Dave Pietramala(born 1967) is the defensive coordinator for theUniversity of North Carolina men's lacrosse teamand the formerhead coachfor theJohns Hopkins University Men's Lacrosse team.He also served as the DC for theSyracuse University Men's Lacrosse team.He is widely regarded as one of the greatest defensemen in lacrosse history, and is a member of theU.S. Lacrosse Hall of Fame.He is the only person to win a men's lacrosse NCAA national championship as both a player and coach, and the only person to be named both player and coach of the year.
| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1967 (age 57–58) Hicksville, New York |
| Playing career | |
| 1986–1989 | Johns Hopkins |
| Position(s) | Defenseman |
| Coaching career (HCunless noted) | |
| 1998–2000 | Cornell |
| 2001–2020 | Johns Hopkins |
| 2022–2023 | Syracuse(DC) |
| 2023– | North Carolina(DC) |
| U.S. Lacrosse Hall of Fame Inducted in 2004 | |
Playing career
editBorn inHicksville, New York,he went to St. Mary's High School. Pietramala chose to attendJohns Hopkins Universityat the advice of his father, George, who wanted him to play for the lacrosse powerhouse. Dave Pietramala stated that he originally intended to go to theUniversity of Maryland:"I loved Coach[Dick] Edelland loved Maryland... I grew up a huge basketball fan and they hadLen Bias,Keith GatlinandLefty Driesell.I thought it was all set. I was going to Maryland. "[1]
At Hopkins, Pietramala was a member of the1987 National Championshipteam. He won theSchmeisser Awardas the nation's top defenseman in 1988 and 1989 and the 1989Enners Awardas the nation's top player. He was also named a first-team All American three times while at Hopkins.[2]
Pietramala also played at the club level for the storiedMount Washington Lacrosse Clubin the 1990s,[3]the professional level for thePittsburgh Bullsin theMajor Indoor Lacrosse League,and nationally for the United States Men's National Lacrosse team. He won two world championships in theInternational Lacrosse Federation World Championship,was named All-World in both 1990 and 1994,[4]andBest and Fairest Player(MVP) in 1990.[4]
In addition to these awards, Pietramala was named to the NCAA Silver Anniversary Team in 1995, the All-Time Johns Hopkins Team, and Lacrosse Magazine's All-Century Team.[2]He was inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2004.[5]
Coaching career
editAfter 1991, Pietramala took jobs as an assistant coach atGilman School,Johns Hopkins University,theUniversity of Pennsylvania,andLoyola Collegebefore returning to Johns Hopkins as its defensive coordinator in 1995. In 1998 he took over the head coaching job atCornell University,where he was named the nationalCoach of the Yearin 2000.[5]
In 2001, he took the head coaching position at his alma mater, where he revitalized the Hopkins program. In his 20 years at the helm, the Blue Jays had a 207-93 record, 18 NCAA Tournament appearances, six NCAA Final Four appearances, National Championship game appearances in 2003 and 2008, and the2005and2007 National Championships.[2][6]
In April 2020, after the 2020 season was cut short by theCOVID-19 pandemic,Johns Hopkins announced that they had mutually agreed to part with Pietramala, ending his tenure as the head coach.[7]
Pietramala joined the coaching staff ofBoys' Latin School of Marylandin the spring of 2021, assisting on the defensive side of the ball and coaching his two sons, Dominic and Nicholas. An up and down regular season gave way to a hot playoff streak that saw the sixth-seeded Lakers win the MIAA A Conference championship, defeatingArchbishop Spaldingin the finals.[8]
On Monday, June 14, 2021, it was announced that Pietramala would be joining theSyracuse Universitycoaching staff, led byGary Gait,as their defensive coordinator for the spring 2022 season. The unification of this tandem gave the Syracuse coaching staff, arguably, the best offensive and defensive players in the history of the sport.[9][10]He inherited a defense that was one of worst at Syracuse and struggled to dramatically improve the squad. During his short tenure, the Orange defense could stop opponent's best option but allowed secondary scorers to thrive.[11]
Just after one season at Syracuse, Pietramala left for UNC to join Joe Breschi's staff.[12][13]
References
edit- ^Keith Mills,Petro's Life LessonsArchived2010-12-04 at theWayback Machine,Press Box Online, March 8, 2007.
- ^abc"Dave Pietramala".Hopkins Sports. 2017-12-08.
- ^Md. falls just short of Mt. Wash. in South final, 11-10,Baltimore Sun,June 13, 1993, retrieved May 26, 2010.
- ^ab"Archived copy"(PDF).Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 2007-03-16.Retrieved2007-03-03.
{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ab"Dave Pietramala HOF Biography".Archived fromthe originalon 2007-09-27.Retrieved2007-03-03.
- ^Vasudevan, Anish (10 March 2022)."Dave Pietramala's journey to becoming 'synonymous' with Johns Hopkins lacrosse".The Daily Orange.Retrieved2 September2023.
- ^"Johns Hopkins, Dave Pietramala Mutually Agree to Part Ways".USA Lax-Magazine.14 April 2020.Retrieved14 July2021.
- ^Graham, Glenn (21 May 2021)."Boys' Latin seniors key 9-8 win over Spalding for MIAA A lacrosse crown".The Baltimore Sun.Retrieved15 June2021.
- ^Lee, Edward (14 June 2021)."Ex-Johns Hopkins coach, player Dave Pietramala joins Syracuse men's lacrosse coach Gary Gait's staff as defensive coordinator".Baltimore Sun.Retrieved16 June2021.
- ^"Gait Taps Pietramala as Assistant Coach".Syracuse University Athletics.15 June 2021.Retrieved16 June2021.
- ^Vasudevan, Anish (9 July 2023)."Syracuse assistant Dave Pietramala departs to UNC".The Daily Orange.Retrieved2 September2023.
- ^"Pietramala Joins Men's Lacrosse Staff".University of North Carolina Athletics(Press release). 28 August 2023.Retrieved2 September2023.
- ^DeJohn, Kenny (July 10, 2023)."Dave Pietramala to Join Joe Breschi's Staff at North Carolina".USA Lacrosse Magazine.Retrieved2 September2023.