Nov. 14, 2008
by Clare Lochary, Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff
Talk about a 180.
Two years ago, Mike Pressler was in Durham, N.C., his career jeopardized by the infamous and imprudent defamation that unexpectedly befell him as the head coach of the 2006 Duke men's lacrosse team. Buoyed by the redemption in Durham since then, his impressive gains now at Bryant University and a keen interest in the U.S. national teams program, however, Pressler was named the head coach of the 2010 U.S. men's team competing in Manchester, England.
"Countdown to '09" leapfrogs a year to get Pressler's perspective on Team USA, with a nod to his old friend, Coach K.
Why did you want to be head coach of the U.S. national team?
In 2002 I was an assistant coach with Coach [Jack] Emmer, and we had such a fantastic time winning the gold in Perth, I thought, "Let's try to do this again," but certainly in a different role. I definitely wanted to be the head coach of one of these teams, hopefully sooner than later. In 2006 I had other issues that were more pressing per se, but I was very, very excited that the [coaches selection] committee awarded me with this honor.
Was the fact that the U.S. will be attempting to reclaim, rather than defend a title, a draw?
For the first time in the history of the World Games, the U.S. is clearly in the underdog spot. For us, to defeat the Canadians and the English team on their home soil and Australia and the Iroquois, it's a major, major challenge.
How did you select your coaching staff: Army's Joe Alberici, Stony Brook's Rick Sowell and the Philadelphia Barrage's Tony Resch?
Again, for me, everything goes back to '02. Joe and Ricky and I, we had all played for Jack Emmer. There was a built-in camaraderie and chemistry that filtered down. Tony Resch comes so highly recommended. He's a heck of a coach, one of the best coaches in the pros. A bunch of my former Duke players in the pros, people that I know and trust there, respect him. A lot of quality coaches applied. We've got Paul Cantabene as a consultant now to help us in the faceoff. Going into it, there's a built-in camaraderie and a feeling that we're going to do whatever it takes to get the job done in Manchester. They are very selfless and guys that are going to give 110 percent.
What's next for Team USA at this point?
The application to try out begins on Dec. 1, and then Larry Quinn's committee gets to reduce that number of players to 80 - 80 of America's very, very best - and then we look forward to tryouts in the second week of June.
The plan is to have 80 try out over three days, and from that pool, we'll take 40 from the 80. The 40 will travel in fall of '09. That will allow us the opportunity to really get to know these guys - their character issues, their level of patriotism, their level of commitment. And right around [US Lacrosse's] convention '09, we'll take 23 of that 40 to be Team USA.
What do you think of the changes to the selection process?
Just kind of squinting at it, it's such a better way to go. Those guys are going to really compete now. That audition, so to speak, for the four- or five-month period in the fall will be tremendous that way. We're not going to pick the 23 best players. It's going to be 23 players that give us the best chance to win. We're going to look for role guys there. It's not going to be an all-star team, but the team to give us the best chance to win. That's maybe a little bit different.
You mentioned level of patriotism as one of the criteria for your players. What does playing for Team USA and wearing the red, white and blue, mean to you?
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"I see this as the ultimate chance to serve my country...in a situation where it's the most difficult challenge any coaching staff has had to address in the history of the World Games. I want to do it the right way. It's going to be cool to care again. And boy, we're going to care." Mike Pressler, head coach, 2010 U.S. men's team
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So I see this as the ultimate chance to serve my country, growing up in a family with high levels of patriotism, and a chance to do it in a situation where it's the most difficult challenge any coaching staff has had to address in the history of the World Games. I want to do it the right way. It's going to be cool to care again. And boy, we're going to care. We want to do it proudly, to do it with class.
You're friendly with Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, who led the U.S. to gold in this summer's Olympics after the Americans posted a disappointing third-place finish in the 2006 FIBA championships. Did you talk with him about how to deal with a team a similar position?
Mike Krzyzewski has been a very loyal friend. We spoke recently for a period of time, and we talked a lot about his situation in USA Basketball and how he brought those guys together, got them to check their egos at the door and become as one. He's a confidante, consultant and mentor. We would be very, very excited to see Team USA and men's lacrosse pull off the same thing.
How is it different to coach adult players rather than college kids? How do you achieve that team cohesion, when the players don't get a chance to practice together every day and have a lot of other things going on in their lives?
The 40, when we get to that 40, we're really going to get to know them. We'll know who they are, their families, their careers. That level of communication and understanding, not just with the coaches to the players, but the players to the players. We'll be building that trust and camaraderie and belief in the ultimate goal together. There are techniques that we have as coaches to build that and get to that point, and that selfless attitude that's going to come from the top down. We're going to need it. I mean, the Canadians are getting better. For the Canadian team, they've got a high level of confidence because they finally did it.
Countdown to '09: Archive
Nov. 7, 2008 - Harvard's Lisa Miller
Oct. 31, 2008 - Limestone's Melissa Howard
Oct. 25, 2008 - Army's Dr. Marie Johnson
Oct. 17, 2008 - Harvard's John Tillman
Oct. 3, 2008 - Vanderbilt's Cathy Swezey
Sept. 26, 2008 - Mercyhurst's Chris Ryan
Sept. 19, 2008 - NYIT's Keith Henderson
Sept. 5, 2008 - Northwestern's Kelly Amonte Hiller
Aug. 29, 2008 - Cabrini's Scott Reimer
Aug. 15, 2008 - Hobart's T.W. Johnson
Aug. 8, 2008 - Penn's Ali Deluca
Aug. 1, 2008 - Chapman's Mike Wood
July 25, 2008 - Southern New Hampshire's Mary Squire
July 18, 2008 - Michigan's Trevor Yealy
July 11, 2008 - Johns Hopkins' Dave Pietramala
July 4, 2008 - Hamilton's Kallie Briscoe
June 27, 2008 - North Carolina's Joe Breschi
June 20, 2008 - Colby's Jon Thompson
