Roth: Danowski Prepared To Lead, Educate

by John Roth, Blue Devil Weekly

DURHAM, N.C. - Boxes of videotapes, mementoes, pictures and a huge television were stacked high on the desk as John Danowski began getting down to business Monday, his first full day in his new office at the Murray Building. The walls were completely barren, and he had to wheel two chairs in from the hallway just to meet with a visitor.

Introduced as the Blue Devils' new men's lacrosse coach on Friday, July 21, Danowski had spent a couple days in Durham during each of the two weeks prior to his formal Aug. 14 arrival. But there was no time for interior decorating during those interludes, given his immersion in a series of on-campus recruiting visits for the families of 10 rising high school senior prospects.

Danowski received oral commitments from six of the 10 recruits, making his initial hours on campus an unqualified success that he later felt obliged to attribute to solid set-up work by assistant coach Kevin Cassesse and former head coach Mike Pressler. “They pitched seven or eight innings, and I came in for one inning,” he joked.

But the 52-year-old recruiting closer has a much bigger opening assignment in front of him. He is the man Duke officials picked to lead the lacrosse program forward into a new future on the heels of a well-chronicled spring of controversy. That future begins in earnest next week when students report to campus for the fall semester and Danowski assembles his players for the first time, before classes even begin.

“I've been thinking about that first meeting,” acknowledged Danowski. “I think the first thing ? and the guys know this ? but they have to be absolutely mindful of everything they do. And that's true of today's modern athlete anyway. Harvard football just suspended their quarterback and they already suspended their captain. So it's not just what goes on here, it goes on everywhere, and that's going to be the primary message.

“Also I want to send the message that everybody is moving forward. There will be some things that will be similar to what Coach (Pressler) did and some things will be a lot different. That's just the nature of having a new coach. I think we're all excited just to get going.”

A 1976 Rutgers graduate, Danowski has spent the last 21 years as the head coach at Hofstra. His teams won eight conference championships, played in the NCAA Tournament eight times and earned 17 final top-20 national rankings. The Pride won over 60 percent of its games under Danowski and posted a 71-16 regular season record in conference games.

Danowski's best season by far was his last, when Hofstra went 17-2 to tie Duke's 2005 record for most victories in a season while reaching the NCAA quarterfinals. He was the unanimous choice of Duke's eight-person selection committee and was enthusiastically approved by president Richard Brodhead after the two met head-to-head last month.

Danowski's son, Matt, is a rising senior at Duke and one of the best players in the program, so the new coach is better aware than most of what the past few months have been like for the team and school. He is extremely excited about the prospect of coaching his son for a season, but he's also cognizant of how much leadership he will need to provide to usher the team through an uncertain year in which new behavioral standards are in place, scrutiny will be elevated and former teammates could be on trial.

“One of the toughest things with this group, maybe, will be trying to get them not to put too much pressure on themselves to be perfect and prove the world wrong on every pass, every shot, every play,” he explained. “Part of it is going to be trying to make it fun. I think it's going to be like they were shot out of a cannon at that first practice. They'll be sprinting around and running and I may have to temper some of that as we build up to a point where it's fun and exciting. There's no doubt in my mind that they already have a great work ethic and are motivated.”

The team will convene for several weeks of fall practice, with all of the workouts slated for early-morning hours. Monday and Thursday drills will begin at 6:30 a.m., while Tuesday and Friday sessions start at 7:00 a.m. “College guys won't be real excited about that,” he said, “but right away that signals a sense of commitment, doing something difficult together.” He expects the players to eventually warm to the idea that all of their lacrosse obligations will be finished by 9:30 a.m., giving them the rest of the day for classes, studies and other activities. Given the events of recent months, he doesn't anticipate much negative off-the-field conduct.

“When a new coach steps into an environment he establishes his culture,” he noted. “Not that you want to say what the last coach was doing was wrong, but you have your own ways of doing things for a long time. Whether it is taking advantage of every teachable moment, being relentless in that respect as a teacher and as an educator, you can't pass up those moments to teach and redirect, sometimes to discipline, whatever those times are. I feel very confident that this particular group of young men will have very few, if any, issues because I just believe that they will have something to prove.”

One of those things, no doubt, will be their viability as a national championship contender. With so many strong players back from past teams, that could be a worthy goal, but not Danowski's primary one.

“That's what the players expect to do this year, compete for a national championship,” said the coach. “This is not one of those situations where you are setting up goals that aren't realistic. For this group, that could be a realistic goal. But the biggest thing for the fall is getting everybody on the same page, so they understand what I'm looking for.”

Roth: Danowski Prepared To Lead, Educate

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