S2 E46. 2nd Half of Season Compilation: Best of Coaches Torpey & Breschi.

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
It's time for Get the LackScoop, a podcast bringing you
all the people and stuff youshould know in the game of
lacrosse.
We take lack seriously, butourselves, not so much.
Join host Big Dog and Jaybirdand the biggest names in the
game brought to you by JayMcMahon lacrosse.
That's JML skills, mindset, andlacks IQ training.

(00:23):
Ron Doglish, the big dog, was acollegiate football and lacrosse
player at Brown.
He was also an assistantlacrosse coach and the executive
director of the SportsFoundation.
And Jay McMahon, the Jaybird, athree time All American
midfielder at Brown.
He was a captain of the U.
S.
Junior National Team and is thefounder of JML.

(00:43):
And joining us in the studio,Steve Grassoffi, whose
collegiate lacrosse careerstatistics equals one goal,
Again, start with brought to youby Jay McMahon, lacrosse.
That's JML skills, mindset, andlax IQ training, helping the
next generation cross playersget to the next level.
Everyone, welcome to anotherepisode of Get the Lack Scoop.

(01:03):
This is a very special episodefor Jay and I and for all of
those who have Brown lacrosseclose to our hearts.
And in a moment, you'll find outwhy.
And Jay, would you like to dothe introduction?
I sure would your role on thispodcast.
Yes.
If you don't mind, Ron, I'll dothat.
Thank you.

(01:24):
Our next guest is the current

MacBook Pro Microphone-1 (01:26):
brown men's lacrosse coach.
After he was invited to take theseat of the esteemed
university's Rothman coachingchair in Bay of 2024 prior to
arriving in Providence.
He was the first ever men'slacrosse coach at high point
university in high point, NorthCarolina.
Within only three years of NCAcompetition, he led the Panthers

(01:46):
to the program's first everberth into the D1 NCA lacrosse
tournament in 2015.
This achievement was the resultof High Point's victory over
Richmond, defeating the Spidersin the Sun Conference
Championship game.
Over the program's first decadeof competition, he led High
Point to multiple regular seasonconference titles, two NCAA

(02:07):
tournament appearances, andachieved notable regular season
wins over top 10 rankedperennial powerhouses such as
Duke, UVA, and UNC.
Prior to launching High Point'sprogram, he was an associate
head coach for five years underhead coach Jamie Monroe at
Denver.
While with the Pioneers, he wasthe defensive coordinator and
helped guide the team to theirfirst ever NCAA tournament

(02:30):
appearance in 2006.
Then in 2008, he helped the teamachieve a number 11 national
ranking, its highest ever inprogram history at that point in
time.
Also in 2008, under histutelage, the Pios made the NCAA
tournament for only the secondtime.
He was also the associate headcoach at Dartmouth for Andy
Towers for two years, and was anassistant coach at D3 Goucher

(02:53):
College, where he also earned aMaster's in Education and Sports
Administration.
This followed a one year stintat D3 Denison.
He graduated with a degree ineducation from Ohio State
University in 2000, where he wasa three year captain for the
Buckeyes.
Over the years, in Columbus, hewas a three time Big Ten All
Academic Selection, a four yearScholar Athlete Award winner,

(03:15):
and as a senior, was named aStreet Smith All American
Defenseman for his then headcoach, Joe Bresci.
Who is currently the head coachat UNC.
He hails from Baltimore,Maryland, and is a graduate of
and played his high school forthe Cardinals of Calvert Hall
Prep.
He and his wife, Teagan, are theproud parents of three children.
Please welcome the one, theonly, Coach John Torpy.

(03:38):
Thanks for having me.
Yes.
Yes.
Coach Torpy.
Excited to have you, Coach.
Welcome to the pod.
Welcome to Brown.
Love having you.
Excited to be here.
Awesome.
Hey, John.
Jump in, please, and ask thefirst questions.
Our guests are waiting, ourlisteners, that is.
Coach Torpy, as you're gettingto know the Brown alums, you'll

(03:59):
notice that Jay will be aperennial pain in the ass, okay?
Just so you know that.
But John, in all seriousness.
You know, Jay and I love doingthis podcast and just talking
with a bunch of people who we'vegotten to know in the game and
been introduced to in the game.
Moving on from there, as wesaid, you were playing your high

(04:20):
school acts at perennialpowerhouse Calvert hall prep.
I'm sure dogs loving this.
Cause we, we're always talkingLong Island lacrosse.
It seems like, you know, God,cause that's where the best
Maryland guy.
Thank the Lord.
Let me get back to Mary's kids.
So tell us, you know, what thatmust have been like, must have
been pretty amazing, I have tosay.
And who were some of your biginfluences at Calvert Hall, in

(04:43):
lacrosse, and just in life ingeneral?
Yeah, I always say, like, I was,you know, going into my
sophomore year in high school Iwouldn't say I had, you know, A
ton of drive to play at the nextlevel, but I was fortunate
enough to play for, you know, itwas a legend, Mike Thomas, my
junior year at Calvert Hall, whobasically sat me down and said,
Listen, I think you're goodenough to play division one

(05:03):
lacrosse, but you know, you gotto start hanging around the
right people.
You got to, you know, make surethat you put academics at the
forefront.
You got to learn how to workhard.
And I always say like thatinteraction was probably
fleeting for Mike, and it waslasting for me.
And I think that was animpactful moment for me where I
said, man, this is, this is areally cool profession, you

(05:23):
know, being able to do this withsomebody and being able to have
this kind of impact in someone'slife.
And it was really from that.
on that.
I said, this is something that Iwant to do with the rest of my
life.
So I knew my junior year in highschool that this is something
that I wanted to do.
And then Mike ended up leavingyou know, after my junior year,
it was a heartbreaking minute ofblues.
And I think the St.
Mary's and in the quarterfinals.

(05:45):
And I remember the bus, Iremember the bus the bus ride
home from good old Weems whalingfield.
And, and Mike, it's in thelocker room beforehand.
Like this is this is the lastyear I'm coaching and just like
an emotional wreck.
Brian Kelly comes in.
Right.
you know, ends up becoming notonly an amazing coach at Calvert

(06:06):
Hall, but one of my best friendsand one of my mentors.
And I just I loved every secondof of that school.
I thought, you know, thegrittiness of Calvert Hall, you
know where it is, the kind ofpeople that it attracts the
friends I still have from thatplace.
The teams that we had, you know,weren't the Calvert Hall teams
of probably the last 15 years.
They were you know, not the bestplayers, but a group of guys

(06:29):
that was assembled you know,before I think the M.
I.
A.
Became a league that reallyheavily recruited and, and we
always had this kind of chip onour shoulder and it was, it was
neat to be a part of that.
And kind of the same path I'vehad my whole life.
We had a couple wins that weprobably shouldn't have had.
And, and you know, you get itagain, you get addicted to that
feeling and you want to carrythat on with you through, you
know, the rest of the journey.

(06:49):
So a lot, a lot of great timesat Calvert Hall.
That's awesome.
Doug.
Wasn't that, wasn't that WeemsWhaling Field, a hell of a
facility down there?
I mean, that was we brought youdown behind the garbage dump.
They're at St.
Mary's.
It's a very high end facility.
Yeah.
A lot of a lot of ACLs careerending corners.
Yeah.
It was, it was not the best offields.

(07:13):
I will say.
Yeah.
Yeah, exactly.
So you mentioned Brian Kelly.
I know him.
I played with him on the U 19Team USA team.
Yeah.
Way back when.
Great guy.
So what was it like having like,it sounded like the other coach
was like really wellestablished.
And VK was probably, hegraduated high school or college
in 91, so he's only five yearsout.
Yeah.

(07:33):
Yeah.
So that must have been prettyinteresting having that new
young blood in there.
It was, I mean, you know, MikeThomas was you know, one coach.
Then we had one other assistantand then, you know, BK takes
over my senior year and it wascool because he brought in, you
know, all these young guys thatwere kind of the top players of
the day.
You know, come to practice and,and, you know, I don't know if

(07:55):
it was legal or not, but theywould practice with us and
against us.
And just, it just like, it madeyou, you know, so much better
just with the talent that youwere forced to go up against.
And, Brian was, You know, justalways a good person.
he was you know, a coach atCalvert hall before he took over
the varsity for Mike Thomas.
I think he was an assistant forhim and then he was a JV head

(08:17):
coach and definitely like testedhis metal early with with some
of the other jobs that he hadthere, but just a terrific human
being and just well loved by, Ithink everybody that's ever gone
through that program.
Right.
And he's been there ever since.
It's amazing.
Said quite a run.
That's great.
We see that Ron, that you 19team coincidence, Ron claims.

(08:38):
I bring it up every time, butthere's always a connection.
It's amazing.
I was just 77 episodes in.
We just, we just checked off anannual and every dog hates it.
What he did like 38 years agowas was was Williams whaling on
the bingo card because we gotthat one out of the way too.
We did.

(08:58):
Nice.
Nice.
By the way, that was a nicethrow to me, a St.
Mary's win over Calvert Hall.
That was because, you know, itwas interesting.
I think Calvert Hall and St.
Mary's coach had a similarperspective that we were, we
were, we tried to be a littlegrittier than those other blue,
blue blood Baltimore programs,you know, a little tougher.

(09:20):
Us and St.
Joe, we were all like, man, it'slike Brown state, baby.
I like that mentality.
Hey coach, let's flash forward.
You know, now it's, it'sobviously the Big Ten is an
incredibly competitive Collegeof Cross Conference, but back
when you were going out, thatwas not, I don't think a common
pathway to go from Baltimorenecessarily the Big Ten.

(09:42):
And obviously you chose OhioState and And they had a new
young head coach, Joe Brescia, Ithink back then.
And so tell us about that pathfrom Calvert Hall to Ohio state.
And I think for coach, itmight've been a different coach
and then Brescia came in after,but I think so.
Yeah, I'm sure he would haveanswered that Jay without, well,

(10:03):
Ron, you know, someone did theirhomework.
I'd like to let people know thatmuch.
It's kind of a good seguebecause I tell the guys here,
you know, you get a lot ofrelatability and you build a lot
of empathy based on your pastexperiences.
And, you know, having gonethrough a coaching change my
freshman year at Ohio State and,you know, thinking about, do I

(10:23):
want to be here?
Do I want to play at this place?
You know, do I want to goexplore some other options?
You know, I was very fortunateto have not only Joe Bresci, but
Jay Stalford and Craig Cahooncome in and our staff and they
just added, you know, an elementof competitiveness.
And you know, resilience andjust, you know, character work

(10:44):
ethic, like all the things theyvalued were things that, you
know, we were all looking for.
And so it was neat to be a partof that.
And just the journey to Ohiostate, you know, I had some
other opportunities.
There were some things that, youknow, I really wanted to explore
and, and I found myself not somuch loving the actual school,
but loving the staff that wasthere because I knew that
coaching was going to be a paththat I wanted to explore.

(11:08):
And, you know, the first kind ofschool I fell in love with was
Loyola college because ChrisColbeck was the assistant there.
I remember Chris from camps.
He's a Calvert Hall guy.
And I remember him being, youknow, a guy who literally I
don't know what it was, but Ididn't get invited to 205.
You know, he reached out andsaid, listen, man, there's a kid
that didn't show up.

(11:28):
If you want to come over, don'teven worry about paying.
Just, you know, you can comeover and be a part of this camp.
And it's great.
I went over there and was justlike, man, this guy is such a
terrific human being.
And, and that summer he ended upleaving Loyola to go to Hofstra.
And, you know, my family fromNew York you know, I said that
would be great.
So he reached out to me and, andwe met up at the old Bellock

(11:50):
diner and in Towson, Maryland.
It was, I think the first day ofschool at Calvert Hall my junior
year, my junior year senior, Ithink I was senior year
actually.
And I was like, I'm going toHofstra to play for this guy.
This is exactly my coach.
And when I went back, well, youknow, got a little bit of money,
but my parents were like, thisis not where you're going to go
to school.
So we looked at some otherthings.
My brother was at Penn state,wasn't playing lacrosse, but he

(12:11):
you know, going to a big school,I said, this could be a cool
opportunity too.
And, you know, it all kind ofworked out with Ohio state.
And I'll never forget.
I went out there, not with theintent to commit.
But I had gone out during theblizzard in 96 and got snowed in
there for six days on myofficial visit with another kid.
Oh my god! Holy cow! Yeah, and Iwas like, I can't stand this

(12:32):
place.
So I went out there a secondtime.
With the intent to just show myfather the facilities, the
athletic facilities is it reallyare like second to none out
there.
And my mom goes, I'm going withyou.
And so at one point, the PaulCaldwell, who's the head coach
there, you know, came up to usand said, you know, what are you
thinking?
And I had no intent of going.
Going to Ohio state whatsoever.

(12:54):
And I said, listen, I didn'tdrive six and a half hours of
seeing indoor football field.
And so on the spot, she's like,what are you going to do?
I go, I guess, I guess I'm goingto Ohio state.
And that was it.
And I always say, it's the bestdecision I never made.
So Oh my gosh, that's classic.
Incredible.
And Chris Colbeck was on that U19 team USA team as well.

(13:16):
I know him.
He's a great guy.
We had him on the show.
Did somebody prep you, John?
I mean, did you get This iswonderful.
Actually, Chris Off to such agreat Chris is a great guy.
He was just on our podcast withDave Murphy a couple of episodes
ago and Mike Murphy, yeah.
I mean, Mike Murphy, sorry.
And he he was close to some guysI played with at His roommate at

(13:37):
Loyola was a teammate of mine atSt.
Mary's.
So, you know, small world stuff.
And then of course he coachedwith Dom for all those years and
we got to know him well then.
So, so so you, you mentioned whyyou didn't start with Joe then,
as you said, Joe and, and JayStafford, another Brown guy come
out there.
And, and so what was that thosenext three years like, and, and

(14:01):
what did you learn playing for,for Joe?
Yeah, I mean it was hard.
I mean, Joe was going to dowhatever he could to make sure
that the right people werethere.
We didn't have any passengers onboard.
And I think the guys that reallywanted it loved them.
And I think the guys that werethere for, you know, other
reasons loathe them.
And I loved, you know, havinghim as a coach again,

(14:23):
competitive.
brought in some great guys.
You know, every year you knewyou were gonna be challenged by
the guys that were coming in.
And you know, Joe was kind ofthe figurehead.
He kind of ran, you know, a lotof the aspects of the game.
But J was really, you know, ourdefensive coordinator, Jay
Stalford.
And I always say I actuallyTexted J.
One of the cool things aboutcoming back here was

(14:44):
reconnecting with a lot of guysthat I know that are brown guys,
and I remember texting him justa couple weeks ago and just
saying, you know, like, if Ididn't ever tell you this you
were one of the most influentialpeople in my life in terms of,
you know, the quality of coachyou were and more importantly,
the quality of human being thatyou were.
And it's an honor taking thefield, you know, for you.
And if you know, Jay Stolfer, Imean, he is just the first class

(15:06):
human being incredibly detailoriented, unbelievable work
ethic and all that stuff bledinto the guys that played for
him.
And it was cool having, youknow, those two guys and, and
Craig Cahoon was the, was thethird guy who was, you know,
fantastic player from Ohio,played at Butler, you know,
played a couple of years in theMLL and, you know, all three of
those guys just had such anenergy, such a passion.

(15:29):
And you know, we're not going toaccept anything but your very
best every single day, which wasexactly what I was looking for.
Right.
That's awesome.
Yeah.
And just one more question onOhio State, you know, Ron and I
and Steve like to consider Brownas having a very rich athletic
history, but maybe not as richas the Ohio State University.

(15:51):
So like, you know, just as asports fan, what was it like
being there?
I mean, football games,basketball games, what are like
some of Fonder's memories onthat from that end of it.
Yeah.
I mean, just like, you know, weused to work at a French field
house.
And right when you walk inthere, you look on the records
board, it's an indoor trackfacility.
And, you know, you see JesseOwens name numerous times

(16:14):
somebody like that.
You're just like, wow.
You walk through kind of theannals of St.
John's arena.
And, you know, you're lookingat, you know, You know, some of
the all time greats that haveever played the sport of
basketball.
You're looking at, you know,football players that you didn't
even realize went to schoolthere.
You know, you're, in thepresence of guys all the time at
the Woody Hayes athleticfacility.
I remember like Chris Spielmancoming to practices and seeing

(16:36):
guys like Chris Carter, right.
Jack Nicholas, you know, justlike these, these all time
athletes just always around.
You know, it's hard not to workhard and hard not to want to be
elite when, you know, that'sjust always, you know, around
you.
So, you know, vividly likeworking out and seeing Eddie

(16:57):
George, in the room next to usworking out when he was at the
height of his, you know, NFLcareer.
And the guy had muscles on topof muscles and, you know, you're
sitting there thinking you'rethere and the guy goes up and
you're like, Oh my God, man, Igot so much further to go.
But yeah, just such a coolplace, more facility
perspective, history.
Man, I don't think I missed afootball game in four years.

(17:18):
And, and it just took part ineverything that that place had
to offer.
Right.
That's amazing.
We transitioned to JML and let'sdo that.
We'll get into a little bit ofthe mindset.
We'll do a mindset minute here

The following piece comes from a
course.
I took from sports performanceexpert, Brian Kane, in which he
taught coaches how to helpathletes with their meltable
Formance both on and off thefield.
And we share that informationwith our in-person and online
training with Jane McMahonlacrosse.
Today's message is aboutsomething that's key to becoming

(17:53):
the best version of yourself

That is two key ingredients that will
help you accomplish anything,both on and off the field.
And that is motivation andcommitment.
It's easy to get motivated whenyou're inspired.
It's exciting to train hard, hitthe wall or watch game film.
Maybe you're motivated by a biggoal, like making varsity or
earning a starting spot.

(18:16):
Or by seeing the success of yourfavorite lacrosse players.
Motivation gets you going.
But what happens when motivationfades?
That's where commitment comesin.
Commitment is what helps youkeep going.
Even when things get tough, it'sabout showing up.
Doing the work and stayingfocused on your goals, even on
the days when you don't feellike it.

(18:37):
Here's how the combination ofmotivation and commitment can
help you accomplish anything.

MacBook Pro Microphone- (18:42):
There's an old saying, it's the start
that stops.
Most people.
So you can build a strongvision.
Build something compelling,something exciting, something
that motivates you.
And that will get you over thathurdle of getting the ball
rolling.

MacBook Pro Micropho (18:56):
Motivation gets you the start, but
commitment.
Make sure you finish when you'remotivated, you're ready to go
after your dreams.
But the real question is, areyou committed to those dreams
when challenges arise?
When you're tired facingadversity or not seeing
immediate results.
Commitment.
Is what pushes you forward?
Motivation is about beinginspired, but commitment is

(19:18):
about being consistent.
It's easy to feel pumped upafter a win.
But the players who succeed arethe ones who show up
consistently, whether they feelmotivated or not being committed
means showing up to practice,doing extra reps and taking care
of your body.
Even on the hard days.
Motivation comes and goes, butcommitment stays strong.

(19:39):
There will always be days whenyou don't feel motivated.
It happens to everyone.
But commitment is what helps youpush through those tough
moments.
It's that inner drive that saysI'm going to keep working no
matter what.
So ask yourself, how committedare you to your goals?
Your commitment has to be biggerthan any feeling of, I don't

(20:00):
feel like it.
Motivation is great, but itwon't carry you the whole way.
Real growth happens when you'recommitted to showing up and
putting in the work, especiallywhen things don't go perfectly.
Success comes to those who staycommitted through adversity.
Your commitment has got to begreater than any resistance.
To getting out there and gettingon the field.

(20:21):
Decide and make the commitmentto achieve your goals.
That's half the battle.
Now we will hear a word from oursponsor.
JML.
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In our previous episode.
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(20:54):
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(21:32):
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We're excited to get back to ourinterview and you will find that

(23:38):
interview

MacBook Pro Microphone (23:39):
In progress.
Now, upon graduation from Ohiostate you went, looked like you
went right into the coachingprofession.
And as you mentioned, your highschool coach had a big impact
and who else influenced you inthat regard?
And was it from day one incollege?
You were thinking, all right,I'm, I'm definitely going to be
a college.
Yeah, I was, you know, and I wasfortunate to have parents that

(24:01):
were like supportive of, youknow, whatever I wanted to do.
And I remember, you know,orientation at Ohio State going
into my freshman year and, youknow, seeing the course, the
courses that were offered andthe majors that were offered.
And there was kind of a coachingconcentration within the
education, school.
And I said, that's exactly whatI want to do.
And kind of put my mind to it.

(24:23):
And there was some greatclasses.
I mean, there were classes whereyou were coaching the class
mic'd up and then you wouldwatch it with the rest of the
class.
You'd break things down, youknow, what you, what you did
well, what you said, well, how,how well you gave the
information to kids.
There were classes where, youknow, you had to put practice
plans together and you wereteaching you know, we had one
with autistic kids.
We had another one where, youknow, we had to teach like

(24:44):
wheelchair basketball to, youknow, disabled kid.
I mean, it was just likeeverything about it was was
intensive and it kind of builtinto kind of who you were.
Most of who I am as a coach was,was influenced by the guys that
I was fortunate enough to playfor.
you know, work with.
And I mean, I feel like myjourney is such a blessing
between having like my father asa coach when I was a kid in

(25:05):
different sports to, you know,being able to have guys like
Brian Kelly and Mike Thomas andJoe Bresci and Jay Stolfert and,
you know, Mike Caravan, KyleHannon.
I mean, you know, Jamie Andy, Imean, you name it.
I've been around these amazing,you know, just human beings and
coaches and and I've tried tosteal everything I could from
each of those guys along thejourney.

(25:25):
That's right.
And that's right.
We know Mike Caravan.
He was actually at Brown whenRon and I were being recruited
and then moved down to Virginia.
But, you know, I've seen himover the years and stayed in
touch.
And yeah, he's another anothergem.
Yeah.
I mean, John, you just alludedto it like it's.
I don't, I can't imagine a guywhose journey has prepared him

(25:47):
better.
And like, you've seen so manydifferent aspects of the game
and like, we wanted to explorenext.
You just mentioned Mike Caravanaand I know you were with him at
Denison.
And then you also spent sometime at, at Goucher.
So you started at that divisionthree level.
Tell us about those early yearsin coaching at that level.
I mean, I'll start with Denison.

(26:09):
I just like fell in love withit.
I was actually slated to becoach fresh volunteer assistant
before that was really even aposition, but, but I said,
coach, I want to stay incoaching.
I've got a couple of classes I'mfinishing up my fifth year.
And he said, we'd love to haveyou on board.
And then my caravan had calledand said, listen, I'll give you
5, 000 to come over to Denisonand do this over here.

(26:30):
I think we've got a really goodteam.
And at the time I was playingwith the Columbus land sharks,
the NLL.
I was working at flying pizza inthe afternoon.
I was making graders ice creamin the morning at 4 30 and then
we practice.
I'm not kidding.
You would practice from 10 p.
m.
to 12 a.
m.
at Denison because the only timewe get the indoor facility and

(26:51):
it was just these days thatstarted with making ice cream
at, you know, 4 30 in themorning, five o'clock in the
morning, whatever that is until,you know, going to Denison at
night.
And I tell you what, man, youlook back on it and I'm sure we
can all say this, those firstcouple of jobs you have at a
college, you know, the leanyears are the ones that you
really figure out how much youlove this thing.
And the ones that you, youreference back to all the time

(27:14):
as to why you do this and howmuch you love this, but division
three for me was a chance for.
You know, me not to be kind ofthe cool guy on the block and
have to figure out a way to getthese kids to be interested in
the school maybe they had neverheard of or didn't know where it
was geographically.
And you really had to, you know,put your hands on the ground in

(27:35):
terms of finding guys.
You had to go to these obscureevents.
You had to break away from someof your friends that were events
that were maybe already inDivision I lacrosse.
And, you know, You know, findthese diamonds in the rough and
you know, it was not to makethree phone calls, get three
kids.
It was make 3000 calls to maybeget a kid to visit.
So a lot of doors slammed inyour face and, and a lot of nose

(27:57):
before you got a yes.
And when you got that, yes, youwere like, Oh my gosh, this is
awesome.
So, you know, being where I amnow you know, and making a phone
call with the power that thisplace has from an educational
standpoint to the history, tothe facilities, to the support.
It's a long ways away from, youknow, where the phone calls were
at Denison and Goucher.
It's, it, it must be kind oflike this Brown thing must be

(28:20):
kind of a crazy full circlething for you to coach.
Like when you talk about beingwith brash, who was, you know,
Here with Jay, Jay, and then JayStauffer, you know, who's an
incredible, as you said, playercoach and human being, and then
working with Jamie and Andy.
And I mean, it's, it's weird howlife works, you know, and all

(28:40):
those Brown connections you madealong the way.
Well, what's what's wild is, youknow, over the last 14 years at
high point because we were doingsome, you know, really unique
things in terms of winning andand success, our guys were
having off the field and on thefield.
There's been a lot ofopportunities, you know, to look
at some different places and Ialways told my wife, like, I'm

(29:01):
not leaving campus unless it'ssomething I feel like I could
really, you know be passionateabout.
And this was the first time in14 years, there's probably been
about 10 or 12 schools that I'vehad conversations with in terms
of interest.
But this is the first time in 14years I ever left campus from
high point.
And I knew if I did that, itwould be really hard to say no,
but it was all because of allthese Brown connections, you

(29:25):
know, from guys that I playedwith at Calvert hall to guys
that coached me, like you saidyou know, to guys that I got
into coaching with, with, youknow, my caravan and Andy and
Jamie, and, you know, getting tohear stories about guys like
you.
And, you know, some of theseguys that, you know, were in
their lives that I would, youknow, kind of cross paths with.
And there was just this.
Familiarity with this place thatI felt some comfort with.

(29:47):
And you know, after meeting withgrace, it was just, I go, yeah,
this is kind of too good to betrue.
You know, this is something thatI got to really explore.
So yeah, it was definitely fullcircle in the stars.
Yeah.
And coach, we don't want to skipover that little high point
thing, you know, they don't evenhave a team.

(30:08):
Right.
And it wasn't like they hadanything.
I don't think.
Right.
No club or anything.
Cause I mean, you know, afterall the work you did and now
you're, you know, building yourown division one program and
having the success that you did.
So out of nothing, you know,talk about, yeah, talk about
that journey and you know, yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You go from nothing in themiddle of nowhere to, you know,

(30:31):
you were a guy who every timeone of those, those big ACC
powerhouses was playing highpoint, you always were kind of
checking that score.
You would find a way to getthose guys not, not too
irregularly.
Yeah.
Yeah, so I don't know much abouthigh point.
I got a call from a friend ofmine who is the head soccer

(30:52):
coach at Denver when I was outthere, Bobby Muse, who's now the
head soccer coach at WakeForest.
And he goes, listen, high pointstarting men's lacrosse.
It's going to be this divisionone startup program.
There really hadn't beenanything like that.
I think since Since St.
John's when Ricky Soule, youknow, left Dartmouth to go
there.
I said, that's cool, man.
And he said, I know the athleticdirector, if you want me to call
him, you know, I'd be happy to.

(31:14):
I was like, sure.
You know, I'll take a look.
I'm, you know, I've alwayswanted to be a head coach.
So he called athletic director,Craig Keilitz on the phone with
Craig and ended up talking tohim, talking to him for about an
hour, went down there and justfell in love with North
Carolina, fell in love with theschool, fell in love with the
vision the president and ourathletic director had for the
program.
And I said, what a, what a coolway to get into college

(31:36):
coaching, starting your ownprogram from scratch.
And so I get down there, there'sno office.
There's no locker room, there'sno uniforms, there's no players,
there's no anything.
And it was this like, kind ofchoose your vision.
It was, it was, it was a visionand it was trying to sell that
vision to kids that were kind oflike me, you know, where they

(31:58):
had this like builder gene andthey were just like, I want to,
I want to do something.
I want to be a part of somethingnew.
And, and we just, You know,didn't let anybody write our
script.
We went down there and said,this is who we're going to be.
And we had a lot of bravado andwe recruited kids with that.
And I'll never forget, like thefirst time I showed the guys our

(32:18):
schedule, the first ever seasonwe had powerhouses on there.
Delaware Brown was on there DukeCarolina, Virginia, I mean,
everybody.
And, and I go to the team.
I said, you know, what do youthink we're going to do this
year?
And every single guy's like,easy, 10 wins, easy, 10 wins.
And I was like, Oh my God, wewent into this we went into this

(32:39):
first season with 34 of our 36guys being freshmen and two
transfers that had really neverplayed at the schools that they
came from.
And first game we play Delaware,Delaware, you know, coming off
two years, I think after theywere in the quarterfinals, we
ended up losing by two.
And then.
Second game play Towson, who'sranked, I mean, to beat them
nine, seven, you know, theseguys just never let anyone write

(33:03):
their script.
They were like, this is whatwe're going to be.
This is how we're going to getthere.
And to see them buy in and workand see the foundation, those
first couple of classes laid wasjust, I mean, one of the coolest
things I've ever been associatedwith in my life.
And it always gives me hope.
I mean, like, I'm like, don'tlet people tell us what we're
going to be.
Let's go out and figure out away to get where we want to get

(33:24):
to.
So.
That's amazing.
Amazing.
And, you know, raised our kidsthere and, and you know, fell in
love with everybody I workedwith the parents, the kids.
I mean, there was a, such a coolconnection with all of us there
with building this thing fromscratch.
That's awesome.
Amazing.
So John, as we all know, youwere named the head coach of
Brownmans Lacks this summer.

(33:46):
So please tell us how thatopportunity came about and as
you said you'd been at HighPoint for so many years and had
such great success there and itwas really your baby.
You started that whole thing.
So it couldn't have been an easydecision.
But tell us, tell us about thatprocess.
Yeah, it was, it was a phonecall that I got asking if I'd be
interested and, you know, I kindof got off the phone call and

(34:10):
went and spoke to my wife and Igo, what do you think about, you
know, looking into brown?
And she goes, listen, I'll gowherever you want if you feel
like it's a great opportunity.
So pursued it got on the phonewith Grace, Tim Fitzpatrick.
You know, Darren Lowe wasinvolved in the process, got a
chance to talk to him a littlebit and, you know, talk to a
bunch of, you know, people thatI knew that had been at Brown.

(34:32):
You know, I kind of bounced somethings off of Jamie, bounce some
things off of Andy spoke to JoeBraschi about it.
And there were like two, likereal, like vivid things that
stood out to me, you know, whenI went through the process and,
you know, contemplated leavingthis place that I had a love
affair with, with high pointhaving, you know, built
everything, you know, with ourstaff, with our guys, from

(34:55):
nothing.
And it was a conversation I hadwith coach Bresci where he said,
you know, when I was Carolinaand leaving Ohio state.
I was walking through thehallway at Woody Hayes and I ran
into Jim Trestle and, you know,he said every 12 to 14 years,
you got to think about, youknow, doing something different,
taking on a new challenge and,and, you know, going after

(35:17):
something and reinventingyourself.
And so that was like vivid in mymind.
And then it was this like littlechapter of a book that I read on
Woody Hayes one time where Youknow, he gets to Ohio state and
he's in his first pressconference and people think he's
crazy for taking the job.
And, and he says something alongthe lines of like, you know, I'm
leaving security for opportunityand, you know, that's just

(35:40):
playing in my mind.
So.
Got a chance to come up here.
You know, got a chance to meetwith grace and a bunch of other
administrators and, you know,see the facilities and, and kind
of came back home, talked to mywife, went back and forth for
probably three days.
And I remember telling my staffat high point, I'm not, I'm not
going, I'm staying at highpoint.
And then grace called me again.

(36:02):
And I said, grace, like just, Ilove like talking to grace
because it just felt like, youknow, I was in the presence of
an athletic director that justwanted to win and do things the
right way.
And, and it was, was successfulkind of everywhere she had been.
And I just said to my wife, Igo, I think we should go up
there together and take a look.
And we came up here and Iremember walking through the

(36:24):
doors of the Pizza Tola centersaying like, I don't know if I
can do this.
I don't know if I can leave myguys at high point.
I don't know if, if this is whatI want to do.
And I remember my wife sayingsomething along the lines of
like, this is, you know, one ofthe first opportunities you've
ever had where, they're doingeverything the right way and I
think you deserve it.
And I remember like kind oftaking a step back and I said,
let's go upstairs and let's takethis thing, you know?

(36:45):
And so.
That was, that was just a reallycool day.
And it's been, you know, thisincredible whirlwind, but all
positive sense where, you know,getting to know the alums,
getting to know our guys, youknow, getting to really, you
know, get to know who they areas people and players and
bringing my staff up here forthe most part with me it's been,

(37:05):
it's been a lot of fun.
That's amazing.
Well, you know what?
We've got a, do we have a, do wehave a special surprise guests
that wait a minute?
I think we do on zoom.
It just popped in.
Who is this?
Someone you might know who is,is, I think is that, could it

(37:26):
be, could it be look at, look atthem.
Coach.
I just said all these nicethings about you, man.
I hope you were listening.
McMahon wouldn't let me get onearly so I could listen.
He was giving us a great answer.
It's all about the airtime, Joe.

(37:47):
I'm like, Oh no, Joe's here, butwe're in the, we're like getting
a great answer here.
I'm like, all right, hopefullyhe stays on.
Love fest, man.
All the same.
So Joe, Joe, Joe, nobody knowswho's listening to this.
This is a, this is an audio.
Oh, Ron, when you do the intro,please.

(38:08):
So John, as we may have justgiven away, we we've got a very
special surprise.
Mr.
A guest for you your head coachat the Ohio state university.
He played his high schoollacrosse at Loyola in Baltimore.
Thank God.
We finally have three Marylandguys on here.
It's rough to counteract.

(38:29):
Jay McMahon and his Long Islandness.
Our special guest was a two timeAll American Defender at North
Carolina.
A two time member of team USA.
He's the current head coach athis alma mater.
And in 2016, he led his TarHeels to the promised land of a
national championship for thefirst time in 25 years.

(38:50):
Oh yes.
Yes.
UNC head coach, Joe Bresci ishere to officially welcome coach
Torpey to Brown and be ourspecial guest for the rest of
this podcast.
Welcome coach Bresci.
Giuseppe! Giuseppe! Thanks forjoining us, coach.
This is awesome.
It's a pleasure.
The one thing I'll add to thatintroduction is that was a two
time roommate of Ron Doglisharound university during Yes.

(39:14):
What a highlight.
That's just memorable.
We'll get into that a littlebit.
No, for sure.
Absolute highlight, JayStolpert, who we also have been
mentioning.
Yes, Jay Stolpert.
We had quite the crew and AndrewTowers, another Brown bear.
Yes, yes.
Those were some good times, Joe.
Excellent.
Yes.
Well, it's a joy to be here.

(39:34):
Thanks for having me.
Always a pleasure to be aroundcoach Torpy.
One of my all time, all timefavorite players and coaches in
this profession for sure.
So I'm thrilled.
Awesome.
We're going to ask somequestions here, Joe.
Jay, please take it away.
You're in the hot seat.
So, as we mentioned in theopening, Joe, you coached John

(39:55):
Torpy back at OSU.
And please tell us what he meantto you and your program as a
three time captain.
That's pretty unusual.
I don't know that I know of anyother three time captains.
So, tell us about this guy, ayoung John Torpy on the scene at
Ohio State.
And we kind of had reviewed howhis coach had just left.
You came in.

(40:15):
And take it from there.
I'm nervous.
Coach.
No need to be nervous.
Big dog.
I was nervous when, when I wastrying to or concerned about,
you know, you taking off fromOhio state.
I was like, Oh God, is he goingto stay?
And I had to go crawl over glassto, to make sure.

(40:37):
Coach Torpy would stay and he,by his peers, was named captain
three times in a row.
My first three years at, at theOhio State University.
And I, you know, you thinkabout, I've been doing this a
long time, 30 plus years, andyou think about the guys who,
who stand out at each of the,Respective stops or throughout

(40:59):
the different decades of ofcoaching guys I've played with
and, and then had an opportunityto, to coach, whether it's at
Carolina.
Brown, Ohio State or back toCarolina and John Torpy was
simply one of the best as aleader, as a competitor love for

(41:20):
the game, love for his teammatesand just did everything.
100 miles an hour.
Sometimes I'd have to rein themin a little bit, but you know
what?
We always say, and I'm sureCoach Dorpy can attest to, when
you're recruiting, you'd ratherrein kids in than than try to
make them aggressive or makethem tougher, et cetera.

(41:40):
And John was just a class actman of integrity.
just a huge heart.
So happy for him when he when hehad the opportunity at High
Point to to start the programthere and just had a stellar
career.
And now he's up at one of my alltime favorite places in Brown
University and couldn't couldn'tbe a better fit for Brown and

(42:03):
for Coach Torpey.
That's awesome.
And so, John, you know, hearingJoe talk about you that way, I
know that, John, you then wenton to give Joe some of those
white hairs, they're not evengray anymore, Joe, they're just
white, they're just full onwhite hairs, I know you gave a
couple of those as a head coachat High Point, so what was it
like going from You know, theplayer coach relationship to

(42:26):
then having Joby, one of yourpeers, kind of right down the
road as a head division onelacrosse coach.
Coach Bresci gave me a lot morewhite hairs than I gave him.
I took a lot of, I took a lot ofwhoops on the fanny from that
guy over the years.
No, it was, it was really cool.
And I think like when I firstgot there.
You know, I lean on coach a lot,you know, for everything from

(42:50):
advice on, you know, how to be ahead coach to you know, what to
do for certain things.
And I remember going down and hewould let me come and watch
practices.
And I mean, that was like thecoolest thing ever.
I remember that little field youguys had coach like in the woods
and coming down there and justlike stealing like so many
different things, you know, fromcoach.

(43:10):
And I was over at Duke doing thesame thing with those guys.
But I appreciate all the kindwords, but like, you know, Joe
Bresci man is like, he'ssingular in this sport.
Unbelievable human being, youknow, a great dad.
And, you know, I told these guyscoach before, like one of the
biggest things that, you know,led me to Brown was a
conversation, you know, you hadwith Jim Trestle about the,

(43:32):
reinvent yourself and, trying tochange things up after a couple
of years of being in the sameplace.
And it was a vivid thought on mymind.
And, you know, these, Encounterswe've had over the years,
whether they're on the, on thephone or, going down to Chapel
Hill to see you know, whetheryou knew it or not, man, I was
always trying to stealeverything you were doing
because I always felt like youwere one of the best guys in the

(43:52):
world at what you did.
And, and the proof is in thepudding, man.
Well, I appreciate that.
I, you know, it's been you know,it's so gratifying to see a guy
like John.
Go through the ranks as astudent athlete at Ohio State,
then get into the coachingworld.
And obviously he was surroundedby some great head coaches

(44:14):
during his time and Andy Towersand Jamie Monroe and so forth.
A couple of brown guys,ironically, right?
And then, and then he heads downand starts his own program.
And you know, one thing that Ialways stress the guys and, and
john is the epitome of it is tobe authentic.
to be who you are and and nottry to become somebody you're

(44:37):
not.
And I, I got that message fromToby Mink, a former teammate of
John's.
And I remember my first year asa head coach at 28 years old at
Ohio state.
And we had individual meetingsand at the end of the year, Toby
Mink said to me, he said, coach,man, we love your energy.

(44:57):
We love your passion, but wedon't know you.
And to me, it was like, wow,that was a kick in the gut
because that's all who I was atBrown was just being myself and
to put on the head coaching hatand, and pretend that I'm not
that guy anymore was, wasexactly what I needed as a, as a

(45:18):
young head coach, 28 years old,trying to figure it out.
The message I hand off to guyslike Coach Torpy when he took
over at High Point was justthat, be who you are, no need to
change, just be authentic andkids see right through it when
you're not, and at the end ofthe day, that's how I owe it to
Toby Mink, and actually TobyMink and I share the same

(45:40):
birthday, ironically.
So we're both Aries, Ron.
I know you were wondering.
I was Joe.
I was like, like, geez, did Imiss it?
I get it now.
But it's just it's so great.
I mean, you know, you thinkabout all the guys you coached
over the years and to watchtheir, their journey, not, not
just as, as a player, but as acoach and his profession, and

(46:04):
then John with his family isjust, it's amazing.
And it's so fun to watch.
And, and it's part of thejourney and part of the beauty
of, of.
Getting to teach, coach,educate, mentor 18 to 22 year
olds.
And, and that's a, that's areally cool and fortunate
position to be in.
That's awesome.
And then, you know, when you'restanding there on the field and

(46:26):
you're looking across thatsubstitution box and coach
Torpey's being coach Torpey,you're thinking, all right, take
it easy, Pat.
You're being a little too muchyourself.
You never slow down.
You're screaming at the reps.
Was it, it's kind of surreal.
Just like, look, and I'd belike, yeah, he's, he's being
authentic.
Well, coach Torps and I have hadsome dog fights and he got the
best of me.

(46:47):
this past year.
And I thought it was a crazyfinish.
I love it for him.
And, you know, I tell you, Iwas, I was so happy for him
after the game.
Certainly disappointed in us,but you know, happy for him and
how his team played and the joyon their faces.
And you know, it was many, manyyears of battling with coach

(47:07):
Torpey.
So I'm glad he's in the IvyLeague now.
Nice.
Nice.
Yeah, we've had some great onesover the years.
Some great sideline antics.
Your pupil, man, oh my God.
So so John, we want to know someof your most memorable moments

(47:29):
of coach brushy as your headcoach.
And don't, don't, you know,don't hold back here as he said,
he was a young 28 year old time.
He had just left me to come tomake some mistakes.
Coach Torpey.
So interesting.
No, he had to find a, Ron had tofind a different roommate
because I left him.

(47:49):
I know.
Left me.
I had to go get my own littleapartment.
Oh my gosh, man.
This is like, this is hot seatright here.
I'll tell you one of myfavorite.
I'll let Torpy kind of expand onit.
But so one of my all timefavorite As I mentioned, I'm a
young head coach out at the OhioState University.

(48:12):
I'm trying to put a scheduletogether and nobody in their
right mind wants to come to theOhio State University and play
us.
So I'm scramble city.
And I'm like, well, at least myconference will play on a
weekend, but lo and behold in myconference or the leprechauns up
north.
And So I call up the Kingleprechaun and I said I said,

(48:33):
Hey do you want to play on aweekend?
This is, you know, it's a, it'sa conference game and the whole
bit.
And there's like, no, I got toplay better teams than than you
on the weekend.
And I was like, Ooh, that'spainful.
I said, but we're in conferencecoach.
And he's like, no, we got toplay better teams.
I said, okay, but we went upthere year one.

(48:55):
You've forgotten all about that.
You've that you've let that gobehind you.
I have absolutely forgotten allabout it 25 years ago.
So as coach Torpy can remember,I think we lost 11 to two,
three, four.
I can't remember, but we hadlost by like a hundred the year
before.
And we lose by a respectableamount.

(49:18):
So we're on the bus ride homeand the, the, the giggles and
the laughs and the chuckles inthe back of the bus or are not
helping me.
So I asked the bus driver on thehighway to pull over.
So he pulls over.
on the side of the road on theway home from South Bend.

(49:40):
And I asked all the, includingthe bus driver and the support
staff to get off the bus.
And then I proceeded to, to letthe guys in the back know just
how excited I was about their,their jokes that they were
telling after we got our.
Tushy's whooped by the fightingIrish.
And I said, this is not why Icame here.

(50:02):
And from that moment on, it kindof set the tone for the rest of
the year.
Now, you know, we were six andeight, I believe, or five and
seven our first year but then itkind of changed the tone that we
were not in it for the shortsanymore, we were in it to win.
And fast forward one year, causeI know dog's trying to, he's
trying to figure out.
So, so what happened thefollowing year against the

(50:25):
fighting leprechauns?
And And we actually I made thesame phone call and got the same
answer.
So they came down to Columbusmidweek.
And 42 zone, baby 42 zone.
We played a box in two zone.
Oh, that was the old fire call.
A brown.
That was fire.
We spun the ball about eighttimes before we attacked the

(50:48):
cage.
Abley's had like.
18 saves.
We took 24 shots total and BuddyLang stuck the game winner with
seven seconds left and readyboom boom Ready?
Boom.
Boom.
Hurry.
Hurry.
He was at the face off X.
I said, do like your dad who wasa pro wrestler.

(51:08):
I said, do like your dad.
Just get in a tussle at the faceoff X in the last seven seconds
and we won 5 4 and yes.
And yes, dog, from that momenton, we played on a weekend,
baby.
That is a great, that would bemy favorite story.
Add something to that story.

(51:30):
That's the first time like NotreDame ever came out with the
bagpipes.
I don't if remember they walkedoutta the Woody Hayes and at the
end of the game, coach pulls usin and he goes, fellas, we just
took the wind out of thebagpipes.
That's great.
That's beautiful.
I love it.

(51:51):
That is vintage, brush.
Ah, I tell ya, and the coolthing about Ohio State was you
know, Andy Geiger was likehugging me, high fiving, and
then Archie Griffin, who knowsnothing about the game of
lacrosse, was like, that was anunbelievable win, and just
because we beat Notre Dame.
And we got like Archie Griffin,the only two time Heisman on

(52:14):
board and I mean, they loved it.
It was, it was fun.
That is beautiful.
Now here's a real criticalquestion for you, Coach Bresci.
You know, listeners are going tobe super intrigued.
Can you describe what it waslike to have to live with coach
Ron Doglish for two years?
Big dog.
What are your most, mostimpressive memories as you were

(52:35):
an assistant, defensivecoordinator, dog was an
assistant.
Pete Lasagna, head coach, just,just landed out there.
Don't hold back, please.
Oh my dog.
You're sweating, aren't you?
I'm perspiring a little, Joe.
Although you might have to holdback a little.
You did tell me one story, youknow, you can't share.

(52:55):
But other than that, well, youdid actually, you told me one
time a couple of years ago.
Oh, back in the heyday?
This is a Dog, dog Don't tellthat one.
Dog had the he had a knack for,for having shortcuts down at one
of the drinking establishmentsover, right over the bridge by,
bridge by the old fish company.
Oh, yeah.
And Big Dog would, would toss afew back and he'd invite all the

(53:18):
ladies from the establishmentBack to the Oh, that was casting
a wide net and they were the,you played no part in that Joe.
That was no, no, I never had awing man with me.
Coach Torpy.
No, I was always there.
It was, it was dog.

(53:39):
And I would kind of look aroundand see if towers had left any
for us.
And then we'd like spread ourwings and we'd be like, dog,
let's, let's rope him in andlet's start moving towards, I
always took a lot of credit forcoach brushy's marriage to
Julie, because I think afterabout two years of Joey, I being

(54:01):
together, she's like, Joe, we'removing to Columbus and we're
leaving, we're leaving Ron here.
Right.
He's not coming with us now.
I mean, look, Brown holds aspecial place and, and, and you
know, I met my wife, Julie thereand, and that is we both worked
in the athletic department onthe same hallway at OMAC.

(54:24):
And was it no pits at all?
Yeah.
And right down the hallway.
So, you know, Brown special,special place and Ron, I'll keep
your skeletons in the closet,big dog.
Cause I remember opening thedoor to try to get them to
practice one day.
Similar situation, Joe, stop itright there.

(54:48):
Cause I've heard this is, thisis what's called assured
destruction.
Joe, we should just stop itright here.
Say we were both winners.
Both winners, Joe competitorsand winners.
Yes.
All right, Joe, now this is aserious one.
Okay.
My friend.
So you know, you were as, aswe've talked about, you were
part of that Brown lacrossecoaching staff.

(55:09):
I think you spent seven years atBrown with with coach lasagna
and and in 94, five years, I'mnot good at math.
I went to Brown.
I didn't have to take math.
I didn't have to take math.
Coach Torpy took one math class.
That's a seller.
That's a seller on therecruiting for us.
Social science guys.
Okay.
One more that I took it all.
Five years with coach lasagnaand a 94.

(55:32):
You were part of one of the twobrown teams that went to the
final four.
So you know, coach Torpy alreadymentioned that you as he, he
reached out to, and youobviously.
knew what it took to succeed atthe highest level at Brown.
So what were some of the thingsthat you shared with Coach
Torpey and that you rememberabout what it took for you guys

(55:56):
to build that kind of success atBrown back then?
And obviously, you know what ittakes to build success at the
highest level today.
Well, I tell you first andforemost, kudos to coach Lasagna
for giving me the opportunity tocome up there and be a part of
his coaching staff.
And he was so fun and soexciting to work with.

(56:16):
And I learned so much from him,not only as a, as a coach, but
as a dad and and relationshipswith the kids and Pete just had
fun at the profession.
And I think sometimes althoughwe are very passionate and
committed to our craft, it'simportant to keep balance in
your life.
And I think Pete was the epitomeof balance as, as a head coach.

(56:38):
And so I was fortunate enough tobe the defensive coordinator for
five years with Coach Lasagnaand learned so much from him, as
I mentioned.
And, and but he gave me carteblanche at the defensive end and
I was 23 and living with AndyTowers.
So I was trying to find himbecause he had to make the bus.
So, you know, I think from myperspective, it was it was just

(56:59):
a really neat experience.
We go 10 and three, our firstyear, We don't get in the NCAA
tournament.
And then and then we're, westart out the season one and
four, our second year, and we goon a 12 game win streak
spearheaded by just a fantasticsenior class.
And by the way, director ofplayer personnel for the

(57:19):
University of North Carolina.
Is none other than number 20 RobGutow.
So that's right.
I just heard that.
And he's on our staff.
And he was a senior, right?
Yes, he was a senior.
And he was just a phenomenalleader.
Gary Nelson.
I mean, you name it.
We had a heck of a group and,and you know, it just goes to

(57:41):
show you, I mean, we weresimilar here in 2016, we were
three and three to start theyear.
And then goalie gets hot, teamgets hot at the right time.
And then you, you, you kind ofexcel.
But at Brown, it was just, itwas a dream opportunity.
I remember being, I think wewere two and four or three and
four at the time.
And we played number one,Princeton rolls in and they've

(58:03):
won every game.
Rob Guttel gave me this stat.
He's like, yeah, Princeton wasaveraging 17.
6 goals a game and coming intothat game and we ran boxing too
on low and Reinhardt locked bothof those off with short sticks
and ran a box behind a coachTorpey's very surprising.
And they started throwing and wedid a floating man down box with

(58:26):
a floater and they startedthrowing the ball and hitting
our guy in the back who wasshutting off.
I mean, it was just a thing ofbeauty from an execution by the
players.
And it was, it was awesome.
It was 76 going into the fourthquarter.
We were winning 76 Jay Stalfordand Scott Bacigalupo were
standing on their heads.

(58:48):
The game ended seven, six.
So we held a team average in 17.
6 goals a game to six goals.
And I remember celebrating at atthe fish company.
And just to reiterate back tothe birthday, it was on my
birthday knocked off Princetonand it was just, it was awesome.
So you, you talk about one ofthe greatest games wins was, was

(59:11):
that one.
And then you fast forward to thequarterfinals at Loyola which
was just spectacular.
It was a one goal game and, youknow, we dropped the ball, they
come up, we kind of goose itforward and, and, Gets bantered
around and we score the gamewinner in overtime.
I think it was overtime.
Yeah, it was funny becausearound covid Pete sent out these

(59:35):
videotapes of the Princeton gameof the Loyola game and I watched
them and they're pretty freshbecause it was like in that
Loyola game.
The ball kind of went down.
Loyola over commits.
A guy picks up and it was likethree passes, but you could see
with each pass.
Everybody on Brown is like, Ohmy God, one more pass.
We're going to have a wide openshot.
And that was the case.
And then boom.
Oh man.

(59:56):
And then that person obviouslywas amazing too.
And Goody was playing at Xbasically as a midfielder with a
short stick on that was likePete's innovation.
And he had like almost 40assists or something that he
seasoned.
So that was Pete.
Pete and you were quiteinnovative with that team.
It was pretty.
Yeah, it was fun.
We went back and forth a bunch.
You know, it was just I love ascoach Torpy knows.

(01:00:18):
And I think, you know, as I wassome call it junk defenses, I
call creative defenses.
You know, that's what we did atOhio State to kind of put
ourselves on the map a littlebit and then and then that
continued, you know, obviouslycame from Brown and that
continued at Ohio State and inmy coaching career.

(01:00:38):
So, I mean, those were two ofthe.
the great ones.
We want a couple, I think twoIvy League championships, the
final four and a couple trips tothe tournament.
And it was awesome.
I love Julie and I talk about itall the time.
You know, just a incredibleexperience we had up there and
how how quickly it's it's been27 28 years.

(01:01:02):
Are we going to go to our rovingreporter, Steve Grassoffi, who
finishes our podcast up withsome very different kind of as
long as these two coaches willstill consider us friends.
All the time we've keptthemselves.
All right.
Well, I want to thank Ron forbringing up having to cut roster
spots right before I come onbecause that is always comedy
gold.

(01:01:23):
Ron.
Helps a lot.
Alright, so I have somequestions for the coaches.
I have to each so we'll get thisthrough this pretty quick.
I know you guys have spent a lotof time.
Coach Bresch, good to see you.
It's been ages.
This first one goes to you.
As was previously mentioned, youand Ron coached together at
Brown and were roommates.

(01:01:43):
I know that you guys had toshare a bathroom.
Is that why you left Brown tocoach elsewhere?
Well, that's the rumor at least.
That's a, that's a coachGrisalfi.
First, first and foremost, it'sgreat to see you.
We are both white as can be.
I don't know what happened.
That is a good thing.
That's all the time I spent, butdog likes to say it was coach

(01:02:05):
Torpey when he played for me,but I think it was dog because I
used to go in the bathroom andsee his big ass underwear
hanging out on the of the.
He's hanging up his drawers.
Come on, Ron.
Well, it was a little bit soiledtoo.
So that's what, that's what kindof sent me down to or out to

(01:02:26):
Columbus for other options,hundreds of miles away.
So you couldn't smell or seethat.
Oh, Joe, that's wrong.
We always suspected as much, butI'm glad I'm hanging up his
drawers.
Wow.
This next one's for Coach Torpy.
This past October, many Brownalumni attended Alumni Weekend
where you were able to meet manyof the Brown lacrosse alumni.

(01:02:49):
My question is this, aftergetting to meet them, are you
still able to use academic rigoras part of your pitch to
prospective players?
With a straight face, that is.
Maybe lead with, they're thehappiest students in the Ivy
League, you know, that might beopen curriculum.
I told the guys the other day atpractice, I go, I wish I would

(01:03:11):
have went to brown.
The past fail the opencurriculum in this.
Oh yeah.
It must have been prettyencouraging to get to know that
somehow all of us got pastadmissions, right?
And got through for the mostpart.
That's something to look forwardto.
There's always hope.
This next one's for coach brash.
Are you aware that Ron Doggishwas put on mock trial up at Lake

(01:03:34):
Placid this year?
Yes.
For allegedly rooting harder forNorth Carolina at this year's
UNC Virginia game, when Lars wasthe one who provided him the
tickets.
Oh, oh.
A couple years back.
But yeah, that happened.
That was, that was a final Fourgame, actually.
Oh, really?
All right.
Well, he was finally put totrial this show.
I have I, yeah, A friend ofours, Tom Dwyer's daughter said

(01:03:56):
21.
Yes.
What's that?
21 exactly.
Dog jumping out of his seat andhis shorts every time Carolina
scores a Virginia scores.
And he is like, oh.
Oh my God.
Yes.
Well, he may have been providedthe tickets, but Ron stayed in
my room that night.
Oh, oh.
And the reason I know that hestayed in my room is yes, the

(01:04:18):
soil, the tell side.
Oh my gosh.
spinning some incredible.
It's not easy hanging with Ronbelievable.
Oh, thank goodness.
I love the space.
I love my weekend.
It keeps getting wider.
His hands are off the screen.

(01:04:41):
We're all just great.
The last time we shared a hotelroom.
Thanks for the brown alumniweekend.
We shared the hotel room dogslept on the floor in his suit.
Thank goodness.
So no one saw those shorts,which was nice.
Thank you, Steve, for thesequestions.
Appreciate it.
Yeah, finally, this one's forCoach Torpy.

(01:05:03):
Are you aware of the statisticalanomaly arising from the alumni
cheering section at the Brownhome field?
The goals against For the goalsagainst percentage for opposing
teams is significantly higherwhen their goalie is within
earshot of the alumni cheeringloudly from the pickup trucks in
the parking lot on the northside of the field.

(01:05:24):
This is being referred to as thedoglish effect.
Ron, what's the actual number?
I know you know this.
Oh, I, I don't know this, but I,I have always said it's the
Evans effect.
Yeah.
Well, it will be the Evanseffect.
Now I'll tell you the tailgatesituation just amped up quite
significantly with a big recruitthat coach Torpy landed this

(01:05:44):
summer, a little switcheroo Joe,a little switcheroo from UBI
too.
I don't think Brown's finishedflipping baby.
Keep flipping Torps.
Nice.
I, I always said coach Tarpy, Ihave made more of a difference
for Brown lacrosse in theparking lot that I did on the
field given my chairing ability,Steve, look at Steve.

(01:06:07):
Like I got a point there, butmost of the team, right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Two times, two times.
I'll take a seat.
And, you know, I, I do have acertain volume to me.
I do have a certain creativityin my conversations with the
opposing players.
And I, I was convinced I wasmaking a difference.
And then last time Brown hostedthe Ivy tournament, the ESPN

(01:06:32):
crew showed statisticalevidence.
We were two goals.
We were two goals better at thisend of the field, at the parking
lot, end of the field.
Joe, I mean, talk about NIL,he's got to be paying me NIL,
I'm a difference maker.
I got to rent dog to bring themdown.
I will say, however, when I wasscouting the Brown Maryland game

(01:06:56):
in 2016 at the final four, Iwould stop and I would go, is
that Ronnie screaming at the,And it was, it was Ronbo.
You can hear it.
Ronbo's letting it fly.
He doesn't go back.
So I've had, so I've had twosituations where Lars was
furious at me.

(01:07:17):
One, I don't know if you recall,was when we came down for your
50th birthday party.
And we were in the, You know,that, that end zone suite area
is with Joe and his family andthey're playing Virginia that
weekend and I'm heckling Lars inthe Virginia football stadium.
It's pouring rain.
There's like 10 people there.

(01:07:38):
So everybody can hear what I'msaying.
Lars.
He didn't, he didn't think thatwas funny.
No, we love, we love Lars.
We do.
Absolutely.
Yes.
We do.
Makes a killer tofu.
Talk about Joe.
You're on fire tonight, Joe.

(01:07:58):
You're on fire tonight.
When we get together, it's likeroommates 60 years ago.
It's like, yeah, I appreciatethis every time I see coach go.
Well, that's it for thequestion.
That's going to be my signal foryou getting to get in the crowd
going.

(01:08:20):
We're going to raise it up theflagpole.
He's going to have a timeout,look up at the parking lot and
just go.
We'll put this on YouTube forpeople who are listening to the
audio.
We're just taking drawers andspreading them wider, like a
waist 40, 45, something likethat.
Who's counting?
Well, coach Torpy, welcome toold Bruno, baby.
Welcome to all Bruno, right tobe here.

(01:08:42):
Guys.
I love the guests tonight.
I'm pretty fired up that he wason here.
Joe, thank you.
Thought that would be specialfor you.
A ton of special treat.
Joe, thanks for episode.
Jay get the last scoop.
Despite your rude interruptionsthroughout.
It was a tremendous episode.
You know, someone's got toreally, when we'd be here, it's
seven 40, we'd be here until 1040.

(01:09:03):
If it weren't for me.
Jay, do you see the smiles oneveryone's faces, Joe?
Everybody sees too.
Hey, I'm smiling too.
Having a lovely time.
Joe, you're, I know Jay's doer.
I'm, I'm like, Jay's like, oh,okay.
That.
Thank you Ron.
That was great.
Thank you.
Come on Ron.
Christ.
I mean, I'm usually the fun buta little energy jay for our
desk.
Someone's gotta be like thedetail guy.
It's, it's driving me crazy.
What the love of God?

(01:09:23):
I wanna be fun.
Well, I just want to wish firstof all, thanks to you two both.
I don't know who, but one of youfor having me coach Grassoff,
you're, you're a special guest,so great seeing your face again
and just wishing coach Torpeymuch, much success.
You guys got an absolute gem onyour hands and there's nobody

(01:09:43):
better than him in the, in thebusiness.
And, and He's going to dowonders for Brown.
So Torps, when I semi retireddown here and you need a staff
member, call me up, baby.
Director personnel coach withthose three hour lunches, come
up and stay at your house.

(01:10:04):
Yeah.
I'll show you my undies again.
Jesus.
God.
Brash.
Brash.
Thanks so much for coming on.
And John, thanks for coming onso much.
Look at him.
My mate is here.
He's loving it.
He's loving it.
It's great.
Beautiful.
Yeah.
I know.
Joe, you enjoy yourself tonight.

(01:10:25):
Go up there and tell Julie,okay?
Yeah.
And thanks for staying overtime,guys.
We really appreciate it.
And we'll both, Joe, we'll take,we'll both take credit.
I texted dog and said, why don'twe get fresh in as the mystery
guest and dog was on it.
That's awesome.
It was like to have both youguys on.
It was awesome.
Every time all American, baby.

(01:10:45):
See you fellas.
Love your brush.
Love your kid.
All right.
Good night.
Get some dinner.
Good night guys.
Thank you guys.
Here's to hoping you find thetwine.
We're signing off here at theget the lax scoop.

(01:11:07):
Thanks again so much.
We will see you the next time.

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