From the podcast: Brad Jorgensen of Saint Leo’s on recruiting culture shock

On the latest episode of the "Chasing the Goal" podcast, Jack and Kyle are joined by Saint Leo University head coach Brad Jorgensen.

On this week’s episode of New England Lacrosse Journal’s “Chasing The Goal” podcast, hosts Kyle Devitte and Jack Piatelli talk with Saint Leo University head coach Brad Jorgensen.

Jorgensen (Simsbury, Conn.) is a 1995 graduate of Springfield College with a Bachelor’s degree in movement and sports science. He was a midfielder for four years on the Division 2 team and was named first-team All-America in 1994 (on an NCAA championship team) and ’95.

Jorgensen arrived at Saint Leo in 2005 from Wheaton College, where he was the head men’s lacrosse coach of the Division 3 program in Norton, Mass., since 1997.

He was hired as the first head coach of the Saint Leo program. Under his direction, the Lions made an NCAA Division 2 championship appearance in 2018.

Watch the full podcast below on YouTube. It’s also available on all major podcast platforms. If you enjoy it, please leave a rating and a review. Watch more episodes on the Chasing the Goal podcast channel.

Here are some excerpts from the pod.

Jack Piatelli: What’s the transition been like for you, being a New England guy? You came down to Florida (almost) 20 years ago. Talk a little bit about where lacrosse was when you first went down to Saint Leo and where it is today.

Brad Jorgensen: So I got the job mid-year. I got down here about the end of January and had to have a team on the field by September. So I had to make a schedule and I had to find bodies. Not a lot of reasons to stay put on campus other than visits. I remember I went out and drove to a high school lacrosse game in Orlando, and after about seven minutes kind of went, “Oh, no, what did I do to myself? I can’t build a college lacrosse team with this.”

And it’s changed drastically. Obviously, there’s hotbeds in Florida that are producing talent that is going all over the country and being successful at all levels. That simply wasn’t the case. It was basically one or two schools early on down here that had talent. And the interesting thing that I had to learn is that, culturally, down here in Florida, most high school kids don’t really understand small private education. The brass ring for 99 percent of the kids that graduate high school in Florida is one of the big state schools.

So, luckily for us, the small private Catholic school speaks to kids on Long Island, speaks to kids in New England, speaks to kids in upstate New York, speaks to some of the better lacrosse playing high schools in the Midwest. We had a product that would make a kid come down from New England, that would make a kid come down from Long Island. It made the build-out a little bit quicker.

I still say it’s harder for me to recruit Florida kids than it is for me to recruit a kid from Long Island or New England.

Kyle Devitte: Before the podcast, I took a look at your roster and none of your freshmen are from Florida. So that’s an interesting aspect of your team. I know that’s not going to happen every year. Did you notice that before I brought it up, or did you just put together the best class that you could and kind of go forward with your freshman guys?

Brad Jorgensen: I mean, we don’t care where they’re from. If they’re good, they’re good. That part doesn’t bug me. I think there are a couple of things. One, my right-hand man, my first assistant, Chad Marino, is a Long Island guy who played at Mount Sinai. His dad’s in the Hall of Fame at Hofstra. He just goes home for the summer and posts up at his parents’ house. And anything that he can drive to, that’s what he does instead of flying back and forth. So there’s a little bit of you getting what you recruit.

We have a couple of the 40 kids in our ’24 group, so it’s not a “Hey, we’re running away from those guys.” It’s just the way last year worked out that was known for the kids in it. But again, a roster of 50 guys. I think we might have 10 Florida guys on the roster.

@TheKyleDevitte
[email protected]

More Episodes