May 21, 2023 • 23 mins
Tim Cates talks with Jesse Foss about guiding his CUI Eagles lacrosse team to a 2023 MCLA National Championship. The former college lacrosse standout at Stoney Brook has been in Southern California for two decades coaching youth, high school and college lacrosse. Jesse is in his 5th season at CUI as the Men's Lacrosse Coach and will now help the program transition from Club to NCAA D2 in 2024.
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(00:00):
From playing lacrosse on Long Island tocoaching lacrosse in southern California. He just
guided the Concordia University Irvine Eagles toa national championship and now his programs moving
to NCAA Division Two. He isJesse Foss, head coach at Concordia University,
Irvine, and he joins us nowon episode sixty of the Masters in
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Coaching Podcast. Let's go. Well, welcome into episode sixty of the Masters
in Coaching Podcast here on iHeartRadio whereveryou download your podcast. We appreciate we
also appreciate those who are watching aswell. So excited to talk to this
week's guest. Not only will wehit the milestone of sixty episodes here on
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the Masters and Coaching Podcast, butwe're not gonna talk about one of my
favorite sports, lacrosse, albeit Ihave three daughters who play lacrosse. This
is gonna be about men's lacrosse.He is the head coach of the men's
lacrosse team at Concordia University Irvine.The Eagles just one at mc LA national
Championship. He's from the East Coast, but he's come to Southern California and
bringing that when he's way to SanDiego State. Before that, fourteen years
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coaching at LaCosta Canyon High School inCarlsbad, where he helped the Mavericks to
three CIF championships. He has JesseFoss and he joins us now, Jesse,
welcome, How you doing good?Ten? Thanks for having man.
I love the lacrosse sicks in thebackground over there. Yeah, I got
three daughters who play. One's goingon to college as well. The other
one's already in college once in ninthgrade. So yeah, we're all lacrosse
family. We started him when theywere young. My middle daughter was the
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first one. She started when shewas in third grade. And as you
know, lacrosse is in a bigsport out here on the West Coast.
It's growing, but women's or girlsacross is even more of a niche sport,
and we've we've seen it grow overthe last ten years to such a
huge sport. Well, we're gonnaget into the growth of the sport and
the second coach, but congratulations anational championship. What a run you guys
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went on. You were a seventhseed. Yeah, it was awesome.
I mean we honestly we got kindof lucky against that first round game.
We actually had an unfortunate injury thatended up being not being that bad,
but that really kind of gave usan opportunity to reset ourselves in the fourth
quarter in a tie game and comeback out and make a big play.
And honestly, if we don't havethat break reset, we probably win that
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first round game. So go fromthat game to then going that run was
pretty awesome to watch. Is thisa team going into the season, coach,
even going into the tournament, thatyou thought was capable of making a
run? Yeah? Absolutely. Youknow, I feel like we've had a
really really good competitive program since wemove on to m SLADE. A vision
one I felt last year and thisyear with the first year is that,
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you know, I thought it wasa realistic goal for US win the national
championship, and so, you know, I definitely thought we had the ability
to do this. You know,it's a matter of take having our kids
with that mindset from you know,we can win until we will win.
And it was it was cool towatch that happened, that mindset flip through
the playoffs. It's interesting because duringthe season I think it might have been
actually before the season it was announcedthat starting next year, your program was
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to go to the NC Double ADivision two level and move away from the
club level. Is that something thatyou kind of had to keep maybe your
guys from looking ahead to and makingthat jump next year. And how difficult
was that to kind of keep thateye on this season before making that jump.
Yeah, I mean, we honestlydidn't talk about with the kids at
all. We started the season.We said, hey, guys, this
is what's going to happen this year. I want to make sure you understand
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this year to the next year.This is the steps and the process we're
making. But as far as thisteam, our focus is only on winning
an MCLA National championship and finishing ourcareers here in that in that division the
right way. So we honestly itwas not talked about by our guys.
Who was not allowed to be talkedabout by our guys. Talk a little
bit about the club level and theMCLA level coach and how competitive is because
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you hear D one, D two, D three, you hear club level,
you're ni A, n AIA,but the club level is very competitive.
Absolutely. I mean there there's kidsobviously on my roster's kids on the
rosters we played that would be phenomenalplayers at the NTA level. And you
know, La cross Is it's stillkind of in his sport even at the
college level. And you know it'snot football basketball, right, There's there's
ncators and three teams that would wouldbeat up on Division one teams and as
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club teams that could beat the NCAAteams, and you know obviously at the
NIA in there as well. Soyou know there's there's high level lacrosse players
at every level. There's there's notreally a professional element. So kids are
looking what's the what's the best educationI can get and what's the best college
experience I can get? And sometimesyou know both those hopefully both those.
So you have phenomenal players at everysingle level and teams that can compete at
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every level. Well, let's talka little bit about your journey and to
where you got now. I mean, you're you're an East Coast guy,
you went to stoney Brook, you'refrom Long Island. How do you end
up in southern California. Yeah,kind of came out after graduation a little
like celebration myself, patting myself inthe back and give myself a three week
vacation and that turned into three monthsand three years and met my wife and
you know, if that was it, I'm I'm never leaving, so this
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is home. It was coaching lacrossepart of the plan or was that just
lumped into maybe something else in acareer you were pursuing. Yeah, no,
it was. It was certainly notthe plan I came out, you
know, I guess in two thousandand three, obviously lacrosse has changed a
lot of my kind of perception ofwhat California lcross will be would be kids
skate up to skateboarding up to practicebarefoot, you know, a few minutes
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later. You know, that waskind as an East Coast guy, that
was kind of like what my thoughtwas. It certainly obviously changed once I
got involved. But yeah, Iactually when I first came out, I
was Adam and I was not goingto coach boys lacrosse, coach lacross at
all. And then my neighbor hada daughter that was on the Crossbot High
school team girls team. I justsaid, hey, we've you know,
we've had a program for like fouror five years. We've never won a
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game. We really need a coach? Could you do it? And I
was like, well, I said, I wouldn't coach boys, so I'll
do girls. Yeah, final helpout. And honestly, I was my
first and all year coaching girls.It was amazing. They crushed it.
They were It completely changed my perceptionof the girls game and girls athletics.
I would see being a young guyand I just had an awesome time coaching
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them. And then that kind ofled me into getting involved with lacross the
County and the boys program there.And you know, I was there for
fourteen years and yeah we ken fleetinggrain in California lacrosse. So you have
coached the girls even for that oneyear, and so I'm gonna open that
door a little bit there, coach, because the girls game, compared to
the boys game, happens all thetime. You know, people ask,
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oh, your daughters played sports.I said, yeah, they played lacrosse.
Like, oh wow, that's violent. They get hit all the time.
They got helmets. I said,no, no, no, it's
more like soccer and basketball combined.All you got his goggles and his stick.
I said, there's no hitting.I mean the rules, all the
rules are frustrated with shooting space,and it's very arbitrary rules that the referees
call every game, and it's differentfrom the game to game depending on how
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the referee calls it. It's it'scrazy how different girls the boys lacrosse is.
It is, it's such a differentsport. But the skills, I
mean, you watch at the collegelevel what these girls can do, like
how athletic they are, how skilledthey are, how I mean, how
fast you can shoot the ball.It's it's impressive. Our daughter plays as
well. She's twelve and it's secondyear in it and she's loving it.
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But it is, it is areally fun sport. The rules are a
little little wonky, and I thinkit will I think you'll see it probably
start blending more, not into guyslacrosse, but you know, I mean,
at some point with girls shooting theball is hard they are, and
the collisions they have, with howathletic they are, there's going to have
some kind of padding protection at somepoint. You know. It's frustrating because
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they call shooting space like ninety percentof the time. They don't let the
play flow. Maybe a little continuation. The girls takes a couple of extra
steps and scores and they wave itoff and they get a direct shot.
It's I can go on all dayabout the rules and girls lacrosse, but
the sport itself. You come outfrom the East Coast, you play at
the high level, I mean LongIsland is the hotbed for lacrosse, and
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you come out to southern California.Your first job is with the girls program
and then you get into coaching boys. What did you think of West Coast
lacrosse? What was your first impressionswas like, oh my gosh, there
are twenty years behind us. No, No, I mean I think I
think the advantage of being in ain a warmer climate, being in California
obviously you know a lot of peoplemeans it's it's you know, the sport
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can be played year round, SoI thought, you know, one one,
Obviously, there's a lot of groundto make up right where back east,
you're probably at a smaller high school, you're playing multiple sports. Doesn't
really have as much at the Californiahigh school level. Whe you're playing two
or three sports in a year.So you have, you know, guys
that are playing the sport maybe morethan one season. You have the ability
to play outside more than you know, you know, summer and summer and
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spring, so you probably make upsome ground. And just the athletes.
And I think that's still a thingthat college coaches are looking out west for
as Hey, we know their athletesare out there, so you know,
I think we certainly have some greatathletes. I thought that the i Q
skill set was going to take time, but I mean, it's crazy to
see how much it's changed from twothousand and three, where there's you know,
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a few high school programs in thearea in San Diego and Orange County
to now it's exploded. And it'snot just coastal, it's moved in Inland.
You know, my son started insecond grade playing lacrosse, which you
know, I don't think it wasa crossing four seventh grade when I first
came out here, So you know, just the amount of time kids are
playing, how long they're playing,it's it's been it's draftly caught up to
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the East Coast game. It's interestingbecause the school and my kids go to
a village Christian there's a boys andgirls team, and the boys team,
you know, it's a small school, so you're drawing the football guys are
playing lacrosse in the spring, andthen they're playing football in the fall,
and so you're drawn from a smallerpool of kids, but you're running into
a program now in which the footballguys, a couple of them are like,
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Hey, I don't want to playfootball anymore. I want to play
lacrosse. You know, they getthe little taste of it, and now
they're all in. They want toplay the club, they want to you
know, they want to see aboutscholarships. It's amazing to me to see
and they're not playing baseball anymore.You know, springtime out here in California
it was all about baseball, andnow it's like, well, no,
my son plays lacrosse, he doesn'tplay baseball. It's interesting to me,
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born and raised here in southern California, to see boys on the boys side
go away from football and go awayfrom baseball for lacrosse. Yeah. It's
it's such a fun sport. Imean, obviously, growing up playing multiple
sports, lacrosse has kind of checkedall the boxes, right. You have
the flow and the concepts of basketball, you know, the contact of football,
and you know, I think thatwhat I loved about basketball, and
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it makes me love about lacrosse ispractice. Wasn't just drills practices. You're
playing the game, right, Soyeah, there's some concepts in the drills
you're working on, but you're notjust sitting there in football and tackling dummies.
You're you're actually out there and you'replaying the game. You love every
single drill, which just made itso much fun. We're in Southern California
area, coach, Where can thesport grow still? Is it just in
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numbers? Is it in a certainarea of the game. Is it just
getting more coaching out here, experiencedcoaching rather than a guy who's just out
here and coaching because his kids onthe team and he's figuring out the sport
as he's going. Where can SouthernCalifornia lacrosse still grow? I mean,
I think still at the high schoollevel. It can expand out in Land.
You see the programs popping up inRamona and to Mecula and you know,
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all those areas, and I thinkit can still grow that way,
growing Land a little more. Ithink the youth level is exploding. I
think it's a little bit of gettingquality coaches out here. You know,
obviously the youth level, you probablyneed some parents to step up with some
experience and to kind of help outint the high school level. It's,
you know, I think way thingswork out, it's you have a lot
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of coaches that kind of band together, right, So you have, you
know, a couple of really goodprograms that have six seven really overqualified coaches
all one staff. You know,it would be great to somehow and sentivize
those guys to spread their wings andgo be a head coach another program and
bring their you know, their talents, their skill set, their acknowledge to
another group of kids. So Ithink that would be a big step.
I don't know how you do that, but that would certainly make I think
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a lot of in rows in thegame. It's interesting you say that because
as you're saying that, I'm thinkingabout some of the big the bigger boys
lacrosse programs here and locally in thein the San Fernando Valley and around,
and you kind of start to think, yeah, they, you know,
they do have four five coaches onthe sideline, and yeah, maybe you
need to spread the wealth a littlebit and start growing the sport into other
high schools as well. Jesse Fostersis our guest here on episode sixty of
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the Masters in Coaching podcast. He'sa headman's lacrosse coach at Concordia University,
Irvine, just won a national championship, making that jump to the NC double
A level next year. Coach foryou, who are some of those mentors?
Who are some of those coaches butyou were growing up or in college
or even as a young coach kindof took from and learned from and kind
of absorbed in soak stuff from themto make you who you are as a
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coach. Yeah, I mean it'sbeen so many here I've been I've been
coaching now for twenty years at variousdifferent levels. I've been playing the game,
still playing the game, you know, for thirty plus years, and
had some amazing coaches through high school, through my junior college to Starting Brook
and then on through you know,my time just coaching LaCosta, kani Essienio
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State and now Concordia. So it'stough to kind of name everyone. I
think where for me, the bigchange for me is and at Concordia being
a smaller private Lutheran school, isjust kind of learning how to coach at
that level. You know, theplayers are you recruiting. So I think
we do something every month. Wedo our our monthly coaches meetings at Concordia
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and we have something called the Conversations, which the head coach comes up there
and talks about something that he's hebelieves and he's comfortable with. So you
know, Coach Yeah Keegan with thetrack team talked about recruiting, and coach
Chris what the soccer talked about hisreligious beliefs Now he shares them with his
team. And I think for me, I've learned a ton from those meetings
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and just kind of how those coacheswho have experienced this level, they've been
doing it at Concordia with the studentsthere for quite a while, and how
they've had successful are kind of learningfrom them and how to coach at that
level. Coach culture in a program, is that something you can build and
build quickly? And how how importantis it to have a good culture in
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a program, whether it's at thehigh school level or at at the college
level. And how important is thatfor you to have a good culture of
a program to be successful. Yeah, I mean, coaches, it's a
it's a tough way to pin downright exactly what it is and how us
and how you get it. Honestly, I think you need some really phenomenal
kids, right, not just players, but just people in there that really
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kind of set that tone of youknow, what you want, what you
expect, and how to do it. And then obviously having some leaders in
the program that will, you know, not only establish those rules, but
maintain those rules, right, sothat you know. For me, the
way I kind of look at ourculture and if it's good or not right
is if if I'm I get stuckin traffic and I'm late to practice,
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right and I show up twenty minuteslater, what just happened in those twenty
minutes? Did we screw around andwait for me to get there or are
we dialed in have everything done wewere supposed to do based on the practice
plan with me being there and notbeing there, right, That's that's the
thing, you know, go inthe locker room after a game, right,
I kind of do my lap afterI art one leaves around the whole
field and make sure there's no trash, and I'll go in to locker last.
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And if I go in there withoutsaying anything in the locker rooms,
spot lists right and everything's put backto where it needs to be. You
know. That's kind of where Isee our culture and not only the kids
doing the right things, but holdingeach other accountable to continue doing the right
things. I love it. That'sthat's a part of discipline right there for
your team. That's awesome. Coach, Where where do you see your program
now going heading to the to thenc double A D two level? Will
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it change in your philosophy in coaching? Will it change your philosophy in recruiting
at all? In terms of coachingthough, you know, I think kind
of what we do whether we're atthe MCLA level or the NCA level,
I don't think it changes, right. I think we are who we are,
and I'm not going to change thecoach. I'm not gonna expect my
players to change. Right. Whatwe've been doing has been been working.
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We'll continue to do that. Interms of recruiting, right, I think
coming into from high school level andeven in Saneo State to now see why
it's learning who to recruit and Iprobably spend a couple of years wast since
some time on recruiting the wrong guysare the right guys? You know?
So I think for me, justkind of getting to understand the Division two
level who I'm who actually going after, so I'm not wasting a lot of
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art my staff's time finding the rightguys. So that's gonna be a little
bit of working progress finding like whois you know, a real candidate for
our program. But yeah, asfar as our program, it's not going
to change very much. There's noreal blueprint for you to follow. Is
there to to how to navigate andjump to that next level and how you
you do that and changing recruiting andbringing in the kind of players. So
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how do you how do you navigatethrough that? How are you navigating through
that? So I've been pretty familiarwith the college process. I coach a
club program operated club program called WestCoast Stars, So we've we've done a
really good job at high school level. Obviously, my role is not going
to change with us going and sea, but I've been involved more at the
high school level previously, and youknow, we we've been kind of working
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with college coaches and getting kids outto schools. We've been very successful there.
So I think I've already have agood understanding of the recruiting landscape and
how it works, obviously. Mygoal really is just you know, with
the western most program at the NCAAlevel now with Whittier going away, and
you know, I want to kindof plan our flag as the school that
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you know, kids from the WestCoast want to go to the kids in
East Coast which they could be partof. So that's kind of where I
want to kind of put my myplan my flag. As far as recruiting,
who are you guys gonna play coachin conference? Because you mentioned it,
you're gonna be the farthest west outpostfor nca and men's lacrosse. So
how does that affect you guys asfar as travel and playing in the conference,
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and not only that coach, butconference games are one thing, but
non conference games it's gonna involve travelingas well. Yeah, I mean,
obviously the announcement this year, itwas a little later than we would hoped,
right, so scheduling was a littleharder. Most teams have set their
budget, so anyone, you know, they'll hey, you want to come
to Ust, we'll take you,but we probably can't travel until twenty twenty
five. So this first year isbe a little bit of work in progress.
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We obviously have our our four otherarmxchools that we're we're gonna be in
the ARMC Conference. So let's Colorado, Mesa, Adam States csu Pleblo,
and Westminster. We'll have four home, four away with them, so that'll
be eight games with four home gamesand then we'll do Right now, we're
looking at a trip back east toFlorida for scring break. I'm gonna pick
up Rollins, who I think itwas number two in the country most recently,
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and then we got Florida Tech.And we're looking for one third more
game, one more game for athird game, and maybe one more trip
to kind of make it all workfor this year one. So hoping twenty
twenty five we can get it onthe board for teams. Let them see,
ay, you can come out toCalifornia, get out of the cold
weather for a week and spring break, and we'll get you some games.
So that's kind of the plan goingforward. Coach, I wanted to ask
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you about the transfer portal and isthat something that you will start I mean,
well, you'll start maybe utilizing andmaybe just to get in kids initially
and what's your fun at the clublevel's different, but now that you're going
to NC double A level, isthat something you thought about, because I'll
give you an example. Clemson starteda women's program for scratch. They weren't
even at a club team, butthey're going to NC Double A Division one
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Clemson women's lacrosse this last year,and I think like eighteen of the girls
they brought in, we're all Done transfers and so here they are there,
brand new program, they're winning games. They are top twenty five in
the country. But it was alltransfers that they brought in. That's one
extreme. But I'm just curious onhow you will approach the transfer portal because
it's so big now in college athletics. Yeah, I mean, obviously we
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definitely will utilize it, right,I think for me, obviously, you
know, our guys were moving insultlevel at the NCAA level. There isn't
gonna be an uptick in the competition, and our kids understand that. You
know, my hope, my goalis not to just overhaul a roster.
Right, We've had some kids itworked very very hard to be part of
this program. Whether we made thechange or not, that that was not
their decision, right, that wasthe school's decision. They came here to
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work hard every day and be partof a program, and I want to
give them that opportunity. So we'renot looking to like fully revamp our roster.
There are awesome holes we have afterthis year or some graduation that we
will probably look to fill with maybesome older players just kind of get through
that year one as we build thatroster out. So we definitely will utilize
it. You know, I thinkyou talked about kind of culture earlier,
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and you know, I think cultureand chemistry you kind of go hand in
hand. And you know, Ithink you bring in ten fifteen transfers and
all of a sudden, those guysare sitting over other guys. Yeah,
you might win some games, butthe experience from the team and the chemistry
and the culture, and I justdon't see that really lasting very long.
So you know, we will utilizea little bit to find the right guys
to kind of plug some holes.And but you know, our goal is
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to keep our roster pretty intact.Coach, final thing, and I appreciate
the time. Where do you seeyourself in five ten years from now coaching?
I mean, this is a newstep for you. So it's almost
like taking a new job going tothe NC Double A level. It's exciting.
I assume it's a new challenge foryou, and you've kind of done
different challenges in your coaching career.It is this kind of that next Depp
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And where do you see yourself fiveten years from now? I mean,
yeah, I'm pretty happy where I'mat, you know, I Concordi has
been amazing for me. They supportyou've gone, from the administration, from
you, just the university as awhole has been awesome, not only for
myself but for our staff and ourplayers. So you know, I want
to see I want to try tosee what I do with Concordy lacrosse and
at Division two level and see howgood we can make it. But I
(21:22):
don't know it'd be It'd be reallyhard for me able to leave Southern California.
I'm pretty blessed to be here,so I don't I don't see myself
leaveing anytime soon. Well, coach, we appreciate the time. Congratulations on
the national championship and it's certainly excitingtimes there at concord A University Irvine for
your program. As you guys wina championship and now move on to the
nc Double A Division two level,continue to success. Congratulations to you in
(21:48):
your program and uh we appreciate thetime. Thank you for sharing your story
and spreading lacrosse. Thanks dam well, there he goes Jesse Foss, head
coach and the men's lacrosse team atConcordia University Vine. Congratulations to his Eagles
program on winning the mc LA nationalchampionship. Longtime lacrosse coach, former player,
he has helped growing the sport herein southern California at the club level,
(22:11):
at the high school level, atthe young youth level as well,
and we appreciate him joining us talkinglacrosse, talking about his program and the
big jump that Concordia University Irvine ismaking in men's lacrosse from club level to
D two level at the NCAA level. So very excited for him and his
program. Congratulations on all their success. Don't forget you can find out more
(22:33):
about the Masters in Coaching Athletics Administrationprogram at Concordia University Irvine CUI dot EEDU
slash coaching multiple start times throughout theyear. One thousand dollars scholarship for all
you new students Cui dot e du slash coaching. Well, that's episode
sixty in the books. Many thanksto coach Fosse, Many thanks to you
for listening and watching this episode ofthe Masters in Coaching Podcasts. We've done
(22:57):
sixty sixty episodes now in the books. Until next time, Tim Kate's saying
so long, everybody,
From playing lacrosse on Long Island tocoaching lacrosse in southern California. He just
guided the Concordia University Irvine Eagles toa national championship and now his programs moving
to NCAA Division Two. He isJesse Foss, head coach at Concordia University,
Irvine, and he joins us nowon episode sixty of the Masters in
(00:24):
Coaching Podcast. Let's go. Well, welcome into episode sixty of the Masters
in Coaching Podcast here on iHeartRadio whereveryou download your podcast. We appreciate we
also appreciate those who are watching aswell. So excited to talk to this
week's guest. Not only will wehit the milestone of sixty episodes here on
(00:44):
the Masters and Coaching Podcast, butwe're not gonna talk about one of my
favorite sports, lacrosse, albeit Ihave three daughters who play lacrosse. This
is gonna be about men's lacrosse.He is the head coach of the men's
lacrosse team at Concordia University Irvine.The Eagles just one at mc LA national
Championship. He's from the East Coast, but he's come to Southern California and
bringing that when he's way to SanDiego State. Before that, fourteen years
(01:07):
coaching at LaCosta Canyon High School inCarlsbad, where he helped the Mavericks to
three CIF championships. He has JesseFoss and he joins us now, Jesse,
welcome, How you doing good?Ten? Thanks for having man.
I love the lacrosse sicks in thebackground over there. Yeah, I got
three daughters who play. One's goingon to college as well. The other
one's already in college once in ninthgrade. So yeah, we're all lacrosse
family. We started him when theywere young. My middle daughter was the
(01:32):
first one. She started when shewas in third grade. And as you
know, lacrosse is in a bigsport out here on the West Coast.
It's growing, but women's or girlsacross is even more of a niche sport,
and we've we've seen it grow overthe last ten years to such a
huge sport. Well, we're gonnaget into the growth of the sport and
the second coach, but congratulations anational championship. What a run you guys
(01:53):
went on. You were a seventhseed. Yeah, it was awesome.
I mean we honestly we got kindof lucky against that first round game.
We actually had an unfortunate injury thatended up being not being that bad,
but that really kind of gave usan opportunity to reset ourselves in the fourth
quarter in a tie game and comeback out and make a big play.
And honestly, if we don't havethat break reset, we probably win that
(02:14):
first round game. So go fromthat game to then going that run was
pretty awesome to watch. Is thisa team going into the season, coach,
even going into the tournament, thatyou thought was capable of making a
run? Yeah? Absolutely. Youknow, I feel like we've had a
really really good competitive program since wemove on to m SLADE. A vision
one I felt last year and thisyear with the first year is that,
(02:35):
you know, I thought it wasa realistic goal for US win the national
championship, and so, you know, I definitely thought we had the ability
to do this. You know,it's a matter of take having our kids
with that mindset from you know,we can win until we will win.
And it was it was cool towatch that happened, that mindset flip through
the playoffs. It's interesting because duringthe season I think it might have been
actually before the season it was announcedthat starting next year, your program was
(03:00):
to go to the NC Double ADivision two level and move away from the
club level. Is that something thatyou kind of had to keep maybe your
guys from looking ahead to and makingthat jump next year. And how difficult
was that to kind of keep thateye on this season before making that jump.
Yeah, I mean, we honestlydidn't talk about with the kids at
all. We started the season.We said, hey, guys, this
is what's going to happen this year. I want to make sure you understand
(03:22):
this year to the next year.This is the steps and the process we're
making. But as far as thisteam, our focus is only on winning
an MCLA National championship and finishing ourcareers here in that in that division the
right way. So we honestly itwas not talked about by our guys.
Who was not allowed to be talkedabout by our guys. Talk a little
bit about the club level and theMCLA level coach and how competitive is because
(03:45):
you hear D one, D two, D three, you hear club level,
you're ni A, n AIA,but the club level is very competitive.
Absolutely. I mean there there's kidsobviously on my roster's kids on the
rosters we played that would be phenomenalplayers at the NTA level. And you
know, La cross Is it's stillkind of in his sport even at the
college level. And you know it'snot football basketball, right, There's there's
ncators and three teams that would wouldbeat up on Division one teams and as
(04:08):
club teams that could beat the NCAAteams, and you know obviously at the
NIA in there as well. Soyou know there's there's high level lacrosse players
at every level. There's there's notreally a professional element. So kids are
looking what's the what's the best educationI can get and what's the best college
experience I can get? And sometimesyou know both those hopefully both those.
So you have phenomenal players at everysingle level and teams that can compete at
(04:30):
every level. Well, let's talka little bit about your journey and to
where you got now. I mean, you're you're an East Coast guy,
you went to stoney Brook, you'refrom Long Island. How do you end
up in southern California. Yeah,kind of came out after graduation a little
like celebration myself, patting myself inthe back and give myself a three week
vacation and that turned into three monthsand three years and met my wife and
you know, if that was it, I'm I'm never leaving, so this
(04:54):
is home. It was coaching lacrossepart of the plan or was that just
lumped into maybe something else in acareer you were pursuing. Yeah, no,
it was. It was certainly notthe plan I came out, you
know, I guess in two thousandand three, obviously lacrosse has changed a
lot of my kind of perception ofwhat California lcross will be would be kids
skate up to skateboarding up to practicebarefoot, you know, a few minutes
(05:16):
later. You know, that waskind as an East Coast guy, that
was kind of like what my thoughtwas. It certainly obviously changed once I
got involved. But yeah, Iactually when I first came out, I
was Adam and I was not goingto coach boys lacrosse, coach lacross at
all. And then my neighbor hada daughter that was on the Crossbot High
school team girls team. I justsaid, hey, we've you know,
we've had a program for like fouror five years. We've never won a
(05:39):
game. We really need a coach? Could you do it? And I
was like, well, I said, I wouldn't coach boys, so I'll
do girls. Yeah, final helpout. And honestly, I was my
first and all year coaching girls.It was amazing. They crushed it.
They were It completely changed my perceptionof the girls game and girls athletics.
I would see being a young guyand I just had an awesome time coaching
(05:59):
them. And then that kind ofled me into getting involved with lacross the
County and the boys program there.And you know, I was there for
fourteen years and yeah we ken fleetinggrain in California lacrosse. So you have
coached the girls even for that oneyear, and so I'm gonna open that
door a little bit there, coach, because the girls game, compared to
the boys game, happens all thetime. You know, people ask,
(06:20):
oh, your daughters played sports.I said, yeah, they played lacrosse.
Like, oh wow, that's violent. They get hit all the time.
They got helmets. I said,no, no, no, it's
more like soccer and basketball combined.All you got his goggles and his stick.
I said, there's no hitting.I mean the rules, all the
rules are frustrated with shooting space,and it's very arbitrary rules that the referees
call every game, and it's differentfrom the game to game depending on how
(06:40):
the referee calls it. It's it'scrazy how different girls the boys lacrosse is.
It is, it's such a differentsport. But the skills, I
mean, you watch at the collegelevel what these girls can do, like
how athletic they are, how skilledthey are, how I mean, how
fast you can shoot the ball.It's it's impressive. Our daughter plays as
well. She's twelve and it's secondyear in it and she's loving it.
(07:01):
But it is, it is areally fun sport. The rules are a
little little wonky, and I thinkit will I think you'll see it probably
start blending more, not into guyslacrosse, but you know, I mean,
at some point with girls shooting theball is hard they are, and
the collisions they have, with howathletic they are, there's going to have
some kind of padding protection at somepoint. You know. It's frustrating because
(07:21):
they call shooting space like ninety percentof the time. They don't let the
play flow. Maybe a little continuation. The girls takes a couple of extra
steps and scores and they wave itoff and they get a direct shot.
It's I can go on all dayabout the rules and girls lacrosse, but
the sport itself. You come outfrom the East Coast, you play at
the high level, I mean LongIsland is the hotbed for lacrosse, and
(07:45):
you come out to southern California.Your first job is with the girls program
and then you get into coaching boys. What did you think of West Coast
lacrosse? What was your first impressionswas like, oh my gosh, there
are twenty years behind us. No, No, I mean I think I
think the advantage of being in ain a warmer climate, being in California
obviously you know a lot of peoplemeans it's it's you know, the sport
(08:05):
can be played year round, SoI thought, you know, one one,
Obviously, there's a lot of groundto make up right where back east,
you're probably at a smaller high school, you're playing multiple sports. Doesn't
really have as much at the Californiahigh school level. Whe you're playing two
or three sports in a year.So you have, you know, guys
that are playing the sport maybe morethan one season. You have the ability
to play outside more than you know, you know, summer and summer and
(08:28):
spring, so you probably make upsome ground. And just the athletes.
And I think that's still a thingthat college coaches are looking out west for
as Hey, we know their athletesare out there, so you know,
I think we certainly have some greatathletes. I thought that the i Q
skill set was going to take time, but I mean, it's crazy to
see how much it's changed from twothousand and three, where there's you know,
(08:48):
a few high school programs in thearea in San Diego and Orange County
to now it's exploded. And it'snot just coastal, it's moved in Inland.
You know, my son started insecond grade playing lacrosse, which you
know, I don't think it wasa crossing four seventh grade when I first
came out here, So you know, just the amount of time kids are
playing, how long they're playing,it's it's been it's draftly caught up to
(09:11):
the East Coast game. It's interestingbecause the school and my kids go to
a village Christian there's a boys andgirls team, and the boys team,
you know, it's a small school, so you're drawing the football guys are
playing lacrosse in the spring, andthen they're playing football in the fall,
and so you're drawn from a smallerpool of kids, but you're running into
a program now in which the footballguys, a couple of them are like,
(09:33):
Hey, I don't want to playfootball anymore. I want to play
lacrosse. You know, they getthe little taste of it, and now
they're all in. They want toplay the club, they want to you
know, they want to see aboutscholarships. It's amazing to me to see
and they're not playing baseball anymore.You know, springtime out here in California
it was all about baseball, andnow it's like, well, no,
my son plays lacrosse, he doesn'tplay baseball. It's interesting to me,
(09:54):
born and raised here in southern California, to see boys on the boys side
go away from football and go awayfrom baseball for lacrosse. Yeah. It's
it's such a fun sport. Imean, obviously, growing up playing multiple
sports, lacrosse has kind of checkedall the boxes, right. You have
the flow and the concepts of basketball, you know, the contact of football,
and you know, I think thatwhat I loved about basketball, and
(10:16):
it makes me love about lacrosse ispractice. Wasn't just drills practices. You're
playing the game, right, Soyeah, there's some concepts in the drills
you're working on, but you're notjust sitting there in football and tackling dummies.
You're you're actually out there and you'replaying the game. You love every
single drill, which just made itso much fun. We're in Southern California
area, coach, Where can thesport grow still? Is it just in
(10:41):
numbers? Is it in a certainarea of the game. Is it just
getting more coaching out here, experiencedcoaching rather than a guy who's just out
here and coaching because his kids onthe team and he's figuring out the sport
as he's going. Where can SouthernCalifornia lacrosse still grow? I mean,
I think still at the high schoollevel. It can expand out in Land.
You see the programs popping up inRamona and to Mecula and you know,
(11:03):
all those areas, and I thinkit can still grow that way,
growing Land a little more. Ithink the youth level is exploding. I
think it's a little bit of gettingquality coaches out here. You know,
obviously the youth level, you probablyneed some parents to step up with some
experience and to kind of help outint the high school level. It's,
you know, I think way thingswork out, it's you have a lot
(11:24):
of coaches that kind of band together, right, So you have, you
know, a couple of really goodprograms that have six seven really overqualified coaches
all one staff. You know,it would be great to somehow and sentivize
those guys to spread their wings andgo be a head coach another program and
bring their you know, their talents, their skill set, their acknowledge to
another group of kids. So Ithink that would be a big step.
I don't know how you do that, but that would certainly make I think
(11:46):
a lot of in rows in thegame. It's interesting you say that because
as you're saying that, I'm thinkingabout some of the big the bigger boys
lacrosse programs here and locally in thein the San Fernando Valley and around,
and you kind of start to think, yeah, they, you know,
they do have four five coaches onthe sideline, and yeah, maybe you
need to spread the wealth a littlebit and start growing the sport into other
high schools as well. Jesse Fostersis our guest here on episode sixty of
(12:09):
the Masters in Coaching podcast. He'sa headman's lacrosse coach at Concordia University,
Irvine, just won a national championship, making that jump to the NC double
A level next year. Coach foryou, who are some of those mentors?
Who are some of those coaches butyou were growing up or in college
or even as a young coach kindof took from and learned from and kind
of absorbed in soak stuff from themto make you who you are as a
(12:31):
coach. Yeah, I mean it'sbeen so many here I've been I've been
coaching now for twenty years at variousdifferent levels. I've been playing the game,
still playing the game, you know, for thirty plus years, and
had some amazing coaches through high school, through my junior college to Starting Brook
and then on through you know,my time just coaching LaCosta, kani Essienio
(12:52):
State and now Concordia. So it'stough to kind of name everyone. I
think where for me, the bigchange for me is and at Concordia being
a smaller private Lutheran school, isjust kind of learning how to coach at
that level. You know, theplayers are you recruiting. So I think
we do something every month. Wedo our our monthly coaches meetings at Concordia
(13:16):
and we have something called the Conversations, which the head coach comes up there
and talks about something that he's hebelieves and he's comfortable with. So you
know, Coach Yeah Keegan with thetrack team talked about recruiting, and coach
Chris what the soccer talked about hisreligious beliefs Now he shares them with his
team. And I think for me, I've learned a ton from those meetings
(13:37):
and just kind of how those coacheswho have experienced this level, they've been
doing it at Concordia with the studentsthere for quite a while, and how
they've had successful are kind of learningfrom them and how to coach at that
level. Coach culture in a program, is that something you can build and
build quickly? And how how importantis it to have a good culture in
(13:58):
a program, whether it's at thehigh school level or at at the college
level. And how important is thatfor you to have a good culture of
a program to be successful. Yeah, I mean, coaches, it's a
it's a tough way to pin downright exactly what it is and how us
and how you get it. Honestly, I think you need some really phenomenal
kids, right, not just players, but just people in there that really
(14:18):
kind of set that tone of youknow, what you want, what you
expect, and how to do it. And then obviously having some leaders in
the program that will, you know, not only establish those rules, but
maintain those rules, right, sothat you know. For me, the
way I kind of look at ourculture and if it's good or not right
is if if I'm I get stuckin traffic and I'm late to practice,
(14:39):
right and I show up twenty minuteslater, what just happened in those twenty
minutes? Did we screw around andwait for me to get there or are
we dialed in have everything done wewere supposed to do based on the practice
plan with me being there and notbeing there, right, That's that's the
thing, you know, go inthe locker room after a game, right,
I kind of do my lap afterI art one leaves around the whole
field and make sure there's no trash, and I'll go in to locker last.
(15:00):
And if I go in there withoutsaying anything in the locker rooms,
spot lists right and everything's put backto where it needs to be. You
know. That's kind of where Isee our culture and not only the kids
doing the right things, but holdingeach other accountable to continue doing the right
things. I love it. That'sthat's a part of discipline right there for
your team. That's awesome. Coach, Where where do you see your program
now going heading to the to thenc double A D two level? Will
(15:22):
it change in your philosophy in coaching? Will it change your philosophy in recruiting
at all? In terms of coachingthough, you know, I think kind
of what we do whether we're atthe MCLA level or the NCA level,
I don't think it changes, right. I think we are who we are,
and I'm not going to change thecoach. I'm not gonna expect my
players to change. Right. Whatwe've been doing has been been working.
(15:45):
We'll continue to do that. Interms of recruiting, right, I think
coming into from high school level andeven in Saneo State to now see why
it's learning who to recruit and Iprobably spend a couple of years wast since
some time on recruiting the wrong guysare the right guys? You know?
So I think for me, justkind of getting to understand the Division two
level who I'm who actually going after, so I'm not wasting a lot of
(16:10):
art my staff's time finding the rightguys. So that's gonna be a little
bit of working progress finding like whois you know, a real candidate for
our program. But yeah, asfar as our program, it's not going
to change very much. There's noreal blueprint for you to follow. Is
there to to how to navigate andjump to that next level and how you
you do that and changing recruiting andbringing in the kind of players. So
(16:32):
how do you how do you navigatethrough that? How are you navigating through
that? So I've been pretty familiarwith the college process. I coach a
club program operated club program called WestCoast Stars, So we've we've done a
really good job at high school level. Obviously, my role is not going
to change with us going and sea, but I've been involved more at the
high school level previously, and youknow, we we've been kind of working
(16:53):
with college coaches and getting kids outto schools. We've been very successful there.
So I think I've already have agood understanding of the recruiting landscape and
how it works, obviously. Mygoal really is just you know, with
the western most program at the NCAAlevel now with Whittier going away, and
you know, I want to kindof plan our flag as the school that
(17:14):
you know, kids from the WestCoast want to go to the kids in
East Coast which they could be partof. So that's kind of where I
want to kind of put my myplan my flag. As far as recruiting,
who are you guys gonna play coachin conference? Because you mentioned it,
you're gonna be the farthest west outpostfor nca and men's lacrosse. So
how does that affect you guys asfar as travel and playing in the conference,
(17:37):
and not only that coach, butconference games are one thing, but
non conference games it's gonna involve travelingas well. Yeah, I mean,
obviously the announcement this year, itwas a little later than we would hoped,
right, so scheduling was a littleharder. Most teams have set their
budget, so anyone, you know, they'll hey, you want to come
to Ust, we'll take you,but we probably can't travel until twenty twenty
five. So this first year isbe a little bit of work in progress.
(18:00):
We obviously have our our four otherarmxchools that we're we're gonna be in
the ARMC Conference. So let's Colorado, Mesa, Adam States csu Pleblo,
and Westminster. We'll have four home, four away with them, so that'll
be eight games with four home gamesand then we'll do Right now, we're
looking at a trip back east toFlorida for scring break. I'm gonna pick
up Rollins, who I think itwas number two in the country most recently,
(18:22):
and then we got Florida Tech.And we're looking for one third more
game, one more game for athird game, and maybe one more trip
to kind of make it all workfor this year one. So hoping twenty
twenty five we can get it onthe board for teams. Let them see,
ay, you can come out toCalifornia, get out of the cold
weather for a week and spring break, and we'll get you some games.
So that's kind of the plan goingforward. Coach, I wanted to ask
(18:44):
you about the transfer portal and isthat something that you will start I mean,
well, you'll start maybe utilizing andmaybe just to get in kids initially
and what's your fun at the clublevel's different, but now that you're going
to NC double A level, isthat something you thought about, because I'll
give you an example. Clemson starteda women's program for scratch. They weren't
even at a club team, butthey're going to NC Double A Division one
(19:07):
Clemson women's lacrosse this last year,and I think like eighteen of the girls
they brought in, we're all Done transfers and so here they are there,
brand new program, they're winning games. They are top twenty five in
the country. But it was alltransfers that they brought in. That's one
extreme. But I'm just curious onhow you will approach the transfer portal because
it's so big now in college athletics. Yeah, I mean, obviously we
(19:29):
definitely will utilize it, right,I think for me, obviously, you
know, our guys were moving insultlevel at the NCAA level. There isn't
gonna be an uptick in the competition, and our kids understand that. You
know, my hope, my goalis not to just overhaul a roster.
Right, We've had some kids itworked very very hard to be part of
this program. Whether we made thechange or not, that that was not
their decision, right, that wasthe school's decision. They came here to
(19:52):
work hard every day and be partof a program, and I want to
give them that opportunity. So we'renot looking to like fully revamp our roster.
There are awesome holes we have afterthis year or some graduation that we
will probably look to fill with maybesome older players just kind of get through
that year one as we build thatroster out. So we definitely will utilize
it. You know, I thinkyou talked about kind of culture earlier,
(20:15):
and you know, I think cultureand chemistry you kind of go hand in
hand. And you know, Ithink you bring in ten fifteen transfers and
all of a sudden, those guysare sitting over other guys. Yeah,
you might win some games, butthe experience from the team and the chemistry
and the culture, and I justdon't see that really lasting very long.
So you know, we will utilizea little bit to find the right guys
to kind of plug some holes.And but you know, our goal is
(20:37):
to keep our roster pretty intact.Coach, final thing, and I appreciate
the time. Where do you seeyourself in five ten years from now coaching?
I mean, this is a newstep for you. So it's almost
like taking a new job going tothe NC Double A level. It's exciting.
I assume it's a new challenge foryou, and you've kind of done
different challenges in your coaching career.It is this kind of that next Depp
(21:00):
And where do you see yourself fiveten years from now? I mean,
yeah, I'm pretty happy where I'mat, you know, I Concordi has
been amazing for me. They supportyou've gone, from the administration, from
you, just the university as awhole has been awesome, not only for
myself but for our staff and ourplayers. So you know, I want
to see I want to try tosee what I do with Concordy lacrosse and
at Division two level and see howgood we can make it. But I
(21:22):
don't know it'd be It'd be reallyhard for me able to leave Southern California.
I'm pretty blessed to be here,so I don't I don't see myself
leaveing anytime soon. Well, coach, we appreciate the time. Congratulations on
the national championship and it's certainly excitingtimes there at concord A University Irvine for
your program. As you guys wina championship and now move on to the
nc Double A Division two level,continue to success. Congratulations to you in
(21:48):
your program and uh we appreciate thetime. Thank you for sharing your story
and spreading lacrosse. Thanks dam well, there he goes Jesse Foss, head
coach and the men's lacrosse team atConcordia University Vine. Congratulations to his Eagles
program on winning the mc LA nationalchampionship. Longtime lacrosse coach, former player,
he has helped growing the sport herein southern California at the club level,
(22:11):
at the high school level, atthe young youth level as well,
and we appreciate him joining us talkinglacrosse, talking about his program and the
big jump that Concordia University Irvine ismaking in men's lacrosse from club level to
D two level at the NCAA level. So very excited for him and his
program. Congratulations on all their success. Don't forget you can find out more
(22:33):
about the Masters in Coaching Athletics Administrationprogram at Concordia University Irvine CUI dot EEDU
slash coaching multiple start times throughout theyear. One thousand dollars scholarship for all
you new students Cui dot e du slash coaching. Well, that's episode
sixty in the books. Many thanksto coach Fosse, Many thanks to you
for listening and watching this episode ofthe Masters in Coaching Podcasts. We've done
(22:57):
sixty sixty episodes now in the books. Until next time, Tim Kate's saying
so long, everybody,
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