When Karen Healy needed to have surgery on her anterior cruciate ligament in the fall of 2001, she thought she’d just be relegated to the sideline as a cheerleader.

Instead, when she arrived at the first practice after the surgery, Syracuse women’s lacrosse coach Lisa Miller walked up to Healy, handed her a clipboard and told her to work one-on-one with some of the other players who were struggling with certain things. While at the time Healy, then a redshirt senior, never thought about coaching lacrosse, this was Miller’s way of giving her a nudge.

‘You can pick out the kids who can be good coaches,’ Miller said. ‘Generally, the kids who would be good coaches are really, really competitive and smart tactically. They have a good handle on their skills and they understand the game. You can pick them out.’

After experiencing a taste of what coaching was like, Healy, now the head coach at Bryant University in Smithfield, R.I., finally realized what Miller believed all along – she was meant to coach lacrosse.

But Healy isn’t alone.

At least seven other former Syracuse players hold collegiate coaching positions, and even more are coaching high school lacrosse. Most of those players credit Miller for getting them into coaching. With a passion, skills and knowledge, Miller’s players are seen as perfect candidates to fill the increasing number of women’s lacrosse coaching jobs.

The number of SU women’s lacrosse alumni with coaching positions has grown so rapidly that at a recent coach’s conference, when each person announced what school they played at, Syracuse ranked only behind Maryland in the number of players now coaching. The Syracuse women’s lacrosse program played its first season in 1998.

‘For only being around for a short time, that means something,’ said Fran Amasia, the assistant coach at St. Bonaventure. ‘It’s partially due to Coach Miller’s coaching style and her willingness to help her players. She had a great impact. Not only did she influence me to go into coaching, she helped me look for jobs after I graduated.’

While none of the women coaching professionally planned on doing that while at SU, Miller taught them all the necessary skills to succeed. All players are accountable for themselves, and Miller constantly challenges them to go beyond any goals they set. More often than not, players excel under Miller.

And like she did with Healy, Miller often allows her older players a chance to coach their younger teammates.

When the Syracuse program was first formed, current Massachusetts head coach Carrie Bolduc was one of only three juniors on the SU team. While Bolduc, who transferred from Temple to play on the inaugural Syracuse team, didn’t completely realize it at the time, Miller trusted her as a de facto coach. Miller knew she could only do so much from the sidelines, and she used Bolduc to groom the younger players into an intense, competitive squad.

It was Bolduc’s first taste of coaching.

‘She inspired us,’ Bolduc said. ‘We really cared about the program. Those first couple years, we took it to heart to build it. A lot of the kids that are coaching are from those first couple years. Everything she taught me I’m teaching my girls, especially the thinking game.’

Once a player goes through four years of Miller’s thinking game (learning strategies and how to play independently, among other things), she often is well equipped to assume a coaching position.

Many of the former SU players now coaching aspire to Miller’s level. Coaches like Harvard assistant coach Tegan Leonard took their own personal playing style and coupled it with the lessons Miller taught. And whenever any difficulties arise, Miller usually is the first to get a call.

‘Lisa is why a majority of the people are coaching,’ Leonard said. ‘She’s extremely competitive and she recruits competitive players. She is a huge, huge role model. I call her for advice. I find myself on the field sounding like her. I just laugh to myself because it was things she would say. That happens on a daily basis.’

Now, players all over the country are unknowingly learning Miller’s style of lacrosse. While the number of Syracuse graduates coaching women’s lacrosse grows each year, Miller insists she doesn’t recommend coaching to any of her players.

Even if the players are unaided in their decision to try coaching, Miller would be sure to dissuade someone if she felt coaching wasn’t for them. But after four years of learning Miller’s system, many Orange players receive offers to help revive or start up a program.

And after having a coach that did it at Syracuse, those players should have the tools to succeed.

‘She’s a very honest person, so if I told her I wanted to get into coaching and she didn’t think it was a good idea, she would’ve told me,’ Amasia said. ‘We really did learn a lot at Syracuse and I’m glad we’re able to have a chance to pass that on to the next generation of lacrosse players.’

Published on March 29, 2005 at 12:00 pm