The Takeaway Check, Issue #35
College fall ball is underway, and some familiar faces are on new sidelines
After serving as the head coach at High Point since 2010, beginning NCAA play in 2013, Jon Torpey was hired in May of 2024 as the seventh men’s lacrosse coach at Brown.
I interviewed Coach Torpey for a Q & A on the New England Lacrosse Journal website; we talked about the challenges he faces with a new team and in the Ivy League as well as recruiting from the pipeline of players in New England.
In addition to what was featured in the article, we also talked about what it would be like, especially early in the season, going from North Carolina to the harsh Rhode Island winters. He said the more difficult part at the start of the season will be the limited amount of time he will have with his players, and that the weather doesn’t unnerve him in the slightest.
“I coached at Denver for five years. I played at Ohio State. I was at Dartmouth for two years. I’m used to the cold. I don’t mind the cold,” he said. “I was born in Buffalo, New York, raised in Baltimore. I like a good, brisk, cold winter morning. I have no problem with that. There’s enough Dunkin’ Donuts to keep yourself warm every cup of coffee, anyway. I think we’ll be alright. My wife will tell you, we got to Ravens games all the time, or when we go to Ohio State games, I don’t think I’ve ever worn a jacket. I’m a big sweatshirt guy. I don’t know if I don’t feel the cold or what.”
Knowing his affinity for sweatshirts, I asked if he would be cutting the sleeves like another popular coach that spent time on New England sidelines.
“Only one guy can pull that off,” Torpey laughed, referring to former Patriots head coach Bill Belichick.
Being from the northeast, Torpey said he’s excited to be in a somewhat familiar territory. He’s also really glad to finally have his family moved to Rhode Island with him.
They’ve spent time recently exploring Providence and the surrounding areas.
“We went to a Red Sox game. We went to Newport one day. We’ve gone to some restaurants. It’s neat,” he said. “We’re living in auxiliary housing right now through Brown. We’re about a block from campus, so we’ve experienced the campus, the surrounding area, all of College Hill. The kids have been to the office. It’s just such a beautiful place and such a cool city. It’s a great city. It’s got great history.”
John Grant Jr. at Lees-McRae
Wanting to get back into college coaching, John Grant Jr. applied for the vacant head coaching position at Lees-McRae. He said Kevin Phillips, the Senior Vice President for Enrollment Management who is also an assistant men’s basketball coach and was the acting athletic director, emailed him back in three hours, and they were on a Zoom meeting within 12 hours.
“Their urgency to get back to me right away,” Grant Jr. said, “it really showed me that they meant business.”
Once announced as the new head coach, Grant Jr. got right to work, meeting the players on Zoom (“One young man asked what side of the ball do I like to to coach. I thought that was interesting. I'm like, ‘Well, he clearly didn't do his homework,’”) and setting up an ID camp within the first week on the job.
When we talked for the piece I wrote for USA Lacrosse Magazine, he said he envisions installing an aggressive style of play. He also doesn’t plan on stifling any creativity the players may have.
“I'm not going to put any handcuffs on creativity when it comes to the game of lacrosse because that would be very hypocritical of me,” he said. “There's a little bit of black and white film of what I used to do, so telling the kid he can't do that stuff when they watched me do it, it's kind of hard, but hard work and creativity, I mean, that's the beauty of this game, so I can't wait to to showcase that. I think that style will be intriguing and enticing for young kids to come in.”
His focus wasn’t just on improving the lacrosse skills of the student-athletes, however. He wants to mentor them and improve the skills they’re going to need for life beyond college.
“I know it's going to be hard, but the challenge is, and what we're actually doing this for, is to build character in these guys so that they're employable for the next 50 years of their lives,” he said. “No matter where you go, you're gonna’ be part of a team. Whether it's your family, whether you're working at the hockey arena, or you're working on Wall Street, there's a team. You have to be a good teammate — you have to be a great teammate — to be successful in life. I've got four years to help build that.”
Jake Bernhardt at Colby
Bernhardt’s position as the head coach at Colby isn’t as new as Torpey’s or Grant’s; he actually coached the Mules in the 2024 season, but he didn’t take over until December of 2023, making this his first fall with the program.
I interviewed him for an upcoming piece in New England Lacrosse Journal, showcasing the players in the PLL Championship Game with New England ties. He referred to the first season at Colby as “drinking out of a firehose” at times thanks to the mix of moving and taking over a program at an unusual time of year.
“It was a new challenge every day, a whole new group of guys to get to know — strengths and weaknesses — and trying to bring out the best in them on a daily and weekly basis.”
He and his wife have finally purchased a home, allowing each of them to get settled and plant roots.
And while he made sure to emphasize that he was by no means prehistoric, he said his experience coaching, including this past season at Colby, helped him connect with a lot of the rookies on the Maryland Whipsnakes this past season.
“It allows me to still have the ability to relate to those guys because I’m coaching guys on a daily basis throughout the spring. There is a little bit of an age gap. When you’re talking about things and they don’t understand what you’re talking about, or you don’t understand what they’re talking about, it brings some enjoyment to the conversations int he locker room, for sure, but it’s good to have that. It keeps me young. It allows me to share my experiences — good, bad, and indifferent — with them, too, and hopefully they don’t have to experience some of those things on their path.”
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