![]() “Yea! To wonder about a call, to marvel at a play, to get frustrated about something you’ve coached a hundred times and a guy still gets wrong.” You’re just looking to feel those emotions of gametime again.” “All you have to do is turn on ESPN and see that two NBA teams are ready for tip off or Clemson is flying down to Florida State and they’re in their pregame meal, then all of a sudden there’s no game. "This is going to sound blasphemous as a coach, but there really is less emphasis on winning and losing,” Danowski said on Wednesday. But, with the threat of canceled and rescheduled games, plus the addition of two ACC regular season and the elimination of the conference tournament, will the staff’s approach be different this year? Will they try to stick more tightly to their personnel choices early in the season? ![]() Seasoned lacrosse fans know that Duke in April is not the same team as Duke in February. “Shooting School” during spring break in March yields a bump in offensive production. Typically, upperclassmen and grad transfers get a shot to earn a starting role. So, hitting the ground running is commonplace and, what comes along with that has been early season losses and personnel fluctuations. In terms of the “brighter spotlight,” Duke is gonna be Duke.Ī hallmark of the program since coach Mike Pressler’s days is an emphasis on playing as many games as possible, mostly at the expense of fall and sometime spring scrimmages. last fall) and that the pressure really comes from the lack of social outlets, be it in-person class, hanging out in the locker room, going to football or soccer games or going to parties on the weekends. In terms of the lack of a competitive outlet, Danowski says that’s why his team has emphasized fun ( the impetus behind the D.O.L.L. It terms of the 56-man roster, Danowski says it’s not that bad because they have five goalies, five face-off guys, two side-by-side fields and an experienced staff, so they basically split in half and two coaches have two 28-man practices. When Matt and Ned (current assistant coaches, both members of the 2006 team) spoke to the guys on the day we shut down in March, it was the very room that the program got shut down in in 2006.” “We’ve drawn that parallel right from the beginning. I mean, obviously we’ve thought about it,” Danowski said with a laugh, the subtext being they’ve thought about it, but they haven’t thought about it. “Yea, you know, we haven’t really thought about it, but we’ve talked about it. However, John Danowski might be the best equipped to handle all those challenges because they’re very reminiscent to what he dealt with during the 2007 season - the year during which the Blue Devils emerged from the false accusation scandal that rocked the program, canceled the 2006 season in March and ended with each player being awarded an additional year of eligibility. ![]() ![]() These are the challenges that every coach is dealing with in COVID time, and they’re pretty unique. Players that haven’t played a competitive game in months longer than normal. The short answer is that you don’t - you throw together a bunch of half-stories without much narrative and hope your readers find it interesting.
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