BOTC - US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums MID-ATLANTIC LACROSSE MARYLAND FORUM Boys High School

True is “club lax” for kids who can’t play, but have parents who are willing to pay.

Perfect fit for Loyola.

I know who will be at True tryouts next summer!

Yeah no D1 talent coming out of Loyola! Ch, BL and McD much better options.

Sounds like someone whose name rhymes with ‘itch” isn’t getting playing time at Loyola! Just like he didn’t at Looneys! Coming in hot today on BOTC!!!

2026 parent who wasn’t promised a spot on FCA

Most f the D1 prospects were found, not developed, at Loyola. How many kids wash out of the the Loyola program?

What about the kid whose dad is an ESPN announcer? His kid is going to North Carolina! That’s a great D1 school!

Last few years kids have gone to Maryland, UNC, Syracuse, Loyola, Navy, etc. Seems like the players are just fine.

Now that times have changed will Loyola ever go the route of boarding/basement living for out of state players and/or 1 year hired gun transfers to win a MIAA Championship for lacrosse?

Are they?

You have 147 kids in a hotbed, high-population school/area. The law of averages says you will have D1 talent and send kids to those schools.

When was the last banner the dons raised?

I'll answer for you- 2023 marks a decade...

To put this in context, Gilman hasn't won one in 12 years. St Paul's 13.

Enjoy your company.

If they want to win they will.

Or they likely will not and remain the whiniest most long suffering group of parents in all of high school lacrosse.

There are definitely quality players at LB. A perennial failure to fill vitally important roster gaps (recently enough creators on offense and FOGOs) with quality athletes and display on the field cohesion on both offense and defense have resulted in underperformance over the last decade.

Look who’s back!! 🧢

I personally like SA and I know for a fact that he's a pretty good coach. That said, I don't think your assessment is quite harsh enough. If you decide to take over a business, even one that is "trending toward failure" like Looneys was in 2020, you cannot treat it like a "MIAA job" and this is what (ugh) Crabs gets right, Looneys got wrong and Preds.....we'll see. Taking over or starting a club is a huge sales job and has some (often unrealistic) success expectations from the customers/parents. But it's a side hustle that requires lots of effort and phone calls and (sometimes false) bravado.

He's a decent coach and the kids seem to like him. His role at True since Day 1 has been mergers, acquisitions and recruiting though, so it's been rare to see him coaching. He's been in my orbit for several years and my first (and ongoing) inclination has been to keep him at arm's length because he's in a very transactional role at True....that's probably the nicest way I can put it.

Having him in a purely coaching role, trying to at least develop kids toward JV, may be a good call. May be a good thing for him, too. Back to the sport and what not.

If he truly was "shocked" at being blamed for the club imploding, he may be more clueless than I had imagined.

Options being courtyard or pool view-BL or McD? Basement walkout or stairs-CHC?

Your transactional assessment is spot on.

Everyone knows how True operates and the level of his Baltimore teams.

From a lacrosse standpoint, do you think that's the level Loyola should aspire?

Just curious to hear from the Loyola faithful.

The Loyola faithful I know are more excited about their new Athletic Director and a Board who fully supports him than a freshman team lacrosse coach.

Adult discussion with no snark: It was briefly discussed at the LB parents' holiday party, 9th grade coaching is not on the radar for most. Most had no idea the hire had happened, and some didn't know the name. He won't be in front of recruits, and most of his players - Hereford HS, Harford Tech and Harford CC not too many players who would consider school at Loyola the best option for them (whether it's the academics or not wanting to sit on a 100 man, 3 team roster).

Let's face it, if a coach has a pedigree or a history of repeated/demonstrated success, if they take that 9th grade part time MIAA coaching gig, they are going to want to know what's the potential for upward career trajectory. In Loyola's current situation, everyone is holding their breath to see who the new AD brings on next, because it's likely that coach will hire assistants to implement their own system. In other words there's no upward trajectory for anyone on the current coaching staff. Hiring somebody like KT for one year, for a non varsity team, is a decent stop gap IMHO. There's about zero chance it becomes a long term gig for him, but it's good for his resume' and who knows, maybe they win some games and maybe he convinces a few lower tier LB lax kids to go play for True in the summers. Harm done = zero.

Is there truth to RM cutting his one of his own kids from Crabs?

The harm is that beyond his transactional position at True, his coaching pedigree comes from less than mediocre programs/divisions. Does he even know how to coach superior players beyond the basic drills that they do at True? This is another indication that LB has no plan to develop its underclassmen who aspire to play varsity or beyond. If your kid is a middle schooler who plays on one of the elite B'more teams, does the opportunity to be coached by KT make you want to come to LB?

Response.......Yeah I know his pedigree if you can call it that. And I doubt he has experience coaching superior players above the middle school age. That said, "superior" 9th grade and 10th grade players are most likely going to make JV (9th) or varsity (10th) at LB, not be stuck on the 9th-10th grade team which is mostly your HoCo AAA kids, Team 91, FCA, Predators, etc.

You raise a good point about actual development. That's why I'm guessing the school and KT both understand this is a short term thing. I personally like the coaching staff at LB, but to close out the MIAA season the way they did, with a new alumnus athletic director looking over their shoulder, has the lax staff a little icey these days. Kind of like the football coach calling a run play with time expiring, against Calvert Hall, with the new AD standing on the sideline with his LB football letter jacket on. Doneskies.

Why is there so much loyola talk on this forum?

Very weird?

Because they are trying to justify to anyone who will listen why they [Censored]! But hey apparently they have some new AD with some letter jacket and some guy with lacrosse pedigree to make them so much better this year and for many years to come! The board is behind him and it will be so amazing at LB! Now you all can stop talking because no one cares… literally no one!

Now we talking freshman team? Extremely weird. Anyone know the name of other programs freshman coach, or care?

Yeah please let's talk about an important program like Spalding.

The Boss has them all on speed dial.

The freshman recruits and parents at CH and LB better know who the freshman coach is.

When you bring in 40 kids in each recruiting class, the majority (at least 25) are going to be stuck with that freshman team coach.

So if that freshman coach can’t develop players, your kid’s chances of making it beyond sophomore year in the program, are zilch.

Problem is every CH/LB freshman parent thinks their kid was recruited therefore will be on V by default. Lawd help them when their fresh/soph uniform comes home.

This is true for every MD/DC private school, but those two in particular....which is ironic because on average - COMBINED - they field about 4-5 freshmen per year on varsity. The FCA sales pitch has been - for years - "Well BK told me that the only way to get any college money is to make varsity as a freshman, and we should stay at FCA because they're gonna develop him to be a varsity freshman at CHC."

Recommended fun activities for the next 90 days:
1) Regularly check out the 2027 BOTC page for the "MY son is being HEAVILY recruited by Coach X....." nonsense talk, and
2) Remind all the parents with kids headed to a private school with a middle school that the school already has 20-30 2027s (including 2026 holdbacks) who play AAA or elite HoCo lax and have known the coaches for 2-5 years. Those kids (plus any other "recruited" 9th graders) will also be dropped like a bad habit if better talent actually walks through the door in 9th or 10th grade, just to be clear.

If you are on the Freshman team at CHC/LB/BL.... Your career with Lacrosse at those schools will be over your junior year.... Or you may be on the Varsity team and never play...It's obvious the kids at those schools dont care or they would not go there....Let's face it Loyola and BL don't have much else to offer as far as sports because a majority of their other sports programs are failures so lacrosse is all they have

Who does your son play for?

This is all so true about BL/CHC/LB. Go there for legacy purposes, scholarship, or just the academics(Academics would be CHC & LB). Please don't go there for just lax. Go somewhere you can play and the coach is not feeding you a load of baloney. BK will never tell you not to come to CHC-you just won't make Varsity, if you do and you are not top 18 out of 50 on roster, you won't play. If BK has a uniform you can dress to be a practice player. The other two schools are no different. Parents WAKE UP!!!! These are the facts and good luck if you think you can change them. The facts don't change no matter where your son plays club ball or high school ball.

Correct. Go somewhere your son is good enough to play.

Seems like sour grapes about all the specific crying about the coach and schools you named.

Buyer beware - BL/MCD are recruiting players from out of state and CHC/Loyola are huge private schools comparatively speaking. Gilman, St Paul's and John Carroll are much better options if you want your kid to play sports.

Fact- 2027 players in the west and midwest are sending their highlight film to east coast boarding schools. The issue is real.

Calvert and Loyola are simply large schools. It’s not a secret. Be sure you are a top 10%er if you head there. Lots of boys. Less opportunities. Gilman, St Paul’s and John Carroll probably give most kids an opportunity to be seen. You may not win a ton of games, but you will probably develop as a player. You won’t get buried on the bench at those schools.
McDonogh and BL are always bringing in rentals. Their boarding option has made them the potential home to free agents of all sorts. Probably not good for locals or mid-range players, but good for their lacrosse prospects.
Spaulding is interesting. Their numbers are huge- big enough that they offer a freshman team, but not sure the current underclass quality or where they are headed.

That has been going on for a while. Those schools were established as boarding schools years ago for the purpose of attracting out of town students and being a boarding school. My guess is they get some locals, but mainly boarders. They all play in a league of mostly boarding schools etc. This operation going on in Bmore is the next phase of one-upping your competition on the athletic side only. First it was holdbacks, then borderline double holdbacks, now lets go after D1 committed seniors as well as underclassmen to reload and have them board. Winning this way is probably not real gratifying, but nonetheless job security for those coaches.... No student is attending the BL or McD boarding operation for academics only. BL/McD/CHC should look for some other boarding schools to form their own league like the Founders league in the northeast. How many BL alumni are getting pissed off...

Believe it or not, I’m Pretty sure Mcdonogh had lots of fun winning the championship last spring.