S3 E22. Gut Check: An Interview with 2025's, USA Lacrosse COY, Nic Bell. Part, III.

In this episode of Get the Lax Scoop, hosts Big Dawg and Jaybird interview Nic Bell, the 2025 USA Lacrosse Coach of the Year. They discuss Nic's coaching philosophy, emphasizing the importance of authenticity, relationship building, and mental toughness. Nic shares insights on effective communication with players, the value of consistent effort, and how to navigate the pressures of high-level lacrosse. The episode provides valuable tips for players, parents, and coaches looking to succeed in lacrosse, highlighting the impact of dedication and a strong mindset.

00:00 Introduction to Get the Lax Scoop

00:23 Meet the Hosts and Guest

00:59 Interview with Coach Nick Bell Begins

01:44 Keys to Success and Coaching Philosophy

06:15 Consistency and Mental Toughness

11:56 Mindset and Player Development

21:20 Navigating the Recruiting Process

27:05 Listener Questions and Fun Stories

28:32 Conclusion and Sign-Off

NEW BOOK!
Inside the Recruiting Game: Insights From College Lacrosse Coaches
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Donate to Harlem Lacrosse Summer Camp:

https://www.harlemlacrosse.org/gmvs2025

Links to training videos:
Master The 5 Best Dodges From the Wing!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_7LDOcQQ6Q&t=88s

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

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

Jules Heningburg: https://thelaxlab.com/

Check out!... Coach Tintle's Lacrosse Barn:

https://g.co/kgs/eXedCXf

SuccessHotline with Dr. Rob Gilbert on Ironclad & Apple Podcasts

Brian Cain Daily Dominator on Apple Podcasts

Lacrosse Charities Mentioned in S2 E36:
https://www.4thefuturefoundation.org/

https://www.harlemlacrosse.org/

https://15forlife.org/

Transcript

0:00

It's time for Get the Lack Scoop, a podcast bringing you all the people and stuff you should know in the game of lacrosse. We take lack seriously, but ourselves, not so much. Join host Big Dog and Jaybird and the biggest names in the game brought to you by Jay McMahon lacrosse. That's JML skills, mindset, and lacks IQ training. Ron Doglish, 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 Foundation. And Jay McMahon, the Jaybird, a three time All American midfielder at Brown. He was the captain of the U. S. Junior National Team and is the founder of JML. And Joining us in the studio, Steve Grisolfi, who's collegiate lacrosse career statistics equals one goal against Dartmouth brought to you by Jay McMahon lacrosse. That's JML skills, mindset, and lacks IQ training, helping the next generation of lacrosse players get to the next level Hello everyone and welcome back to the show. We're excited to bring you our interview with Nick Bell, the 2025 USA Lacrosse coach of the year from St. Anne's Bellfield in Charlottesville, Virginia. If you have not heard part one of the interview, we highly recommend you go back and give it a listen as it lays a super solid foundation for what's coming next. We have many, many listeners, but only a small percentage of you Subscribe to the podcast. If you like what you're hearing, please subscribe. Share our content with a friend and leave a review. It really helped support the show. Now you will find our interview picking up right where we left off last week. Enjoy. Getting to the finals and then winning the championship this year and and becoming Coach of the Year. So, you know, a lot of people talk about X's and O's. A lot of people talk about the talent and then other people, like I talk about those intangibles, culture, things like that. What, what do you attribute that all the success, you know, early on here with Stab and, and that early improvement of the program and and what are you looking to build there at St. Anne's Bellfield? I mean, I, I, it, it's. I go back to the point that I made earlier in that, you know, nobody ever accused me of being a good coach before I had good players. And I would even take that one step further when I think about You're too humble. You know, it's true. I mean, you know, it's like we can do x or nos all, all day long, but like if I haven't had some of the goalies that I've had, if I haven't had some of the face off guys that I've had, if I haven't had, you know, the Pat Kavanaugh's and the Chris Kavanaugh's and the Jeffrey Ellis, and the Colin Mayer is the kid who's going to Brown from Stab, right? Yeah. You know, I, I, I really would not be where I am. And from day one at St. Ann's, the group of kids that I inherited, there was a wave of new kids that came in. They never questioned anything. And they, they, they, you know, I, I've started some programs now, had you recruited these guys in with that, that new wave? Did you have time to help bring them in for year one for you? So yeah, there were a handful of them that had connections to me or connections to my club or that just kind of were aware of, of the sort of programs that I have built and like, you know, the work that I do in helping kids get into college and things like that, that, that all kind of happened pretty easily. Mm-hmm. But there was certainly like, especially my first two years, like big influxes of new players entering the school and entering the program. And that always helps, like, you know, the teams that have the most talent, you know, usually win. But, and, and I think about our team this year. I mean, we were. We had two division one committed goalies. We had an entire defense that was coming back, returning. We had some new pieces at long State midfield that were really good. We had two really high level and athletic dynamic face-off guys. We had some really good finishers and shooters offensively. We had the premier, you know, behind the net X player decision maker in the state. You know, we were, we, you know, which allowed us to play any style that we wanted. And I've always been drawn to, I. You know, a lot of what, you know, Lars and his teams have been successful with in a really fast paced up and down full field brand of lacrosse. And we were 10 man riding at like a 45% clip for a lot of the year. I mean, we were, that's fun over all, over the place. That's great. We were dominating possession time, you know, at the faceoff X we were winning middle of the field ground balls. We were really stingy and efficient defensively, and we were a little bit deeper offensively than, than a lot of the other teams in the state. But it was just, you know, surrendering to coaching, like there was not pushing back. They really, you know, kind of bought into the culture that we were instilling. Mm-hmm. And it was a magic, it really a magical year and one of my, one of my favorite in, in all the years that I've had coaching. Wow. That's great. It was a guy I coached for a couple years on travel. Peyton Booth, who was a senior, I think for you last year. Yes, right. Righty. Righty. Slinger. He had a quite a crank. Yeah, I love Peyton. He somehow has played for everybody in North America. Yeah. Really been on, you know, and it's not just Charlottesville, Richmond, I mean, he came from DC He plays box, you know, for the Toronto Patriot. Oh, right, yeah. Yeah. And you know, was, I think he was the first kid that I heard from right when I took the job. He's, he's an awesome kid. I, I loved him. Yeah. Nick, you know the way, I love that you played that there. Did you see how Jay was really ever so subtly trying to take full credit Nick and a connection with everything that Peyton had ever learned? And Nick, I love how you reminded Jay, a lot of high crank. Ron, you're one of about a lot of high crank that the guys work with. And so Jay, I think your little piece really played a big nick. That was Soly done. It's sixth, seventh grade. I was hearing you though, Nick, I was hearing you a little high crank. How many fifth graders got a great load of high crank Ron? Not many. That was my intention. That was not my intention. Well, it was well played, I have to say. We'll hear. Well look. That's great, Jay. Everybody coached him. I mean, Jay, you were a hell of a player. And, and I always say that, but a high crank was not what you were known for. Jay, that was not your bread and butter. Okay, gimme a break Ron. I did have to tone it. Dan, senior year. Go over. So Nick, you know, we got a couple more que questions before we wrap up, but I'm, I, as we try to pull all this together I do sense a tremendous level of, just how humble you are. And so when I, I, I'm, I wanna ask you about the, the Nick Bell keys to success, and I wanna tell you what I've heard so far and maybe make some reflections back and then see what you think. I mean, you, it's clear, you've talked about your authenticity, right? Kids can smell the bullshit a mile away. And so if it's clear that you live by that sense of, I gotta be real with my kids, I gotta be real with my families, they gotta, you know, what they see is what they get. You know, you've talked a lot about whether it was Pat Kavanaugh or you talked about when you went to stab, all these kids are so coachable. Well, I always, I always find when a coach who says their kids are coachable, they're a great communicator. So I, I, I'm interested when I finish my little reflection here about how you think about communicating with kids.'cause that gets to the other thing I heard you say, which I think is such a tough thing today. Everybody has the high aspirations. Everybody sees the social media where everybody thinks they're gonna get the game winning goal and everybody's go to, gonna go to division one. But there's a huge disconnect between the aspirations and what, as you said, it actually takes the day in, day out commitment. To getting to that place. And then another theme I've kind of heard from you is you seem a 12 month plan. You, you seem to build a lot of trust amongst your kids that maybe is driven from that authenticity and communication that creates a sense of togetherness for your teams.'cause I've heard you reflect as a coach, just how much you enjoy, have enjoyed some of these groups of kids that you've put together, which doesn't just happen. Those of us who've been around teams. No, that's, that's not generally an accident or something that hasn't come from a lot of work. And then I love to hear the way you love to play. Let's go after him and let's get up and down the field. So, so how do I, how am I doing so far on the Nick Bell keys to success? And are there other things, Nick, that I've missed that are really central to who you are as a person and a coach? I don't think so. I mean, I think every coach would say that they went tough. And mentally resilient kids to coach. Yeah. And I think that mental toughness is one of the most misunderstood and miscommunicated things in this space. And a lot of people, I think, equate mental toughness to some kind of like physical, exaggerated, explosive feet on a field. Right. I look at it as task completion, and that's something I talk to our, my teams about all the time. Like, you know, it's like the New Year's Eve sort of syndrome. Like everybody works out for the first 14 days of January and then they generally quit and mm-hmm. I tell my players all the time, like, if I give you feedback on something, I'm cataloging that. I'm not forgetting it. And if I, if I see you falter, I'm gonna call you on that. But I'm also like making mental notes and observations to say that, you know, for all of the kids that play for me, I really want them to, to be able to follow through on even the most minute and seemingly like, you know, simple tasks. And I think that if, if every player in my program can learn to set goals, to be process oriented and pursuing those goals and to complete tasks, right? I'm talking about 15 minutes post practice of shooting a day at your own speed, working on the types of shots that you need the most work on. And a lot of kids, when I say that to them that day, they will do it and the next day they will do it right? And they might even do it for the rest of the week. But then I'm paying attention, you know, two weeks from now. When it's raining, are you still doing it or are you not? Mm-hmm. Right. When I say you need to work on your footwork, I'll say that to a kid in my office and we'll give them some of the things that they could do to improve that. And then I'll see them 10 days later and say, tell me about how the cone drill is going. And when they respond to that question, it tells me whether or not they were actually doing it right? Mm-hmm.'cause sometimes they will say I, and it like, they start to come up with excuses and I call them on that immediately. Like stop making excuses. Like there's all of the, we all have things going on in our lives. We all have these different commitments. If you're looking me in the eye and saying that you want to be a starter for me, or You wanna be an All American, or you wanna play at Brown or Virginia, then like, this is not like extra work that I'm asking you to do. This is like what's minimally required to get better and improve? And so that's, you know, I, I just, we talk about cons in our, in our program we talk about consistency more than almost anything else. And I'm saying it, and they are probably so sick of hearing me say this, and I know that at times they really are. But if you can actually finish tasks on a regular basis, even the most simple and mundane, you know, that, that really starts to add up. And I want kids in my program and I want kids that, you know, to learn that, you know, I love them. The same if we win or lose so long as they're following this and actually being consistent in their habits. How about if we, 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. Coach Nick Bell has just made some fantastic points and is giving great tips for all of us who are involved in lacrosse, whether as a player, parent, or a coach with the 2025 USA Lacrosse High School coach of the Year as a guest, a coach who four years ago led TAF to a national championship. We're probably all wondering what are some of the things that make for success on a national level. And the answer, well, it's not all that exciting, but it does provide for the most exciting results you could possibly dream of. He starts off describing how important his relationship is with his players, how that relationship has to come first, so they know he has their best interest at heart. Next, he reviews how his communication with his players is then much better understood by his guys because of that strong and solid foundation. Then he reviews the tasks and the habits he wants his players to employ in their pursuit of greatness. As you all know, our podcast is sponsored by JML, which promotes the development of skills, mindset, and lack IQ training, practicing outside of practice with the objective being. To become not necessarily the best, but as our logo says, to become your best. And what we found is that if a player stops worrying about other players and instead competes with themselves by putting in the work outside of practice, they will be doing more than the vast majority of the competition out there. And then they may very well become the best because of that extra effort. One of the keys is just, as Coach Bell has stated, set goals for yourself. Get on a process of self-development. Hold yourself accountable, or better yet, share your plan with your coach or friends and family, and they can keep you on track. Coach Bell talks about being task-oriented and completing those tasks on a long-term, regular basis. Make it part of who you are. My former coach, hall of Famer, Dom Staria used to say, and it became a well-known quote in the lacrosse world, consistency is the ultimate measure of mental toughness and is the distinguishing characteristic of a champion as a leader of teams that won many Ivy League and a c. C titles as well as four national championships. I'd say he'd know a thing or two about what constitutes mental toughness. And finally, and really most importantly, coach Bell also said he makes sure his players know that they are loved. No joke. He makes sure they know he really loves them, regardless of wins and losses, regardless of the results. He teaches them the focus on the process to give their best effort day in and day out, and then let the chips fall where they may. And based on his record, I'd say his approach is one worth emulating. Now we will hear a word from our sponsor. So there you have it. And also do, as Coach Bell did, listen to your mother. Mothers are highly intuitive and well connected to their right brains. All in all, it helps to get in touch with your inner GPS. It is highly intelligent and never steers you wrong, and never takes you to a place of utter chaos. A place where there are no guardrails. 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 on Kindle, it is available on Amazon, under the title inside the recruiting game insights from college lacrosse coaches. That's great. Jack, I wanna play for Coach Bell. I was just thinking I got a Totally, yeah, you fired up Jack Line up. Yeah. Anything, you know, when you're trying to, I do some skills training and when you're trying to get them to really improve. You know, they got, they could be doing the same things and the right things for two weeks, but they actually haven't improved until they've done it for like six to eight weeks, and then it becomes part of their game. So like, it, it's so true. It's, you can consistently get them to do the same thing over a stretch of time. And then when you're talking about a whole team, you're talking about a 12 month program, that's when you're gonna really see big leaps. So that's, that's awesome stuff. I love it. Ron. Good question. I'm a little surprised, but hey, nice work. You know, you know Nick, Jay does all this work with the his scripting, but I like to just follow the lead of the Ron incredible guests that we have. And actually, here's, here's a skill Jay could improve on with consistency over time. His listening skills. Nick, listen, we could have him be, I'm listening. A listener, a little bit of a listener. Jay, I, I believe now I had a scripted question for Coach Bell, and then you have the final question. Nick, we doing okay on time for you? I know you had No, you're in great shape. Okay, great. So actually I'm gonna go off script. I'm because I got, I got one more thing. I'm really, I'm really just for the schedule. That's why we have a script, Nick. He just said he is got plenty of time. Jason, don't be running all over the yard. Nick, all podcasts long. I, I'm, I'm actually interested in our guest, Jay, get him on a leash. I'm very interested. I'm really enjoying in all seriousness, having you talk about, no, it's more interested than me. What's led. To your success. Can you get back to that? I just got a feel for your communication style right there, Nick. Oh, I was feeling direct clear, right? Not there's no, there's no emotion attached to this. This isn't about me liking you or not liking you. This is about me asking you or telling you what I think it needs you need to do to be successful, because I want you to be successful. But, but can you say a little bit more about how you approach communication? What have you learned over time? You know, there's so much about kids today and how you need to talk to'em. Like, so how do you think about your relationships and your communication style with your players? Yeah. So I think at the, at the root of that is relationship building, number one. And you know, I think as a young coach, one of the mistakes that I made, and even now I, I, I'll make this mistake too, but I, I, I'm, I'm really demanding. I'm emotional. I, I do think that I'm pretty fiery. And I think in my twenties I was far too often, you know, letting that emotion and letting that fire come out without building relationships with students away from lacrosse where they knew that I cared about more than just their lacrosse. Yeah. And, and I found that the more I've invested time in my office or in dorm spaces, or in the dining hall or on text or on Snapchat or in or on the phone in really making a point to touch with them. On things that matter in their lives that have nothing to do with what they do for me in the afternoons, it allows me to be that much more demanding and it allows me to re, when I need to get to a kid and I need to hammer a point home, there's trust already established. And they So you, so you're gonna get a lot more outta your players, correct? Right. Correct. Because without the rela, you know, in the absence of that relationship, I'm just like any other coach that's upset and emotional and yelling. Mm-hmm. And what I think a lot of people might not see is, you know, I was so adamant. When I came to St. Ann's about actually having a full-time job in the school building where I could be an advisor, I could be a college counselor, I could have touchpoint with all of these different areas of school life. That model to my players that I'm in it just like you are and I'm doing this, I'm going to the same meetings and the same, I'm following the same schedule, but I actually care about the things that you're doing away from the field that are making you a good community member, a good student, a good son, right, A good friend, a leader. Mm-hmm. Right. And so that's, you know, I think that's something that I always have to remind myself of. And I don't always get it right. And sometimes like inexplicably a kid is having a bad day and there's something I'm not aware of and, you know, my demanding of them can sort of spitfire in the wrong direction. I'm very aware of that and I think with, with young people. And even the adults that I work with, like, I don't think enough people are comfortable or confident enough just to say, I made a mistake and I'm sorry. Mm-hmm. You know, like I think, I think about Dom Staria would, would, would often say like, you know, you can say whatever you want, but remember that the words that come out of your mouth, you can never take those words back. Yeah. Right. And so sometimes you know it, I do get to the end of my day and I finished everything with my family and I'm reflecting on a meeting I had in my office or something that happened at practice and I'm like, I need to circle with that kid because I don't think that I handled that perfectly well. Or I was a little bit short with his parent, you know? And so I try to be mindful of that all the time and understand that like at, at the core of what we're doing and educating and coaching is building relationships and empowering young people. And so I try to get that right as much as I can. I think I've gotten better at it in some ways, but it's not, I, I think that coaching, like anything is like a lifelong pursuit that you're constantly tweaking and improving and, and trying to make better. Yeah. Mm-hmm. So Nick, it's an, it is an interesting transition from there into, you know, the other dimension today, right, of being a successful high school lacrosse coach at the level of the programs that you're involved with is, this is not just the old days where the coaches coached in the spring, right? And so, as you just said before we got on the call, you know, you're going right from your season into the summer club season, and I know have a lot of your guys, you know, who play on that club team. And so on the one hand, it's awesome, right? You're getting more access to your guys, the relationships, the skill building. But man alive, these guys are playing a lot of lacrosse. And so I, I, I, you, I know you've been very successful in the club world as well. So what's your advice that a guy, as a guy who clearly understands the balance aspects in your life, you know is very competitive and has proven they can get teams to a high level. What do you tell your own players and parents about the summer season and how to manage all those pressures and different messages that kids feel you know, which, which leads to how do, how, you know, what do you tell'em about time and events and, you know, the life of a student athlete today who wants to get to that next level? I tell them that lacrosse is, is what you do. It's not who you are. And I think it's, it's that can be lost. And I think oftentimes that is lost. And like I said earlier in this, in this in this, you know, podcast, in this show, you know, I just think that it's so much harder for kids to navigate this process now, and what was different for me than it is for them is that they have at their fingertips regular updates and either validations or, you know, obvious displays of weakness that they're seeing whether they like it or not. And you know, I think about the first week in September when recruiting starts for juniors and how. You know, kids that I work with or kids that I coach are just constantly in fear and anxiety about whether or not Princeton is gonna take their long stigma or not. Am I gonna have a chance? Right. And I just, you know, I, I think that if you fall back on a lot of the things that we talked about on this show in term that are process oriented and centered around the human and you take this in stride and understand that if you fail in lacrosse, that's okay. You're kind of supposed to. And it's not always like a complete completely linear path. And I think the story that I would tell that illuminates this the most is in reference to the kid that you're talking about, who's who you had mentioned who's going to Brown, I, you know, this is a kid who was actually entering St. Anne's Bellfield as a senior, committed to Jacksonville University. And basically at the end of the summer. With all of the impending, you know, NIL and you know, roster cap changes, things that have to do with revenue sharing and, and a lot of what's going on in the world of college athletics put Jacksonville in a tough position where they needed to shrink their roster quickly. And, you know, they had to part ways with him because they just didn't think that they would have a spot. And this is a kid who had worked his whole life to pursue division one lacrosse. Thought he had a great situation, was really coming to St. Ann's to improve in some core areas and be challenged. And then rub, rub, rub is pulled right out from under him. He then like, kind of rebounds, but he's hurt all year. He couldn't really play until our spring season with a back issue. And then. You know, he commits to Air Force and finds out three weeks later that he's medically disqualified. So he's literally going into the spring of his senior year with us. Wow. Without a college, you know, thinking that he was probably just gonna go back home to a local school. And you know, with the schedule that we play. There's a lot of exposure and opportunity in that. And if it wasn't for Brian Kelly, honestly saying, holy cow, that that kid is awesome and is one of the best kids we've seen. And actually taking the time, you know, to pick up the phone and call someone like John Topi. And John and I had talked about him in the past. You know, but it was, you know, this is a story about a kid who just stayed the course that defaulted to who he was as a person and a student didn't lose himself when everything around him seemed to be crumbling down and just was like, I love this game. I'm gonna take it as far as I can. I'm gonna give my team everything that I can this year. And he just simply performed himself into something that a lot of people would say wouldn't have been possible for some of the, the, you know, the, the, the stumbling blocks that he encountered along the way and, right. You know, like. For all great story. All of the kids that I work with, you know, it's so great for me to say, let me tell you about the story about, of Pat Kavanaugh and how he sort of wrote up, you know, and nobody thought that he was ever gonna live up to what Matt is, and he rewrote that story. Right. And in the case of this kid, he committed to a school that he viewed as a dream school in April of his senior year, in the year 2, 20, 25. Right, right. That was more, that was more of a 2005 story. Right. Like going through it like in the senior year. That's great. But like, my point in all this is, you know, believe in yourself, you know, love the game. It will love you right back. And you know, I, I just somehow like this lacrosse universe always works in the right way, I think. And it, and it really honors the kids that invest and do the things that, that we've talked about on this show, on this show. That's beautiful. Beautiful stuff could end on that one, except we had a few listener questions really quick. A collegiate coach of yours would like to have their name withheld from the record. S what would you say your accuracy was dead on or wildly off as you fired an undisclosed food item at the Brown University Gate Dining Hall? You remembering this? I would say, I would say that my accuracy in that moment was dead on. Okay. It went exactly where I thought it was supposed to go. You wanna tell us more or is it, is it not fit for everyone? No, I'll leave it at that. Okay. Jack w inquires, what is the police vehicle story? You don't have to tell it stupid. I'll also leave it back. And Thomas n says, why did coach Tiffany describe your play at times as resembling a crash test? Dummy? I can answer that question. He said that because. Like I said earlier, I, I, I was lucky enough as a college player to have a game day role as a freshman, sophomore, junior and senior, but I was never really good at. I, I was never excellent at any of those things, and the only chance that I had to contribute and help my team was to just play hard and make hustle reckless. Abandon. Yeah. Play with a sense of reckless abandon that you know, it's probably not good for my body in the long term, but it was the only way that I could, you know, make my mark so nice. That worked for me. Love it. Well, Nick, this has been fantastic, huh? Yeah. And I think Jay, we learned in the spirit of, of authenticity that there were, you know, that Nick had a good time at Brown. I mean, and I, and who's gonna hold that against him? Apparently there's some stories there that we'll look forward to hearing the next time we see Nick in person Right. When we're down in Charlottesville, when he can really be himself. That sounds great. That sounds great. I, I, I, I look forward to getting into that and I appreciate the discretion. Absolutely. Awesome. Well, well, Nick, thanks so much. Have dinner Jay. What a great episode with Coach Nick Bell, the, the high school coach of the year. Incredible. I would expect nothing less. Awesome. Well, good luck this summer, Nick, and as Ron and I just said, we hope we'll run into you in person and, and finish up some of these stories. Sounds great, guys. I really appreciate it. Thanks so much and I look forward to seeing you soon. Best of luck, Nick. Take care. Alright. Until we meet again. Here's to hoping you find the twine. We're signing off here at the get the lax scoop. Thanks again so much. We will see you the next time.