November 30, 2011
Duffy named Cannons head coach
by Chuck Jaffe/
Steve Duffy (right) was introduced as new Boston Cannons head coach by team general manager Kevin Barney on Wednesday.
Assistant coach Steve Duffy was promoted Wednesday into the head coaching job for the Boston Cannons of Major League Lacrosse. A member of the team’s coaching staff for the last three seasons, Duffy inherits a championship team facing tough roster challenges in its bid to repeat.
“I am thrilled to lead the Cannons on the field as the next head coach of the team,” said Duffy.
”We have our work cut out for us, defending the title as the league expands and the competition gets tougher. I know what it takes to win the Steinfeld Trophy, and winning back-to-back championships is the goal for 2012.”
Duffy will hit the ground running, as Major League Lacrosse will hold its expansion draft Dec. 7 for new teams in North Carolina and Ohio, followed by its annual supplemental draft a week later. After time off for the holidays, the league’s collegiate draft will occur on Jan. 13. Those exercises will both strip the team of some of its assets, but also help it rebuild for a shot at consecutive titles.
The Cannons have strong starting points with former league MVPs Paul Rabil and Matt Poskay, goaltender Jordan Burke – the MVP of the MLL Championship Weekend – and perennial all-stars like defenseman Mitch Belisle and face-off specialist Chris Eck. Those players were all part of the team’s protected list, and they will be the cornerstones of the effort to become just the second back-to-back title winners in league history.
“We have fantastic offensive weapons on our team,” Duffy said in a press conference announcing his appointment. “Expansion will change a little bit of that … but I think back to our success last year … it was more a philosophy of what to do, all of the little things. … Starting from the goal, working back to attack, we have some of the best players in the world … hopefully we will be able to put together a team that will successfully defend our MLL championship.”
Since the Cannons started out as one of the founding franchises of Major League Lacrosse in 2001, the team has followed a philosophy of building from within. Duffy is the team’s fourth head coach, and at every opportunity the team has promoted from within. After Mitch Whiteley led the team to a 3-11 season in 2001, Scott Hiller moved from an assistant’s job to become head coach. When Hiller left after 2005 with a 32-18 record, Bill Daye took over.
Daye went 43-29 over the last six seasons, stepping down after winning the title to spend more time with his family.
Like Daye, Duffy brings a strong knowledge of the lacrosse scene in and around New England into focus, an attribute that Cannons brass expects to be a particular help this season, as the team looks to build on its fan following in the wake of its first championship. Duffy is a native of Waltham, Mass., who coached at Waltham High School for 18 years and helped to start the town’s youth lacrosse program; he remains a board member for the Patriot Youth Lacrosse League.
“Coach Duffy’s stature in the local lacrosse community will be invaluable as we continue to build the Cannons brand throughout the region,” said Cannons general manager Kevin Barney. “Along with his coaching duties and community appearances, he will be taking over as director of Cannons Camp, our series of summer programs held in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maine and Connecticut.”
Jim Murphy will remain an assistant coach on the Cannons staff, a position he has held since 2003. Murphy works with the offense and Duffy said the team will look for an assistant to replace him in his role as defensive assistant.
Rumors have been flying around the league of who was interested in the Cannons job, with a number of candidates for the position having head coaching and championship weekend experience in the league. Barney said that Duffy’s knowledge of the team and his dedication to the organization “made him the strongest candidate from the beginning.”
Players who were part of the news conference announcing his appointment agreed.
“He’s been around us for a long time and knows what makes us tick individually and as a team and what it took for us to win, so he already has that blueprint down,” said Belisle. “Between that and relating – the personal relationships that coach has with us – it puts us in a great position to achieve the ultimate goal again and to repeat as champions.”
Added Poskay: “(Duffy is) a guy that put in the work, and … he took a blue-collar effect to it, and did the little things and obviously earned his way to a spot where he will succeed. … We’re not a rebuilding ream, we’re a reloading team for the 2012 season, and guys are coming in ready to go to work for him. … We’re as excited as he is to get through the spring and get to the summer already.”
