From the podcast: Providence’s Casey Brodersen on the face-off game

Providence assistant coach Casey Brodersen is this week's guest on the "Chasing The Goal" podcast with Jack Piatelli and Kyle Devitte.

On this week’s episode of New England Lacrosse Journal’s “Chasing The Goal” podcast, hosts Kyle Devitte and Jack Piatelli were joined by Providence assistant coach Casey Brodersen.

Brodersen is entering his second year at Providence following a 12-year stint at cross-state rival Bryant. Brodersen was a key cog in the development of the Bulldogs’ program since its rise to the Division 1 ranks under coach Mike Pressler (Wilton, Conn.) nearly two decades ago.

A face-off guru, Brodersen has been on the cutting edge of player development in the most highly scrutinized position in the game.

He played his high school lacrosse at Pinkerton Academy (N.H.) before moving on to have a stellar college career at Keene State.  At Keene he was a captain, team MVP and an All-Little East selection as a senior.

Last year at Providence, Brodersen helped the team to a 2-3 record in the Big East, with their biggest win coming against Marquette, 16-14. The Friars would go on to make the Big East tournament but fell to top-seeded Georgetown, 19-8. Reloaded with a ton of local talent, Providence will look to improve upon its 6-9 overall record in 2023.

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.

Kyle Devitte: Your specialty is face-offs. You’re known across the coaching world as one of the best coaches of the position. How has that developed for you? You’ve sent several players to the pro ranks and you’re one of the best coaches at it. How did that happen? 

Casey Brodersen: It’s kind of just developed into something. Like I said, I did it in college myself. I faced off in high school and then in college, but (back then) you still played a little bit. So I would face off and stay on — probably stay on a little too long on either end, as my buddies would tell you. And then once I got coaching, my first coaching year was at Springfield College with coach (Keith) Bugbee.

And then I moved on after that to Bryant and I coached the Massa brothers. I think the position has just grown, developed; ebbed and flowed. Trying to stay with those ebbs and flows is how you go, right? I think it’s gone from where maybe in the early- to mid-2000s everyone was doing some different stuff, whether they call it rakes or counters or quicks — everyone’s got a different name for it, right? And then you kind of get past that into the 2010s — it became much more of a power game with the motorcycle grip and guys getting over the ball.

So I coached Kevin Massa and he had a lot of success with it. And then you get guys knee-down and then you kind of develop from that standpoint. Then the Rules Committee wants to back off of that. They didn’t like the tie-ups and the elongated face-off, so they made you stand up and go for under grip. 

I think trying to just keep up with those trends … I’ve coached some really highly able players that have been coachable, developed and they’ve coached each other. So I don’t think it’s as much as what I’ve had to do. It’s those guys being able to perform and execute, and my job is to not mess them up too bad and hopefully give them a plan for success.

Jack Piatelli: When I played, we’d get the best athletic player and sometimes the best skill player to face-off, but we had a lot of wing play. What I’d like to see, what makes the game more exciting, is a little more wing play. I think you’ve seen a little bit more with the new rule changes. Would you like to see more? 

CB: I’d be in favor of that. I think that’s a positive thing for the game. right? You get some of those athletes involved, you create unsettled transition situations, and you get some situational cross. You’ve got to identify guys.

How are you playing the subs behind it? Are you playing some game behind? There are a lot of decisions that need to be made about that. I would be in favor of moving players to the right of the face-off guys. Now they can read the wings. Like when I moved down there, their calls, they throw it in certain spots, right? Those guys are getting so slick at it where wing play becomes not only the loose ball kicks out, but who’s going to pick it up? You throw it to this guy or that guy. If you play out of control, forward or out of it. There are a lot of different things that come with it.

@TheKyleDevitte
[email protected]

More Episodes