Report: Dave Pietramala to become Syracuse men's lacrosse defensive coordinator

Who doesn’t love crazy, breaking news on their Monday afternoon?

Terry Foy and Ty Xanders of Inside Lacrosse are reporting that former Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala has verbally agreed to become the new defensive coordinator of the Syracuse Orange men’s lacrosse team.

Thank goodness it’s only June, because now we’ve got the whole offseason to let that sink in.

Yes, the man who patrolled the sidelines of Homewood Field for two decades and faced the Orange as a Blue Jay on the field in many epic battles of the late 80’s will now be switching allegiances to the Orange side of the rivalry as he joins Gary Gait’s new staff.

Syracuse has not yet officially announced the hire, although one is expected soon. According to Inside Lacrosse’s report, a Syracuse spokesperson said that they cannot comment on ongoing job searches until the hiring process has been completed.

When the news of Gary Gait’s hire broke last Sunday evening, almost immediately, Pietramala’s name was rumored as a potential assistant hire, as tweeted out by Syracuse.com’s Brent Axe:

Adding Pietramala is a significant move for Gary Gait as he brings a brilliant defensive mind and a championship pedigree. Coaching Hopkins for 20 years, Pietramala compiled a record of 207-93 and won two national championships in 2005 and 2007. His head coaching experience at one of the biggest names in Division I lacrosse will be invaluable to Gait as he makes the transition to the men’s side for the first time.

Pietramala is going to have quite the task ahead of him of rebuilding a Syracuse defense suffering significant on-field losses to a unit that was one of the worst in modern Syracuse lacrosse history. A group that got beat-up all season now veteran presences in Drake Porter, Peter Dearth and Mitch Wykoff. Replacing those three will be huge tasks, so it’s going to be fascinating to see them work under Pietramala.

In the span of eight days, Syracuse has put together a “Super Friends” style coaching staff with Gary Gait and Dave Pietramala. The pair are basically universally believed to be the best ever to play their respective positions, and have both continued their immense success in the sport into their coaching days. As players, they battled in the late 80’s at the height of the Syracuse-Johns Hopkins rivalry.

If they work together as well as they competed against each other back then, we’re all in for a lot of fun.

Here’s hoping, and welcome to Central New York, coach Pietramala!