S2 E28. Penn Quaker & USILA COY, Mike Murphy, Takes a Walk In Memphis, Part I.

In this episode of 'Get the LAX Scoop,' hosts Ron Doish and Jay McMahon introduce collegiate lacrosse coach Mike Murphy, alongside surprise guest Chris Colbeck. The conversation delves into their early influences, coaching experiences, and the impactful relationships they've formed through the sport. Featuring stories from their time at top programs like UVA and insights from their playing days, this episode highlights the passion and mentorship that shape lacrosse careers. The show also provides a sneak peek into summer training programs and resources for aspiring players.

00:00 Introduction to Lax Scoop Podcast

00:23 Meet the Hosts: Big Dog and Jaybird

00:42 Special Guest: Steve Gfi

00:59 Transition to JML

01:20 Exciting Episode Preview

02:16 Guest Introduction: Mike Murphy

05:43 Mike Murphy's Lacrosse Journey

10:47 High School Rivalries and Championships

13:29 JML Promotions and Offers

15:28 Influence of Coach Benedict

21:19 The Nerve-Wracking Disguise

21:43 Reflecting on Coaching and Traditions

22:19 A Special Mystery Guest

22:39 Reunion with Chris Colbeck

23:24 Chris Colbeck's Impressive Resume

26:40 Early Lacrosse Memories

32:07 Coaching with Dom Starza

35:18 Life Updates and Career Journeys

38:42 The Importance of Skill Development

39:26 Signing Off

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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

folks. It may be the dog days of summer, but we've got a very exciting. Get the lax scoop episode for you tonight with a long gosh, dog. Sure. Go ahead, Ron J. There was no need. There was absolutely no need for you to interrupt. And it wasn't particularly funny. Thank you, Jay, though, for intruding on the get the lax scoop intro. That's get the lax scoop intro Jay. Jay, we've got a very exciting episode, a tremendous division one head coach, and I understand we may be in store for some special surprises and stories as this episode unfolds. So I can't wait to see where it takes it. And Jay, as is, our normal practice. And could we please get started, Ron, if you don't mind? Jay, I was about to turn things over to you for the intro. Thank you. Thank you, Jay. I can see that this is going to be a feisty episode, Jay. You're in a mood, Jay. You are in a mood. Our next guest attended Duke University, where he was a three year starter on defense for the nationally ranked Blue Devils. And as a senior. was the captain of the 1991 team. He graduated with a degree in history and political science. He landed his first job out of Duke at our alma mater, Brown University, as an assistant coach for Dom Starzia, helping guide the Bears to a top 10 national ranking and a berth to the NCAA quarterfinal round. Next, he caravaned down to Charlottesville with Starzia and company, where he was an assistant coach at the University of Virginia. Nice play on words, Jay. Really nice play on words. Thank you, Ron. Very nice. Yes. From 1993 to 1997, during his time with Oahu's, he helped lead a run that included trips to the 1994 and 1996 national championship games and three visits to the national semifinals. He was an assistant coach at the University of Pennsylvania in 2001 and 2002, and then spent seven years as the Haverford College head men's lacrosse coach before returning to the Quakers in 2010, where he has remained ever since. Over the years, he has become the all time winningest coach in Penn Men's Lacrosse history, has enjoyed three Ivy League tournament championships, one regular season championship, and four NCAA tournament appearances. He was the 2019 U. S. ILA National Coach of the Year, as well as the Ivy League Coach of the Year. He grew up in Connecticut and played his high school lacrosse at New Canaan High School in Fairfield County. Please welcome our next guest, the one, the only Mike Murphy. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it. Dog, great to be with you, my friend. Murph, welcome. Welcome. Murph, you know, the all time winningest coach in Penn Men's Lacrosse history. That's impressive. And I think it means you're getting old. It just means you've been there for a long time. Is that basically what it, you know, if you just stay there, eventually you're gonna get that record? Is that the way it works? Pretty much the only thing it means. 14 years isn't that long, Ron. Come on. So for those who don't know that we have a long standing relationship with Mike Murphy, I'm not just being a jerk. He's a friend. And so you can expect that things might be a little a little on the spicy side. A little saucy. Ron was finishing up at Brown when Coach Murphy stepped in at Brown. So they do have a history here. Just letting our listeners know. If I wasn't an alum of Duke, I would consider myself an alum of Brown for not only having coached there for that year, but for having played with you guys and all those summer tournaments in Vail and Hartford and, and things like that. So exactly. And he's good friends with our friend, Andy Towers. And then we've got a mutual friend from Duke, Keith Malchionni. So yeah, a lot of connections here. Yeah. You know, it just occurred to me, Mike, why I so naturally heckle you at every opportunity. It's because you might be the only Duke guy that I actually kind of like, you know? And so I think it kind of comes naturally to me that I just, but, but I mean, I, I really, I, you know, you, you can't heckle the Brown state guys. You heckle everyone, Ron, but yeah, you don't really discriminate. I'm going to put that on my resume. Excellent. Ron, if you don't mind, can we get to our interview, please? Thank you. Thank you, Jay, for bossing me around. I appreciate it. So Murph, look, you know, what's kind of fun for us in all seriousness is we've, you know, we've had a lot of people that we've both known for a long time and not on the podcast. And it's fun for us to hear where they first started their passion for the game. Like where, where did they get introduced to the game? Who are some of the people that were really early influencers? Because that's not something we generally sit around after a game with a few beers asking someone, but I, I, it's always interesting to hear how people got introduced to the game. So what are your earliest memories? Yeah, no doubt. So I grew up in North Carolina and what's in Salem, North Carolina. And I was somewhat of a fan of of UNC and a couple different sports and things, at least followed them, and they had won the national championship in 1981 and 1982. So I'm like, I kind of took note of like, what's this lacrosse thing? Never seen it. Didn't ever see a stick or a ball or anything like that. And then moved to New Canaan, Connecticut in at the end of seventh grade. And one of the first people I met there was Andy Towers. What, what, where are we living here? What, what is going on? And a couple of other interesting personalities. And so sure enough, Andy became probably the first good friend I had there. And, and one of the closest friends I had there and I've had there in my life. And obviously his family, his father, brother. No, and the whole family were into lacrosse. So that spring I moved in like April became pretty quickly friends with him. And then his dad took us down to the national championship game. I think it was a Delaware. I'm not positive. And you know, and that from then on, I just kind of fell in love with it. I went to camp that summer, which was coach Benedict's camp. Who's another guy that was hugely influential in my. Development and passion for this game. And he ran a camp there that I went to and probably borrowed. I don't even know if I had a stick at that point. And coach Moran, Richie Moran was like the guest coach for the week. So yeah, it was, it was legit, you know, and there were some. New Canaan guys that have played at different places. They had Cornell and, and stuff that were back coaching. So it was, it was a great introduction and the town was kind of behind it. And then I think New Canaan won the championship that next year state championship. And so, and there was a, a group of us that were really into it and really competitive and, you know, with. You know, Andy probably leading it. We would play in his front yard. Joe Sletto, Kevin Eriks, Steve Luciano Matt Hipps, Graham Calloway, you know, a bunch of guys. I think they're pretty good. You know, between our grade and grade below us, there were like 18 guys that played, you know, division one or division three lacrosse. And so it just kind of fed on itself. And so, you know, my memory is really just being into it with those guys playing when we could, obviously, you know, doing what we did in high school and then beyond. But it was really more about, you know, the stuff we did Kind of on our own, you know, getting together, playing, pick up in yards or parking lots at the high school and things like that. You know, we were completely committed to it. And it was interesting because, you know, you look at it now, we were, we just loved it. We were committed. All we want to do is win. Want to earn a starting job on varsity and we want to win games. And nowadays, these kids are doing this with some sort of expectation of getting recruited or some sort of like exchange with it. It's kind of ruined, you know, some of the passion people have for the sport, but ours was as pure as it could be. And it was an affluent town and, you know, it wasn't, you know certain things about it, but, you know, you know, we didn't care. And it didn't matter how much money you had, didn't matter where you came from. Like, if you just showed up and worked hard and competed, you Like you were in. That's great. Awesome, Murph. Murph. I'm smiling a little bit because there's absolutely nothing pure in the game than being mentored by Andy Towers. I mean, that is, that is as pure as it gets. Image of purity. It really is though, you know, like. You know, like he cares about it, you know, he didn't, no, no doubt. He cares about this. We did a podcast with David Evans and Andy Towers and at the same time, at the same time, and those two, I gotta go find that. But to your point, right? The thing that you can never, ever, ever question about those two is compete level and love for the game. They just love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. And so it is infectious with Andy. I mean, you can't help but have fun playing the game when you're around the guy. Yeah. I mean, like if I had met some other guy, you know, in the first couple of weeks that it was into soccer or basketball or football or who knows where I would have ended up now. He's pretty compelling at some point. I'm sure we would have, would have linked up and stuff. But you know, literally he's the one that, that lit this fire that still, still burns in me today. So. Wow, that's great. And then his dad was from Manhasset. And I remember Andy telling me, you might have said it on the show, that him and his, I guess his dad and Coach Benedict really kind of set up the youth league there in New Canaan. And then, you know, really built a power house. That's great. Well, that leads right into the next question. Cause I know in 87 and 86 too, probably, New Canaan was one of the top ranked schools in the country with offensive standouts. I have here in the script, as you just mentioned, Andy Towers, Kevin Arick, Steve Luciano, Top Guns on D like yourself and Joe Soletto. And then you know, that was kind of the question, what, because I know Wilton was really good before New Canaan, I think, right? Wilton was kind of the powerhouse. You're both in that same county. And then New Canaan may have been a little newer onto the scene. And so tell us what that was like. Was, was that the big rivalry back then? No doubt. Which guy wouldn't. Yeah, Coach Whitten was like, he was the guy, he was the godfather in Fairfield County, you know, revered and respected and, and they were the established power, honestly you know, I think they had started winning state championships, you know, in early, mid 70s, maybe 74, 75, which was the first year. That coach Benedict started the program in New Canaan. They'd won all the state championships except for 82, I think. And so that was the only one New Canaan had won. I don't think anybody else had won it besides Wilton. And so, you know, as we come up through eighth grade, ninth grade, all we talked about doing was trying to win a state championship. There was maybe 10 of us or so that made varsity as sophomores, three guys made varsity as freshmen. I think maybe two Luciano and Saleto didn't play a ton. And then there were a bunch of us that made varsity and played a lot as sophomores. And, you know, it was kind of an up and down year and, you know we were about 500 at some point. And then as we just kind of turned it on and we ended up beating Wilton, who was the overwhelming favorite Manny Suarez was their best player, you know And like Andy and I used to like, just, cause I would cover him and Andy would face off against him. Right, yeah. Probably like, you know, we had, you know we wanted to kill that guy, so. Right. And he was, he was the best player in the state by, by a good margin. It's funny, I had a friend who had a cousin who was Manny Suarez's, one of his best friends. And he played attack and had seen a bunch of tape of Manny Suarez. And, you know, I can see it in my mind's eye right now. So yeah, he was a heck of a player. So you guys were gunning for those guys. Yeah. And then we ended up beating them in the state championship, our sophomore year, and they were better than us. They'd beaten us at least once earlier in the year. But our goalie had a, had a great day. And so somehow we won that. And then we ended up winning the next two years. And at that point, so it was three years in a row. Yeah. Three years in a row. And we were by far the best team. Our senior year, it was probably pretty even, even our, our junior year Norwalk was good that year. Mike Epstein was really good for Norwalk. And then freshman sophomore year, we just kind of, kind of stole one. So so we had a good run and again, it was really just about competing and trying to win that championship and weren't really talking about colleges or anything like that at that point.

Jay: 13:09

How about if we transition to. J m l and let's do that.

13:15

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. 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 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 so Murph, you mentioned our good friend, Andy Towers, and in preparing for this episode, we asked him if there were some questions we could ask you. He suggested a whole bunch of things, almost none of which we can use. Just can't put them on the air. But the one thing, you know, that he did talk about, and you mentioned coach Benedict. Who you know, became a legend just as like, as Guy Witton was. I mean, he, you know, he kind of followed and, and became maybe the air down there in Connecticut, but we also know that he was a bit of a character and so maybe talk about the influence that coach Benedict had on your career and any stories that might give people a glimpse into. His character as a coach or his approach as a coach, perhaps no doubt. And I think it was almost a perfect storm of the community we lived in. He had gone through a divorce, I think right around 85, 86. So he was a little bit on edge. We won that state championship in 85 and guys like Andy, and I'm sure myself and a bunch of us probably started feeling our oats a little more than we deserve to. So that 1986 season was, that was. Challenging to say the least. And that's when like he was at his height of kind of some of the story. Coach Benedict some of the stories you would hear about, you know, he would just have unreasonable expectations and we would run in the mornings for like 45 minutes sprints up hills and then come back in the afternoon and practice. He would make guys run like a mile or two miles for where their stick was located. And he was just kind of over the top. I mean, some of the things he said to us, you're like, Holy mackerel, you know and again, most of it's not probably appropriate for this for this forum, but like the things he would say to Mormon kids. You're like, Oh my God, you know you know, and we had this big football player went to BC and was you know, one of their all time leading tacklers and stuff. And he was just like getting that guy's face and, you know, challenge him and stuff. And we were all scared to death, you know, which is exactly what we needed and deserved at that point in time. I'm not sure we would have been as successful in those years and, and beyond that, if he hadn't coached us. The way he had coached us, he knew exactly what he was doing, I think, and knew exactly what we needed. You know, having had the success that we had and coming from the families you were coming from, you know, I'm sure he knew that we could handle that stuff. And he, you know, he, he poured it on. It was, you know, it was honestly the best thing that could have possible, at least for me, best thing could happen to me at that point in time. Cause, you know, and I remember him saying it to me at one point, he's like, you're not going to know what you can't do until you can't do it. You know, and, and like, you know, he would set up this ride. He would call it Murphy ride. And we, I practiced it for what seemed like days during spring break. And it was just me running like sideline to sideline, trying to cover people as a long stick midi. And I'm like, you gotta be kidding me. Like, what is he doing? And he was just testing me, you know there was another time where I think he thought I could have tried harder on ground balls. So he put me on the face off wing and he lined up the entire team next to me and I just had to go fight for a ground ball one guy after the other. It was probably 10 minutes, but it seemed like two days and he would just do things like all the time, you know, like towers. He would just kind of towers all the time and he would write numbers on the dry erase board for like plays and stuff and he wouldn't write 44. He would write F period a period. So it was just like constant stuff like that, like, you know, keeping us humble, keeping us grounded. One of his favorite phrases was stay on the farm, you know, like stay grounded. He would say that to us all the time. Stay on the farm. Nice. Transformative and it brought us together and ultimately like I was scared to death of him, you know, all through high school went into college and then became pretty close with them and sort of run a camp with them and stuff. So that's cool. Yeah. Now with that, are there any. Like Tom's when you're out there coaching like today or a couple years ago, whatever that you think back and to any quotes that are reliable or relatable to the guys you're coaching come to mind. Do you have any coach Benedict moments? I'm sure I do. I mean, these guys, like, you know, if Andy and I got together or any of those guys got together, we would tell coach stories for hours. I'm sure you know, Penn guys or Howdenford guys are probably sitting around telling stories about me, you know, and crazy shit that I've said right. I just, the line is much closer to us than it was in the, in the mid 1980s. And it's, you know, Part of it's, I'm sure, expressions that I use and, you know, like I still, every time I think of dog, two things pop in my head. One is him eating whipped butter on a road trip, which I wasn't even looking for, but it makes me smile. Great image. And the second one is He did think it was whipped cream. Was it whipped cream? Yeah, I thought it was ice cream. Right, right, right. Whoops. I thought it was ice cream. It was whipped butter. That was great. And then With chocolate sauce though, right? The chocolate sauce, they had, yep, they had disguised it with some chocolate sauce. Dog, here you go. He's the only one who got it. He thought he was the only one on the team who got to have this delicious dessert. He's talking to everybody. I'm like, he does not even realize everybody. I love that you weren't even there. And somehow that's the two things that you remember. That's great. And that's great. That's your number two. At Dom's Hall of Fame, when you guys roasted them. Oh, that was terrific. That was my, I've never, you know, for those who were listening, when Dom Starzy got into the, the U S lacrosse hall of fame, a bunch of his players from Brown and Virginia got together the night before, and we had a huge Dom roast and I dressed up as Dom and an old Brown lacrosse sweatshirt. I had a pillow under my stomach. Like I weighed 300 pounds. I went to a, I went to a Hollywood, like a costume shop, like, and, and I got the most giant mustache I could find. I had an old brown cap. I've never been, I've spoken in front of a lot of groups as you have. I've never been more nervous. Yeah. Right. That was a lot of fun. It was awesome. So I'm sure guys are sitting around, you know, making fun of things I say and how I say them and some of the traditions we have and different things like that. So it's, I mean, it goes by so fast. I mean, been here for 15 years now and having coached for 33 or four years or whatever it is it's like, wow, you try to, you know, as you get a certain age, you're trying to slow things down and be a little bit more. I guess aware of what you're saying and how you're saying it, you know, especially as you have kids, I think it changes the way you coach a little bit and a little bit more empathetic probably than coach Bennett was, or than I was, you know, 15 or 20 years ago. Right. Well, speaking about taking a walk down memory lane, we have a special mystery guest for you here, Mike, no joke. This is a first ever a mystery guest drum roll, please. Who is Jay? That can't be. Yes. The mysterious lacrosse legend. Is that Chris Colbeck? Holes! Chris Colbeck, there he is. The man, the myth, the legend. I don't know about you, Dr. How are you? Awesome to see you, man. It's been a while. It's been 30 some years or something. Oh, my gosh. Dog about the same. I guess when you're ahead of school, we don't call you dog anymore, though. Probably. No, no, they do. Big, big dog. You can't run away from it, Chris. You can't run away from it. Do they really run? Oh, yeah. Kids, parents, parents, like, Oh, hey, dog. What's up? Yeah. Yeah, that's hilarious. Well, I'm honored to be the surprise gifts for Murph's interview. So we've got, we've got a special intro. Let me run through it. Oh, my gosh, according to an article from Inside Lacrosse Magazine in 2013, top coaching womanaries. Wow, he's quoting from a magazine, Chris. This is unprecedented. As John Donowski, Dave Cottle, Bill Tierney, and Dom Stargia benefited greatly from his mere presence on the sidelines and sing his praises to this day. This mysterious man won national titles as an assistant coach with Princeton NUVA was named Jake. Yes, NUVA. I get credit for one at Princeton. We, we lost. So you got to take that one. All right. I'll cut that right off. He was named the Jay Gallagher Assistant Coach of the Year award winner in 2001 at the National Coaches Convention, was a two time All American, two time captain, and was Athlete of the Year at his alma mater, Loyola College as a senior. And I might add Ronbo. Was also a gold medalist and starter and I'm proud to say my teammate on the U 19 Team USA team back in 1988. Dog claims I bring it up every episode I don't and happens so naturally. Wait a minute. I forgot about this. I thought this was for Murph. It is Ron. This is every episode Jay finds a way to go back to when I was a member of the U 18 dodgeball team. Like anyone could concoct this. Good job. This is excuse me. I'm sorry. Hold your jealousy to yourself, please. I'm almost done. He's a graduate of Calvert Hall High School in Baltimore and recent recipient of the Outstanding Teacher Award at the Memphis University School, where he teaches American literature as well as the senior seminar he created named Literature and the Environment. He's also the MSU assistant lacrosse coach. Here he is the one, the only Chris Colbeck. That's quite an introduction. It's the amazing thing is the longer you don't coach, the more accolades you get just by being retired. People think you're much better than you actually are. So, but it's good to see everybody. I've seen Murph very recently, but I haven't seen you guys in probably 30 years or more. I know, it's crazy. It's unbelievable. I'm so glad you could make it. This is great. And Chris, as a guy who's, as you alluded to, we're both in education. I mean, you are looking the English teacher role to a tee right now. I mean, you have a part. I mean, unbelievable one. I am the guy with just one suit and I would just wear it every time. So it's so what did you guys talk about in the first part with Murph? Oh, his first person he met. At New Canaan ever was Andy Towers. Okay. And he hit him over the head with a lacrosse stick and he fell in love with it ever since. And then we just, yeah, we were just kind of going through his, his lax history and we got, we got some of your questions teed up. So Ron jump on. So Chris, we found out in all seriousness, like this is what we love about this podcast is the relationships you form in the game, you know, and all the intersections that we all have with each other and the people that have been important to us in our lives that we all. Yeah. Sharing common. But it's been fun to kind of talk to guys about where where their passion for the game started. So we talked to Murph about that and would love to know, like, what was your first introduction to the game and who are some of the people when you were a young kid who are influential? I. Got very lucky growing up in Baltimore, although my dad was not a native Baltimore person. He was from Chicago and my mom was from New York, but dad bought my brother and I wooden sticks at a yard sale because everybody was playing lacrosse and we were probably five, something like that. So and then he just signed us up and then we were the only kids with wooden sticks at, at little league lacrosse at five and six. And but being in Baltimore, You're really lucky probably like Jay in garden city is that my first little league coach was a hall of famer, a guy named Sam golf, who was on the 52 national championship team at Johns Hopkins. And so when you grew up there, you know, you're lucky to have this guy, the first guy who's teaching you how to throw and how to do all those things is Tom golf, Sam was his son, Tom golf. So just really lucky that way to, to start that way. That's awesome. Can I ask you a question real quick? Go right ahead. You guys ever seen that Michael Douglas movie, Falling Down? Oh, yes. Falling Down. Is that where he loses his marbles? There he is. Right. Thanks for that, Barb. I appreciate that. I will look that up. Just hit me. I want to share that with the students. Yeah. Chris, I thought that was going to be a really meaningful question, you know, about your lacrosse. We're getting into all the feelings. Starting off. Like glasses. I'm like really poignant friend moment there and no, never goes that deep. Never goes deep. Yeah. And, and Murph, thank you. Showing a picture on a podcast is an excellent, excellent thing. We put it on YouTube. Have any idea what's going on right now? We'll drop this on YouTube. Clearly this is like, I'm tired and I've had it and I'm not gonna have it anymore. What was that That was the guy's quote. He lost it. Yeah. But hey. Ron, you want to jump in with our first official scripted question? Because you did go off script, of course, which Ron always does. It's intolerable, Chris McMahon. Try to keep us on a schedule. Yeah, that's all. Sorry. No, let's, let's not, let's just script everything and not react to what people actually say. We can, but then we need to just come back. We're robots, Jay. We're just robots. No, I like it. I love the off script, but we could just steer it back in. That's all. We're going to get into how these guys first met, Ron, if you, if I could help you out a little, give you the cue card. So Chris, you know, you and Mike are the, the same age and, and obviously Mike recently we heard made the trip down to Memphis to attend your wedding this summer and you guys have remained great friends. So where'd you guys first meet? And you know, when were you guys coaching lacrosse together at UVA? And, and and. You know how we're, how long were you colleagues after that? So, so tell us, try to make it sound a little more natural, Ron. My gosh. All right, go ahead. Chris. Sorry. I'm trying to remember. I mean, I don't know if I met you while we were in college. Certainly played against each other. Yeah. Playing against each other. I don't know if we interacted off the field, certainly coming out. I think Mike slashed Chris a couple of times, but we're trying not to. I'm sure they were pretty rough teams. Murph, who was your buddy that I was always afraid of? He was a badass. Yeah, he was definitely slashing Colbeck or slashing Blanding. Jim Blanding got oh yeah, yeah, it was good. Good player too. Yeah. So how'd your guys relationship develop over time? Did you guys coach together at UVA in 97? Yep. Two years or? One year. Just one year. Yeah. Wow. You guys seem like these were really important moments for you guys. I mean, well, I mean, Mike, where was it? Did we, I don't remember where we met. I mean, is there anything that you can tell us about how this relationship really was cemented? There's 20 guys that were all about our age, you know, graduated in 89, Jim Busick, you know, brash Petro, you know, Billy Dwan. There's a bunch of guys. Charlie. Yeah, we were all kind of in that same group. We're all on the same summer circuit, you know working camps together, going out, you know, 205 camp and, and all that. We'd see each other all over the place. So we were all friendly, but then Coles and I became really close. You know, whatever that is, five years later when he showed up at, at Virginia where I was, and we worked together for a year and became, became very tight and have, have stayed close ever since then. I really, I really depended on Murph when I went there because I didn't know a soul and I didn't know coach Darja very well either. And Murph was very generous to me having been with Dom probably at that point, seven, seven years or so, maybe five or six, I think. Good long time. And so Murph was really good to me in Charlottesville and I showed up. I didn't know anybody. And so Murph was very welcoming and sort of showed me the ropes and, and, and welcomed me into the crew. And I always appreciated that and introduced me to Billy Romani and a couple of his friends in town. Murph was very good friends with some football guys and so made it made the transition very easy, particularly for a little bit of a lone wolf. So It was good, you know, like, like you, what was it like coaching for Dom, a young, fairly young Dom Starger? He was pretty fired up looking to get his first championship. Murph coached with Dom probably longer than, or about the same time he was just very different. You know, I had come from coaching with Coach Cottle, Coach Tierney, and Coach Danowski, and Dom was his own guy, like a completely, you know, I was always wondering, I mean, this is, I mean this in a loving way, if he was messing with me when he would be very, very quiet, like we would just be sitting in the office. Yeah. And I would be waiting for coach to say it and he just wouldn't say anything. And I was wondering if he was actually just messing with me to see if I would break or if coach was just that quiet and we would drive to visit recruits and he wouldn't say anything. I was like, well, you know, is he just, what is this guy doing? Eckhart Tolle's Zen silence. Yeah, it was, you know, I learned he was, I think he was just zoning out basically what's going on there, but he was great, you know, he was coached. It taught me so much and I've always said he taught me one of the reasons why I had to stop coaching because I could never be as sort of stoic and graceful as coach. I would lose my mind and I just always admired his, no matter what happened, he was going to be a very good person and treat people very well. And that's one of my biggest, besides being a great coach and a great recruiter and a great coach. Great sort of strategist and, and great motivator and all those things and a great leader of young men. I just always admired coaches. Very stoic, very steady very generous spirit. And so that's great. And he had a great quote about you in that article that I did jot down. This is from Dom. This is about you that Chris Colbeck. He taught me to be more resolute. Hall of Fame coach Dom Starza says. If you're trying to decide if something is right or wrong and you imagine Chris Colbeck looking over your shoulder, he will be moved to make the right decision. That's great. It sounds like you were keeping him on his toes, too. You may not have even realized it. I think Murph and I were both kind of hard guys back then. Coach could play, Coach Starzi could play kind of the, not dad role, but sort of the, and Murph and I were a little tougher on the guys than maybe Coach was. He didn't have to be, I think. Yeah, completely. And I think he balanced us out a little bit, maybe intentionally. And I think about the other part too. Like, I do think he was stoic and quiet on purpose. And he said something to me once, like, once you say something, you can't take it back. So I think he's very measured in his words intelligent way. So it was, it was a great balance. I mean, I think, you know, Chris made me a better coach. I think he made Dom a better coach and I think Dom made us better coaches as well. So. And Murph made me a better coach too. I mean, it was just, it was a good group. Billy Romani on that staff. It was, it was a good crew all the way around. That's awesome. Good stuff. And we've got great editing software. So when we have these pauses, we can cut all that out. Well, if you're going to cut, how are you guys doing? I haven't seen you guys in so long. Are you guys doing okay? Yeah. Doing great. I've been down in Richmond, Virginia for about 20 years. I knew you were. And Yeah. And my, you know, I was just telling Murph my daughter is going to be a senior at University of Pittsburgh. So dropped her off last week. And then my son's going to be a freshman at Virginia Tech. And we're actually dropping him off to school tomorrow. Awesome. Yeah. Ron, when did you move from Brown to Moses Brown? 16 years ago, Chris. Oh, wow. Okay. It's crazy, you know. I'm out of the loop. No, I mean, I worked at Brown for, I've been in education on the east side of Providence. I was saying to these guys for almost 30 years. I spent 13 years at Brown and, and now 16 at Moses Brown. So it's been great. I mean, you know, these kinds of places, they're, I realized when I, when I moved up the trail administratively at Brown, you just get farther and farther away from the kids and, and really getting to feel the impact of what you're doing every day. So it's been great to be in that kind of an environment. And my kids went there. And so it's a great place. It might surprise you, given that I clearly didn't learn that level of stoicism, and maybe fewer words, fewer words being better from Dom. Maybe that's why I frustrate him so much. He's like, for Christ's sake, dog, I've been trying to teach you for 40 years to just shut up. It's supposed to be silence, dog. This is going somewhere. I, Moses Brown's a Quaker school and you know anything about Quaker schools? We have, Oh yeah, you do Murph. You, you were at Haverford and, you know, we, we have silent meeting every week. And I, I have really come to appreciate silence as shocking as that may seem to those who know me. Can we air this? It's a great, great environment. Conflict with your on air persona. Screw up the brand. So how long have you been, how long have you been at the school in Memphis, Chris. This is eight years at MUS. And so that's correct. Yeah. Sound like an amazing journey. Just, you know, piecing it together a little bit, like you went down to Mississippi, right? And you went to Ole Miss and got like another bachelor's, right? And then got a master's. Yep. Something like that. I put this together. It only had to take a couple of classes to get the other bachelor's and then pieced together a master's. And then while I was here, someone reached out and, and I've been here ever since and it's been, it's been good so far. It's been good so far. So. That's awesome. We have a couple, couple of guys that are okay. You know, we've had a, well, we've had a bunch of guys that are. Wonderful guys and wonderful lacrosse players, but we've had a couple of guys that have taken their shot at, at division one lacrosse and, and so far, no stars yet. The history, the history of the program has had a couple of stars, but not so far, but a couple of guys are playing out and about in different places. So it's better than I do. It's harder and harder for kids to sort of crack, crack the, to be, it's like Murph, you know, to play for Murph or another top division one program, it's getting harder and harder, but we have a couple of kids out there, but it's amazing, right? In Memphis, Tennessee, that you've got a bunch of Kids who are playing, you know, maybe not being stars, but they're getting out there and that's amazing. Yeah good stuff.\ So, Chris, the topic we emphasize to our listeners is the importance of skill development, you know, working on those skills between practices, and, Mike was talking a little bit about that as he was growing up. It was the same thing when I was in Garden City. It was like a bunch of kids who just loved the sport, and we were playing on our own. We didn't even realize that that's what we were doing. You know, we were really getting better and better, but, you know, as a former high level D1 coach and a current high school coach, If you could tell us and our listeners, what are some of the essential skills that you think players really need to be working on, you know, on their own. So they're bringing that value to practice, to games, to tournaments. I think I think I think What does Chris? Colbeck a man who coached with Dynarski. Tyranny and storage. I really think tune in next week to find out.

Ron: 39:10

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.