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WDIA: No Coach, No Problem
March 4, 2008
by Jac Coyne, Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff You could say Rani McMillan has grown up in a hurry. A senior this spring, McMillan talks with the measured tones and quiet confidence of a woman twice her age. In many ways she has assumed the demeanor of a coach, all the way down to the detailed talk about Xs and Os. And it makes sense she would bear the traits of a veteran coach. As the two-time president of the Virginia Tech club women's lacrosse program, McMillan has many responsibilities. Perhaps her most important one, other than providing her team with a talented attacker, is handling the coaching reins for the Hokies. Unlike every NCAA program and many of the Women's Division Intercollegiate Associate teams, the Hokies don't have a traditional coach - that person once removed from the player's ranks who can provide an objective opinion or make a tough decision. Instead, that role defaults to the person elected president at Virginia Tech. The perils of this dynamic are obvious. In Tech's situation, the coach-player relationship can never be pure, always subject to the blurring caused by friendships, sororities, and classes, among other distractions. It takes a strong-minded individual and an understanding group of players to make it work. "There is certain level of respect you have to establish when you are in the position that I'm in," said McMillan. "I sort of established myself early with - and it's probably not good to say - the no [expletive] attitude. "I think I've done a pretty good job in letting everyone know where they stand. I think everyone is doing a really good job with that. There is a really nice balance between hardcore competitiveness and casual fun."
McMillan has instituted simple rules, such as `No Practice, No Play,' that help her and the other four team officers run the Hokies program with a minimum of grief. And the evenhanded tactics appear to have worked because Virginia Tech is off to a 4-0 start, jumping up to No. 21 in the WDIA national polls. It was on their spring break trip to Miami in mid-February when Va. Tech got started, rolling over Illinois, Minnesota-Duluth, Penn State and the host Hurricanes.
Finding a spot in the rankings is a bit of a surprise since Va. Tech only has two seniors on this year's squad - McMillan and vice president Brooke Zeitler - but the program has been fortunate to matriculate a talented freshman class. Diane Revalski (from Vorhees High School, N.J.) has stepped in as a solid defender while fellow rookie Alex Mengel (Mt. Hebron, Md.) provides speed and skill in the midfield. "This spring is probably the best talent I've seen in my four years, which is pretty exciting for us," said McMillan. "Things just came together real well. I don't know if it was the group dynamic that changed over a 14-hour car ride or what, but we made it come together in Miami and we're definitely looking forward to that cohesiveness coming up in March and April." The hot start and potential for a bid to the WDIA is especially exciting for McMillan and Zeitler, as both are hoping to follow through on a missed opportunity from their freshman year. The Hokies qualified for the national tournament in 2005, but because the championships were held on the same weekend as graduation, the members of that year's large senior class were unable to attend. With the core of their team unavailable, Tech had to pass on their bid. The missed opportunity was magnified when Va. Tech didn't have a league at all in 2006. And last year the entire Mid-Atlantic Women's Lacrosse League was in disarray. Because there was no league coordinator, there were no playoffs and thus no automatic qualifier to the WDIAs. Fortunately, everything is back in order in the MAWLL, a league that includes national-caliber teams in Virginia, James Madison and Maryland. And Virginia Tech. Mirroring the situation at most schools that have two women's lacrosse teams, the varsity team and the club team in Blacksburg don't have any affiliation. Occasionally a player cut from the varsity will try out for the club edition, but they receive no benefit of the doubt or special treatment. To make the Hokies club team you have to follow the same path as everyone else. "If people want to play, they have to show me and the other officers what they can bring it to the table," said McMillan. "If it hurts their feelings, it does. I'm not here to make friends; I'm here to play lacrosse."
Coachless In Lil' Rhodey "We schedule all the home tournaments and do all the planning for our traveling - and we do quite a bit of traveling," said Eileen Farrell, one of the senior tri-captains. "We schedule all the referees, make clothing orders, uniform orders, all of that. Hold tryouts. We pretty much have to do all of the coaching responsibilities. Some of the club director responsibilities we have to do also." They did manage to schedule a trip to Southern California for the annual Santa Barbara Shootout, where URI knocked off Southern Cal, No. 17 Texas A&M and No. 20 UC Davis before bowing to No. 4 Santa Clara. The strong performance was somewhat surprising considering how far behind the Rams were compared to their warm-climate opponents. Due to the blustery weather in New England and a lack of resources, Rhodey doesn't have the opportunity for much practice time between November and March. Leading up to their western trip, three hours in a tiny gym were blocked off on the weekends for women's lacrosse where they would run drills using one antiquated goal. Fortunately, the lack of practice may have actually been a key to the Rams' early success. "We don't get any field time so pretty much all we do is run," laughed Farrell. "We were able to outrun most of the other teams in California." Even with a strong senior class there was some trepidation about the Shootout. The western and southern programs annually produce the top programs in the WDIA and most of the other schools in the nation realize it. "We know the teams out west are amazing and it's obviously intimidating for us coming from the East Coast," admitted Sally Dowd, another senior captain. "We were confident and we knew we had a team that could be successful, but we didn't expect to go out there and do as well as we did." With Rhode Island a viable candidate to win the ECWLA, along with Northeastern and Army, there is talk around the program about 2005. That was the last time the Rams qualified for the WDIA tournament, finishing in 12th place. "That was the highlight of our careers up until this point," said Farrell. "We've been rebuilding the past two years and this year we have a phenomenal senior class, which has really carried our team." URI doesn't have a coach to rein in any premature talk, but the seniors are willing to provide both a cautionary and motivational voice. "Of course we wouldn't want to get too far ahead of things, but we're definitely excited about this year," said Dowd. "Now that we have that ranking we want it to stick. We want to prove to people it wasn't just a fluke in California. We're going to be successful all season and bring it to nationals when we get there."
Slides & Rides Have an idea for the WDIA Notebook? Email Jac Coyne
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