May 14, 2008

by Tom Borrelli, Special to Lacrosse Magazine Online

If not for the old "American rule," Adam Mueller might have never even been exposed to indoor lacrosse.

After graduating from Michigan State University, Mueller was drafted by the Detroit Turbos, perhaps only because there was a limit to how many Canadian players each team in the old Major Indoor Lacrosse League could carry on the roster.

"I would have never been in this league if it wasn't for the American rule in the 1990s," said Mueller, now head coach of the New York Titans, whose turnaround season ended last Saturday with a 19-12 loss to the Buffalo Bandits in the National Lacrosse League's East Division final. "I was drafted by Detroit, and I had no clue at the time. It's just the way it was in the league back then. There wasn't much phone contact or anything."

Mueller had never played in, nor had he even seen, a box lacrosse game before going to training camp with the Turbos in 1990.

Eighteen years later, he's the recipient of the Les Bartley Award as NLL Coach of the Year and the only man in the 22-year history of the league to lead three different franchises to the postseason.

"Like most Americans, you see a different game when you come out of college, and you're either going to love it or hate it," said the 41-year-old North Brunswick, N.J., native. "It was a new challenge for me and it was exciting, with a lot of learning. Playing, it took years, but I was lucky enough to play with guys like Gary and Paul [Gait], Duey Jacobs, Ted Dowling, Josh Sanderson, Kevin Finneran, Tom Marechek, Jake Bergey and you can go right on down the list."

Mueller spent 11 seasons in the league - five with the Turbos, two with the Baltimore Thunder, three with the Philadelphia Wings and one brief final fling with the Albany Attack in 2000. He won championship rings with the 1991 Turbos and '98 Wings and collected 50 goals, 69 assists, 119 points and 259 loose balls in 75 career games.

"I was just so fortunate," said Mueller. "I was a mucker, a role player that just kind of did my job. When you look back at it now, I can't really believe that I played for that long."

With the Turbos, Mueller was reunited with Blane Harrison, formerly his coach at Michigan State. Harrison, now an assistant with the Titans and the man who was primarily responsible for the team cutting its goals-against average from a league-worst 14.56 in 2007 to 11.63 this season, played for Detroit when Mueller broke in.

"I had played a lot of indoor in Brooklin and Whitby [in Ontario], so to say I took him under my wing is maybe a bit of a stretch," Harrison said. "But to see him have success now, taking three different teams to the playoffs, is pretty great. If it was that easy, everybody would do it."

It certainly wasn't easy, but Mueller learned the nuances of professional indoor lacrosse with every practice and game. And when it was time to put away the stick, he was ready for a different challenge.

"I was hoping I'd get an opportunity to coach during my last couple of years, when my career was winding down," said Mueller, who joined the Wings staff as an assistant under Hall of Famer Tony Resch in 2001. "I bounced around a little bit as a player. I was just lucky to get an opportunity in Philadelphia. Before that, I had coached some high school lacrosse. Tony, Steve Govett and Jimmy Rogers brought me in, and it was a great way to learn the coaching end of the game. Getting to share this [Coach of the Year] award with Tony Resch, who is dear to my heart, is a pretty great feeling."

After just one season as an assistant, Mueller took over the Wings when Resch retired after winning the championship in 2001. The Wings made the playoffs again in 2002 but Mueller was fired following the '04 campaign after compiling a 23-25 record in Philadelphia.

"I've lost jobs and had success in the past while coaching," said Mueller, who is a salesman for a Malvern, Pa., company that manufactures plastic items sold in the casino and banking industries. "I think the bottom line is that you know your own team. I try not to put too much pressure on myself to make changes or bring in veteran guys because I might lose my job."

Never was that more true than last season, when he took over the expansion Titans after two years with the Minnesota Swarm, which he led to the playoffs in 2006.

Mueller was criticized in some circles for stocking his roster with an abundance of American players during a 4-12 maiden season.

"We caught a lot of negativity and people didn't believe in us," said Titans leading scorer Casey Powell, a Carthage, N.Y., native and four-time Syracuse University All-American whose NLL career has flourished under Mueller. "Adam has been there since day one, and he's believed in the players on our sideline. And we've shown that we can play."

Citizenship has never been an issue for Mueller. He's quick to point out that Pat Maddalena, whom he obtained in the expansion draft from Arizona, is a Canadian who has been playing box lacrosse since he was old enough to carry a stick.

"I'm really just a kid from Jersey, which isn't a hotbed for lacrosse," said Mueller. "I went to Michigan State, which wasn't really a top powerhouse in the game. Now I'm a guy who had the opportunity to bring more Americans into this sport. I knew we had some good athletes here - it was just a matter of them buying into it. It's not necessarily that we were just going to take just the best Americans, because you can see what we're made up of.

"Maybe I just understand the learning curve a little bit better for the American players because I've been through it in Detroit, Baltimore and Philly. The most important thing is a willingness to learn."

The players have bought in big-time. New York dropped 16 of its first 21 games under Mueller, including a 1-4 mark to start this season. But the Titans won 10 of their next 12, most of them on the road, including an 11-8 triumph at Minnesota in the East semifinals that was the first postseason game in franchise history.

"We came here from Minnesota, and knew we had potential," said Titans assistant coach Paul Stewart. "We talked about a three-year plan. We knew we could do it, but it is a little surprising we've done it this quickly. We were very careful in the [player] selection process. Even when we were 1-4, or last year at 4-12, guys were buying in and we knew our potential.

"We went into Toronto last season and beat them in the last game. I remember [in 1998] when the Ontario Raiders (later the Toronto Rock) went into Philadelphia in the last game and pounded them. They didn't get into the playoffs, but everybody just knew...I'm not arrogant to say it will be like that, but we definitely have potential, and it's present because of what Adam brings - the preparation and being able to take advantage of what's in front of us."

Mueller practically blushes when asked about the Coach of the Year award. He's quick to rattle off a laundry list as long as his sleeve, chock full of other people he credits for the Titans' turnaround.

"I've surrounded myself with a great staff, and I know it sounds like a cliche, but it really is a team award," Mueller said. "Let's face it, you don't win without good players, either."

A part of Mueller's success has been his ability to get players to focus on the here and now, and not get caught up in what lies ahead.

"He's very prepared, always looking at films, and the scouting reports he puts together are just fantastic," said Titans assistant coach Paul Deniken, who was Mueller's teammate with the Wings. "To do it in the second year is obviously a tribute to the players and the coaches. Last year gave us something to build on, and we were all excited to get back at it. Did I think we were going to get here? Sure. Because we've been playing it one shift at a time and not looking forward at all."

Harrison must have known all those years ago in East Lansing, Mich., that he was molding the mind of a future coaching prodigy.

Well, perhaps not.

"He was a headstrong kid when he came in, and he still is," Harrison said. "He knows what he wants and he does it. He had a strong opinion and wasn't afraid to express it. But he was coachable at the end of the day.

"I don't think it ever struck me while he was playing that he would eventually coach. The closest thing was a non-lacrosse-related activity. We were on a spring training trip and we did this goofy three-on-three floor hockey game using lacrosse sticks. The coaches were on one team, and we ended up playing his team in the championship game. We beat him, and yet he had it all figured out why we shouldn't have beat them. So I said to myself, `OK, he's starting to think a little bit.'"

The seeds of invention can sprout in unusual places.