Jim Stagnitta was named the new head coach for Rutgers Men’s Lacrosse on October 19th and since then his life has been a total whirlwind. First he had to leave Lexington, VA where he had been working since 1989. Then Stagnitta starting working 12 hour days based out of New Jersey trying to build relationships on numerous fronts. Primarily, he has had to meet the squad he has inherited and begin to assess their skills as well as determine the type of people they are. Second he has had to work on his future players, visiting new recruits and firming up previous commitments made to Rutgers while current Loyola Head Coach Bill Dirrigl was at the helm. Stagnitta has also been out with another former Head Coach, Tom Hays meeting and greeting the large and influential Rutgers lacrosse alumni. All of this has been done without the benefit of a first assistant who Stagnitta is close to hiring. Needless to say, Coach Stagnitta has been quite busy. Unfortunately, the spring does not look much easier with Towson, Princeton, Notre Dame and Syracuse on the schedule.

Stagnitta says he knew most of the players on Rutgers from recruiting them while they were high school students. The difference between the W&L kids and his new players, “My kids at Washington & Lee were pretty good players but the access I have to the Rutgers players is the biggest difference.” The Rutgers players are “a little bigger, a little more athletic but I had 7 or 8 [at Washington & Lee] who could play here. For instance, I left one of the best face-off guys in the country at any level.” Stagnitta has been spending over four hours a day doing individual workouts with small groups of players. What he has seen so far really excites Stagnitta, “There are a lot of talented athletes in this program. They have so much to learn and have improved so much in these first few weeks yet we still have a way to go.” Stagnitta mentioned five players who have stood out in the sessions: Nick Schmidt, Jr., defense; Dan Bivona, So., defense/LSM; Joe Duncan, So., middie; Jeff Duca, Jr., middie; and Andrew Conforti, So., defense. Two things are noticeably absent from that list: attack men and seniors. Well, Stagnitta says that the attack is young with the exception of Junior Kenny Springer, who is the younger brother of Syracuse All-American Mike Springer. The roster overall lacks seniors and with the young talent that Stagnitta would like to bring a long the seniors may not be needed. Overall, the quality that Stagnitta has noticed in the players most obviously since his arrival is their hard work. “They are working hard in the weight room and with conditioning and that makes my job that much easier.”

Recruiting has been different in New Jersey. First of all Stagnitta is closer to a lot of players than he was at W&L. “The closest area for me used to be 3 ½ hours. Now I can work all day and still drive only an hour and a half to a kid’s home.” Stagnitta said his focus in recruiting would be on Long Island and New Jersey. “You have to keep a good balance. Obviously it is an advantage with money for in-state kids.” Speaking of money, Rutgers is fully funded giving them 12.6 scholarships to play with. This is only the second year with that advantage. Rutgers is also in the second of a three-year sponsorship deal from STX. The lacrosse team will also benefit from the football team’s deal with Nike for gear. Stagnitta will be able to look at a lot more kids coming from Rutgers than W&L because of the money and the lower academic standards. “It is a big difference between a small liberal arts school which is essentially an Ivy and a large state university.” Rutgers will have 3-4 early commitments and only 8-9 overall this year.

Stagnitta feels like his team will be in the top level of lacrosse soon, “I’d like to be in the Final Four this year.” He feels like if they do things to stay in the game anything can happen in the fourth quarter. “All we have to do is sneak up on one of the big boys one day and the whole approach here will change.” Stagnitta will have plenty of opportunities to do that with what looks like possibly the toughest schedule in the country. The first two scrimmages will be against Hopkins and Hofstra. Then in the regular season they have the previously mentioned final four participants, ECAC match-ups Georgetown, UMass, Navy and UMBC, plus out of conference foe Delaware. Wow. But as they saying goes, “If you want to be the best you have to play the best.” And the Scarlet Knights are on their way to doing that.

The administration at W&L has just recently begun to search for a new head coach there. As Stagnitta said, “If there is one thing about Mike Walsh it is that he is very thorough.” It is clear that it will be difficult to find a replacement of Stagnitta’s caliber this late in the game as the dominos from Maryland continue to fall that spot will be interesting.

Stagnitta makes a worthwhile point about the future in New Brunswick, “I wouldn’t leave a wonderful situation if I didn’t think this was a wonderful opportunity. I just wouldn’t have come here if I didn’t think I could accomplish my goal and the goals of Rutgers lacrosse.” With the challenging schedule and young players it will be tough for Rutgers to make the final four no less the NCAA tournament this year but with some time under the Stagnitta regime, a Final Four should not be such an outlandish idea.