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McGeachy (pronounced Ma-GAH-hee) had plenty of experience to rely upon in starting up lacrosse. Since he arrived at Lenoir-Rhyne in early 2002, the school has added men's and women's tennis, men's and women's track and field, and men's and women's swimming. McGeachy has steered the department's athletic facilities through a $5.1 million upgrade, with major renovations for baseball, football, soccer, softball, swimming, and track and field. With more improvements on the drawing board, he's still finding time for the addition of men's and women's lacrosse.

"It's not just an emerging sport," says McGeachy, who also serves as Executive Director of the Piedmont Education Foundation, Lenoir-Rhyne's fundraising arm. "It's the prototype of emerging sports. Lacrosse is the hottest, fastest-growing interscholastic sport in the United States, and adding it has been on my mind for eight years. It's been on the front burner for the last three or four years, and it's going to become reality in another six months."

To add a new sport, McGeachy says, begin by persuading your institution's president, cabinet, and board of trustees. That's what he did, when he found strong support from the admissions office, which saw lacrosse as an important way to expand the university's athletic offerings, broaden its demographics, and widen its fan base beyond North Carolina. Next, he started raising funds from large and small donors to pay for Lenoir-Rhyne's six-figure investment into the new program.

He laid the groundwork for changes in the football stadium, where the men's and women's lacrosse teams will compete, drafted plans for new locker room facilities for women's lacrosse, and arranged for the addition of two part-time athletic trainers. Then, in the summer of 2009, 13 months before the first practice, he hired Greg Paradine as the program's director, whose duties include head coaching responsibilities for both the men's and women's teams.

"The linchpin in launching this program was being able to identify and hire a leader with a lot of savvy," says McGeachy. "People want to play on a good team, and Greg has been associated only with good teams. He spent seven years at the University of North Carolina as an assistant coach and recruiter. Before that, he coached at Ohio State University and Chapel Hill High School, where he led his team to three conference titles in four years. Greg has proven himself to be an exceptional coach, which is why I feel confident handing him a heavy burden."

After getting the job, Paradine hit the ground running, simultaneously recruiting for both teams, and over the last six months--much of it spent on the road--he's secured commitments from 16 men and five women. And even though that's about where he hoped the program would be by the start of 2010, there are many miles left to go.

"There have been coaches who have started both a men's team and a women's team, but as far as I can tell, having one person recruit and coach both is unprecedented," says Paradine. "Building a program was a tremendous draw for me in taking the job, and being able to look back in five or 10 years and see how far we've come is really what excites me the most about the position. But it's going to be difficult, no doubt about it."

For a start, he needs to fill out both squads, which he expects will keep him busy through the summer, with open tryouts scheduled when students arrive back on campus. Before then, he has to schedule a full set of games for each team, which will be especially difficult if the men's and women's teams play in different conferences, which is his expectation. With any time left over, he needs to scout opponents, design uniforms, order two sets of equipment, hire an assistant coach and volunteer assistant coach for each team, raise funds without a lacrosse alumni base, ensure recruits have submitted all the necessary paperwork to the NCAA, and prepare practice plans. And if that's not enough, he has to do it while making the transition from assistant coach to head coach, Division I to Division II, and learning the intricacies of women's lacrosse, which differs substantially from men's lacrosse.

"It can be overwhelming at times," says Paradine. "The work never really stops, and even when I'm home, I spend most of my time either on the phone or the computer. So I keep plugging along, working as hard as I can every day and making sure I get to sleep every night. I talked to a friend, who put it all into perspective, saying, 'Enjoy everything you have, because this is the last time in a long while when you won't have actual student-athletes on campus to worry about.' That felt about right."

For Paradine, the key has been working closely with other Lenoir-Rhyne coaches, who have explained the ins and outs of Division II recruiting, helped navigate student-athlete admissions, shared fundraising strategies, and hosted campus visits by lacrosse recruits. Building those peer relationships from the beginning has made Paradine's job much easier than it might have been, helping him add resources, avoid mistakes, and focus on the task ahead of him.

"We don't want just to have lacrosse--we want competitive lacrosse," says Paradine. "There are going to be some bumps and bruises along the way, but the results down the road are going to be incredible. Five years from now, I expect Lenoir-Rhyne to have two of the top lacrosse teams in Division II. And even though there's more legwork in building a program from the ground up, there are more rewards in making these teams my own.

"On that first practice, when everybody is suited up in their Lenoir-Rhyne gear and standing together for the first time," he continues, "I'll be able to look around and say to myself, 'These are my people.'"

Kenny Berkowitz is an Assistant Editor at Momentum Media.

FEEDBACK

Neill's efforts were also greatly aided by a doctoral student who penned all the feasibility studies as part of a course project..... :)

Good article - thanks for the pub

Go Bears!

Dr. Joe Smith '85
School of Health, Exercise & Sport Science
Sport Management Program
Lenoir-Rhyne University