Men's Lacrosse
| Mike Pressler | ||
 |
Title | Head Men's Lacrosse Coach |
| mpressle@bryant.edu | ||
| Phone | 401-232-6974 | |
Mike Pressler begins his second year as the head men's
lacrosse coach at Bryant University in Smithfield, Rhode Island in
2008 after guiding the Bulldogs to an 11-4 record in his first
season coaching the Bulldogs. Previously the head coach at
Duke University for 16 seasons, Pressler was named coach at Bryant
on August 5, 2006, becoming just the second coach in the program's
seven-year history.
In his first season at Bryant, Pressler guided
the Bulldogs to their first ever Northeast-10 Conference regular
season title and a top seed in the conference tournament playoffs.
During the 2007 season, Bryant tied a school record with 10
consecutive wins including an undefeated 9-0 mark in the
Northeast-10. Among those wins was an overtime victory
against defending national champion Le Moyne, snapping the
Dolphin's 70-game win streak. The Bulldogs, ranked as high as
No. 4 nationally in 2007, have gained the No. 1 regional ranking
for the entire month of April.
A native of Wilton, Connecticut, Pressler
compiled a 153-82 overall record at Duke, leading the Blue Devils
to three Atlantic Coast Conference championships, 10 NCAA
tournament berths and an appearance in the 2005 Division I men's
lacrosse championship game.
A three-time A.C.C. Coach of the
Year and recipient of the USILA's F. Morris Touchstone Award as the
National Coach of the Year in 2005, Pressler's overall head
coaching record stands at 229-102 in 22 seasons. He ranks
among the nation's top 10 active coaches in both career victories
and overall winning percentage.
In 2005, Pressler earned the top coaching honor
after directing the Blue Devils to an NCAA single-season record 17
wins against three defeats. The 2005 squad, behind the play of
three First Team All-America selections, established a new NCAA
record for the best win total turnaround (from 5 wins in 2004 to
17). Duke led the nation in scoring offense by averaging over
13 goals per game, and finished the year ranked second in the
national poll.
During his tenure at Duke University, the
men's lacrosse program posted a 100 percent graduation
rate.
In 2002, Pressler was an
assistant coach on the U.S. Men's Lacrosse team that captured the
gold medal at the International Lacrosse Federation World
Championship.
Pressler arrived at Duke as one of
the most successful NCAA Division III lacrosse coaches in the
country. In five seasons at Ohio Wesleyan, Pressler led OWU
to the NCAA finals three straight times and the semifinals
twice. He was named the USILA's Division III Coach of the
year in 1987 and the North Coast Athletic Conference's Coach of the
Year three times.
Pressler served as an assistant at
Army under Jack Emmer in 1984-85. Before that, he guided VMI
to a 7-4 record in his only season as head coach.
A 1982 graduate of Washington and
Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, Pressler was a four-year
starter for both the football and lacrosse teams. A first
team Division Kodak All-American nose tackle in football and a
four-year starter in lacrosse.
A member of the school's Hall of Fame, Pressler served as
team captain for both sports as a senior.
He was inducted into the Wilton (Conn.) High School Hall of
Fame in 1998 and the Washington & Lee Hall of Fame in
2001.
Bryant University, located in Smithfield,
R.I., is a Division II member of the Northeast-10 Conference.
Following its inaugural season in 2000, Bryant's men's lacrosse
program has an overall winning percentage of .652 (75-40) over the
past seven seasons. In the Northeast-10 Conference, where
Bryant has reached the conference championship game twice in the
last three seasons (2005, 2004), the Bulldogs own a conference mark
of 46-16 (.752).
