. And again, being a part of that type of tradition history of great lacrosse at Lafayette. But Ron, there was a play that happened there that never happened again. And I so there was a midline scramble for a ground ball. And somehow, someway, I, I, I come up towards the midline, I pick up this ball. And no one, there's no one left. There's no one between me and the goal. And the goal is like 35 yards away. I don't know where the attackman were. I don't know. It's like a dream. Like there's nothing there. And the sea is parting for you. I mean, where did all the chess pieces, everyone fell. I run down there and Ron, I throw that ball at least 10 yards over the top of the goal. I mean, talk about poise. And I'm not sure if they gave it to the other team, the goalie who was the only one down there, if they gave him the ball because he was closest or because they thought I passed the ball off the end line. But I remember I remember not being able to sleep that night and finally, finally being like, all right, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'll get another chance. I'll get another chance. And I finally, finally fell asleep like two or three in the morning. I never got that other chance, but so there's a good lot, but yeah, that's pretty much my high school playing career. You know I think it's interesting because you guys are in the middle of this. I know Jay and I, when we talk about our high school careers, I can see it when you two, you two are at the hot, I've played and coached the highest levels of the game. And you both, you know, you get that smile on your face. You get animated when you talk about those special moments playing on a high school team. And I just think it's a message to today's kids who feel so much pressure on the club side. It is such a special thing to play for your high school and your town. And so I hope that that That kind of tradition continues to get sustained in the game with all the emphasis on the club teams and the summer leagues. No doubt. Nothing like playing for the hometown. Our next clip. We have Lars Tiffany on his first impression of Kevin Cassie's and Kevin Cassie's is impact. At UVA this prior fall, his first time at the university of Virginia as a coach. It's it's real in terms of relationship. I see him doing it with our men already. He's making me have to become a better man and have better relationships with him because I've seen the relationships he's already building with the UVA lacrosse men. Okay, let me segue back. You know, it's Kevin was introduced to me by, I think there's, some brine representatives. I became a head coach in 2004 and I needed to build the staff out. And I was, all right, who wants to join this unproven head coach who wants to do this? And so I got some great recommendations from him. Obviously it's seen him play as an elite player. And so from that first meeting with Kevin. And just the real, just the humor, here's this guy with this incredible resume, and yet he's not telling all that byline he's not going to try to one up your story. That's not who Kevin is. He's an incredible listener and he's an incredible friend and I'm really lucky that he's part of our staff. Beautiful. This is fun. I'm going to do this every week. So Kevin, how about you? You're a young coach and what are your first impressions of this guy, Lars Tiffany? As a head coach, as you're learning to, you're obviously a great player, as Lars said, but now you're learning how to be a coach. And what are your impressions of coach Tiffany during that time in Stony Brook? Well, first impression was we met at a Chili's that was where the job interview was. I'll never forget this as long as I live, but I met at a Chili's right in Stony Brook. And, you know, we instantly started diving into X's and O's and. I remember Lars breaking out some sugar packets and salt shakers and, you know, doing, you know, a couple of different diagrams right there on the table and, you know, and just dove right in and, you know, That was kind of my introduction. My first impression was, man, this guy is really smart. He's really inquisitive. And, that became so true as, as I dove in with him. And we had that incredible year together at Stony Brook. And, I felt I had so much to learn when it came to how to play the game and how to coach the game. And you know, I learned all that from Lars. I also learned the work ethic that is required to be a champion in the coaching profession. Former defenseman, Rick Beardsley, the four time All-American from Syracuse. Was one of our last guests from season one and we did not get to put him into any compilations. So we really wanted to get him in here, especially with his message. With this clip and this clip, he talks about the biggest moment in his career. And it's probably not what you think.

Ron: 14:59

So Jay, where are we going to pick up here, Jay? Where do you want to go? Well, I do want, I want

Jay: 15:03

to, I want to jump on this one point, Byron. Heard Rick on another podcast talking about when he was a freshman, he was doing pretty well, and then came up against maybe a tough matchup in, I think it was against Loyola. All right. B, I remember him. He was good. There you go. You know, lost a starting job and then, you know, we had Greg Catrano on who you just mentioned and he had lost his starting job and these stories of overcoming adversity are just really helpful. You know, most of the people listening to this are, you know, parents of players and players. So how would, could you describe that situation and how you kind of overcame that adversity?

Ron: 15:41

Well, number one, I went in as the most highly touted defenseman in the country. And I got to Syracuse. And like I said earlier in the podcast, I'd never been run by more. Like it's, it's simple. And I had to adjust. I had to like, all right, now I need to, I'm two, I'm two 15. Maybe I need to play it to 10. Maybe I need to play it two Oh five. Am I going to find that ideal weight, which no one thinks about, but they do at the pro level. They think about what their right ideal weight is. And that sounds so terrible. Cause God, how could you talk about someone's weight? Right. It's like I had to first find my ideal weight. And then from that point. I had to mentally understand that I was in with the big dogs and then coach Simmons gave me the shot at starting and it was sink or swim, do or die. And I straight drowned. I mean, I still found he went for six and four on me. Guys, which game

Steve: 16:43

of the year was it? Like, it wasn't a

Ron: 16:44

third game or it was a scrimmage. Okay. My freshman year. Okay. He said, no, we're going to give the rookie. He's called rookies. Give the rookie the big dog. Yeah. All right. Well, the rookie, I would, I looked at Kevin Beach and I'm like, Oh, he's big. Oh my God. He hangs a stick. I'm going to destroy this guy all day. I couldn't have been more wrong in my life. Uh, probably learn from that, right? Yeah. We ended up losing. And then I went right down on the back of the depth chart and I refused. To quit. And that sounds so cliche. I went right back with the second defense and not that the second defense was anything bad. I just was like, wow, man, time for you to, you know, you got one more, one more game, one more tournament in the fall to get your act together before you go into break. I built myself back up to the fourth D guy and we went in and that great pumpkin stick out and I did fairly well, you know, I guarded a bunch of really good guys like, you know, it wasn't like I got subbed in late with the guys who didn't play. I literally got put right in, you know, beginning of the, you know, probably middle of the first quarter. We played UMass right on Mark Millen, you know, took the ball away from him a couple times and, you know, and, um, then right into Hobart and end of the Hobart game, I actually drained a 20 yard behind the back on a high bouncer, which is no BS guys. I'm not even like, you had a hell of a behind

Steve: 18:12

the back

Jay: 18:12

pass and shot

Steve: 18:14

from

Ron: 18:14

what I saw in highlights. But listen, this is, it's like, you know, you get like you caught the sunfish that becomes the shark. I legitimately heard. So I'm running down on a Threw it behind my back. I got absolutely destroyed by the D guy, whoever that was. And it, it was so unexpected that it bounced and caught the upper corner. Like I had no idea if it was going in or not guys, but, but I went in on it. That was the last game. And he was the end of the fourth. Like I went in on a really good note into the off season. How I built that up is the biggest thing I ever did. I went. Yeah. On the 26th of December, I went right back up to my South Campus bedroom. I took a buddy of mine who wrestled with me, who wrestled at Oswego, Jim Dunleavy. And I said, Jimmy, I need to be in the best shape possible. We hit practice. Like I can't be, I know I can control that. I need to be in shape. My ability will be my ability. And I did every single day I ran stairs. I ate what he ate because he was in the middle of his season. Right. That was his break. I drove him up to practice, drove him back down. And I just worked myself. into the starting lineup right away in practice. I wanted to guard guys, you know, I wanted to be on guys. And it really is like, you know how parents Listen, I'm a dad. Okay. And I love my children. And you talked about parents earlier. There's a lot of unrealistic human beings in the world where reality sets in. The reality sets in when the market sets in. Right. Right. I always tell people the market will dictate. Now, there are tweeners.

Jay: 20:03

But that might have been the best thing that ever happened to you. It was Gordon Beach, and then getting knocked down a peg, and then being like, I've got to really work my butt off before the season, and then you came out

Ron: 20:13

as a great freshman year. Listen, stupid cliches, you have to fail before you succeed.

Steve: 20:18

It's true, right? It really is. Some of these cliches

Ron: 20:21

are super true. And then, think about it, from that point on, my responsibilities Every week were to take on the guy that coach Simmons told me I needed to take on. And, you know, I was, I don't know about you guys, I watched videotapes. I would sit in Tesco's office and watch my matchup with him.

Jay: 20:44

How about if we transition to. J m l and let's do that. We'll get into a little bit of the mindset. We'll do a mindset minute here.

20:54

We're often asked by our listeners who are parents of young, aspiring lacrosse players and those lacrosse players themselves. What is it that makes for greatness in this sport? Well folks after hearing Greg testimony or few weeks back in which he said, if he had not been benched for five of the six Ivy league games in his sophomore year at brown. He would not have had the highly successful collegiate career that he enjoyed. He went on to be named a first team, all American and both his junior and senior years and one D one goalie of the year honors twice. And he would not have had the refreshable career either. He said, in which he was a perennial all-star a three time champion and only one of two goalies to ever be named the most valuable player of a professional lacrosse league. And one of only two goalies in trined in the professional lacrosse hall of fame. The story Rick Beardsley has just shared with us is perhaps not as dramatic, but it's still quite similar. As he just said, getting torched for six goals and four assists and being benched in the fall of his freshman year, really sparked a fire inside of him. Dr. Rob Gilbert, our sports performance expert loves to say success leaves clues. And if you want uncommon success, you needed to take uncommon action. He also says, if we want to get extra ordinary results. We've got to be willing to do things. Other people are not willing to do. What Rick Beardsley did is a perfect example of that. He did something different. He went back to Syracuse on the day after Christmas, December 26th, with his buddy from Oswego, who was a wrestler on Christmas break as well. And together they followed an intense workout routine and a strict diet. And it sounds like Rick was the only lacrosse player at the school at that time. So one piece of advice is to do what others aren't willing to do. The other suggestion we can glean from these stories coming from the all time greats. Is that when we get knocked down, we need to not only get back up, we need to take that knocked down as a signal that we need to change tack. Perhaps we need to redouble our efforts. Take massive action. Have higher standards and those around us and believe in ourselves all the more, if we do that, our success is absolutely positively guaranteed. No doubt about it. To hear more sports performance tips from Dr. Rob Gilbert, check out his success hotline on apple podcasts. Speaking of no guardrails that so many of our listeners describe the college lacrosse recruiting trail. So we've responded by putting excerpts of our 10 best interviews with legendary coaches, such as bill Tierney, Lars, Tiffany and Andy towers. Into a book that you can access for free on our JML app. Simply download the J McMahon lacrosse app at the apple app store or at Google play for Android and check it out. And for those. Who would like a book in their hands? Or on their Kindle, it is available on Amazon, under the title inside the recruiting game insights from college lacrosse coaches. So with that, you will see the description of these items also in the show notes. And 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 the 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. And as the summer is just starting. We are offering for a limited time only. 70% off. That's right. 70% off of our four week online courses that help young players take their skills, mindset, and max IQ from good to great. That means you can get access to these highly rated trainings for only$90. That's right. For$90 offensive players defensemen and goalies can take their game to the next level. The summer is the best time of year to improve your game. And that's why we are making this special offer. So jump on it now because it won't last for long. Simply download the free version of the Jane McMahon lacrosse app. Or just follow the link that's listed in the show notes. And you will see the coupon code noted for each different course. We're excited to get back to our interview and you will find that interview in progress. So ladies and gentlemen, I'm pleased to welcome the head men's lacrosse coach for the Harvard Crimson, Jerry Barrett. Woo hoo. Very welcome. Please welcome one of the Wahoo's all time greats and man who will always remain coach Jerry Byrne's big brother. Again, please welcome coach Steve Byrne. Thank you. Very welcome. Steve. Here, guys. Thanks for joining us. Yeah. Really fun to have you guys with us. And you know, Jerry, you were asking earlier why we You know, how we got into this whole thing. And I think you guys really epitomize that, which is Jay and I have been friends for, you know, Thirty plus years, and we only know each other because of the game lacrosse. And, you know, over all the years, we just came to appreciate All the incredible relationships in the game, and it's fun. You're our first brother combination to be on, but clearly, you guys So you guys might have known each other without lacrosse, But most of us wouldn't, basically. So, Steve, we always like to start,, with how you develop your passion for the game. And so tell us when you first started playing the sport, and I understand there may be somebody that our listeners There's many recognize who first had a role in getting a stick in your hand. Yeah. No. For sure, I'm at lacrosse in our house Really wasn't a thing. It was football, basketball, baseball, and then any other makeup game that you could figure out, with your your buddies on the street. So I went to a Catholic high school one through eight, Saint Bernard's. And my gym teacher, my seventh and eighth grade years was Bill Tierney, who's also a Levittown guy. He's on the south side. We like to call it Levittown Slope, and we were in Levittown Heights In the heights. In the heights. Nice. Yeah. So yeah. So Bill I mean, he he would bring the sticks out. We never really did much with it, But it was literally the first lacrosse that guy ever held. And he, He was, I don't know, twenty three, twenty four. So we used to go see the Long Island Tomahawks was an indoor league that was on for a few years. We go in Nassau, and there'd be there'd be a hundred and fifty people and, you know, ten of us, you know, thirteen, fourteen year olds Just chasing balls in the stands. But that was literally the first time I I held the stick, and I do remember that. I do remember him. And so when I when it was I had to figure out where I was going to high school. My older brother was At Holy Trinity on Long Island, I was thinking about Holy Trinity, but at the end of the day, All my buddies were going to division, the public school, and I knew my parents really didn't have the money for us for me to go because they were saving it for their favorite child, Jerry. It would've come out three years from here. They they can really predict the future. They Should've done much more of that with Wall Street. They knew I was more of the intellect and. Yeah. Yeah. We'll get to we'll get to you later. So I played football, and, towards the end of at the end of football, I don't know how it happened, but everybody started talking about lacrosse because division had a good lacrosse history. Had a good lacrosse team, and I'm like, I never played lacrosse. So basically, Myself and probably at least two thirds of the team had never picked up a stick. So, you know, my best friend lived down the street from me, and he was a tremendous athlete, ended up Going to Maryland to play. So we just got sticks and started playing. And so I I get my stick in the middle middle of January with my My birthday and just started playing. And it was fun with your friends. It it was So much more fun than football. I love playing football. Love playing football games. I hate it. Despise football practice. Yeah. Me too. Yeah. Just it just has no fun. You can have fun in a in a lacrosse practice. Right. Yeah. We had a lot of fun. And these were all my closest friends. And we were all starting together, and and we just progressed, you know, from that ninth Great team to our senior year where, you know, we were the best team on Long Island. That's awesome. Jerry, just like recruiting today, most of your guys pick up a stick, you know, just starting freshman year and then become three time all Americans. You know, it's just how it works. Right? They pick up one of their seven sticks Sat there there. They have one for each day of the week. Jerry, what was it like for you growing up in Levittown there Long Island, and tell us about your experience when you first started out. Did Well, I think what did I want to do? You or or not? Oh, of course. But I think one one of the reasons why there's so many really good athletes from Levittown. It's like you know? There there was some some real characters and hoodlums in that town. Like, You really you had to dodge people throwing rocks and bottles at you driving down the street. So it really really helped develop your agility as you walk around toes, as you walk around town, people throwing, you know fireworks at you. Oh, actually drove drove by. Batteries. What's that exactly? So, You know, coach Tierney was the gym teacher at at Saint Bernard's, and, you know, he was, You know, obviously, it still remains a very charismatic character, and, you know, it was it was almost like a pied Piper, it it didn't really convert much like Steve was saying. It did there was a a youth team, the were they the Tomahawks, Steve? What was the Tomahawks. Yeah. But We didn't play. Like, we again, we played hoop and and football, and and it hadn't really kinda converted. Yeah. And so when Steve started playing, I didn't, like you know, by the time my brother became, like, one of the great players in college. Lacrosse, I wasn't even playing yet. You know? I I it's gonna not come out right, but, like Like, I grew, like, six or seven inches in one year, and I you know? It it was an awkward phase that some people still I think I'm going through. But but, you know, I I I legitimately got cut from every team at Chaminade. So my parents it looked like a great decision to send me to the academic school and let my brother let my brother go to the public school in town. And I I I it's a real story. Like, I cut got cut from there. I love the basketball. I peaked. My peak basketball was, like, freshman year. I made the freshman team at. And my mother Literally was chastising me. Like, I was reading by doing my summer reading like a Chaminade that gave you a book to read during the summer, and I'm sitting there reading. I my guess, it was like Papillon or the Hobbit or something. And I'm reading that my mother, we had this room in our house. You know? You know? This is Long Island in the mid eighties. You had a room that you no one went in unless you had guests. Right. That rug. We didn't have plastic on the furniture, but it was closed. And and so I'm sitting in this room that I'm not Supposed to be laying, and my mother comes walking in. She's like, what are you doing? I'm like, I'm reading my doing my summary, and she goes, no. What are you doing? Gotta get up and do something. She's like, not the motivation you want. My mother's like, look at your bro I'm not saying she was smoking, but she might have been smoking. He was like Put that book down. Look at your brother. He's like one of the best players in the sport. He just started playing, like, three years ago. Okay. Basically, You're a stiff. What are you doing? You should play this sport. So I gave it so literally that summer, My brother is a, I don't know, sophomore junior at Virginia, and Jim Adams ran a camp at Blair Academy. Oh god. And I, you know, I Is that in New Jersey? Blair's Town, New Jersey? Town. And and I've never played I've never played lacrosse before. And Wow. And my mom's like, you know, I just talked to missus, whatever, missus Smith. You know, Johnny's sick. They have an extra spot in the camp. You you your brother's working the camp. You're going. I'm like, So that's why that book here. Put it down. Yeah. Put that book down, you nerd. And and I went to the camp, And I got connected with, you know, guys that I had con kinda gone to grammar school with who are now going to public script, the Cook family, which is a famous Cornell Family. Eddie was my year. Todd Esposito became a great player at Virginia. Joe Weimdart, my one of my closest friends, was the First all American in Saint John's history. So this group of guys from our tower are going to this camp, and Steven was freaking the camp. And we went, and Yeah. An unbelievable time. I fell in love with the game, and, you know, we terrorized this camp, which is a whole other podcast, But it was you know, that was the thing. So Bill, being the gym teacher, kind of exposed us to the game. And but, Like, my mother's, you know, basically, lighting a fire under my ass. My brother as an as a model of a guy who was a really good athlete and just could kinda and fell in love with it too. It was you know, that was inspiring. My mom challenging me and then just kind of Go into this camp with a bunch of guys you grew up with, and those guys are my friends to this day based on just going to that camp. Wow. That's awesome. Great great story. You have such great stuff. So so, you know, we all and we you know, We're we're talking to the upperclassmen, so we're finding out about Manhasset, and we're finding out about Cold Spring Harbor and Garden City, all the big names, all the really good And and so we're playing Manhasset at Manhasset. I think it's our our sophomore year. And he gets us and he was a big time, like, rah rah guy, so he gets us in a wrestling room. And so we go to the wrestling room and, you know, we we haven't fully dressed yet, and he has all these, like, eight by eleven, pages with, you know, helter skelter on it and all this, like, pump up stuff. And so we're you know, there's twenty of us, twenty one, And he's he's trying to get us jacked up. He goes, you're going to Manhasset. These guys are the best. Right? And he's just he just pumping them up. And he's going then he stops, and he goes, look at you guys. You got nothing. He goes, your jerseys don't match. So we look around at each other, and we're like, yeah. You're right. We don't because we we're on we're always on austerity. And and so you're getting hand me downs from different, you know, purchases. So one guy says dragons. The other guy says Division. Division. You know? Same numbers. You know, you'll see you've got no shorts. You're short. You guys look like, you know, rag pickers. You know, you got you don't have this. You don't have this. And he stops. He goes, and they have it all. That's it was like best class warfare. They they have it all. You got Dante. They got this. They got that. They got beautiful cars. You should see their lawns. He goes, and they got ivy. And it's quiet, and somebody raises their hand. And they coach, what's Ivy? And he goes, you'll see what we get there. That's great. We're we're gonna kill him. Gonna Gonna straggle to that Ivy. That was part of the love of the game in Levittown is to hate the the other socioeconomic folks. Right. Boris. Yeah. They're throwing, but they don't have heart like we have. That's good stuff. Like that story. And our next clip, coach Jerry burn gets the coaching bug. And shows us all that. Sometimes it takes a winding road to get to success. 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 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. Next coach. Jerry Bern talks about his two stints at Notre Dame with the fighting Irish. 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. And that concludes our compilation. We sure. Hope you enjoyed it. If you did, please give us a thumbs up, subscribe and share our podcast with a friend. Also if you would leave us a review. We'd really appreciate that because it would help our podcast grow.

Ron: 45:10

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.