LAX Coach Follows Dreams to SB

By James Fitzpatrick Jr. 
Staff Writer

Just 11 miles south of Syracuse in upstate New York, adjacent to the Onondaga Indian Reservation, there is a small town named LaFayette where lacrosse reigns supreme. In LaFayette, children carry their lacrosse sticks around with them as though the sticks were attached to their hands and form pick-up games with their friends whenever they can. Many of the children in LaFayette often have dreams of one day playing collegiate lacrosse for a nationally recognized Division I program and strive their entire adolescent lives trying to reach that goal. 

Lars Tiffany, the head coach of the Stony Brook men’s lacrosse team and a former member of the Brown University lacrosse team, was one of those children. Now 37, just two years after coming to Stony Brook from Penn State University, where he served as an assistant coach, Tiffany continues to live out his childhood dream. 

“Growing up in LaFayette I was exposed to lacrosse early in life because the sport is a major part of the Native American culture,” Tiffany said. “I can remember growing up dreaming about playing in college. We knew the game could get us the chance to get to college.” 

Tiffany began playing lacrosse as an 11-year-old middle-school student at LaFayette and immediately excelled. As he matured so did his lacrosse skills, and he made the varsity lacrosse squad at LaFayette High School, on which he competed with several of his Native American neighbors and classmates. From there Tiffany went on to Brown University in Rhode Island, where he was a two-time team captain and three-year starter on defense. He attributes his success on the lacrosse field to his keen field vision and his ability to communicate with his teammates, as well as his tremendously competitive nature. 

“I was never the best player or fastest player at LaFayette High and Brown, but I was able to play because of my field awareness and good stick work,” Tiffany said. “I want to win every time, at everything,” he said, referring to the self-imposed nature in which he lives his life. 

He capped off his collegiate playing career in 1990 by being named team co-MVP after helping lead the Bears to their first-ever NCAA playoff victory. As a coach, Tiffany made several stops along the way to Stony Brook. Before landing the job as an assistant coach at Penn State in University in 2001, Tiffany served as an assistant coach at Dartmouth, Washington & Lee and LeMoyne. He came to Stony Brook in August 2004 to accept his first head coaching position.. But Tiffany admitted that going from being the second in command to the main man was a big change that took a little time getting used to. 

“The biggest difference is making decisions,” Tiffany said. “As an assistant, you make a lot of suggestions. As a head coach, you make the decisions. You have to make tougher, unpopular choices, you need to be smart and you have to stick to your convictions and philosophies but also recognize when change is necessary.” 

Since taking over as only the fourth head coach in the program’s history, Tiffany has stuck to his offensive-minded philosophies and strong work ethic. He has catapulted the Seawolves to a level of national recognition that was never before been seen at Stony Brook. During his first year at the helm, he led the Seawolves to the America East Conference Championship game, and despite a tough loss to Albany in the championship game, he continues to believe in his players and instill in them a hunger for being the best. 

“As the head coach, I set the tone for team: hard work, tenacity, confidence. I spend quite a bit of time thinking about motivation, trying to get a feel for what is most needed by the team at the time,” Tiffany said. “The biggest change we have made as a staff from the prior one was promoting a more aggressive style of play. We push our men to look for fast-break transition and feel free to make their own decisions on offense, to be creative.” 

Creativity, senior co-captains Jason Cappadoro and Adam Marksberry said, is something Tiffany has provided them. The rest of the team now has the opportunity to play more loosely and energetically on both sides of the field, something the Seawolves lacked before Tiffany’s arrival. 

“He came in here and accepted a very young team,” Marksberry said in a recent interview. “He gave us a new beginning, and we as a maturing team have had success because of the energy and fast-paced style of play that he promotes.” 

“Coach Tiffany brings a lot more excitement,” Cappadoro said. “It’s a lot younger coaching staff and he is a more offensive minded than coach Espey was,” referring to former head coach John Espey, who stepped down after the 2004 season. “It’s more of a run-and-gun type of offense.”

Tiffany credits his predecessor with leaving him a young and talented group of athletes, which has made his job easier. 

“I was and still am a very luck man to be given the chance to lead a group of men that were talented,” Tiffany said. “The previous staff helped set the table for us, providing my staff and I a great deal of good lacrosse players, and men that were hungry.” 

This season, Tiffany has led the 2006 Seawolves against one of the toughest Division I schedules that Stony Brook has ever faced, taking on national powerhouses such as Virginia, Rutgers and Penn State. But the toughness of the schedule has only given Tiffany the opportunity to reflect on his days growing up next to the Onondaga Indian Reservation and remember the history of the game and the opportunities it has given him.