November 11, 2011
Cannons' Daye goes out on top
by Scott Souza/
Bill Daye- a fixture with the Boston Cannons as a player and a coach - won his first Steinfeld Trophy. (photo: Getty Images)
There was a part of Bill Daye that thought he was done a year ago.
A day removed from perhaps the most disappointing loss in his lengthy Major League Lacrosse career as a player and coach, the Boston Cannons coach was questioning his MLL future. The Cannons had been the best team all regular season, had entered the 2010 MLL playoffs as the No. 1 seed, yet had ended the season with two defeats in a row — following a cruel pattern for the franchise that had, at the time, lost eight of nine postseason games in its history. In that time, the Cannons were the only top seed to fail to win the crown, a fate they actually experienced twice.
Frustrated by the outcome, and increasingly concerned about the amount of time coaching was taking him away from his young family each summer, Daye seriously considered stepping down.
But he just couldn’t bring himself to do it. Not yet anyway. The Cannons had gotten so close to that elusive first MLL title in 2010 and he was sure that with a little roster tinkering, and a rededication on behalf of his players, that this year — almost certainly his final year — would be different.
“That fire was still in me to give it another shot,” he said. “I knew the nucleus of the team would be intact for one more year. I decided to go through the whole season 100 percent because I knew I was probably going out win or lose.”
On Aug. 28, the Cannons capped a weekend of heart-stoppers with a 10-9 victory over the Hamilton National to win the Steinfeld Trophy. A month later — having accomplished his ultimate goal with the team, at last — Daye stepped down as Cannons coach.
“I took some time to think about it again,” he said. “With the expansion draft, and the challenge to repeat, it crossed my mind that it might be nice for me and my staff to come back and try to rebuild. But at the end of the day, my focus has to be on my wife and family.”
Cannons president and founding owner Matt Dwyer has said the team hopes to have an experienced coach in place in time for the expansion draft in early December, but Daye agreed to stay on as a team adviser to help coordinate draft plans until a new coach is in place.
“You could see a difference in the team this year, and it started with the coaches,” Cannons general manager Kevin Barney said. “It wasn’t about getting the No. 1 seed and having the best regular-season record. It was about getting to championship weekend ready to win.
“Bill Daye said at the beginning of the season it was going to take every guy on the roster to get it done and it was going to take all the little things to do it. That’s what he said in his first communications to the team before the season, and it continued all the way to the championship game.”
The 2011 MLL Coach of the Year spent nine seasons with the Cannons as either a player or coach in the franchise’s 11-year history. He took over as head coach in 2006 and guided the team to a 43-29 record over six seasons.
“I always say it’s a part-time job that’s pretty much a full-time gig,” he said. “Just like what I tell the players, you get out of it what you put into it. How much film you watch, how much you do to put together the right roster and prepare the players, will determine the results. We had an increased focus from everyone in the last year and it showed. … I felt this was a graceful way to end it.”
Daye, who lives in Hingham, Mass., owns his own production company — Lax-School.com — and recently accepted a job with Nike as a regional representative to promote its lacrosse products.
This article originally appeared in the November-December 2011 issue of New England Lacrosse Journal.
Scott Souza can be reached at feedback@laxjournal.com
