Phi-Lacreosse-ophy Podcast Ep. 24 - Johns Hopkins Head Coach Dave Pietramala Phi-Lacrosse-ophy Podcast

Dave Pietramala Head Coach Johns Hopkins

00:32 Coach Pietramala's Journey
-Started playing in 11th grade
-Baseball guy growing up
-Tough path of entry into lacrosse
-West Point lacrosse camp with a long stick
-Busy career but not a long one
-Made a choice to want to move to become a coach
-All time great high school teammate

06:54 1989 Syracuse vs. Johns Hopkins Game
-First time of lacrosse pageantry
-One of the best personnel teams in Syracuse
-Creativity and skill vs fundamentals
-Matchups
-Everything you could want in a sports game
-Never watched the last minute of that game

11:52 Learning From Coach Bill Tierney
-Hall of fame coaches
-Fred Smith
-Coaching players that may think they are hard to coach
-Wanting to cover the best attackman
-Coach Tierney's matchups and strategy lessons
-It is all about the people
-"Part of the whole"
-Slide and recover philosophy
-Different ways to communicate

20:02 Would Coach Pietramala still play the way he used to?
-Not as many checking defenders anymore
-Coaching changed first
-Change in sticks
-Become a lost art
-Not knowing v hold as much makes players loose depth

27:08 Coach Pietramala's Coaching Journey
-Fundamentals are critical
-Opportunity to coach in 5th year of college
-Thinking outside the box
-Learning to recruit
-Keeping things simple

35:26 Developing Culture
-Constant change
-Develop good men, students, and then players
-Put them in a position to be successful
-Making practice the best part of the players day
-Changed the calendar year
-Coming to grips with young people asking "Why?"
-Mentor program
-Having fun
-Weekly schedule break down
-Nothing but film on Thursdays in the season
-Substituting being very prepared for being fresh
-"A leaders job is to inspire his men and inspire hope and trust"
-Inspirational leadership
-Creating a culture statement
-Helping brothers
-Being "thoughtful"

58:04 Dave Huntley
-Lacrosse nerd
-Use his knowledge to help people
-Knew him from Hopkins as an Alum and a players dad
-Great ambassador for the sport
-Knew enough about everything
-Confident in himself and believed in his players

1:02:52 New Rules
-Excited to allow officials do what they are there to do instead of time keeping
-Shot clock provides more consistency
-Landing zone for the dive
-Big rule change is the change of the size of the box
-Riding strategy
-Riding is personnel driven
-Flow into things
-Efficiency on shots on goal

1:11:40 What Coach Pietramala is Looking For in a Recruit
-Character, integrity, and work ethic are non negotiable
-New rules gives more time to learn abut players
-Find a way to find the right guys
-Find guys who can play inside the box and between the lines
-Pieces of the puzzle
-Toughness and IQ

1:17:23 Box Players
-Great understanding of their game
-Being able to do things under duress
-Picking and 2 man game is important
-Toughness that comes with it
-Understanding how to move a goalie and deception
-Level of competitiveness
-So good on loose balls and around the goal

1:26:04 Advice to Parents and Players on Being a College Lacrosse Player
-Nurture the love for the game
-In an era where players are burned out
-Competitiveness
-Don't be afraid to play other sports
-Keep it fresh and fun