Mike Pressler is the lacrosse coach at Bryant University. He once coached at Duke University for 16 years and is regarded as one of the best coaches in the game. Mike was voted ACC Coach of the Year there times and also honored as the USILA Coach of the Year in 2005.
Coach Pressler was living the life while coaching at Duke University and constantly coaching his teams to the NCAA playoffs every year. That is until that night in 2006 when the players on his lacrosse team decided to have a party and invited two strippers.
The party didn't go as planned because one of the strippers accused three players of raping her which led to an all out investigation of Mr. Pressler and his program. During this investigation, Coach Pressler was called into the President of the University's office and instructed that if he distanced himself from the players he could keep his job.
Coached informed the President that "I looked into the eyes of each of my players and I know my players and if they say that they didn't do this, they didn't do it, and I believe them." Mike Pressler was fired as the Duke University Lacrosse coach immediately.
He was a pariah in the coaching industry and nobody would even interview or talk to him for consideration of another coaching job. One University official interviewed him for a job but held the interview at a truck stop on the interstate.
Then along came the President of the small Bryant College who did his due diligence and found that Coach Mike Pressler was one of the most respected coaches and men in the business and hired him.By the way, the young lady who accused the three players of raping her confessed that she lied and did it for the money.
Once, during a sermon, a noted preacher said that "GOD always knew where you would end up and sometimes he had to let you go threw a whole lot of stuff until you realized that you were where you were supposed to be." "He always knew it, even if you didn't."
Mike Pressler, the head coach of the Bryant University Bulldogs and the 2010 United States National Lacrosse Team is living large, not monetarily, but in ways that can only feed and enrich the soul, the mind, and the spirit. Bryant college is listed as a division II small college but has beaten some very powerful division I schools such as Syracuse University where Jim Brown gained fame as a lacrosse and football player.
When asked what he did to make this little school such a powerhouse, Coach Pressler simply states "if you convince your players that you are in it with them, they will achieve goals beyond their expectations and of course be hard, but fair. He said his first goal was to get rid of those who were on the team just to be there so he held a 5K run and all who didn't beat the coach would be cut. 5 players were beaten by the coach and left the team never to return.
Coach Mike Pressler is again a hot commodity and has been receiving offers from large major universities, but has chosen to stay at tiny Bryant College. His answer when asked why hasn't he considered a coaching job at a larger school with better facilities and more money, Coach Pressler just smiles and says "I now know where I'm supposed to be."
Respond privately to Mad Man at:
Observationsofamadman@verizon.net
Mad Man
No comments:
Post a Comment