UNC Hall of Famer Tom Haus

UNC’s All-American Defensemen and Hall of Famer Tom Haus 

UNC's 1986 NCAA National Championship team

I don’t remember much from my first game in a Syracuse University jersey in March of 1984. I know we won and I held my own against UNC players. But I clearly remember the dominating play of Hall of Famer and UNC defensemen Tom Haus that day. Tom was a big thick guy, about 6’2’’ 195 and he ran like a deer. One of his college teammates tells me he was a “terrific athlete and ripped but I never saw him lift weights at UNC.”  Haus wore heavy sweat pants and a pair of blue canvass Converse high tops. Haus covered Hall of Fame attackman Tim Nelson (Nellie) and stripped him of the ball and started fast breaks—I believed he scored one or two goals that day. Hause was striaght up nasty as a player! He ended his career at Carolina as a three-time first-team All-American and three-time Defenseman of the Year—still the only person to do that; Nellie did the same at the attack position. “The guy didn’t care about lacrosse and never really worked hard at it” says a former UNC teammate. “He was great at lacrosse all his life but it didn’t mean the world to him. He did not go hard in practice but he was a gamer." When UNC won the championship in 86 it was Haus that shut down Hopkins Hall of Famer Brian Wood in the semi-finals and UVA Hall of Famer Roddy Marino in the finals. He was inducted in the National Hall Fame in 2005 and UNC retired his #13 jersey. 

UNC Lacrosse Stories: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=UNC+

Hall of Fame Series: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=Hall+of+Fame

Tom Haus' Hall of Fame Profile: http://apps.uslacrosse.org/museum/halloffame/view_profile.php?prof_id=288

UNC’s Tom Haus Hall Fame Induction: http://www.goheels.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_LANG=C&SITE=UNC&DB_OEM_ID=3350&ATCLID=205487165

An Interview with Joe Breschi

Coach Joe Breschi as UNC player, Courtesy of UNC Sports Information 

Fred Opie interviews UNC Lacrosse Coach Joe Breschi about is food and playing days from youth lacrosse to US National team member.  The Tar Heels are the defending the national champions. [Listen Now 16min 20 sec] https://soundcloud.com/thestudytable/the-training-table-5-fred-opie-interviews-joe-breschi-about-his-playing-career

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UNC Lacrosse Stories: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=UNC

Listen to Our Podcasts and More: http://www.fredopie.com/

College Lacrosse Recruiting Series Part 2

Photo of me on attack my senior year at Croton Harmon High School in New York. Little know secret is that I was a high school attackman. I also played man down an on occasion close defense. Like Chris Paul, I was not highly recruited early in my career.

Launched a series yesterday on recruiting. I recall watching Charlie Rose interview NBA all-star guard Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets. I loved Paul story about his recruiting experience as high school player in North Carolina because it parallels somewhat how I earned a lacrosse scholarship to Syracuse University. Like most North Carolinians, Paul wanted to play for the UNC Tar Heels. However the UNC coaching staff, and few other division 1 coaches, showed no interest in Paul until his senior year. Paul never played on the varsity at his high school until he was a junior and he was very tall (still isn’t) as compared to his peers on the court. Paul said the way he caught the attention of coaches at elite programs like UNC is they turned out to see a highly touted guard and Paul was going up against him. Paul scored a bunch of points on his opponent and shut him down offensively. After the game his stock went up including a scholarship offer from UNC. Paul decided instead to attend Wake Forest. Paul’s story makes me think of how many players give up on their dream and how many coaches end up signing players who are pipe dreams. I am amazed of just how short sighted the recruiting process is today in which coaches are asking for verbal commitments from rising sophomores in high school; please someone stop the madness!

Big 10 vs ACC Lacrosse Championship Game

Head Joe Breschi left celebrating a win 

Today the Big 10's University of Maryland faces off against the ACC's  Univeristy of North Carolina to decide the 2016 NCAA College Lacrosse national champions. Fred Opie interviews UNC Lacrosse Coach Joe Breschi about how he entered the coaching profession and his journey to becoming UNC head coach. The Tar Heels have not won a championship since 1991. [Listen Now 26min 50sec] https://soundcloud.com/thestudytable/the-study-table-joe-breschi

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University Maryland Lacrosse Stories: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=University+of+Maryland

UNC Lacrosse Stories: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=UNC

Listen to Our Podcasts and More: http://www.fredopie.com/

Sankofa Lacrosse Interviews Part 1

Fred Opie interview SanKofa Lacrosse Team members Jovan Miller (Syracuse All American midfielder) and Milton Lyles (UNC defensemen) on October 25, 2013 on the campus of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Opie played lacrosse at Syracuse University and on the 1990 U. S. National Team. 

Sankofa Lacrosse Team Member Interviews: [Watch Now] https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=sankofa+lacrosse+interviews&sm=1

Jovan Miller the Activist: http://dailyorange.com/2012/11/millers-action-causes-equipment-company-to-pull-controversial-slogan/

Syracuse’s Jovan Miller: http://www.suathletics.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=7898

Syracuse Lacrosse Stories: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=%22Tom%22

UNC’s Milton Lyles: http://www.goheels.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=3350&ATCLID=205497599

UNC Lacrosse Stories: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=unc

Managing Fear

Fred Opie covering UNC Steve Martel

I will never forgot the lesson I started learning back when I played in my  first game as a Syracuse Orangemen. The game was against UNC and it occurred in the spring of 1984 at Loyola College in Baltimore. About 5,000. people filled the stands and surrounded the astro-turf field.  I found out that day that I could work through potentially paralyzing performance fear and do what need to be done. The same nervous feeling comes across me now before: asking someone I am impressed with a question, teaching a class, and delivering a lecture as an invited speaker. I loved playing sports and at some point when I hung up my cleats, I transferred that how to manage fear and nervous feelings to my vocation as a talking head. I also learned to fake it until you make it because most folks can’t tell you are nervous unless you tell them.

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Syracuse Lacrosse Stories: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=%22Tom%22

UNC Stories: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=North+Carolina

Listen to Our Podcasts and More: http://www.fredopie.co

A Coaches Endorsement Means Allot

Me covering UNC’s Pat Welsh in game in the Carrier Dome in 1985  

The summer of my junior year at Syracuse University, I worked my butt off on just squaring up and playing solid defense. I would go to the Snowden Ave Park in the African American section of Ossining, a village that bordered my hometown, to play basketball. I’d try and match up with the better offensive players and work on my defense. I imagine people started taking noticing my ability to play defense and pass because I people picked me when they had next game. When I returned to Syracuse in the fall my senior year in 84, I had dropped down from 205 to 178lbs. Thanks to drills and lower body workouts with weights from then SU strength coach Mike Wocik, I had a tremendous quickness and great footwork. I had a great fall ball season and excelled in several scrimmages including a tournament down at Rutgers University. I didn’t know that John took Desko had noticed until in our season opener in the Spring against Hopkins. John is naturally an introvert in my opinion who doesn't freely share his thoughts like coach Simmons did. So John can be more challenging to read. It was wasn't until he assigned me to cover returning first team All American Del Dressel that I came to see he had confidence in my play. I was scared and went to Tim Nelson for his take on how I should cover Dressel. Tim gave me a vote of confidence that I will forever remember. “Op,” he said, “just play your game, you can handle him.” That’s when my confidence had totally returned following a poor showing my junior year. John next assigned me to cover UNC's Pat Welsh in our second or third game of the season on close defense. I was shocked but again understood that John now believed in me. I really had a great senior year defensively and continued to improve as a post-collegiate player at the club level. So in short, winning John Desko’s endorsement meant a lot to me as a player because John has always been a great coach in my opinion with a great mind for the game. He's a no nonsense guy and a straight shooter. I have been impressed at how he has taken on the job as head coach coming out of his comfort zone to be the spokesmen of the SU lacrosse program something that as a introvert must not be easy for him but he's doing a great job handling interviews etc. John is most in his element talking Xs and Os on a chalk board and breaking down films. So his comments in the form of a casual conversation, gave me the confidence I needed to tryout out for the 90 team. The lesson here is coaches, be careful what you say, even in casual conversations to your players. And players, laziness is the enemy of excellence and discipline is a consistent movement toward excellence.

My Inside Scoop On Gettysburg's Coach J

I met Coach Hank Janzyck at the first ever FCA Lacrosse Camp which was held at Gettysburg College in 1989. It wasn’t long before I learned that they guy was one of the best story tellers I’d been around and a real prankster. I also learned that he was a great recruiter—three months after meeting him he talked me into coming to Gettysburg and worked behind the scenes on campus to develop an offer I could not turn down. At the time G-burg was not one of the premier D-III schools in the country and I had just made the 90 US National Team. People in the lacrosse world asked me why I was going to Gettysburg. My answer was simply Coach J made me an offer I did not want to turn down and he opened his home to me. I lived in the mother in law’s apartment adjacent to his family for three years and loved it! His children called me Uncle Fred and I felt like family. They also gave me my space when I needed it. During my time working under Coach J and learned allot about life and lacrosse. As he often says he comes from great lacrosse stock as a Hobart Lacrosse alum. One of my most memorable times at Gettysburg were seeing Coach J with Coach Urick, who is the one who recruited Coach J to come to Hobart from Irondequoit High School in Rochester. When these two get together it’s like watching a standup comedy show. At the same time Coach as many know, as a serious side him and he’s intense about his faith, turning boys into men, and getting them to give a maximum effort at all times. More tomorrow on Coach J. Until my second book came out and my academic career really starting taking off, the secret between Coach and I was if he ever got the job at UNC or Duke I would return as his defensive coordinator. Well that almost happened in the case of Duke. In retrospect I’m glad coach did not get the job because I want to see him win a championship there and I found my stride as a prof and author and don’t have the same interest in college coaching anymore.

The Gettysburg Years Part 2

Teammates Bob Henrickson (Manhasset, Cornell 2 x USA), John Detomasso, Larry Quinn, at a US National Team practice in Perth, Australia in 1990.

So in August of 1989 I went to Gettysburg College working as a graduate assistant (GA) for the soccer and lacrosse teams and the Intercultural Advancement Center. I enrolled in the MA program in history at Shippensburg University. My under graduate grades were so low that I had to enter the program on probation. I had to teach myself of to use a computer and how to write my papers. I was serious about my work and I loved history and it took only a semester to gain full acceptance into the program. After practice I’d order a Hawaiian pizza without the ham and eat it on the way to class. I joined a great church in metro DC and I commuted 90 each way on Sunday to attend the Sunday worship service. The drive relaxed me and I made lots of new friends. Following services on Sundays in the spring of 1990, I drove from DC up to Baltimore to play for Maryland Lacrosse Club (MLC). By that time, Larry Quinn had completed Law School and moved back to Maryland to practice law. SU Teammate Brad Kotz had been with the time for several years; he and about 4 other teammates had all earned spots on the 1990 US. National team. MLC also included Frank and his younger brother Brian Kelley (BK). BK had recently graduated from UNC fresh off a national championship season. That MLC team also included Aaron Jones and Ricky Sowell. Ricky worked at the time as Dave Urick’s assistant lacrosse coach at George Town. I enjoyed playing club lacrosse that season and working as Gettysburg. I was unmarried and acted like it going where I wanted and eating what I wanted and returning home when I felt like it. That’s something I tell my students all the time, don’t act like you’re married when you’re not and enjoy your single life now.