Completed Event: Men's Lacrosse versus Georgetown on May 10, 2025 , Loss , 12, to, 16
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Final
Men's Lacrosse
12
vs Georgetown
16
Photo by: Duke Athletics
On This Date: Danowski Introduced as Head Coach
7/21/2020 10:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
DURHAM, N.C.—Fourteen years ago, Duke University announced the hiring of John Danowski as its new men's lacrosse head coach. The rest is history as Danowski – a lifelong educator and coach – has taken the program to new heights on and off the field.
Taking over a program that had its 2006 season canceled and unsure of what the future held, the search committee and those who knew Danowski well were certain he was the perfect person to lead the team through uncharted territory.
"John Danowski is absolutely the best man Duke could have hired for the head men's lacrosse coaching position," then Princeton head coach Bill Tierney said when Duke announced the hiring of Danowski. "He is respected as a coach, he is revered as a father and he is cherished as a friend. He remains consistent win or lose, and always finds value in whatever experience his team encounters. John will handle the complexities of the situation at Duke with class, professionalism and courage. The players at Duke, who are already highly motivated to succeed, will do whatever it takes to go the extra mile for John Danowski, because they will find out quickly, he will do the same for them. Congratulations to the Duke community for a great decision."
Now 14 years later, the numbers offer the proof to anyone who might have questioned that the decision was the right one. In 13.5 seasons – the 14th season in 2020 was cut short due to COVID-19 – Duke won a nation's-best 199 games, four ACC titles and three NCAA Championships. Danowski, meanwhile, climbed to the top of the coaching charts as he became the first Division I coach to amass 400 wins. And we'd be remiss if we didn't mention the 78 All-Americans, 45 All-ACC honors and two Tewaaraton Award winners.
Off the field, the Blue Devils have had at least one Scholar All-American every year since 2007 and 31 in 14 seasons, have put in thousands of hours of community service at the Ronald McDonald house and in the Durham area overall, and maintained better than 3.0 GPA every season.
With all eyes on the program as the Blue Devils returned to the field in 2007, Danowski navigated the many emotions felt by the players and handled all of the media attention with surgical precision. He understood returning to the field was about so much more than lacrosse and he was available as a coach, mentor, counselor and confidant.
On the field, the Blue Devils picked up where they left off as one of the best teams in the country. Duke went on to win 17 games, an ACC championship and advance to the NCAA title game before falling to Johns Hopkins, 12-11.
Duke continued its excellence on the field, winning the 2008 and 2009 ACC titles and advancing to the NCAA semifinals both years. Having been on the verge of the program's first national championship for a few years, Danowski and the Blue Devils broke through in 2010 for their first NCAA Championship.
"[Danowski] used his past counseling courses to understand the task in inheriting the Duke lacrosse program, which had been torn apart in 2006 by accusations of rape and assault that were never justified. It took Danowski four years, but his players earned their way into another final Monday, against Notre Dame," George Vecsey wrote in an article in the New York Times following Duke's run to the 2010 NCAA Championship.
Over the hump and now a part of the elite list of men's lacrosse NCAA Champions, the Blue Devils, with Danowski's deft touch of leadership, cruised their way to four more NCAA Championship Weekends and two more NCAA titles in 2013 and 2014.
Danowski relishes every year not being the same and his ability and willingness to adjust to the differences year in and year out is one of the many qualities that have made him so successful.
The Blue Devils were the first team to win back-to-back titles since Syracuse in 2008 and 2009 and is a feat no program has accomplished since.
"Calling John Danowski Division I lacrosse's therapist coach is too simple an analogy. There's more experimentation in his style, more tinkering with chemicals. Consider Danowski, instead, an alchemist of the mind," Geoff Shannon wrote about Danowski in an Inside Lacrosse cover article in 2012.
All good things, as the saying goes, must come to an end, and in 2015, Duke's run of NCAA Championship weekend appearances came to a halt. The streak of eight consecutive are the second most of any program since 2000 with Syracuse besting Duke by one. The eight straight are the most by any team this century.
Duke, after a three-year hiatus, returned to the final weekend in 2018 and advanced to the NCAA Championship game before falling to Yale. The Blue Devils, after having witnessed Danowski capture his win No. 400 to start the season, found their way back to Championship Weekend again in 2019 – the 10th for Danowski in 13 seasons. In fact, no team has advanced to the final weekend more than Duke since 2007.
While the 2020 season did not play out as anyone wanted and would have thought as the COVID-19 pandemic forced cancellation to the spring seasons, there was a belief in everyone that the Blue Devils would have been back in Philadelphia again vying for another title. And Danowski is no doubt the driving force behind that confidence.
When NCAA lacrosse, hopefully, returns in 2021, the Blue Devils will take the field for the 15th season under the winningest all-time Division I coach. Needless to say, it will be different, but perhaps the perfect slate for Danowski to put his tinkering and experimentation to the test.
#GoDuke
Taking over a program that had its 2006 season canceled and unsure of what the future held, the search committee and those who knew Danowski well were certain he was the perfect person to lead the team through uncharted territory.
"John Danowski is absolutely the best man Duke could have hired for the head men's lacrosse coaching position," then Princeton head coach Bill Tierney said when Duke announced the hiring of Danowski. "He is respected as a coach, he is revered as a father and he is cherished as a friend. He remains consistent win or lose, and always finds value in whatever experience his team encounters. John will handle the complexities of the situation at Duke with class, professionalism and courage. The players at Duke, who are already highly motivated to succeed, will do whatever it takes to go the extra mile for John Danowski, because they will find out quickly, he will do the same for them. Congratulations to the Duke community for a great decision."
Now 14 years later, the numbers offer the proof to anyone who might have questioned that the decision was the right one. In 13.5 seasons – the 14th season in 2020 was cut short due to COVID-19 – Duke won a nation's-best 199 games, four ACC titles and three NCAA Championships. Danowski, meanwhile, climbed to the top of the coaching charts as he became the first Division I coach to amass 400 wins. And we'd be remiss if we didn't mention the 78 All-Americans, 45 All-ACC honors and two Tewaaraton Award winners.
Off the field, the Blue Devils have had at least one Scholar All-American every year since 2007 and 31 in 14 seasons, have put in thousands of hours of community service at the Ronald McDonald house and in the Durham area overall, and maintained better than 3.0 GPA every season.
With all eyes on the program as the Blue Devils returned to the field in 2007, Danowski navigated the many emotions felt by the players and handled all of the media attention with surgical precision. He understood returning to the field was about so much more than lacrosse and he was available as a coach, mentor, counselor and confidant.
On the field, the Blue Devils picked up where they left off as one of the best teams in the country. Duke went on to win 17 games, an ACC championship and advance to the NCAA title game before falling to Johns Hopkins, 12-11.
Duke continued its excellence on the field, winning the 2008 and 2009 ACC titles and advancing to the NCAA semifinals both years. Having been on the verge of the program's first national championship for a few years, Danowski and the Blue Devils broke through in 2010 for their first NCAA Championship.
"[Danowski] used his past counseling courses to understand the task in inheriting the Duke lacrosse program, which had been torn apart in 2006 by accusations of rape and assault that were never justified. It took Danowski four years, but his players earned their way into another final Monday, against Notre Dame," George Vecsey wrote in an article in the New York Times following Duke's run to the 2010 NCAA Championship.
Over the hump and now a part of the elite list of men's lacrosse NCAA Champions, the Blue Devils, with Danowski's deft touch of leadership, cruised their way to four more NCAA Championship Weekends and two more NCAA titles in 2013 and 2014.
Danowski relishes every year not being the same and his ability and willingness to adjust to the differences year in and year out is one of the many qualities that have made him so successful.
The Blue Devils were the first team to win back-to-back titles since Syracuse in 2008 and 2009 and is a feat no program has accomplished since.
"Calling John Danowski Division I lacrosse's therapist coach is too simple an analogy. There's more experimentation in his style, more tinkering with chemicals. Consider Danowski, instead, an alchemist of the mind," Geoff Shannon wrote about Danowski in an Inside Lacrosse cover article in 2012.
All good things, as the saying goes, must come to an end, and in 2015, Duke's run of NCAA Championship weekend appearances came to a halt. The streak of eight consecutive are the second most of any program since 2000 with Syracuse besting Duke by one. The eight straight are the most by any team this century.
Duke, after a three-year hiatus, returned to the final weekend in 2018 and advanced to the NCAA Championship game before falling to Yale. The Blue Devils, after having witnessed Danowski capture his win No. 400 to start the season, found their way back to Championship Weekend again in 2019 – the 10th for Danowski in 13 seasons. In fact, no team has advanced to the final weekend more than Duke since 2007.
While the 2020 season did not play out as anyone wanted and would have thought as the COVID-19 pandemic forced cancellation to the spring seasons, there was a belief in everyone that the Blue Devils would have been back in Philadelphia again vying for another title. And Danowski is no doubt the driving force behind that confidence.
When NCAA lacrosse, hopefully, returns in 2021, the Blue Devils will take the field for the 15th season under the winningest all-time Division I coach. Needless to say, it will be different, but perhaps the perfect slate for Danowski to put his tinkering and experimentation to the test.
#GoDuke
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