Good Morning!

Well this is supposed to be week zero of college lacrosse, but it appears mother nature had other plans. Dangerously cold weather conditions on the east coast have already led to multiple postpones and reschedules.

As much as we love lacrosse, safety first. A few quick things to expect from today’s email:

Let’s get into it. Happy Friday ☕️,
Matt & Deemer

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Jen Adams didn’t want the Loyola job, not at first.

She was quite comfortable as an assistant at Maryland for her former teammate and best friend, Cathy Reese. What changed next reshaped one of the most successful programs in the game.

Adams eventually accepted the job in the fall of 2008, after a 6-10 season from the Greyhounds.

Since then, Loyola has been on a completely different trajectory. Over her last 17 seasons in Baltimore, Jen has built a 240-84 (75%) win record and won an incredible 11 straight Patriot League regular season championships.

Even more impressive than the results is the culture she built. So how did she do it?

What some people close to the women’s game know, that others may forget, is that Jen Adams is quite possibly the best women’s player of all time.

Growing up in Australia, sports weren’t something she specialized in early, it was simply part of daily life. Like many kids there, she played everything and was happiest whenever she was outside.

She followed her older sister into a lacrosse clinic almost by chance. It didn’t take long before she fell in love with the game.

Adams began playing for the Brighton Lacrosse Club in South Australia, often watching older players practice before joining them. On Saturdays, she would play three games: one in her age group, one in the U18s, and a senior mixed game alongside Australian national team players.

As she put it, “You figure it out, and you learn how to handle your own very quickly.”

At 15, Adams made the Australian U19 team and traveled to Pennsylvania for the first U19 World Cup. It was there that Maryland coaches Cindy Timchal and Gary Gait first saw her play.

Maryland was the only school to recruit her.

Once she arrived in College Park, she put the world on notice. Four national championships. The first-ever Tewaaraton winner. Captain of Australia’s 2005 World Cup gold medal team. Multiple Hall of Fames. Records that still stand.

The résumé speaks for itself, despite Adams’ humility around it all.

Fast forwarding into her coaching career, she found herself back at Maryland coaching. Teddi Burns, an Associate Athletic Director at Loyola, reached out to Adams about the job at Loyola, and Adams said “no, thank you.” Joe Boylan, the Athletic Director at the time, reached out as well, but he got the same answer.

Then Loyola changed their strategy. It started with breakfast. She wouldn’t pass up a free meal but still, the answer was no. Then, it was “come have a drink with me, I missed some things that I want to cover.” She wouldn’t pass up a free drink but still, she said no.

Finally, they said, “just come to campus, and then we promise we won’t bother you again.” She agreed. Adams typed up a quick resume the morning of just to have something to bring with her.

Once she was on campus, she had a gut feeling that it was the right place for her. Everything was right about the opportunity; she couldn’t pass it up.

The toughest part of taking the Loyola job wasn’t the administration. It was the alumni. They were hesitant about an outsider coaching a program that had been Loyola blood since Diane Geppi-Aikens built it.

Adams had to earn that trust. She focused on what she knew: teaching skill, building chemistry, honoring the past while looking to the future.

Adams emphasizes three things before every single game: compete, enjoy it, connect.

Compete

Competition isn’t about yelling or fear. It’s about presence. Her players don’t lack motivation. They’re often fragmented, thinking about everything except the moment in front of them.

Enjoy it

The enjoyment piece is what she learned from Cathy Reese, who wants to win as badly as anyone.

Reese modeled a rare balance: relentless competitiveness paired with genuine joy. She proved that if the game stops being fun, it stops being sustainable. She was the living example that joy and having an edge can coexist at the highest level.

Connect

Connection makes the other two possible. Chemistry is built through shared effort, communication, and trust. When Adams designs drills, she starts with intent and purpose.

She says, “All great teams move at the speed of trust.”

When your players understand that the intent behind the drill is that they bring a competitive spirit to it, they can laugh and have fun while doing it.

She describes it as dancing with your players, not wrestling with them. If you can listen to what your players enjoy, and you can weave the right intent together with that, then the drill is going to be productive.

Adams now has 22 former players from Loyola coaching. And it’s not because Adams taught them perfect slides or sets, but because she gave them an experience worth recreating.

“Success is immediate,” Adams says, quoting Loyola’s president, “It’s your win-loss record.” But significance? That’s something that means more.

After eighteen years at Loyola, winning 11 straight Patriot League regular season titles, Adams figured out what most coaches miss. You can compete hard, enjoy the process, and build real connection. But you don’t have to choose.

The best player in the world became one of the best coaches in the game by understanding that significance beats success every time.

Want to hear the full conversation? Listen to the full episode here:

Jen Adams: Moving At The Speed Of Trust From Australia to Loyola Maryland

Coach Class and Coach Dunn

Earlier in January, we held our Men’s Committed event in tandem with our Men’s Women’s Winter Showcases for 2028’s & 2029’s at IMG Academy in Florida.

With morning trainings and afternoon games, the compete level of this players was off the charts, and just as impressive was the curiousness of the players to pick the brains of our coaches and try to add or improve aspects of their game.

We will see many of these players shine in the NCAA ranks, but nine stood out and garnered honors at the end of the weekend:

Read some future college lacrosse stars that made their mark at our Men’s Committed event below. (Full article here!)

Bramoff showed why he was so touted as an LSM prospect. His talent was evident from the jump, espicially in the middle of the field with timely checks, and he's always a threat in transition offensively. Despite being a top ranked prospect for some time, his willingness to grow, learn and improve upon his game was especially notable and bodes well for his development in the college ranks.

Some players just know how to score goals. Maher is one of them. After bursting onto the scene BIC Committed 2024 as a uncommitted attacker, Maher continued displaying his goal-scoring prowess in 2026, scoring righty, lefty, as well as backhand goals.

An offensive midfielder by trade, Matthews' athleticism and motor allow him to make plays all over the field, a large reason why he was tabbed Midfield MVP by the coaches. He has a college ready build and shot on the run, beating a PLL pro goalie with a pinpoint shot down the alley. On the defensive end, Matthews was more than capable of playing 1v1 defense, highlighted by a fantastic rep in the second game where he matched feet with a quicker dodger on multiple redodges.

✏️ Read the full list of standouts here.

✅ Want to catch up on the action? Check out our @fclbestinclass Instagram page for the best highlights and moments from the event!

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