Q&A with Mount St. Mary's men's coach Tom Gravante
Tom Gravante is from Camillus, N.Y., where he starred at the fabled West Genesee High School. He was recruited to Hobart by Dave Urick, and they proceeded to win four of Hobart’s 12 straight Division III titles. Gravante is entering his 14th season as the head coach at Mount St. Mary's. He’s a three-time Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Coach of the Year, a Howdy Myers Man of the Year and a Hobart Hall of Fame member. He was one of the best college lacrosse players I ever saw.
Gravante lives in Frederick with his wife of nine years, Nicole, six-year-old son, T.J. and three-year-old daughter, Gabby.
Mount St. Mary's will scrimmage at Gettysburg Sunday before opening the regular season Feb. 24 at Virginia.
What are your goals for the start of the 2009 season?
Tom Gravante: To prepare this team for the Feb. 24 opener vs. No. 2 U.Va. It’s very important to get them "game ready" to play from that day forward.
Give us a preview of your probable starting personnel for 2009.
Tom Gravante: On attack, we may start three freshmen: Jon Lefferts, Cody Lehrer and Mike Adkins. At midfield, we’ll have Geery Grant, Jake Willertz and Kyle Yates. The defense of Brendan Flanagan, Russell Moncure and Matt Nealis will be backed by goalkeeper T.C. DiBartolo.
How will the personality of this team differ from the 2008 squad?
Tom Gravante: The senior leadership is better, yielding an overall better team personality. They are more passionate and their willingness to be "coaching receptive" is tremendous.
Who are your captains and what are their strengths?
Tom Gravante: Geery Grant, Brendan Flanagan, Shaun Moran and Matt Nealis. These young men are able to lead verbally by speaking positively and athletically by playing well, and in my opinion, [they're} ideal captains for any team.
What is the biggest weakness of your 2009 team or the thing you will look to improve over the season before the playoffs?
Tom Gravante: We are younger than last year on offense, especially attack, but my staff and I will continue to motivate them positively so they will play mature.
Are there any freshmen that will break into the lineup and impress us?
Tom Gravante: As previously mentioned, the entire starting attack, a fourth freshman attackman Christian Kellett [and] several midfielders: Keith McKinley, Jake Willertz, Anthony Golden and Ryan Shewell.
Who’s your hardest shooter?
Tom Gravante: Geery Grant.
Best stick handler?
Tom Gravante: Jon Lefferts.
Fastest middie?
Tom Gravante: Drew Dunn.
Toughest D-man?
Tom Gravante: Matt Nealis.
Unsung hero?
Tom Gravante: Too early to title, but these would be my choices today: Shaun Moran -- returning from a ACL injury -- and Brendan Flanagan -- had a non-cancerous brain tumor removed last fall. Both [are] back at 100 percent and playing well.
Surprise player?
Tom Gravante: Kyle Yates.
What is the strength of your 2009 squad?
Tom Gravante: Athletically, they are stronger overall with more depth in understanding for the game. Their "team personality" is great, better outlook and more passionate about committing themselves to playing well in practice first, so that on game day we will play as we practiced.
Are you missing anyone with injuries?
Tom Gravante: Knock on wood, NO.
How do the coaching roles work in your program? What are the key responsibilities of your assistants? (it's your chance to brag about them)
Tom Gravante: Roles have changed slightly as I hired an offensive coordinator for the first time in my career: Cory Coffman (Loyola, 2007). Cory has done a great job thus far, [and] he's been able to get this young offense to play faster within the offense, but be more patient.
My other assistants, Scott Plasse (North Carolina State, 1983) and Joe Conner Jr. (Mount St. Mary's, 2007), will coordinate the defense. Defensively, we are very mature and stronger athletically, so my assistants will focus on playing better team and [man down defense], and work on their ability to create more offense for us in transition.
As for myself, I will shadow both sides and continue to work with our F/O middies and No. 1 goalie T.C. DiBartolo. As for bragging about them, I can't do that yet until we accomplish our season goal: get to the MAAC playoffs and settle it from there! Believe me, I really like my staff and would love to brag about them, but it's really important to stay humble as a staff and keep these kids focused on the goal.
How strong are your seniors?
Tom Gravante: I have two seniors and two graduate students, and they are all quality young men. Flanagan, Grant and Moran will all see legit time and are very strong players for us. Our final senior is T.J. Whiting, and he's a complete workhorse for us who leads the underclassmen by example. His play may be limited early, but he may have key roles toward the middle and end of the season.
How mature is the 2009 team?
Tom Gravante: We currently have 19 freshmen out of 44 players, so almost half. However, we are excited and so far team maturity is strong.
Which teams are you most looking forward to playing this season? Which teams provide the biggest challenge?
Tom Gravante: With how young this team is on paper, I can only answer "all of them" to both questions.
Who’s the coach you fear opposing the most?
Tom Gravante: Coaching is not a game of fear in my opinion, but a game of respect. I have tremendous respect for all the coaches I will face this season, and I look forward to learning from each of them. I feel the learning curve in this great sport is forever.
Are there transfers that change the make-up of your 2009 team?
Tom Gravante: Possibly one: Joe Lehner. He’s a faceoff middie from Herkimer [County Community College]. He's currently our No. 2 faceoff middie.
How strong is your conference in 2009?
Tom Gravante: I think the conference will be stronger than last year, especially with VMI and Manhattan gaining playoff experience.
Do you like the NCAA tournament in New England?
Tom Gravante: I think it's great for the game to move it around, especially to areas that can accommodate families with other attractive venues. That final four weekend has become a huge family event in my opinion, so it's very important to keep the experience attractive and fun for the future youth of this great sport. However, I do believe the NCAA should keep it on the East Coast between New England and Maryland due to the lacrosse population in these areas.
Would you like Baltimore, New Jersey, Denver or New England to host in the future?
Tom Gravante: That's a no brainer. Baltimore.
What’s your funniest recruiting story?
Tom Gravante: This year, I have found bold statements made by parents to be funny. For example, I was at a tournament looking for a player and a parent said, "Coach Gravante, when you find the best player, you have found my son!"
What do you think of the stick rule change that is coming for 2010?
Tom Gravante: Honestly, I have no comment. I'm still looking to purchase a [Brine] Superlight II head!
Are there changes you’d like to see?
Tom Gravante: Yeah, stop making changes! The game is good, it probably has the best continued growth of any sport, so keep it simple with less rule changes so that in the growth areas coaches and players can learn it.
How strong is the Baltimore/Maryland area for recruiting these days?
Tom Gravante: For me, very strong as we have now broken into the MIAA.
Where’s the farthest you’ve gone to get a recruit?
Tom Gravante: California.
Do you do a summer camp?
Tom Gravante: Yes, I have three summer venues that can all be found at www.theelite150.com. Two are high school tournaments in July and one boys day camp (Summer-16 Varsity Tournament, July 17-19; Summer-16 JV Tournament, July 24-26; and the boys day camp, June 29 to July 3).
How many camps should a kid play in the summer if he wants to play in college?
Tom Gravante: There has been tremendous growth in summer lacrosse events, so I would say at least two.
Are you a fan of multi-sport athletes when recruiting?
Tom Gravante: Absolutely. I’m always looking for athletes, especially on defense.
Who were your influences in coaching?
Tom Gravante: I was very blessed in my life with great coaching influences in all the sports I participated, but for this game it was coach Mike Messere at upstate New York high school powerhouse West Genesee, and then at Hobart College, coach Dave Urick.
Would you rather be the underdog or favorite in a big game?
Tom Gravante: I was very blessed in my athletic career to be both and to win at both, but from a professional standpoint, I would rather be the favorite and know that my team has the bigger edge to win, especially for a conference championship.
Do your players see you as a friend, father figure, teacher or boss?
Tom Gravante: I'm hopeful they can see me as all those persons, just as my coaches were to me.
What’s the most important trait of a great player?
Tom Gravante: One, to be coachable and two, to inspire his teammates to be great!
More lacrosse Q&As:
• St. Mary's men's coach Chris Hasbrouck
• McDaniel men's coach Matt Hatton
• Loyola women's coach Jen Adams
• Loyola men's coach Charley Toomey
• Stevenson men's coach Paul Cantabene
