July 2, 2025 • 33 mins
In this episode of Get the Lax Scoop, hosts Big Dawg and Jaybird sit down with USA Lacrosse 2025 Coach of the Year Nic Bell from St. Anne’s Belfield in Charlottesville, VA. The discussion covers Nic's journey from a collegiate lacrosse player at Brown to a successful coach, including his first job at Blue Ridge School and his significant time at Taft School. Bell emphasizes the importance of being authentic, owning mistakes, and fostering a culture of trust and accountability. Furthermore, the episode highlights his personal motivations for coaching, his impressive career trajectory, and the value of adopting genuine leadership skills both on and off the field.
00:00 Introduction to Get the Lax Scoop
00:23 Meet the Hosts and Guest
00:59 Interview with Nic Bell Begins
01:51 Nic Bell's Early Career and Influences
05:39 Building a Lacrosse Program at Blue Ridge
11:25 Success at Taft School
20:30 Mindset Minute: The Power of Authenticity
23:27 Harlem Lacrosse Boston Summer Camp
24:18 Returning to the Interview
28:04 Coaching Philosophy and Success at St. Anne's Belfield
33:32 Conclusion and Sign Off
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(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 the captain of the U.
S.
Junior National Team and is thefounder of JML.
(00:43):
And Joining us in the studio,Steve Grisolfi, who's collegiate
lacrosse career statisticsequals one goal against
Dartmouth brought to you by JayMcMahon lacrosse.
That's JML skills, mindset, andlacks IQ training, helping the
next generation of lacrosseplayers get to the next level
Hello everyone and welcome backto the show.
(01:03):
We're excited to bring you thesecond portion of our interview
with Nick Bell, the 2025 USALacrosse coach of the year from
St.
Anne's Bellfield inCharlottesville, Virginia.
If you have not heard part oneof the interview, we highly
recommend you go back and giveit a listen as it lays a super
solid foundation for what'scoming next.
(01:25):
We have many, many listeners,but only a small percentage of
you Subscribe to the podcast.
If you like what you're hearing,please subscribe.
Share our content with a friendand leave a review.
It really helped support theshow.
Now you will find our interviewpicking up right where we left
off last week.
Enjoy.
(01:45):
There you are, brown senior yearand you're thinking about what
am I gonna do with the rest ofmy life?
I'm sure you might have thoughtabout it before that time, but
what were some of the things yousaid, obviously Coach Tiffany
was a big influence.
What was it that stirred youinto the teaching and coaching
profession?
Good question.
So I, when I was a freshman atBrown, I vividly remember in
(02:07):
October of that year, everysingle one of the seniors on the
team had either a commercialreal estate or private equity or
some sort of financial servicesjob, almost a year ahead of, of
time and, and remind, you know,that was 2006.
Fast forward to 2008 and 2009,none of those jobs were hiring.
(02:30):
And I had Good for you, youknow, some internships in
commercial real estate in the, Ithought I was gonna do something
like that.
And it was actually, I vividlyremember a practice where Dave
Evans, who was on ours on thestaff for a couple years there,
but mys was the offensivecoordinator my senior year.
(02:51):
He said, Dave Evans, He said, Hesaid, Hmm.
To the whole team.
You know, I know a bunch of,you're looking for jobs.
One of the best things that Idid in my life was when I
graduated, I worked at WoodburyForest School and I was a
teacher and I was a coach, and Iwas eating all the free food in
the dining hall, and I was goingto Charlottesville and like
(03:12):
partying.
It was great.
If you don't know what you wannado, this could be a great, like
stepping stone for you.
And so it was actually throughChaz Woodson, who Oh, mm-hmm.
Yeah, yeah.
Who I had just missed by a year.
But you know, he and his familyhad moved from Norfolk Academy
for his dad, Woody, to take the.
(03:33):
The head football coaching jobat Blue Ridge School, and he
brought the whole family withhim.
And this was in Jazz's senioryear, and they're just like salt
of the earth people.
Woody was great.
He was always working thelacrosse campus at Brown.
I knew him really well.
But it was through thatconnection that I got connected
to Blue Ridge School, and at thetime I was like, you know, I'm
(03:53):
the, I'm the first, you know,member of my class at Brown on
the lacrosse team to actuallyhave a job in April of my senior
year.
And I was, I felt reallygrateful for that.
And I was like, I'll try thisand see how it goes.
And the moment that I steppedinto it and started working with
kids and I was teaching and Iwas doing some admissions work
(04:13):
and I was coaching three sportsand I was living in a dorm, it
was just like hook line, sinker.
I, I loved it and I never, neverquestioned it, you know, looking
ahead.
That's amazing.
David Evans with the careeradvice.
Beautiful.
Wow.
And that was at Bluebird School,Nick, that that was the first
job.
Yep.
Yeah, that's cool.
I mean, it's those are twoobviously great players and
(04:36):
great people in Dave Evans andChaz Woodson.
It's also interesting when youthink about the success that
those two have had and thedifferent dimensions of their
life and career.
Talk about authenticity again,like those two know who they are
and and they are who they areall the time, no matter what,
you know?
(04:56):
Right.
And so, very cool.
And so so tell us about,obviously you said it, it was
kind of hook, light and sinker.
And as you, as you mentioned,when you're a young pup, when
you're the rookie at a boardingschool, there's not a moment in
the day where they're not havingyou do something.
Right.
Right.
And so, and so what, you know.
(05:18):
Tell us a little bit about howthat, of course, you were in,
but what did you start to thinkabout, about how you wanted to
take the, all right, this isactually a path for me.
What were the experiences atBlue Ridge that kind of honed
you forward into, into where youwanted to go from there?
Yeah, so it, it actually was theperfect situation for me because
(05:39):
at the time when Blue Ridgehired me their board had done a
lot of like market research inthe independent school space,
and they were realizing that itwould be a really good thing for
the school to revamp theirlacrosse program.
And I don't know why.
They made me the head coachthere when I was 22.
(06:00):
I had no idea what I was doing.
Wow.
That's amazing.
I really like going day by dayon it.
But it was an opportunity wherethey, you know, the school was
very supportive and the directorof admissions at the time is now
the head of school of theirtrip.
Darren, who, who gave me myfirst job and he was basically
like, I, you know, I don't knowa ton about lacrosse, but I know
that this is an important thingfor the school.
(06:20):
We really want you to build outthis program as best you can.
And so I.
Like I just, you know, I knewabout some, some prep school
coaches that had gone to Canadaand, you know, started to
generate some real interestfrom, you know, different
communities there that couldcome down to the us, get a great
education, get more collegeexposure, get the college
(06:41):
readiness piece that theboarding school and the private
school, you know, sectorprovides.
Mm-hmm.
And so I literally, like, as agraduating senior brown, I think
I googled like Canadian lacrossetournaments and opened up, I
found one that was in VanVancouver actually, that was run
by the ray brothers called theWest Coast one 50, and I
(07:03):
literally booked a flight.
Booked a hotel.
I didn't tell them I was evencoming.
I just sort of showed up.
And when I was there I was likeblown away by the talent.
This is in Vancouver, so a lotof the prep schools at the time
were recruiting a lot of kidsfrom Ontario.
Wasn't a lot of people that werelooking out west.
And I sort of stumbled intosomething there by making some
(07:23):
connections with coaches and,and some of the players that
were at the event.
And in my first year we, we hadseven kids come, came down to
Blue Ridge from Western Canada.
No way.
Wow.
Yeah.
That's amazing.
That's where the gates andOliver Marty are from.
So all of a sudden you had ateam real quick.
Yeah.
You could finish.
You could finish.
Yeah.
(07:44):
If you could get it down there,they could finish.
Right.
I mean that like, and that wasagain, like at 22, that was real
life, you know, experience insomething that I kind of
stumbled into.
And and they trusted me and theybacked me and they really
supported me and, you know,mentored me.
(08:04):
And in my first year we hadseven of them.
In my second year we had 13 ofthem.
So we basically Wow.
You know, a six and 11 team inVista Division two to, in that
first year with that immediateinjection of talent, we had.
We went, we were 14 and four andmade it to the state semis.
(08:25):
Mm-hmm.
And then next year we made thejump to division one and we
were, we were 16 and four.
And so that, like, again, I lookback at those two years as like
a real inflection point and I, Ifelt just grateful to have a job
period at the time, but then tofind something that I was so
passionate about and, you know,was supported and really growing
in that you know, I'll, I'll beforever grateful for those two
(08:47):
years.
So That's great.
So Nick, you find a way to havesome success.
You know, you, you're 22 yearsold, just like, screw it, I'll
go to Vancouver.
These kids trust you.
While you had all that success,what, what is, what is Nick Bell
now wish that 22-year-old kidknew at Blue Ridge?
What would you tell that guynow?
(09:10):
Knowing what, you know, probablyit would've been you, you
shouldn't stop working out andexercising because in my, when I
was done playing collegelacrosse in 2009, it was the
first time, you know, in like 12years that I wasn't like
training for something.
And I loved everything that,that Charlottesville had to
(09:31):
offer, which is like greatfoods.
I was having, letting it allhang out.
So much fun.
And I actually, I, I was soagain, I was like, you know,
getting all these Canadian kids,you know, to be really excited
about the school.
I was like coaching football.
I was coaching basketball, I wascoaching'em, lacrosse.
(09:53):
I was teaching a full load.
I was doing admissions work andand I was eating my face off.
And so like for those, for likethe first seven years outta
college, I probably put on likefive to seven pounds a year and
Nice.
Do the math.
It took me about 10, 12 years tolike, get back together and
like, you know, eat morehealthily and, you know, sleep
(10:17):
better and like become moreaware of like my own body
because it's a slippery slope.
And, just the flip.
Tell me about it, Nick.
Tell me about it.
You know, just like not, youknow, wanting my division one
athlete metabolism to lastforever.
And it really didn't.
So you know, I think it wasactually Lars, we were at a
wedding for I wanna say JakeWesterman in Oh yeah,
(10:37):
Cincinnati.
And I think he said, he likelooked at me when I showed up
and he is like, you need to getahold of yourself.
Like, this is, you know, and it,and again, like, he was like,
Hey Nick, you look like shit.
Jesus, right.
I'll be at your room at 6:00 AMfor a run after this wedding.
Let's go.
You know, but so many otherpeople just didn't have the
courage to say that to my face.
And he did.
Yep.
(10:58):
And you know, a couple yearsafter that, I, you know, I got
back into a good, a good rhythmand routine.
I always do put on a lot ofweight in the spring.
I'm like stress eating.
I'm watching film all the time.
I'm like eating, or parents takereally good care of us, great
tailgates, things like that.
But it, like that would've been,you know, it would've been like,
keep being fit and mm-hmm.
Slow down.
I love it.
Right, right.
So let's jump to the TAF School.
(11:20):
I know you had another stop atTrinity Pauling, but let's jump
to the TAF School and I knowyou, you know, when you were
there, obviously the, the teamdid extremely well.
I know it's a school that'ssteeped in tradition, and I know
you had some great playersthere, like the Kavanaugh
brothers.
So tell us about those years,how that opportunity came up
with the rhinos and you know,how, how you were able to get
(11:40):
them to be so successful.
So.
I met my now wife at Brown Ann,the clerk now Ann Bell, who
played field hockey actually forTara Harrington, I'm pretty
sure.
Oh, really?
And I know Laura's told me atone point that, that Tara told
Annie, who, you know, she callsher Annie you really shouldn't
(12:01):
date him.
You know, probably not.
This is probably not like, goodfor you.
And oh my gosh, that'shilarious.
You know, I, I do, I do that.
And we're very, you got a littlewindow into how special us the
cross guys are at that age.
Right.
You know?
Well, she's dating Lars who'sliving in like a, a trailer at
the ocean.
Yeah.
(12:21):
On like a gravel pit.
But anyway, no.
And it, if it wasn't so.
Ann had graduated the same yearthat I did from Brown and she
stayed in New England.
If it wasn't for her, I probablywould've never left Blue Ridge.
I was perfectly happy there.
And so that's what brought me upto Trinity Pauling.
Gotcha.
And then after we were there, Iwas there for six years and I
(12:43):
had become really close withCasey Defo who was coaching at
Taft.
And it's kind of cra just, thisis like a, a snapshot of how
wild, you know, and small thelacrosse world is.
But basically, you know, in thatduring that time, you know, Dom
is no longer the coach at UVA,Lars goes from Brown to UVA,
(13:05):
Casey Olfo, I'm sorry, MikeDaley then goes from Tufts to
Brown.
Mm-hmm.
Casey goes from the TAF schoolto Tufts.
I went from Pauling to Taft.
Right.
And the weird thing about thatis that.
Lars played for Dom, I playedfor Lars, and then Casey played
(13:28):
for Mike Daly at Tufts.
Right?
So like that in a snapshot isthis lacrosse world of live in
Tu.
Talk about the dominoes fallingin the right places.
Right.
So we moved over to Taft, sothat mainly because we were, we
had a growing family.
We wanted a co-ed school.
I loved Trinity Pauling.
I love all the people that Iworked with there and the kids
(13:49):
that I coached.
It was an incredible place forme at that time.
And but we, yeah, we moved overto Taft in 2018, so 1718 school
year.
And we had a really good run.
I mean, my, my first year there,we did not have the, the deepest
roster and we did not have themost talent, but we had a bunch
of like brown stateoverachieving kids that like
(14:12):
Nice.
We actually won a foundersleague championship that first
year with the least talent thatI've coached.
In the last 10 years.
And when you have, you know, inthat league, it's so competitive
and when you have that sort ofsuccess, it starts to really
just, you know, it starts tokind of multiply on top of
itself and mm-hmm.
That very next year I hadrecruited Pat Kavanaugh in, and,
(14:35):
and this was before PatKavanaugh.
Was Pat Kavanaugh.
I mean, he was kind of a, alittle bit of a runt at at
Shamina was Shaina attack man.
You know, he was their what?
Attack man.
He was like their fifth attackman at Shamina.
Wow.
Wow.
Geez.
And was was a small undersizedoff ball kid, but there was just
from, what grade was he in whenhe was the fifth attack man?
(14:56):
A senior.
Wow.
That's what I thought.
He was a PG at Taft.
Wow.
Senior at Shaman is the fifthattack man.
He came to us in 2019 as apostgraduate, and you're
probably like, I'm not sure Iwant this guy.
I, you know, I was, I was, andwe actually had a Taft at the
time, some, so a couple kidsthat were going to Michigan.
They were good players.
We had another kid who came inthat same year that was going to
(15:19):
Notre Dame.
You know, pat was really like,we, we didn't necessarily need
another one in that year, butthere was just this like, quiet
intensity in this fire and Ijust, I was drawn to him in a
big way and I really went to batfor him and I was thrilled when
he actually chose Taft overHotchkiss.
Where?
Where Matt had gone.
(15:39):
Mm-hmm.
And he came in and just, youknow, took to coaching,
listened, worked his butt off,put on 15 pounds of muscle.
His confidence went through theroof.
And after his PG year, he was byfar our best player at Taft in
2019.
We had a, a decent team the yearthat he was there, like we were
like a nine and six team thatyear.
(16:00):
We didn't win the league.
But then he made the U 19 teamafter that, and then the rest is
really history.
Mm-hmm.
And, you know, but just, youknow, the consummate,
overachiever grinder worker.
And then we got Chris to comeover.
Chris transferred in as a juniorand became part of like, what
was my first really strong groupof kids at Taft in that 2021
(16:24):
class.
Mm-hmm.
So it was a, I mean, incrediblerun.
I mean, that team, you know,kind of survived through COVID,
but they won the Geico event.
Then we won N-H-S-L-S that yearin 22.
We had a lot of key pieces back,even though all the Kavanaugh's
were gone.
But we had, you know, Thomas,Richard Deli we had Trait, yeah.
Jason Whitney.
(16:45):
We had Dash Sachs who went onto, to face off at Brown.
I mean, we, we, we ended up, youknow, there was a point in time
there where we were cranking outlike 12 division one kids a
year, 15 college bound players ayear in 22.
Amazing.
24.
Right.
Wow.
So it was just momentum, huh?
It was kind of like a, asnowball that ball's going
(17:05):
downhill and it's just gettingbigger and bigger.
Total momentum and kind of gotlucky with Patrick, you know,
working out the way that he did.
And then it wasn't a hard sellfor a lot of other kids
considering that same path.
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
So I mean, it's, it's a prettyquick you know, timeline there
from starting a program at Blue,blue Ridge, right.
(17:27):
Or taking over program.
I, I don't know if it existed,but certainly you didn't have a
lot of high level credibility.
All of a sudden you're thenational, the high school
national champion at Taft, youknow?
And so, so what was it likecoaching that caliber of player
and playing against, you know,playing the Hill School, St.
John's College, as you said,that League is incredibly
(17:50):
talented.
You know, you got all those PGkids that our future.
A lot of'em, future division oneplayers.
So, so how did things, didthings shift for you in terms of
your approach when all of asudden you're, you're playing
and, and you're playing againstthat caliber of talent, you're
coaching a different caliber ofkid who's got higher
(18:10):
expectations.
All the pressures that go withit at a place like Taft, I mean,
you know, those places areamazing and they also come with
certain expectations.
So what was that whole dynamiclike, Nick?
Yeah, it was, I mean, I,everyone always asked me the
question like, man, thoseparents must have been like so
hard to deal with, or like,mm-hmm.
(18:30):
Right.
You think, you know, like highmaintenance, high maintenance,
and it's all of that, like NewYork City.
Fairfield County, Westchester,New York.
We had kids from the Bay Area.
We had kids from like West PalmBeach.
We had, you know, some reallysmart but privileged, you know,
kids and families in theprogram.
And I, I look back on my sixyears there and I have nothing
(18:54):
but love for all of the kidsthat I coached and all of the
parents that, that reallysupported me there.
They were, you, you were a longway from Warrington, Virginia.
Yes.
But the parents were supportive.
They were, they were totallysupportive and they weren't high
maintenance at all in the waysthat you would think.
I mean, they were all driven forlike greener pastures
academically for their kids, butthey always like went about it
(19:17):
in the right way.
I didn't have a lot of likeconfrontation.
I was really, I, I tried to sortof.
Just default to being myself,being really authentic, working
really hard, and I think thatthey could see and feel that I
had their kids' best interestsat heart.
And e even though I'm, I makemistakes all the time.
You know, I was gonna be, I wasgonna own those mistakes and
(19:40):
just do the best that I couldfor them.
And I think that always shinesthrough.
And so it, it, it was a, it wasa wonderful ride and, i, I just,
I look back on those yearsagain, I, I, I took over as the
head coach there.
I was, I was in my mid twenties,you know, late twenties, I
guess.
And I was relatively young to bea head coach in the Founders
(20:02):
League and a head coach in WestOne.
But, you know, I just kind ofkept rolling with it and I
defaulted to being myself, beingauthentic and working really
hard.
I defaulted to being myself,being authentic and working
really hard.
How about if we, how about if wetransition to.
J m l and let's do that.
We'll get into a little bit ofthe mindset.
(20:23):
We'll do a mindset minute here.
As we have so many listeners outthere who are in the midst of
their travel across schedules, Ithought I would do a short pep
talk based on Coach Bell'sapproach.
It's all about the power ofauthenticity, honesty, and
(20:44):
ownership.
Guys, bring it in.
I wanna share something realwith you.
'cause what we do on this fieldis not just about skills and
scores, it's about trust.
And trust starts with beingreal.
Being your authentic self.
You want your teammates to playwith heart, to show up when it
(21:05):
counts, to hold themselvesaccountable when no one's
watching.
Then it starts with you doingthe same as a coach, as a
leader, or as a teammate.
Being authentic means showing upas you, not who you think people
want you to be.
It means admitting when youdon't have the answer.
(21:26):
Being honest when something'snot right.
And owning your mistakes insteadof hiding them.
And I'll tell you what, when youdo that, you give everyone else
permission to do the same.
You want to unlock the fullpotential of this team.
Don't act perfect.
Be sincere.
Tell the truth if you mess up ina drill or blow a play, own it.
(21:49):
Say, that's on me.
That one sentence is powerfulbecause it builds a culture of
accountability, not excuses.
When your teammates know you'rereal with them, when they see
you take responsibility, seethat you care about them more
than your ego, they start doingthe same.
(22:11):
That's when you stop playing asindividuals and start playing as
a team, and that's wheregreatness begins.
So be honest, be sincere.
Own your flaws.
That's not weakness, that'sleadership.
That's how you create a teamthat's not just talented, but
unbreakable.
Now let's go out there and letit rip.
(22:35):
Okay?
I hope that pep talk puts alittle swing in your step and
propels you through this summerinto greatness.
Now we will hear a word from oursponsor.
So there you have it.
And also do, as Coach Bell did,listen to your mother.
Mothers are highly intuitive andwell connected to their right
brains.
(22:55):
All in all, it helps to get intouch with your inner GPS.
It is highly intelligent andnever steers you wrong, and
never takes you to a place ofutter chaos.
A place where there are noguardrails.
Speaking of no guardrails thatso many of our listeners
describe the college lacrosserecruiting trail.
So we've responded by puttingexcerpts of our 10 best
(23:18):
interviews with legendarycoaches, such as bill Tierney,
Lars, Tiffany and Andy towers.
Into a book that you can accesson Kindle, it is available on
Amazon, under the title insidethe recruiting game insights
from college lacrosse coaches.
Also we would like to mentionthe Harlem Lacrosse Boston
Summer Camp for Boys and Girlswill be offered again this
(23:40):
summer and run by Brown Lacrossealum and guest on our show, Sam
Jackson.
This camp is targeted forplayers who are with Harlem
Lacrosse, but will be makingthat all important transition
from middle school to highschool.
It is a critical time to helpthese young people feel
connected to lacrosse and totheir program players who
continue with Harlem lacrosseinto high school not only have
(24:03):
nearly a hundred percent highschool graduation rate, but also
have a significantly higherchance of going to college
compared to those who leave theprogram after middle school.
Even a small donation can make abig difference.
So with that, you will see thedescription of these items in
the show notes.
Now we will return to ourinterview and you will find that
interview in progress.
(24:25):
And those are all things that,you know, I learned from those
high school coaches I talkedabout earlier.
And certainly Lars and the DaveEvans of the worlds and you
know, so many other people thatwere part of my life at Brown.
And then Blue Ridge.
So it just, you know, yeah, itwas, it was quite a ride.
It is like the hard work, like,all right, I'm gonna put more
time in on film, or I'm gonna,like, what was evolving a bit
(24:46):
like, all right, I gotta, didyou think I gotta up my game a
bit as far as preparation orthings you're doing on the field
or the amount of practice time?
Like any, anything like thatchanging?
Yeah, so it was, you know.
Everybody wants to win on gameday, but not everybody has the
discipline or mental toughnessto really make a 12 month
commitment to being great.
(25:07):
Mm-hmm.
Right.
You know, I just felt like I.
You know, I knew as a player, Iwasn't the most talented player,
and the only chance that I hadto, to help my team was to
outwork and, and was to reallyroll up my sleeves on things.
And, you know, I look back onsome of those experiences at
Blue Ridge where I just as a22-year-old had to figure out a
lot on my own as, as beingthings that really prepared me.
(25:32):
And I think that, you know,nobody ever accused me of being
a good coach before I had goodplayers.
I know that's like a saying.
It, it, it did get to be easier.
I found over time easier andeasier.
You know, as our talent poolincreased, but it also like
became a job in management and,you know, fitting all of these
roster pieces together tomaximize our potential.
(25:56):
So it was like, you know, it'snot just about having the best
players.
And in that league, my criticismof Taft and, and the Founders
League in West One is that.
It's such a traditional placeand, and league that there isn't
a lot of out of season lacrosse.
Like the coaches there can'treally coach their own players
until we get basically get tothe spring.
(26:17):
So that was mm-hmm.
That was challenging anddifferent than even Blue Ridge
where I could coach those kidsin the fall, winter, leading
into the spring.
I could build relationshipsthrough that.
I could start to, you know, likelay out a foundation for
schematically what we wanted todo and at taf mm-hmm.
It was like, you know, we werestarting practice in like late,
late February.
We were on spring break for allof March.
(26:39):
We were back in school in lateMarch and our season was done by
the middle of May.
It was like a six week season.
Right.
Wow.
Total short and but that taughtme different things.
It taught me how to like, makevery quick decisions and it, it
taught me how to like, prepareand plan and and, and really be
intelligent and smart with ourtime.
You know, like as a young coach,I think that, you know, I wanted
(27:03):
to be good at too many things atthe same time and, and
defaulting to what is mostimportant now.
Like, we need to get better infull field sets.
We can't spend 30 minutes inpractice doing od split time
where coordinators are just withtheir teams.
We need to get immediately intothings that were more pertinent
for our success.
(27:23):
So it just, you know, it wasdifferent lessons learned, it
was management, managing peopleand personalities.
And again, I just, you know, I,I think that the coaches and the
teams that are most successfulare, are the ones that work the
hardest and, and the ones thatdon't you know, relent on their
own standards.
You know, so that's what I triedto do.
(27:43):
Right.
Good stuff.
So so Nick, you, you, you know,I guess you couldn't keep from
coming home for too long, huh?
So have a great state ofVirginia, Ron.
Yes.
It's a heck of a place.
Look at you.
Look at you.
The Long Islander.
Now, you know, part of theChamber of Commerce over 20
years for Virginia.
Now Jay, look at you.
I know how to pick'em.
Yes, you do.
C certainly Jay, it's all you,Jay, everything about Virginia
(28:06):
changed when you moved there.
Clearly.
It always is.
Ron.
Don't mistake it.
So Nick, other than the obviousright, of being a, a Virginia
native what were some of the keydecisions of of coming back to
Virginia, being inCharlottesville, taking on the
head coaching role at St.
Anne's Bellfield which, which,you know, had a great lacrosse
(28:27):
tradition in itself.
And, you know, in our time wehad the stauffer brothers who
came through, came through stabJP Williamson.
So, and I, and I understandthere may be a, a stab player on
his way to Brown right now whopeople are telling me was a
great late recruiting seasonfind for the Bears.
So, so anyway, tell us Nick,about coach Brian.
(28:49):
Kelly took a little credit forthat too.
Yes, he did in our last episode.
He sure did.
And so tell us a little bitabout.
The decision to go back to Staband then, you know, boy having
success right off the bat.
Just stepping it up.
Stepping up the game at Stab.
Yeah.
Well I think the main reason whywe did this was all about
(29:09):
family.
And you know, when I was in mylike fourth, fifth, and sixth
year at Taft, we were basically,Ann and I were trying to solve
for two things, home ownership.
Because of those prep schools,they give you housing.
Yeah.
And you're essentially a renter,right?
Yeah.
That's reflected your salary.
But I, you know, I had beenworking for 15 years without any
(29:32):
home equity and so in thinkingbigger picture about what our,
the needs of our growing familywould be, we knew that we
needed.
To do that, whether we stayed atTaft or not.
And the second thing was theeducation for our kids.
And Ann and I have threedaughters.
Mary Jo is our oldest.
She's eight, turning nine verysoon.
Greer is six, turning seven verysoon.
(29:54):
And then Dailey is three andshe'll be four in the fall.
And so, oh, Jay, he is in it.
Jay.
Whoa, boy.
It's, it's nice to be on thebackside of that Jay, as you and
I are now.
Yeah.
Except when my 22-year-olddaughter had some friends over
last night and kept me up allnight all the same.
My son did the same like theweek before.
So yeah.
You know, it'll come back.
(30:16):
He'll, he'll come full circleagain.
Eight, eight year olds do thattoo, but they call you at 11
o'clock at night and need you tocome pick them up and, you know,
so we're like dealing withdifferent things.
But it, you know, at the, at thecore of what we were looking for
was really just, you know, how,how do we best position our
family?
Like where do we wanna raise ourkids?
(30:36):
Yeah.
And that was our guiding lightthrough all of this.
And when the Saint Ann'sBellfield thing came up it
literally checked every singleone of those boxes at the same
time.
I mean.
Next year, all three of our kidswill be in the school.
My older two started thereimmediately.
I think it's a, it's, it's, itis a, a really incredible
school, top to bottom, but theexperience that our daughters
(30:59):
have had in the lower school hasbeen more than we could have
ever asked for already in justtwo years.
The community there isincredibly warm and supportive.
It's really nice to have asocial life that's not attached
to a campus and like to haveactually friends in
Charlottesville that are not,you know, connected to our
school.
You're not at the, yeah.
The, the campus playground withthe ad and the director of
(31:21):
admissions, like, you get alittle bit more personal space,
which we were looking for at thetime.
So number one is certainlyfamily.
Number two would've just been, Ifell in love with lacrosse.
You know, for me personally, Ifell in love with lacrosse in
this state and in Virginia.
And, you know, I think my, someof my first memories of.
(31:43):
What a great high schoollacrosse program looked like
came from Doug tearing and thework that he had done at Stab
and just as a high schoolschool, playing against them and
seeing the level ofprofessionalism and precision
and attention to detail thatwere seno, that was synonymous
with all of his programs wassomething that I was just, I've
always been drawn to this place.
(32:04):
Mm-hmm.
And it's certainly like thosefirst two years at Blue Ridge
School, which is like 45 minutesfrom St.
Anne's reminded me that thiswould be a great place to raise
a family.
This would be a great place forkids to grow up.
This would be a great place, youknow, to live as a young adult
and would be a great place toretire.
So it kind of, you know, youknow, that that was a big part
(32:25):
of it for me.
Professionally.
And also having the collegecounseling opening that that St.
Ann's did at the time you know,w was equally part of my
professional consideration.
So that's really, you know,that's a lot of it.
My, a lot of my family is stillin the States, so my brother
lives in Virginia Beach with hiswife.
My parents live in NorthernVirginia still.
(32:46):
My, the older of my two sistersis also in Northern Virginia,
living in Fairfax, and myyoungest sister is in New York,
but she's a total homebody andshe's, she's back with us all
the time, so, mm-hmm.
That's great.
Family, family first.
Now you know, right off the batthere, you're having a lot of
success though, right?
Getting to the finals and thenwinning the championship this
(33:07):
year and and becoming Coach ofthe Year.
So, you know, a lot of peopletalk about X's and O's.
A lot of people talk about thetalent and then other people,
like I talk about thoseintangibles, culture, things
like that.
What, what do you attribute thatall the success, you know, early
on here with Stab and, and thatearly improvement of the program
and what are you looking tobuild there at St.
(33:30):
Anne's Bellfield?
I mean, I, I, it, it's.
I mean, I, I, it, it's.
It's it's tune in next week tosee just what Coach Bell means
and what it is.
Until we meet again.
Here's to hoping you find thetwine.
(33:51):
We're signing off here at theget the lax scoop.
Thanks again so much.
We will see you the next time.
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
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He was also an assistantlacrosse coach and the executive
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And Jay McMahon, the Jaybird, athree time All American
midfielder at Brown.
He was the captain of the U.
S.
Junior National Team and is thefounder of JML.
(00:43):
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That's JML skills, mindset, andlacks IQ training, helping the
next generation of lacrosseplayers get to the next level
Hello everyone and welcome backto the show.
(01:03):
We're excited to bring you thesecond portion of our interview
with Nick Bell, the 2025 USALacrosse coach of the year from
St.
Anne's Bellfield inCharlottesville, Virginia.
If you have not heard part oneof the interview, we highly
recommend you go back and giveit a listen as it lays a super
solid foundation for what'scoming next.
(01:25):
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you Subscribe to the podcast.
If you like what you're hearing,please subscribe.
Share our content with a friendand leave a review.
It really helped support theshow.
Now you will find our interviewpicking up right where we left
off last week.
Enjoy.
(01:45):
There you are, brown senior yearand you're thinking about what
am I gonna do with the rest ofmy life?
I'm sure you might have thoughtabout it before that time, but
what were some of the things yousaid, obviously Coach Tiffany
was a big influence.
What was it that stirred youinto the teaching and coaching
profession?
Good question.
So I, when I was a freshman atBrown, I vividly remember in
(02:07):
October of that year, everysingle one of the seniors on the
team had either a commercialreal estate or private equity or
some sort of financial servicesjob, almost a year ahead of, of
time and, and remind, you know,that was 2006.
Fast forward to 2008 and 2009,none of those jobs were hiring.
(02:30):
And I had Good for you, youknow, some internships in
commercial real estate in the, Ithought I was gonna do something
like that.
And it was actually, I vividlyremember a practice where Dave
Evans, who was on ours on thestaff for a couple years there,
but mys was the offensivecoordinator my senior year.
(02:51):
He said, Dave Evans, He said, Hesaid, Hmm.
To the whole team.
You know, I know a bunch of,you're looking for jobs.
One of the best things that Idid in my life was when I
graduated, I worked at WoodburyForest School and I was a
teacher and I was a coach, and Iwas eating all the free food in
the dining hall, and I was goingto Charlottesville and like
(03:12):
partying.
It was great.
If you don't know what you wannado, this could be a great, like
stepping stone for you.
And so it was actually throughChaz Woodson, who Oh, mm-hmm.
Yeah, yeah.
Who I had just missed by a year.
But you know, he and his familyhad moved from Norfolk Academy
for his dad, Woody, to take the.
(03:33):
The head football coaching jobat Blue Ridge School, and he
brought the whole family withhim.
And this was in Jazz's senioryear, and they're just like salt
of the earth people.
Woody was great.
He was always working thelacrosse campus at Brown.
I knew him really well.
But it was through thatconnection that I got connected
to Blue Ridge School, and at thetime I was like, you know, I'm
(03:53):
the, I'm the first, you know,member of my class at Brown on
the lacrosse team to actuallyhave a job in April of my senior
year.
And I was, I felt reallygrateful for that.
And I was like, I'll try thisand see how it goes.
And the moment that I steppedinto it and started working with
kids and I was teaching and Iwas doing some admissions work
(04:13):
and I was coaching three sportsand I was living in a dorm, it
was just like hook line, sinker.
I, I loved it and I never, neverquestioned it, you know, looking
ahead.
That's amazing.
David Evans with the careeradvice.
Beautiful.
Wow.
And that was at Bluebird School,Nick, that that was the first
job.
Yep.
Yeah, that's cool.
I mean, it's those are twoobviously great players and
(04:36):
great people in Dave Evans andChaz Woodson.
It's also interesting when youthink about the success that
those two have had and thedifferent dimensions of their
life and career.
Talk about authenticity again,like those two know who they are
and and they are who they areall the time, no matter what,
you know?
(04:56):
Right.
And so, very cool.
And so so tell us about,obviously you said it, it was
kind of hook, light and sinker.
And as you, as you mentioned,when you're a young pup, when
you're the rookie at a boardingschool, there's not a moment in
the day where they're not havingyou do something.
Right.
Right.
And so, and so what, you know.
(05:18):
Tell us a little bit about howthat, of course, you were in,
but what did you start to thinkabout, about how you wanted to
take the, all right, this isactually a path for me.
What were the experiences atBlue Ridge that kind of honed
you forward into, into where youwanted to go from there?
Yeah, so it, it actually was theperfect situation for me because
(05:39):
at the time when Blue Ridgehired me their board had done a
lot of like market research inthe independent school space,
and they were realizing that itwould be a really good thing for
the school to revamp theirlacrosse program.
And I don't know why.
They made me the head coachthere when I was 22.
(06:00):
I had no idea what I was doing.
Wow.
That's amazing.
I really like going day by dayon it.
But it was an opportunity wherethey, you know, the school was
very supportive and the directorof admissions at the time is now
the head of school of theirtrip.
Darren, who, who gave me myfirst job and he was basically
like, I, you know, I don't knowa ton about lacrosse, but I know
that this is an important thingfor the school.
(06:20):
We really want you to build outthis program as best you can.
And so I.
Like I just, you know, I knewabout some, some prep school
coaches that had gone to Canadaand, you know, started to
generate some real interestfrom, you know, different
communities there that couldcome down to the us, get a great
education, get more collegeexposure, get the college
(06:41):
readiness piece that theboarding school and the private
school, you know, sectorprovides.
Mm-hmm.
And so I literally, like, as agraduating senior brown, I think
I googled like Canadian lacrossetournaments and opened up, I
found one that was in VanVancouver actually, that was run
by the ray brothers called theWest Coast one 50, and I
(07:03):
literally booked a flight.
Booked a hotel.
I didn't tell them I was evencoming.
I just sort of showed up.
And when I was there I was likeblown away by the talent.
This is in Vancouver, so a lotof the prep schools at the time
were recruiting a lot of kidsfrom Ontario.
Wasn't a lot of people that werelooking out west.
And I sort of stumbled intosomething there by making some
(07:23):
connections with coaches and,and some of the players that
were at the event.
And in my first year we, we hadseven kids come, came down to
Blue Ridge from Western Canada.
No way.
Wow.
Yeah.
That's amazing.
That's where the gates andOliver Marty are from.
So all of a sudden you had ateam real quick.
Yeah.
You could finish.
You could finish.
Yeah.
(07:44):
If you could get it down there,they could finish.
Right.
I mean that like, and that wasagain, like at 22, that was real
life, you know, experience insomething that I kind of
stumbled into.
And and they trusted me and theybacked me and they really
supported me and, you know,mentored me.
(08:04):
And in my first year we hadseven of them.
In my second year we had 13 ofthem.
So we basically Wow.
You know, a six and 11 team inVista Division two to, in that
first year with that immediateinjection of talent, we had.
We went, we were 14 and four andmade it to the state semis.
(08:25):
Mm-hmm.
And then next year we made thejump to division one and we
were, we were 16 and four.
And so that, like, again, I lookback at those two years as like
a real inflection point and I, Ifelt just grateful to have a job
period at the time, but then tofind something that I was so
passionate about and, you know,was supported and really growing
in that you know, I'll, I'll beforever grateful for those two
(08:47):
years.
So That's great.
So Nick, you find a way to havesome success.
You know, you, you're 22 yearsold, just like, screw it, I'll
go to Vancouver.
These kids trust you.
While you had all that success,what, what is, what is Nick Bell
now wish that 22-year-old kidknew at Blue Ridge?
What would you tell that guynow?
(09:10):
Knowing what, you know, probablyit would've been you, you
shouldn't stop working out andexercising because in my, when I
was done playing collegelacrosse in 2009, it was the
first time, you know, in like 12years that I wasn't like
training for something.
And I loved everything that,that Charlottesville had to
(09:31):
offer, which is like greatfoods.
I was having, letting it allhang out.
So much fun.
And I actually, I, I was soagain, I was like, you know,
getting all these Canadian kids,you know, to be really excited
about the school.
I was like coaching football.
I was coaching basketball, I wascoaching'em, lacrosse.
(09:53):
I was teaching a full load.
I was doing admissions work andand I was eating my face off.
And so like for those, for likethe first seven years outta
college, I probably put on likefive to seven pounds a year and
Nice.
Do the math.
It took me about 10, 12 years tolike, get back together and
like, you know, eat morehealthily and, you know, sleep
(10:17):
better and like become moreaware of like my own body
because it's a slippery slope.
And, just the flip.
Tell me about it, Nick.
Tell me about it.
You know, just like not, youknow, wanting my division one
athlete metabolism to lastforever.
And it really didn't.
So you know, I think it wasactually Lars, we were at a
wedding for I wanna say JakeWesterman in Oh yeah,
(10:37):
Cincinnati.
And I think he said, he likelooked at me when I showed up
and he is like, you need to getahold of yourself.
Like, this is, you know, and it,and again, like, he was like,
Hey Nick, you look like shit.
Jesus, right.
I'll be at your room at 6:00 AMfor a run after this wedding.
Let's go.
You know, but so many otherpeople just didn't have the
courage to say that to my face.
And he did.
Yep.
(10:58):
And you know, a couple yearsafter that, I, you know, I got
back into a good, a good rhythmand routine.
I always do put on a lot ofweight in the spring.
I'm like stress eating.
I'm watching film all the time.
I'm like eating, or parents takereally good care of us, great
tailgates, things like that.
But it, like that would've been,you know, it would've been like,
keep being fit and mm-hmm.
Slow down.
I love it.
Right, right.
So let's jump to the TAF School.
(11:20):
I know you had another stop atTrinity Pauling, but let's jump
to the TAF School and I knowyou, you know, when you were
there, obviously the, the teamdid extremely well.
I know it's a school that'ssteeped in tradition, and I know
you had some great playersthere, like the Kavanaugh
brothers.
So tell us about those years,how that opportunity came up
with the rhinos and you know,how, how you were able to get
(11:40):
them to be so successful.
So.
I met my now wife at Brown Ann,the clerk now Ann Bell, who
played field hockey actually forTara Harrington, I'm pretty
sure.
Oh, really?
And I know Laura's told me atone point that, that Tara told
Annie, who, you know, she callsher Annie you really shouldn't
(12:01):
date him.
You know, probably not.
This is probably not like, goodfor you.
And oh my gosh, that'shilarious.
You know, I, I do, I do that.
And we're very, you got a littlewindow into how special us the
cross guys are at that age.
Right.
You know?
Well, she's dating Lars who'sliving in like a, a trailer at
the ocean.
Yeah.
(12:21):
On like a gravel pit.
But anyway, no.
And it, if it wasn't so.
Ann had graduated the same yearthat I did from Brown and she
stayed in New England.
If it wasn't for her, I probablywould've never left Blue Ridge.
I was perfectly happy there.
And so that's what brought me upto Trinity Pauling.
Gotcha.
And then after we were there, Iwas there for six years and I
(12:43):
had become really close withCasey Defo who was coaching at
Taft.
And it's kind of cra just, thisis like a, a snapshot of how
wild, you know, and small thelacrosse world is.
But basically, you know, in thatduring that time, you know, Dom
is no longer the coach at UVA,Lars goes from Brown to UVA,
(13:05):
Casey Olfo, I'm sorry, MikeDaley then goes from Tufts to
Brown.
Mm-hmm.
Casey goes from the TAF schoolto Tufts.
I went from Pauling to Taft.
Right.
And the weird thing about thatis that.
Lars played for Dom, I playedfor Lars, and then Casey played
(13:28):
for Mike Daly at Tufts.
Right?
So like that in a snapshot isthis lacrosse world of live in
Tu.
Talk about the dominoes fallingin the right places.
Right.
So we moved over to Taft, sothat mainly because we were, we
had a growing family.
We wanted a co-ed school.
I loved Trinity Pauling.
I love all the people that Iworked with there and the kids
(13:49):
that I coached.
It was an incredible place forme at that time.
And but we, yeah, we moved overto Taft in 2018, so 1718 school
year.
And we had a really good run.
I mean, my, my first year there,we did not have the, the deepest
roster and we did not have themost talent, but we had a bunch
of like brown stateoverachieving kids that like
(14:12):
Nice.
We actually won a foundersleague championship that first
year with the least talent thatI've coached.
In the last 10 years.
And when you have, you know, inthat league, it's so competitive
and when you have that sort ofsuccess, it starts to really
just, you know, it starts tokind of multiply on top of
itself and mm-hmm.
That very next year I hadrecruited Pat Kavanaugh in, and,
(14:35):
and this was before PatKavanaugh.
Was Pat Kavanaugh.
I mean, he was kind of a, alittle bit of a runt at at
Shamina was Shaina attack man.
You know, he was their what?
Attack man.
He was like their fifth attackman at Shamina.
Wow.
Wow.
Geez.
And was was a small undersizedoff ball kid, but there was just
from, what grade was he in whenhe was the fifth attack man?
(14:56):
A senior.
Wow.
That's what I thought.
He was a PG at Taft.
Wow.
Senior at Shaman is the fifthattack man.
He came to us in 2019 as apostgraduate, and you're
probably like, I'm not sure Iwant this guy.
I, you know, I was, I was, andwe actually had a Taft at the
time, some, so a couple kidsthat were going to Michigan.
They were good players.
We had another kid who came inthat same year that was going to
(15:19):
Notre Dame.
You know, pat was really like,we, we didn't necessarily need
another one in that year, butthere was just this like, quiet
intensity in this fire and Ijust, I was drawn to him in a
big way and I really went to batfor him and I was thrilled when
he actually chose Taft overHotchkiss.
Where?
Where Matt had gone.
(15:39):
Mm-hmm.
And he came in and just, youknow, took to coaching,
listened, worked his butt off,put on 15 pounds of muscle.
His confidence went through theroof.
And after his PG year, he was byfar our best player at Taft in
2019.
We had a, a decent team the yearthat he was there, like we were
like a nine and six team thatyear.
(16:00):
We didn't win the league.
But then he made the U 19 teamafter that, and then the rest is
really history.
Mm-hmm.
And, you know, but just, youknow, the consummate,
overachiever grinder worker.
And then we got Chris to comeover.
Chris transferred in as a juniorand became part of like, what
was my first really strong groupof kids at Taft in that 2021
(16:24):
class.
Mm-hmm.
So it was a, I mean, incrediblerun.
I mean, that team, you know,kind of survived through COVID,
but they won the Geico event.
Then we won N-H-S-L-S that yearin 22.
We had a lot of key pieces back,even though all the Kavanaugh's
were gone.
But we had, you know, Thomas,Richard Deli we had Trait, yeah.
Jason Whitney.
(16:45):
We had Dash Sachs who went onto, to face off at Brown.
I mean, we, we, we ended up, youknow, there was a point in time
there where we were cranking outlike 12 division one kids a
year, 15 college bound players ayear in 22.
Amazing.
24.
Right.
Wow.
So it was just momentum, huh?
It was kind of like a, asnowball that ball's going
(17:05):
downhill and it's just gettingbigger and bigger.
Total momentum and kind of gotlucky with Patrick, you know,
working out the way that he did.
And then it wasn't a hard sellfor a lot of other kids
considering that same path.
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
So I mean, it's, it's a prettyquick you know, timeline there
from starting a program at Blue,blue Ridge, right.
(17:27):
Or taking over program.
I, I don't know if it existed,but certainly you didn't have a
lot of high level credibility.
All of a sudden you're thenational, the high school
national champion at Taft, youknow?
And so, so what was it likecoaching that caliber of player
and playing against, you know,playing the Hill School, St.
John's College, as you said,that League is incredibly
(17:50):
talented.
You know, you got all those PGkids that our future.
A lot of'em, future division oneplayers.
So, so how did things, didthings shift for you in terms of
your approach when all of asudden you're, you're playing
and, and you're playing againstthat caliber of talent, you're
coaching a different caliber ofkid who's got higher
(18:10):
expectations.
All the pressures that go withit at a place like Taft, I mean,
you know, those places areamazing and they also come with
certain expectations.
So what was that whole dynamiclike, Nick?
Yeah, it was, I mean, I,everyone always asked me the
question like, man, thoseparents must have been like so
hard to deal with, or like,mm-hmm.
(18:30):
Right.
You think, you know, like highmaintenance, high maintenance,
and it's all of that, like NewYork City.
Fairfield County, Westchester,New York.
We had kids from the Bay Area.
We had kids from like West PalmBeach.
We had, you know, some reallysmart but privileged, you know,
kids and families in theprogram.
And I, I look back on my sixyears there and I have nothing
(18:54):
but love for all of the kidsthat I coached and all of the
parents that, that reallysupported me there.
They were, you, you were a longway from Warrington, Virginia.
Yes.
But the parents were supportive.
They were, they were totallysupportive and they weren't high
maintenance at all in the waysthat you would think.
I mean, they were all driven forlike greener pastures
academically for their kids, butthey always like went about it
(19:17):
in the right way.
I didn't have a lot of likeconfrontation.
I was really, I, I tried to sortof.
Just default to being myself,being really authentic, working
really hard, and I think thatthey could see and feel that I
had their kids' best interestsat heart.
And e even though I'm, I makemistakes all the time.
You know, I was gonna be, I wasgonna own those mistakes and
(19:40):
just do the best that I couldfor them.
And I think that always shinesthrough.
And so it, it, it was a, it wasa wonderful ride and, i, I just,
I look back on those yearsagain, I, I, I took over as the
head coach there.
I was, I was in my mid twenties,you know, late twenties, I
guess.
And I was relatively young to bea head coach in the Founders
(20:02):
League and a head coach in WestOne.
But, you know, I just kind ofkept rolling with it and I
defaulted to being myself, beingauthentic and working really
hard.
I defaulted to being myself,being authentic and working
really hard.
How about if we, how about if wetransition to.
J m l and let's do that.
We'll get into a little bit ofthe mindset.
(20:23):
We'll do a mindset minute here.
As we have so many listeners outthere who are in the midst of
their travel across schedules, Ithought I would do a short pep
talk based on Coach Bell'sapproach.
It's all about the power ofauthenticity, honesty, and
(20:44):
ownership.
Guys, bring it in.
I wanna share something realwith you.
'cause what we do on this fieldis not just about skills and
scores, it's about trust.
And trust starts with beingreal.
Being your authentic self.
You want your teammates to playwith heart, to show up when it
(21:05):
counts, to hold themselvesaccountable when no one's
watching.
Then it starts with you doingthe same as a coach, as a
leader, or as a teammate.
Being authentic means showing upas you, not who you think people
want you to be.
It means admitting when youdon't have the answer.
(21:26):
Being honest when something'snot right.
And owning your mistakes insteadof hiding them.
And I'll tell you what, when youdo that, you give everyone else
permission to do the same.
You want to unlock the fullpotential of this team.
Don't act perfect.
Be sincere.
Tell the truth if you mess up ina drill or blow a play, own it.
(21:49):
Say, that's on me.
That one sentence is powerfulbecause it builds a culture of
accountability, not excuses.
When your teammates know you'rereal with them, when they see
you take responsibility, seethat you care about them more
than your ego, they start doingthe same.
(22:11):
That's when you stop playing asindividuals and start playing as
a team, and that's wheregreatness begins.
So be honest, be sincere.
Own your flaws.
That's not weakness, that'sleadership.
That's how you create a teamthat's not just talented, but
unbreakable.
Now let's go out there and letit rip.
(22:35):
Okay?
I hope that pep talk puts alittle swing in your step and
propels you through this summerinto greatness.
Now we will hear a word from oursponsor.
So there you have it.
And also do, as Coach Bell did,listen to your mother.
Mothers are highly intuitive andwell connected to their right
brains.
(22:55):
All in all, it helps to get intouch with your inner GPS.
It is highly intelligent andnever steers you wrong, and
never takes you to a place ofutter chaos.
A place where there are noguardrails.
Speaking of no guardrails thatso many of our listeners
describe the college lacrosserecruiting trail.
So we've responded by puttingexcerpts of our 10 best
(23:18):
interviews with legendarycoaches, such as bill Tierney,
Lars, Tiffany and Andy towers.
Into a book that you can accesson Kindle, it is available on
Amazon, under the title insidethe recruiting game insights
from college lacrosse coaches.
Also we would like to mentionthe Harlem Lacrosse Boston
Summer Camp for Boys and Girlswill be offered again this
(23:40):
summer and run by Brown Lacrossealum and guest on our show, Sam
Jackson.
This camp is targeted forplayers who are with Harlem
Lacrosse, but will be makingthat all important transition
from middle school to highschool.
It is a critical time to helpthese young people feel
connected to lacrosse and totheir program players who
continue with Harlem lacrosseinto high school not only have
(24:03):
nearly a hundred percent highschool graduation rate, but also
have a significantly higherchance of going to college
compared to those who leave theprogram after middle school.
Even a small donation can make abig difference.
So with that, you will see thedescription of these items in
the show notes.
Now we will return to ourinterview and you will find that
interview in progress.
(24:25):
And those are all things that,you know, I learned from those
high school coaches I talkedabout earlier.
And certainly Lars and the DaveEvans of the worlds and you
know, so many other people thatwere part of my life at Brown.
And then Blue Ridge.
So it just, you know, yeah, itwas, it was quite a ride.
It is like the hard work, like,all right, I'm gonna put more
time in on film, or I'm gonna,like, what was evolving a bit
(24:46):
like, all right, I gotta, didyou think I gotta up my game a
bit as far as preparation orthings you're doing on the field
or the amount of practice time?
Like any, anything like thatchanging?
Yeah, so it was, you know.
Everybody wants to win on gameday, but not everybody has the
discipline or mental toughnessto really make a 12 month
commitment to being great.
(25:07):
Mm-hmm.
Right.
You know, I just felt like I.
You know, I knew as a player, Iwasn't the most talented player,
and the only chance that I hadto, to help my team was to
outwork and, and was to reallyroll up my sleeves on things.
And, you know, I look back onsome of those experiences at
Blue Ridge where I just as a22-year-old had to figure out a
lot on my own as, as beingthings that really prepared me.
(25:32):
And I think that, you know,nobody ever accused me of being
a good coach before I had goodplayers.
I know that's like a saying.
It, it, it did get to be easier.
I found over time easier andeasier.
You know, as our talent poolincreased, but it also like
became a job in management and,you know, fitting all of these
roster pieces together tomaximize our potential.
(25:56):
So it was like, you know, it'snot just about having the best
players.
And in that league, my criticismof Taft and, and the Founders
League in West One is that.
It's such a traditional placeand, and league that there isn't
a lot of out of season lacrosse.
Like the coaches there can'treally coach their own players
until we get basically get tothe spring.
(26:17):
So that was mm-hmm.
That was challenging anddifferent than even Blue Ridge
where I could coach those kidsin the fall, winter, leading
into the spring.
I could build relationshipsthrough that.
I could start to, you know, likelay out a foundation for
schematically what we wanted todo and at taf mm-hmm.
It was like, you know, we werestarting practice in like late,
late February.
We were on spring break for allof March.
(26:39):
We were back in school in lateMarch and our season was done by
the middle of May.
It was like a six week season.
Right.
Wow.
Total short and but that taughtme different things.
It taught me how to like, makevery quick decisions and it, it
taught me how to like, prepareand plan and and, and really be
intelligent and smart with ourtime.
You know, like as a young coach,I think that, you know, I wanted
(27:03):
to be good at too many things atthe same time and, and
defaulting to what is mostimportant now.
Like, we need to get better infull field sets.
We can't spend 30 minutes inpractice doing od split time
where coordinators are just withtheir teams.
We need to get immediately intothings that were more pertinent
for our success.
(27:23):
So it just, you know, it wasdifferent lessons learned, it
was management, managing peopleand personalities.
And again, I just, you know, I,I think that the coaches and the
teams that are most successfulare, are the ones that work the
hardest and, and the ones thatdon't you know, relent on their
own standards.
You know, so that's what I triedto do.
(27:43):
Right.
Good stuff.
So so Nick, you, you, you know,I guess you couldn't keep from
coming home for too long, huh?
So have a great state ofVirginia, Ron.
Yes.
It's a heck of a place.
Look at you.
Look at you.
The Long Islander.
Now, you know, part of theChamber of Commerce over 20
years for Virginia.
Now Jay, look at you.
I know how to pick'em.
Yes, you do.
C certainly Jay, it's all you,Jay, everything about Virginia
(28:06):
changed when you moved there.
Clearly.
It always is.
Ron.
Don't mistake it.
So Nick, other than the obviousright, of being a, a Virginia
native what were some of the keydecisions of of coming back to
Virginia, being inCharlottesville, taking on the
head coaching role at St.
Anne's Bellfield which, which,you know, had a great lacrosse
(28:27):
tradition in itself.
And, you know, in our time wehad the stauffer brothers who
came through, came through stabJP Williamson.
So, and I, and I understandthere may be a, a stab player on
his way to Brown right now whopeople are telling me was a
great late recruiting seasonfind for the Bears.
So, so anyway, tell us Nick,about coach Brian.
(28:49):
Kelly took a little credit forthat too.
Yes, he did in our last episode.
He sure did.
And so tell us a little bitabout.
The decision to go back to Staband then, you know, boy having
success right off the bat.
Just stepping it up.
Stepping up the game at Stab.
Yeah.
Well I think the main reason whywe did this was all about
(29:09):
family.
And you know, when I was in mylike fourth, fifth, and sixth
year at Taft, we were basically,Ann and I were trying to solve
for two things, home ownership.
Because of those prep schools,they give you housing.
Yeah.
And you're essentially a renter,right?
Yeah.
That's reflected your salary.
But I, you know, I had beenworking for 15 years without any
(29:32):
home equity and so in thinkingbigger picture about what our,
the needs of our growing familywould be, we knew that we
needed.
To do that, whether we stayed atTaft or not.
And the second thing was theeducation for our kids.
And Ann and I have threedaughters.
Mary Jo is our oldest.
She's eight, turning nine verysoon.
Greer is six, turning seven verysoon.
(29:54):
And then Dailey is three andshe'll be four in the fall.
And so, oh, Jay, he is in it.
Jay.
Whoa, boy.
It's, it's nice to be on thebackside of that Jay, as you and
I are now.
Yeah.
Except when my 22-year-olddaughter had some friends over
last night and kept me up allnight all the same.
My son did the same like theweek before.
So yeah.
You know, it'll come back.
(30:16):
He'll, he'll come full circleagain.
Eight, eight year olds do thattoo, but they call you at 11
o'clock at night and need you tocome pick them up and, you know,
so we're like dealing withdifferent things.
But it, you know, at the, at thecore of what we were looking for
was really just, you know, how,how do we best position our
family?
Like where do we wanna raise ourkids?
(30:36):
Yeah.
And that was our guiding lightthrough all of this.
And when the Saint Ann'sBellfield thing came up it
literally checked every singleone of those boxes at the same
time.
I mean.
Next year, all three of our kidswill be in the school.
My older two started thereimmediately.
I think it's a, it's, it's, itis a, a really incredible
school, top to bottom, but theexperience that our daughters
(30:59):
have had in the lower school hasbeen more than we could have
ever asked for already in justtwo years.
The community there isincredibly warm and supportive.
It's really nice to have asocial life that's not attached
to a campus and like to haveactually friends in
Charlottesville that are not,you know, connected to our
school.
You're not at the, yeah.
The, the campus playground withthe ad and the director of
(31:21):
admissions, like, you get alittle bit more personal space,
which we were looking for at thetime.
So number one is certainlyfamily.
Number two would've just been, Ifell in love with lacrosse.
You know, for me personally, Ifell in love with lacrosse in
this state and in Virginia.
And, you know, I think my, someof my first memories of.
(31:43):
What a great high schoollacrosse program looked like
came from Doug tearing and thework that he had done at Stab
and just as a high schoolschool, playing against them and
seeing the level ofprofessionalism and precision
and attention to detail thatwere seno, that was synonymous
with all of his programs wassomething that I was just, I've
always been drawn to this place.
(32:04):
Mm-hmm.
And it's certainly like thosefirst two years at Blue Ridge
School, which is like 45 minutesfrom St.
Anne's reminded me that thiswould be a great place to raise
a family.
This would be a great place forkids to grow up.
This would be a great place, youknow, to live as a young adult
and would be a great place toretire.
So it kind of, you know, youknow, that that was a big part
(32:25):
of it for me.
Professionally.
And also having the collegecounseling opening that that St.
Ann's did at the time you know,w was equally part of my
professional consideration.
So that's really, you know,that's a lot of it.
My, a lot of my family is stillin the States, so my brother
lives in Virginia Beach with hiswife.
My parents live in NorthernVirginia still.
(32:46):
My, the older of my two sistersis also in Northern Virginia,
living in Fairfax, and myyoungest sister is in New York,
but she's a total homebody andshe's, she's back with us all
the time, so, mm-hmm.
That's great.
Family, family first.
Now you know, right off the batthere, you're having a lot of
success though, right?
Getting to the finals and thenwinning the championship this
(33:07):
year and and becoming Coach ofthe Year.
So, you know, a lot of peopletalk about X's and O's.
A lot of people talk about thetalent and then other people,
like I talk about thoseintangibles, culture, things
like that.
What, what do you attribute thatall the success, you know, early
on here with Stab and, and thatearly improvement of the program
and what are you looking tobuild there at St.
(33:30):
Anne's Bellfield?
I mean, I, I, it, it's.
I mean, I, I, it, it's.
It's it's tune in next week tosee just what Coach Bell means
and what it is.
Until we meet again.
Here's to hoping you find thetwine.
(33:51):
We're signing off here at theget the lax scoop.
Thanks again so much.
We will see you the next time.
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