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Cassese Named Head Men's Lacrosse Coach At Lehigh University
7/6/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
DURHAM, N.C. - Kevin Cassese, a three-time All-America selection at Duke and assistant coach at his alma mater the past two seasons, has accepted the head men's lacrosse coaching position at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa. Cassese replaces Chris Wakely, who stepped down last month due to a medical concern.
Over the past two seasons, Cassese has helped the Blue Devils to a 23-5 overall record including the 2007 ACC regular season and tournament championships and a run to the national championship game. He also served as the program's interim head coach from June 5, 2006 until John Danowski was tabbed to guide the program on July 21. Cassese spent the 2004 season as an assistant coach at Stony Brook, directing the nation's top extra man offense to a 45.7 percent efficiency rate as the Seawolves won 10 games.
“I'm excited for this wonderful opportunity to be the head coach at Lehigh University,” Cassese said. “Lehigh is an excellent school, one of the top academic institutions in the country and I am looking forward to being a part of the Mountain Hawk family.”
“There is no doubt in any of our minds here at Duke that Kevin is going to be a tremendous success,” Danowski said. “His history as both a player and as a coach points to him being more than ready to take over and lead a program at this time. Words cannot describe the type of experience that Kevin has gotten in his short time as a coach for a person of his age. Through difficult circumstances during the spring of 2006 and also in his time as interim head coach, Kevin gained about ten years of experience and is without a doubt fully prepared for this opportunity.”
As an undergraduate at Duke, the Port Jefferson Station, N.Y., native led the Blue Devils to three NCAA Tournament berths and a pair of ACC championships. A two-time team captain and three-time All-ACC choice, he earned All-America honors three times including first team citations in both 2002 and 2003. Cassese was a two-time finalist for the Tewaaraton Trophy, the ACC Player of the Year in 2001 and recipient of the Lt. Donald McLaughlin, Jr. Award as the nation's top midfielder in 2002. He concluded his career with 80 goals and 38 assists and currently ranks 28th on Duke's all-time scoring chart.
“Duke University is a place that I love and Duke lacrosse is a program that is near and dear to my heart having been a student-athlete and coach there,” said Cassese. “I am thankful for the opportunity to have worked with and learned from so many tremendous student-athletes and coaches during my time at Duke and I hope to apply those lessons at Lehigh.”
In the summer of 2002, he helped the United States to the gold medal at the International Lacrosse Federation world championships and was tabbed to the ACC's 50th Anniversary Team. A year later, Cassese was the number two overall selection in the Major League Lacrosse Draft by the Rochester Rattlers. He was a two-time MLL Rookie of the Week choice in 2003, helped Rochester to the National Division title in 2004 and was chosen for the 2005 MLL All-Star Game. He also was a member of the United States team that placed second the 2006 ILF world championships in London, Ontario, Canada, and is currently a member of the MLL's Philadelphia organization.
Cassese earned a bachelor of arts degree in sociology from Duke in 2003, garnering USILA Scholar All-America and ACC Academic Honor Roll honors as well as the ACC's Weaver-James-Corrigan Honorary Award for outstanding athletic and academic achievement. Following graduation, he served as a Brand Marketing Associate for Brine, Inc., and founded Cassese Sports Enterprises, Inc. Cassese is married to the former Katie Granson, a native of Bethlehem, Pa., and four-year letterwinner on the Duke tennis team from 2000-03.
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