What Happened to Johns Hopkins Lacrosse?

[@AKappy-_-]

I would love to see more breakdowns of some of the big powerhouse schools these breakdown videos and explanations are so good

[@DerSmooth]

Pietramala was a scary dude. Went to a summer camp at Hopkins in 2003. One night he called EVERYONE out from the dorms into the courtyard. Some kid took a huge dump and clogged a toilet. He yelled at everyone for about 20 mins and kicked the kid out of the camp.

[@blackjack5167]

Imagine being that kid 💀

[@dstang43]

He’s not a very good coach anymore the cuse defense is trash dk what he’s doing lol

[@jaritos675]

damn thats harsh seems like an honest mistake to me

[@JohnJohn77007]

You should do some videos covering the MCLA

[@vaoutdoorssportsman3555]

I don’t think you’re playing lacrosse if you’re a pre-med or med student.

[@mkp750]

Look up Ben Reeves lmao. Though he is an exception. But you're right though. Most lax players, well NCAA athletes in general, tend to study "less demanding" majors. Can't blame them honestly, college sports is a full time job. Most lax guys I've seen usually major in psychology/sociology/history/economics/finance. Then they graduate and work jobs on Wall Street lol. Not a bad life.

[@RCRitterFPV]

not modern Lax, but it used to just be prep schools...

[@NiborTrefies]

Not an American but a (new US-) College Lax fan, so that's interesting to read here. Are there more meds beside Hopkins over there? Greetings from the other side of the Atlantic

[@ngn6708]

@@NiborTrefies there are a lot of medical school in the U.S.A. Most of the major universities have medicals school associated to them

[@Bananaman815]

Pre med player here 👋

[@Abundant_Lax]

You have good points; you have not mentioned the school's support of or lack thereof in the later Petro years and now. This is a really really key variable for the fall of JHU's lacrosse program. Is it actually a priority for JHU as a university - President, Dean, Athletic Director, etc, for JHU to be a dominant lacrosse program again? Unclear to me.

[@didiasklawson9560]

I love your content! Keep it up! You’ve inspired so many people including me!

[@LaxWeekly]

Thank you!

[@dylancampbell2095]

As a Hopkins student entering my 6th year at the school (4 undergrad, 2 masters) you absolutely nailed this video!

[@Sloan1337]

I agree with all of the reasons you mentioned for the downfall of Hopkins lacrosse but do not for a second ignore how much Coach Pietramala underperformed towards the latter of his coaching career. Seasons 2016: 8-7, 2017: 8-7, 2018: 12-5 (Quarter finals exit), 2019: 8-8. He was underperforming with the talent he had on his roster. We all love Coach Pietramala but you have to be fair and honest. Also, when looking for another coach, you always go with the most accomplished hire. A lot of times teams will select a coach because they have ties to the university/ or the area but they are not the best higher in terms of accomplishments. (Example: Canadiens only hiring bi-lingual coaches, Boston Bruins targeting local coaches/or players). The team/university needs more juice, someone the youth wants to play for.

[@kennystorck4479]

This is a great video idea for the lacrosse community. Way to get the work done to answer the question.

[@bryanjohnson1401]

Going to be very hard for JHU to become relevant again when UMD has the best coach in college lacrosse and is only a few miles away from JHU. Kids would rather go play for Tillman right now. That massive win in the rivalry game this year where a former Hopkins player on UMD taunted Hopkins band and players shows it all

[@arrowanimated1698]

I’m a new defender/LSM, it would be great if u did a video talking about playing good defense. If you haven’t already, thank you!

[@smokaloto6350]

Work on your footwork and hand placement on you stick

[@Mike-zy5wk]

Great video as always. I respectfully disagree with your point college lacrosse is better if JHU is great however. With some many schools now pumping money into lacrosse, I think the sport will be fine with "non-tradional" powerhouse teams like Penn State, OSU, Georgetown, etc., continuing to grow. I especially like how you pointed out Hopkin's (lack of) social scene and location. I remembered visiting there when looking at colleges and everything there from the people to the campus just looked... depressing. Considering it's such a great school academically, it's also very rigorous, which can be tough on morale. Plus the location isn't in the nicest part of Baltimore. Unfortunately, that's just out of the lax program's control. But look at UVA, they were struggling for years after their 2011 win. Starsia was let go and now Lars Tiffany has won two championships since taking over. Milliman just needs time and patience.

[@jeffholt3841]

Lacrosse became more mainstream. 70s 80s early 90s lacrosse was pretty much limited to Baltimore, Long Island, upstate NY. That's it.

[@swham1]

Hopkins is a MUCH harder school than any other BIG 10 school. It’s not even close. I think this is a huge reason why recruiting has suffered. Fifteen years ago, only strong academic schools excelled in lacrosse (Duke, Georgetown, Navy, Princeton, Syracuse, UMD, Loyola, etc) excelled on lacrosse. Now that big state universities with incredibly lax student-athlete courses have invested in lacrosse, the tough academic schools have suffered.

[@johnrobbins6250]

They're like the 90s notre dame football of college lacrosse. Have the pedigree but they're just kind of an odd ball school (compared to competition) with extremely good academics. They have to/will turn a corner

[@FireAtWill]

One thing that can put John Hopkins in a great spot recruiting wise is going big in scouting the Midwest. I’m playing top level in Illinois at the national level and the competition here is the highest I’ve ever seen so many great players and programs from illinois Michigan Minnesota and wisconson

[@jeffholt3841]

They have lacrosse in the Midwest?

[@ugoeze7360]

@@jeffholt3841 there’s a Midwest?

[@danielrosario7524]

I think another big reason that Hopkins isn’t attracting recruits is the same reason Syracuse isn’t play phenomenal too. Those two programs can’t rely on their history anymore. Maryland, Duke, UVA, and the IVY league are now at the forefront of the history.

[@OC9G]

Definitely has been tough to rep Hopkins recently, feels like im cheering for UMD more so as of late. But boy when Hopkins is back… Lfg

[@Waldo2O5]

I’m not a big lacrosse guy I literally just Stumbled across this video 😂 and I can also say I heard of Johns Hopkins in the past😂 pretty wild now that I think about it

[@thomascorveddu4377]

I think you made a lot of great points. Patience is super important. Let’s see what Milliman can do when the roster is all his and he settles in a bit more. NCAA Lacrosse is definitely better when JHU is going deep into the tournament. I’d be pumped to see JHU & SU being powerful again.

[@jeffholt3841]

Lacrosse was really for wealthy kids in the 70s and 80s. Hopkins recruited from the wealthy private schools in Baltimore. Lacrosse was not a working man's game.

[@wllinfo7618]

In addition to the social limitations you mentioned, the neighborhood that JHU is in is HORRIBLE. That alone must scare recruits away.

[@apskinnan9609]

I agree. Baltimore is not a desirable destination for the preppy lacrosse star.

[@francoissteichen4131]

That's simply not true. You have to walk a good half mile in every direction to find really bad neighborhoods, and to the north is Baltimore's finest neighborhood...

[@myname3330]

@@francoissteichen4131 Roland Park yea. It’s honestly a pretty affluent area. The real issue is, well I can’t really speak on it but I’d love to see more investment from Hopkins in undergrad programs period. LaX included.

[@doofus9575]

Unless this is a statement about Baltimore in general, this is really not true. The area from JHU to Loyola is one of the safest parts of the city, as evidenced by just about any crime map you can find.

[@keithheid2773]

Some real good points and I have been a fan for over 40 years. I think the administration needs to decide if it wants to be relevant in college lacrosse again and help the coach get some top talent into the school. Other schools with high academic standards do bend the rules a little, in regard to admitting top tier athletes to bolster their athletic programs. I'm not in favor of admitting a bunch of players who are not even close academically but if a player is choosing between Hopkins and another Big 10 team, maybe the school can help him a little. And Baltimore' s continued downhill slide due to crime doesn't help Hopkins, Loyola, or Towson. If a top tier player is choosing between Baltimore, or a campus like Penn State, Ohio State, and several others, even UVA, who can blame them for avoiding Baltimore. If D1 schools in the south start dumping money into lacrosse, it will further pull recruits from traditional hot beds in the north.

[@brickpalace2282]

Hey I was at the Jacksonville v. Hopkins game! Go Hop!!!

[@13e11even11]

Great show. How about a similar program on Syracuse. Another Idea would be histories or traditions of the big schools, even some high schools thrown in like B Latin, McDonough, Chaminade……

[@justincrowley9320]

I have been a Hopkins fan for over 20 years they need to find a goalie and a better than a subpar face off guy and A true superstar midfield

[@Ryan_Grano]

I was actually thinking about this earlier but couldn’t figure out anything about it thanks

[@Number-zg6sd]

When I go to Hampton and wear number 14 I want a lax weekly video

[@edrose2772]

Thank you for making this video, I've been a Hopkins fan since the 1970's and been a season ticket holder for years. I think they're not getting elite goalies like they used to and they haven't had a strong, alpha midfielder who can rally the team. I'm not opposed to Petro leaving, I think change is good for an organization. I do agree there are a lot more quality D1 programs out there and Hopkins has to compete and an ever growing field. Speaking of Baltimore, since 2015 the city has seen an alarming increase in crime, making it now one of the most dangerous cities in the United States. I'm curious if that is turning off potential recruits from committing to Hopkins.

[@masonbernardo637]

Definitely agree on the physicality point. A big middie like jack hannah or sam handley is the type of player that would be beneficial to the offense, on the defensive end more gritty play out of the ssdms and lsms is necessary. I have noticed they are slower in transition and rely heavily on their set offenses to score. Since most high recruit fogos are attending acc and ivy schools, the gb game needs to be elite for winning those nail-biter games.

[@dougmphilly]

i love box more than field. but i always look for field guys that can transit to the nll. i say its about the first step. you are not going to get a 10 yard alley dodge in box, just won't happen. you get a foot of separation for a second two and then somebody has their stick on your glove, your shoulder or in your grill. you should look at why some college ballers make it and some don't.

[@ToxicMountAIM]

I like how you mentioned Calvert Hall, Loyola, and “Boys Latin” but not Saint Pauls

[@jonn3041]

Better question what happened to the channel. Plz keep uploading 😊

[@Marylandbrony]

As a Blue Jay's fan who goes to the nearby Towson University you nailed a lot of points on the head on the fundamentals but there is also emerging rivalry within Baltimore for talent. Loyola University's Ridley Stadium is much more lively compared to Homewood field when i go there to see the Blue jay's in their rivalry game and while i haven't between to a Towson Tiger's lacrosse game. Towson is the biggest university in the Baltimore metro area by students and all of these colleges are within 4 miles of each other. We are practically next door neighbors and Towson was dominant in the CAA conference pre-pandemic. While i do think Johns Hopkins should be a great power in Lacrosse. It would take a decade long building process to get to a championship level team. I believe the biggest powers in Lacrosse in the next ten years aren't going to be in Maryland or the Ivy league schools which exploded back into the scene after the pandemic and should be the Blue Jay's model for building back but instead the sunbelt teams. Can you imagine in 2032 with Texas, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina being the leading teams in SEC lacrosse and USC and UCLA being Big Ten lacrosse powerhouses?

[@n0kodoko143]

They need 1 recruit that will draw talent. This will have far reaching momentum for future recruiting and ultimately re-emergence of name recognition (for the uninitiated)

[@brookwiersreading5783]

I went to Hopkins from 1985 to 1988, and saw them best Cornell in 1987 for the title. I didn't know we won the 2005 or 2007 championships. I loved Petro as a player. I remember watching the team practice once. Petro fell down, and from the ground poked a guy so hard with his stick the offensive player made a gasping cry I could hear in the stands. I think the school can pull around the program, but when, who knows.

[@logansweeney7186]

I’m a huge Johns Hopkins fan and it has made me a bit disappointed in some of the recent decisions that have been made but I’m looking forward to the future. This was a great video, very interesting

[@stormz2779]

Thanks for the explanation

[@donnymcbain2608]

I think you should do a video about notre dame and how it could get over the hump that it’s been struggling like going against Maryland and uva and what they could do to improve

[@peterkaplan6361]

Whose here after they’re back this season

[@dougmphilly]

nads is so underrated by so many. i have him in my top 10 all time mill/nll defenders and i have been a season ticket holder for near every season going back to its days as the eagle box lacrosse league. . one of the few defenders that could match up john grant junior. but he is just too quiet for his own good.

[@minty2713]

Part 3 is a very creative and good point.

[@cameronbarbone9831]

Video ideas: The rise of Loyola MD Lacrosse/ The rise and fall of Penn State Lacrosse

[@MWOD1949]

DIII schools not providing athletic scholarships competing against DI scholarship opportunity certainly affects the current situation. The reasons outlined in this video allowed JHU to be competitive during my undergraduate years (JHU either National Champion or co-Champions 3 of my 4 years) Teams were made up of Baltimore and Long Island stars as noted. Not sure that Hopkins will ever regain the structural advantages of its storied history. Thank you for the video.

[@tommyhopkins18]

I personally feel that the game of lacrosse at a youth, middle school, and high school level has drastically changed. It used to be every kid from sweetlax, team 91, laxachusetts, crabs, express, etc. we’re the ones being recruited. More youth teams have been created meaning more talent spread across far greater teams. I think that most colleges have noted this and have been going to different kinds of tournaments to find hidden talent. Perhaps JHU is behind in this and recruits are already committed before they make it into social media as one of the top recruits in the country.

[@mikeyorefice]

Same thing that happened to Loyola. Back to back poor recruiting classes coming in.

[@jamess9964]

Has there ever been a Hopkins BME major that played lacrosse?

[@francoissteichen4131]

Del Dressel was a pre-med at JHU, and is now a Dr. There are plenty of players who eventually went on to med school. Though admittedly, more from the earlier years.

[@Borat_Kazakh]

UMD won the men's NCAA title because of the great graduate transfers Tillman recruited. The transfer portal will be where seasons are decided going forward, and I hope Milliman is good at persuasion in getting the free agents to come JHU. The prep star athletes will be less and less important relatively (given their hype, many 4 or 5 stars athletes turn out to mediocre).

[@derrenthompson8667]

Agreed but it’s not all won just by the transfer portal. ND and Duke have had monster years in the portal and haven’t had the same success the fit matters most

[@davidturner3424]

I'm out of the loop on NIL and it's impact in college lacrosse. I feel like Hopkins would have the biggest advantage in lacrosse. NIL money at schools like Duke, UNC, UVA, Maryland most likely goes to football and basketball. I'd think Hopkins would be better off than other schools since they are in a lacrosse hot bed and most NIL money would be focused on going to lacrosse.

[@xallax1520]

what happened to johns hopkins is simple..... they started smoking pot with sloan Kettering

[@joemccann4373]

great job on the video

[@douglasmason6227]

Hopkins is in unique situation academically for admissions. It’s basically a D3 school with high academic standards. Then a D1 school for just two sports. There had be back and forth for years over holding their Lax programs to those same rigorous standards. Hopkins does not have the academic averaging of an incoming class, like the Ivy league has done. Challenging admissions add to everything else listed.

[@ericmcalexander4366]

Coming from a Hopkins student, the Hopkins Lacrosse social scene is nonexistent. None of the general student body goes to the games, and the players only fraternize with each other, which only furthers the seperation

[@Oliver-wg5is]

Luv the vids bro

[@skylarfurr2349]

can you do Maryland and maybe their women's

[@drewdressel520]

Do a Dressel family video with them at John Hopkins del, John and mark Dressel

[@henrydonohue3005]

Great video

[@Zaxh1231]

Such a good vid man

[@LaxWeekly]

Thank you sir!

[@Fox40-MD]

Growing up in South West Baltimore.. I would go to Hopkins games back in the 70's. Not a safe place anymore... Look what happened to W&L.. great D1 program.. I don't think the AD likes Men's Lacrosse.. Hop has lost its cache !!

[@willswift1193]

I think it would be surprising if they don’t make a come back in the near future!

[@JP-yr3tq]

Since you read every comment do a video about the Terps national championship run it’s a great storyline

[@jasonforne7906]

Everyone knows that Maryland is the new lacrosse powerhouse, the culture and commitment there is unmatched. Even at the professional level of lacrosse now, we hear coaches saying that they just try to pick "Maryland guys" even if they underperform guys from other schools. So there's really no top player trying to go to Johns Hopkins. Also the point about morale being low is real. I went to all of Hopkins' home games this past season and most of the time, there are almost no fans. When Loyola played Hopkins, the entire Loyola side of the stadium was PACKED with people waving flags, yelling, and wearing green. On the Hopkins side there could have been 20 or 30 people, all parents. The only Hopkins students were the band, which you could barely hear over the Loyola crowd cheering on Loyola players. All in all just a depressing place to be for a Hopkins lacrosse player, seriously, their entire side was EMPTY for a home game, probably busy studying on a Saturday

[@lyndaproper1313]

Personally, I think Milliman is overrated. Milliman came to Cornell after a coach who, to my mind, treated the Lacrosse team like they were playing intramural sports. Among other things, he never took a time-out in a game. It appeared he just didn't care that much how the game turned out. Milliman, on the other hand, appeared to care at least. But, with Jeff Teat on Cornell's team , (I don't think Milliman recruited him.)some good things were going to happen no matter what Milliman did. AND Milliman never did figure out what to do once other teams routinely double and triple teamed Teat. What a kick in the head! That's the coach's job! Good luck JHU.

[@bconroy2]

I've often wondered whether JHU offers the same sort of scholarships to elite talent players that the big schools can, such as UMD or UVA? Perhaps the athletes want to go somewhere they can have better financing? How will the NIL agreement affect JHU recruiting of top talent?

[@jeffholt3841]

Hopkins is also located in bulletmore. Not the Baltimore of the old days. It's basically in the middle of the ghetto.

[@baltimoreoriolesfan7029]

It sad that Hopkins is not great anymore but more for Joey Epstein from 1 high school recruit to blowing out his knee to below expectations for college would love a Joey Epstein vid

[@NoToBigBro]

In the old days, there was no such thing as redshirt in lacrosse. Not all D1 college lacrosse players were "elite athletes." Modern lacrosse is indeed the fastest game on two feet. Need to recruit superior athletes and groom them.

[@jordanusesyoutube]

great video idea would love to see more like this

[@jacksonbrown5583]

They whiffed on all their early recruiting classes when they would commit players as freshmen. Very simple answer. Their players just aren’t as good as the rest of the top tier anymore

[@Japanarific]

Doesn't help that JHU is so protective of its brand that they forbid the sale of lax jerseys for fans. I would love to show support...but as of now you can only get a jersey if you are on the team (or find a used one on ebay)...open up the licensing and pump the money back into the program.

[@rf8481]

Preface - I was at Johns Hopkins from 78-82 (national champs 78-81). Very simply, back then Johns Hopkins would admit kids with 1200 SATs or lower to play lacrosse. Sure some of the players (about 25%) went on to Med School and Law School or an MBA program, but most were not what I would call academically inclined. They were for the most part, average students, who happened to be great lacrosse players. This is contrast to the hyper-focus of most Hopkins undergrads who studied 60 to 80 hours per week. These kids could not get admitted today with median, mean and average SAT scores now between 1510 to 1570 as most (more than 95%) were either affluent white kids from Baltimore private day schools or middle class kids from public high schools in suburban Maryland or Long Island, NY. Most of these kids were physically tough bruisers who hit hard and played a very physical brand of lacrosse, it was much more like hockey with many more contact hits, back then whereas today, full contact hits are understood to lead to concussions and such violent play is now routinely discouraged. Back then, the top competition was Syracuse, Cornell, North Carolina, Maryland and Virginia. Today, many teams are loaded with big strong fast kids so there is so much more parity and thousands more kids playing lax at all levels outside of Maryland, New York, North Carolina, New Jersey and Virginia. As for the social life at Johns Hopkins, it is akin to University of Chicago and MIT, as in there is really no on-campus excitement outside of a few fraternities. Duke and the Ivies all offer a much better undergrad experience outside of the classroom so Hopkins has a tough time competing as it really is an extremely nerdy school where most kids can be found studying until 2 AM on Saturday morning. If a kid is not academically oriented, Hopkins will not the be their top choice as they can have a much better time playing lax at Michigan or Ohio State. Hopkins costs a small fortune to attend whereas back in the day it was far more affordable. Most kids today need a car to get off campus to meet girls at Goucher or Loyola or Univ of MD or Georgetown and most kids footing a $60,000 tuition bill from a public suburban high school simply could live better and have a more rewarding social life somewhere other than Johns Hopkins. Unless you have your heart set on biomedical engineering, law school, medical school or international relations, there are better fits for most lax players with a 1100 to 1300 SAT score. Given, the extreme nerdy culture and lackluster on-campus social life, most lax players who are not dead set on attending an academically inclined school would prefer to go to school somewhere else and even if they are very serious students, they might find, that Duke or an Ivy League school offer more options socially or they may find that Navy or Army are more affordable. The reason Hopkins no longer wins championships is that kids have more choices for schools that have lax programs and Hopkins should have joined the Ivy League instead of the Big 10 and President Daniels is more interested in passing University of Chicago in the US News and World Report rankings than in fielding a competitive men's lacrosse program.

[@frisconation]

This game looks like its in concept stage.

[@timsymons9997]

growth of lacrosse in Florida

[@viperjd0495]

I would love to see the rise and fall of Albany

[@lagwri5203]

They have changed a lot.

[@quintonoconnor7100]

The history of notre dame lacrosse

[@jasonlee2196]

whats an alumni buy in?

[@VigorousVirgo]

44 nattys. Where did that go?

[@sierahray4555]

Do this with Cuse 😬

[@LaxWeekly]

good idea! watch my latest video :)

[@mlbdajoe5689]

Easy solution they just need me

[@henrybutchy3242]

It's not the school, it's not the social scene. It's luck with coaching choices. If JHU had hired John Tillman, this question is not asked.

[@klingon9292]

Drove through Baltimore and right past John Hopkins would never want my kid to go to school there terrible area.

[@kellenroddy5787]

Charles village isn’t that bad brotha

[@julienfenouil5782]

@@kellenroddy5787 yea CV is real nice lol

[@mathmagician155]

Not that bad unless you purposely go to the bad parts. Saying this as a Hopkins student

[@barclaydonaldson8863]

John grant jr. Did he help them at all?

[@semosancus5506]

Petro gained a lot of weight, which has all kinds of personal implications - including anger management. I think Petro lost his ability to effectively communicate with players. They played scared all the time - not scared of the other team, but rather of the film session that would follow.

[@arbiter6463]

This isn’t aging well

[@derrenthompson8667]

I think that the way milliman has handled certain situations with his athletes doesn’t help. When you have a stud like Epstein and he gets benched in and out of the lineup looks bad on the coach as well as how they handled the situation with Owen Murphy

[@williamhahn265]

watch some tape of Epstein over the past few years. Very inconsistent after he came back after the injury, arguably shouldn't have been playing

[@ericm4046]

Epstein was not even close to the player he was the first year. His body language out on field always seemed to be lacking. PM did the right thing even if it seemed harsh.

[@daveopie1234]

Your argument that being in Baltimore is no longer an advantage for Hopkins doesn't hold up. Loyola (1 mile from Hopkins) has beat Hopkins 6 out of the last 8 games, and won a national championship in 2012. U Maryland (full of local players) is not far away and they've won national championships in 2017 and 2022. Even Towson made a final 4 in 2017 and for a while was ranked #1 in 2019 after beating then #1 Loyola.

[@old_bayrailfan5312]

I think they should be more competitive

[@blackhawklacrosseclub1]

Charlie ILer

[@stocksgoupward5922]

Th reason is the neighborhood. Its a shit show. recruits see that and say forget it.

[@FunnyStickerErik]

They have ugly uniforms

[@barclaydonaldson8863]

No way....there mega classic