Jack Rowlett at DJO

[Anonymous]

Do you think he'll have patience to go through some tough seasons? Can he recruit 25's? If you are a D or LSM, do you want to play for him? Giblin left the program in shambles and the cupboard is bare to say the least. I'm surprise there is not more buzz about the hire. I think VLC promoted it more than the school.

[Anonymous]

Seems like a hard spot in the market. With St. John’s strengthening there’s already three catholic schools in the immediate DC area with strong teams. And then Paul VI isn’t too far away either. And SSSAS is not to far away, not to mention Bullis and Landon. Hard to see a need for another lacrosse option, but who knows?

[Anonymous]

Expectations have to be to try and grow a reputable program that isn’t a bottom feeder. His name and reputation alone will garner some young talent towards him. He has to do the recruiting and build a good staff which is the hard part. DJO is and has always been a basketball school first because of who their AD is. Gonna be a tough hill to climb and it will honestly take 3-4 years to get to being competitive. That is if the recruiting works out. Like someone mentioned before, SSSA, Gonzaga, STJ, Landon, Prep all have strangle holds on that area, but if they can do it in basketball, why not lacrosse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Expectations have to be to try and grow a reputable program that isn’t a bottom feeder. His name and reputation alone will garner some young talent towards him. He has to do the recruiting and build a good staff which is the hard part. DJO is and has always been a basketball school first because of who their AD is. Gonna be a tough hill to climb and it will honestly take 3-4 years to get to being competitive. That is if the recruiting works out. Like someone mentioned before, SSSA, Gonzaga, STJ, Landon, Prep all have strangle holds on that area, but if they can do it in basketball, why not lacrosse.

And that was the question, will he be patient to wait that long (3-4 years to be competitive)? The Ireton coach seems to be progressing but they are still not competitive against the top private schools. At this point O'Connell would be weak for a public school. I think Jack said on EB's podcast that he'll be teaching at the school, so it is a real job that allows him to keep playing pro lax. That may be key because there is no talent at all and he didn't get to recruit 24s. Because Football is so bad there, lax has a real chance to be the#2 sport at O'Connell. I think it's a good hire by the school, but they better support him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Expectations have to be to try and grow a reputable program that isn’t a bottom feeder. His name and reputation alone will garner some young talent towards him. He has to do the recruiting and build a good staff which is the hard part. DJO is and has always been a basketball school first because of who their AD is. Gonna be a tough hill to climb and it will honestly take 3-4 years to get to being competitive. That is if the recruiting works out. Like someone mentioned before, SSSA, Gonzaga, STJ, Landon, Prep all have strangle holds on that area, but if they can do it in basketball, why not lacrosse.

SJC built an elite program pretty fast to be now included with those traditional lax schools. Wes won the WCAC with a talented 2017 class and guys like Alan Long, TJ Haley, and Dane Hall. Then he recruited a very strong 22 class to keep momentum going. Problem is, SJC was at least a strong WCAC team before Wes. O'Connell lost 17-3 to Bullis in 2020 and are arguably weaker now. Maybe Jack can get some transfers that don't want to go to Loudoun (PVI) or aren't playing at other schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Expectations have to be to try and grow a reputable program that isn’t a bottom feeder. His name and reputation alone will garner some young talent towards him. He has to do the recruiting and build a good staff which is the hard part. DJO is and has always been a basketball school first because of who their AD is. Gonna be a tough hill to climb and it will honestly take 3-4 years to get to being competitive. That is if the recruiting works out. Like someone mentioned before, SSSA, Gonzaga, STJ, Landon, Prep all have strangle holds on that area, but if they can do it in basketball, why not lacrosse.

SJC built an elite program pretty fast to be now included with those traditional lax schools. Wes won the WCAC with a talented 2017 class and guys like Alan Long, TJ Haley, and Dane Hall. Then he recruited a very strong 22 class to keep momentum going. Problem is, SJC was at least a strong WCAC team before Wes. O'Connell lost 17-3 to Bullis in 2020 and are arguably weaker now. Maybe Jack can get some transfers that don't want to go to Loudoun (PVI) or aren't playing at other schools.

RE: PVI

I think that's a very good point, if it is one that can be exploited (no negative connotation). Don't people generally say there was a strong VLC / PVI connection? If so, any VLC kids not wanting to go out to Loudon for PVI could go to DJO.

DJO could also up it's pull from any area public kids (if any are good enough, no clue; maybe ROBO kids?), especially being so close to McLean.

Being in the Falls Church area myself I'd love if DJO could help out in that local youth scene.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Expectations have to be to try and grow a reputable program that isn’t a bottom feeder. His name and reputation alone will garner some young talent towards him. He has to do the recruiting and build a good staff which is the hard part. DJO is and has always been a basketball school first because of who their AD is. Gonna be a tough hill to climb and it will honestly take 3-4 years to get to being competitive. That is if the recruiting works out. Like someone mentioned before, SSSA, Gonzaga, STJ, Landon, Prep all have strangle holds on that area, but if they can do it in basketball, why not lacrosse.

And that was the question, will he be patient to wait that long (3-4 years to be competitive)? The Ireton coach seems to be progressing but they are still not competitive against the top private schools. At this point O'Connell would be weak for a public school. I think Jack said on EB's podcast that he'll be teaching at the school, so it is a real job that allows him to keep playing pro lax. That may be key because there is no talent at all and he didn't get to recruit 24s. Because Football is so bad there, lax has a real chance to be the#2 sport at O'Connell. I think it's a good hire by the school, but they better support him.

Interesting move. He has local name recognition, but has he ever coached or run a program? It’s doable, but not automatic, and very similar to Bishop Ireton’s hiring of Pat Young two years ago - both have ACC and PLL cred that young kids like. Young is a good coach and immediately changed the culture at BI and brought them to respectability - Covid killed what would have been a very solid season, but to take the next step in this area it’s ALL about recruiting. There is an obvious opening - a ton of well established programs with too many talented kids that sit and watch for 4 years and would play immediately at a DJO or BI. Combine that with the massive increase in the number of kids who play lax in this area and there is definitely an opening for a Rowlett at DJO or Young at BI if they stay long term and go all in on recruiting.

[Anonymous]

O'Connell and BI definitely got some PVI talent that left due to the Loudoun move. But, PVI picked up way more as there are very few private school options in Loco and people want top sports programs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:O'Connell and BI definitely got some PVI talent that left due to the Loudoun move. But, PVI picked up way more as there are very few private school options in Loco and people want top sports programs.

Will be interesting to see how PVI’s Loudon move impacts individual sports. A number of free public schools in Loudon that have powerhouse football and baseball programs that place a lot of kids in college - hard to see families paying to go to PVI to play for weaker football and baseball teams. Same not true for lax - move to Loudon should strengthen an already strong boys lax program. Don’t see how Loudon move can do anything but hurt PVIs basketball program - not many kids will want to commute from DC or PG county to Loudon. This should be a huge recruiting boost to an already strong DJO hoops program and even gives an opening to BI’s new b-ball coach and AD, Dwayne Bryant - the former Georgetown player, to recruit players across the river to Alexandria

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Expectations have to be to try and grow a reputable program that isn’t a bottom feeder. His name and reputation alone will garner some young talent towards him. He has to do the recruiting and build a good staff which is the hard part. DJO is and has always been a basketball school first because of who their AD is. Gonna be a tough hill to climb and it will honestly take 3-4 years to get to being competitive. That is if the recruiting works out. Like someone mentioned before, SSSA, Gonzaga, STJ, Landon, Prep all have strangle holds on that area, but if they can do it in basketball, why not lacrosse.

And that was the question, will he be patient to wait that long (3-4 years to be competitive)? The Ireton coach seems to be progressing but they are still not competitive against the top private schools. At this point O'Connell would be weak for a public school. I think Jack said on EB's podcast that he'll be teaching at the school, so it is a real job that allows him to keep playing pro lax. That may be key because there is no talent at all and he didn't get to recruit 24s. Because Football is so bad there, lax has a real chance to be the#2 sport at O'Connell. I think it's a good hire by the school, but they better support him.

Interesting move. He has local name recognition, but has he ever coached or run a program? It’s doable, but not automatic, and very similar to Bishop Ireton’s hiring of Pat Young two years ago - both have ACC and PLL cred that young kids like. Young is a good coach and immediately changed the culture at BI and brought them to respectability - Covid killed what would have been a very solid season, but to take the next step in this area it’s ALL about recruiting. There is an obvious opening - a ton of well established programs with too many talented kids that sit and watch for 4 years and would play immediately at a DJO or BI. Combine that with the massive increase in the number of kids who play lax in this area and there is definitely an opening for a Rowlett at DJO or Young at BI if they stay long term and go all in on recruiting.

I believe he coached with VLC earlier this year. I am not sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Expectations have to be to try and grow a reputable program that isn’t a bottom feeder. His name and reputation alone will garner some young talent towards him. He has to do the recruiting and build a good staff which is the hard part. DJO is and has always been a basketball school first because of who their AD is. Gonna be a tough hill to climb and it will honestly take 3-4 years to get to being competitive. That is if the recruiting works out. Like someone mentioned before, SSSA, Gonzaga, STJ, Landon, Prep all have strangle holds on that area, but if they can do it in basketball, why not lacrosse.

And that was the question, will he be patient to wait that long (3-4 years to be competitive)? The Ireton coach seems to be progressing but they are still not competitive against the top private schools. At this point O'Connell would be weak for a public school. I think Jack said on EB's podcast that he'll be teaching at the school, so it is a real job that allows him to keep playing pro lax. That may be key because there is no talent at all and he didn't get to recruit 24s. Because Football is so bad there, lax has a real chance to be the#2 sport at O'Connell. I think it's a good hire by the school, but they better support him.

Interesting move. He has local name recognition, but has he ever coached or run a program? It’s doable, but not automatic, and very similar to Bishop Ireton’s hiring of Pat Young two years ago - both have ACC and PLL cred that young kids like. Young is a good coach and immediately changed the culture at BI and brought them to respectability - Covid killed what would have been a very solid season, but to take the next step in this area it’s ALL about recruiting. There is an obvious opening - a ton of well established programs with too many talented kids that sit and watch for 4 years and would play immediately at a DJO or BI. Combine that with the massive increase in the number of kids who play lax in this area and there is definitely an opening for a Rowlett at DJO or Young at BI if they stay long term and go all in on recruiting.

I believe he coached with VLC earlier this year. I am not sure.

He was an assistant at SSSAS last year, and the boys really liked him. Unfortunately, it was a very short season.

[Anonymous]

What happened to the old coach?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Expectations have to be to try and grow a reputable program that isn’t a bottom feeder. His name and reputation alone will garner some young talent towards him. He has to do the recruiting and build a good staff which is the hard part. DJO is and has always been a basketball school first because of who their AD is. Gonna be a tough hill to climb and it will honestly take 3-4 years to get to being competitive. That is if the recruiting works out. Like someone mentioned before, SSSA, Gonzaga, STJ, Landon, Prep all have strangle holds on that area, but if they can do it in basketball, why not lacrosse.

And that was the question, will he be patient to wait that long (3-4 years to be competitive)? The Ireton coach seems to be progressing but they are still not competitive against the top private schools. At this point O'Connell would be weak for a public school. I think Jack said on EB's podcast that he'll be teaching at the school, so it is a real job that allows him to keep playing pro lax. That may be key because there is no talent at all and he didn't get to recruit 24s. Because Football is so bad there, lax has a real chance to be the#2 sport at O'Connell. I think it's a good hire by the school, but they better support him.

Interesting move. He has local name recognition, but has he ever coached or run a program? It’s doable, but not automatic, and very similar to Bishop Ireton’s hiring of Pat Young two years ago - both have ACC and PLL cred that young kids like. Young is a good coach and immediately changed the culture at BI and brought them to respectability - Covid killed what would have been a very solid season, but to take the next step in this area it’s ALL about recruiting. There is an obvious opening - a ton of well established programs with too many talented kids that sit and watch for 4 years and would play immediately at a DJO or BI. Combine that with the massive increase in the number of kids who play lax in this area and there is definitely an opening for a Rowlett at DJO or Young at BI if they stay long term and go all in on recruiting.

I believe he coached with VLC earlier this year. I am not sure.

Yes, he has helped out with the VLC program for years, and as worked with kids at clinics and on an individual basis. I will be rooting for him. He has been nothing but gracious with the younger generation of lax players.

[Anonymous]

Jack will do just fine. He will enjoy it, the young men will enjoy it. It will be FUN.

[Anonymous]

Jack is great and sounds liek he is putting together a really good support staff of assistants! Wont be overnight but hope to see DJO really contributing to the WCAC down the road. Just needs time to build a great lax program and I wish him the best of luck!