Most coaches' jobs are to develop their players and win games. However, Maryland Lacrosse head coach John Tillman takes that to another level in terms of his assistant coaches.
Coach Tillman arrived in College Park back in 2011 and since then has won 2 National Championships, reached nine Final Fours, and encompassed 28 NCAA tournament wins. Those are all great stats to show the success of a program, but another one is the five different assistant coaches that have got head coaching jobs after Maryland. The five coaches include University of Baltimore Maryland County (UMBC) coach Ryan Moran, Georgetown’s Kevin Warne, Michigan’s Kevin Conry, Holy Cross’s J.L. Reppert, and Providence’s Bobby Benson.
“That is the way John Tillman has developed his program.” Baltimore Sun reporter Edward Lee explained. “He wants to mentor assistants to be coaching candidates elsewhere, especially head coaching candidates.”
Coach Tillman has really emplored that mentality at Maryland. He has even guided some of his assistants through the hiring process and gave them advice.
“He was a great mentor through the whole thing,” Holy Cross head coach J.L. Reppert detailed. “He is well connected and understands the game; He’s been in it for a long time and has that perspective to help with the specific procedures for interviewing and stuff to think about.”
“He did his homework,” Providence headman Bobby Benson described. “There were a bunch of jobs open and he kept coming back to Providence College was the best job out there. It was a spot that wanted to be good at lacrosse and have the infrastructure to be great at lacrosse. His support meant a lot.”
Even after his assistants leave College Park, he still keeps in touch and gives advice when needed.
“I still call him a bunch.” UMBC head Coach Ryan Moran admitted. “I’ll say hey I’m having this situation on my team, and he’ll be sitting there preparing for a conference tournament, but he will still answer your call and talk to you. That’s the guy he is, there’s not a lot like him out there.”
Other times, Coach Tillman doesn’t need to give input because he’s had a lasting impact on his assistants' mindset and coaching style.
Coach Moran revealed, “Every time I’m in a tough spot right now, where you’re unsure of what you should be doing with your team, I’ll go back and think of what Coach Tillman would do and that’s what I’ll do.”
John Tillman has influenced all of his assistant coaches as well as the game of lacrosse as a whole through them.