{"id":528417,"date":"2010-04-15T10:00:38","date_gmt":"2010-04-15T14:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/?p=43149"},"modified":"2010-04-15T10:00:38","modified_gmt":"2010-04-15T14:00:38","slug":"bringing-men%e2%80%99s-lax-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/528417","title":{"rendered":"Bringing men\u2019s lax back"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been quite a few years since the Harvard men\u2019s lacrosse team<\/a> put together winning seasons. Nine, to be exact.<\/p>\n

But the Crimson are on the rise again, thanks to improving players and third-year head coach John Tillman<\/a>. The former Ithaca College and Navy assistant coach, after going 6-8 in his first season at Harvard, helped the Crimson in 2009 record their best record (8-5; 3-3 Ivy League) in more than a decade. Last season\u2019s first win, a 9-6 road upset in the season opener over fifth-ranked Duke, now stands as one of the biggest wins in program history, and a turning point.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Duke win was important for us for a lot of reasons,\u201d said Tillman. \u201cTo get that win against one of the premier programs in college lacrosse and certainly a group we have a lot of respect for [was a big moment].\u201d<\/p>\n

Fast forward to this season. Despite consecutive losses to No. 5 Duke and No. 10 Cornell after a 5-2 start, Harvard is still ranked 20th in the nation and saw 13,285 fans come to Harvard Stadium to watch the Crimson face Duke \u2014 the largest Harvard lacrosse crowd ever.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had hoped to do things like that when we first came in. And to have those things start to happen, even after just 30 months, just makes you step back and think: If we keep working at this, the possibilities are endless. \u2026 We could lead the country in attendance. We could have an elite program up here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tillman\u2019s philosophy is simple. For Tillman, a one-time fleet support officer in the U.S. Navy and a former professional lacrosse player, one of the most important values is for his players to look at the team more like a family.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring practices, we\u2019re going to challenge each other and get after it. But as soon as the whistle blows, we walk off and we do anything to look out for each other,\u201d said Tillman. \u201cWhether it\u2019s a guy\u2019s injured, he needs a summer job, he needs academic help, whatever it is, we have to be there for each other, and that\u2019s something that\u2019s nonnegotiable. We always have to be there for each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

His players have bought into the program and the family environment, and increasingly recruits have too. This off-season Tillman recruited the third-ranked class in the country after pulling in a strong class a season ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cHarvard is unique in a lot of ways. Number one, the education you can offer a young man, and the experience that it can offer, is unmatched. To be able to go to the most recognized school in the world and get the best education in the world is a just a special thing to offer. On top of it, the environment that they\u2019re put in, because of the great job the admissions people do, there\u2019s so much personal growth here.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Tillman emphasizes individual growth, he offers a reminder to his players that, for them, Harvard is more than just lacrosse. \u201cOn top of being great athletes here, I want them to be very strong students here, great members of the Harvard community, and make sure they remember we\u2019re members of the Harvard community.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the recent two-game skid against top teams, the next three games will be critical for the Crimson if they want to hold on to their hopes not only to put together back-to-back winning seasons, but also to stay within striking distance of their first NCAA tournament appearance since 2006 and just their second since 1996.<\/p>\n

That will be tough for the Crimson, who after taking on last-place Penn will face No. 6 Princeton and No. 16 Yale to close out the regular season. But this team, which traveled to UMass earlier this season to top the Minutemen (now ranked 12th in the nation) by a score of 13-12, is no longer afraid of a top-ranked challenger. The Crimson will be ready now, and likely for years to come.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still scratching the surface here, we\u2019re still learning about Harvard \u2026 you can\u2019t learn it all in 30 months, but we\u2019re certainly trying to get there. We believe in this place,\u201d Tillman said, \u201cand I think that\u2019s one thing that when recruits come up, they can sense from us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been quite a few years since the Harvard men\u2019s lacrosse team put together winning seasons. Nine, to be exact. But the Crimson are on the rise again, thanks to improving players and third-year head coach John Tillman. The former Ithaca College and Navy assistant coach, after going 6-8 in his first season at Harvard, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4175,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-528417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4175"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=528417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528417\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=528417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=528417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=528417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}