Princeton lacrosse coach Bill Tierney and University of Maryland-Baltimore County coach Don Zimmerman probably feel like they did too good a job teaching current Johns Hopkins coach Dave Pietramala.
In the last week, Pietramala?s team has defeated Princeton and UMBC thanks in part to the lessons he learned playing under Zimmerman and Tierney. The two coaching greats were the head and assistant coaches, respectively, at Hopkins when Pietramala was a player there in the 1980s.
After rallying for a 7-6 overtime win last Saturday against Princeton, No. 5 Hopkins (2-1) came back three days later with a dominating 15-6 win at UMBC. The pair of wins gave Pietramala a 74-16 record at Hopkins since taking over prior to the 2001 season. That pushes him past Zimmerman and into fourth place on the school?s all-time list.
“I?ve had the good fortune to be around a lot of great coaches and have people be pretty good to me,” Pietramala said. “To be on the field with my former coachand for and [Hopkins associate coach] Bill Dwan the same thing, it?s our privilege to be out there with a guy like Coach Zimmerman. You try not to think of those things as you play the game, but after it?s over, it?s neat to reflect.”
Partly coincidence and partly because of Hopkins? great lacrosse tradition, Pietramala will see another familiar face on the opposing sidelines at 1 today when the Blue Jays host Hofstra (1-1) at Homewood Field. Hofstra coach Seth Tierney returns to Hopkins after spending the previous six seasons as Hopkins? offensive coordinator. He also played with Pietramala for two years, Dwan for four years and is the nephew of Princeton coach Bill Tierney.
Today?s game marks the fourth straight game that Pietramala will coach against someone he has either played with or played for. Hopkins opened the year with a loss to Albany, whose coach Scott Marr, teamed with Pietramala on the Blue Jays? 1987 national championship team.
While he is happy seeing a number of his former players succeed as coaches on their own, Zimmerman said it doesn?t make losing to them any easier.
“It makes me proud that one of my former players is coaching; a lot of them are,” Zimmerman said. “It makes me realize that they are a coach and I have to be a good coach because I want to win.”
LEAVING THE NEST
» Hofstra assistant coach Matt Rewkowski was a starting midfielder for Johns Hopkins during its 2005 national title run.
» Princeton assistant coach Greg Raymond was also on the 2005 national title team for Hopkins, and is believed to be the only player in Blue Jays history to be a three-time team captain.
» Current Hopkins assistant coach and former player Bobby Benson spent the 2004 and 2005 seasons as an assistant coach at UMBC.
