Coaches at Johns Hopkins and Loyola praise the Dwan brothers
Friday’s edition of The Sun included a feature on the relationship between Bill and Matt Dwan, who are the respective defensive coordinators for Johns Hopkins and Loyola.
Bill Dwan has been by coach Dave Pietramala’s side since 2001, and Pietramala said there’s a reason why Dwan is the associate head coach.
“I think Bill Dwan is a guy that’s very, very underappreciated,” Pietramala said. “I say that because he is a guy that has no desire to get credit. He is a guy that thrives on being in the background. He is a guy that will make a tremendous head coach when that time comes. But he means more to this program than anybody has any clue.”
Pietramala said one of Dwan’s essential qualities is his ability to gauge Pietramala’s demeanor and take the opposite approach. That would seem to be beneficial considering that Pietramala is not shy about sharing his thoughts with the players when mistakes are made.
Pietramala also said that while the team is getting ready for the next opponent, Dwan is in charge of scouting the opponent after that. That worked well in 2007 when the Blue Jays limited Delaware faceoff specialist Alex Smith, NCAA record holder in several categories, to just 7-of-15 wins in an NCAA tournament semifinal.
“It was interesting to see how his percentages varied when he faced a higher-quality opponent,” Pietramala said of Smith. “His percentages were good – don’t get me wrong – but they weren’t as strong, which allowed us to decide that instead of conceding or trying to be defensive against Alex Smith, we decided to challenge him. So many other teams that played against him knew he was so talented that they just decided to say, ‘You know what? We’re going to try to avoid giving him a fastbreak. So we’ll get back in and play defense.’ Bill’s breakdown of those stats was critical to the decision that our staff made in regards to facing off.”
Similarly, the Greyhounds have valued the presence of Matt Dwan, who has spent eight seasons on the same sideline as coach Charley Toomey. Toomey said Dwan has a knack for connecting with the players, who frequent his office nearly as often as they visit the dining hall.
“Matt is a guy who has got great rapport with our locker room, and the guys enjoy being around him,” Toomey said. “He’s a wonderful person. He’s a great mentor to the athletes in our locker room. He’s a confidante. He’s a guy who you know is going to give you an honest answer every time you go into his office. It’s very rare that a guy who was such a terrific player can explain to others and really educate to the kids in our locker room how to do the things that we’re asking them to do.”
Dwan’s expertise proved valuable in Loyola’s 7-6 overtime win against Fairfield on April 9. Despite Toomey’s wish to assign sophomore long-stick midfielder Scott Ratliff to shadow Sam Snow, Dwan convinced Toomey to have Ratliff mark Brent Adams, who posed a bigger threat as a feeder. (Adams registered just one point in that game.)
“When we get together, very rarely are we differing on an opinion,” Toomey said. “But when we do, nine times out of 10, I’m going with what Matt says because it tends to make more sense than what my opinion was.”
