ELynah Forum

Quote from: BearLover on May 28, 2026, 11:00:18 PM

Quote from: mike1960 on May 28, 2026, 08:47:17 PM

Quote from: BearLover on May 28, 2026, 12:51:31 AM

Quote from: mike1960 on May 27, 2026, 09:49:14 PM

Quote from: BearLover on May 27, 2026, 09:37:55 PM

Quote from: mike1960 on May 27, 2026, 09:17:35 PM

Quote from: Swampy on May 27, 2026, 03:56:30 PM

Quote from: CU77 on May 25, 2026, 12:30:52 PMAt least 90% of recruiting has to do with factors that the coach has no direct control over: academics, campus culture, weather, facilities, likelihood of a championship,  etc. There's not some magic knob that a coach can turn to improve recruiting.

Perhaps. But while Princeton and ND may have some advantages, I don't see enough difference in the five things you explicitly mention (academics, campus culture, weather, facilities, likelihood of a championship) to account for Princeton repeatedly recruiting the #1 class (several years in a row with 5x5*) while we recruit #20.

This is particularly vexing because until recently we have regularly recruited generational players like Kurst, Teat, Adler, etc.

We are still recruiting potentially generational players.

The fact we still get the occasional 5-star doesn't disprove the broader point. BTW, Adler was not a big-time recruit. Nor was Pannell.

The problem is not recruiting. The problem is how well we play. We're absolutely able to beat the national champions Princeton Tigers. Do you know how I know?

Sorry, but this is cope. Can we beat Princeton? Yes. Were we as good as Princeton this season? No. We fortunately recruit well enough that we aren't completely overmatched against the top teams, and often we do beat them, but we'd beat them more often if we recruited better. Developing players is important, but the ceiling is higher on a 5-star recruit than a 3-star recruit. You'll win more by developing a 5-star. What I'm saying is so simple that it's practically tautological: bringing in better players means you win more. Yes, we can beat the teams that out-recruit us, but this is in spite of the recruiting disparity, and we'd beat those teams more often if we recruited better.

Overall our recruiting has been fine. Clearly not as good as Princeton's or Notre Dame's or UVA's or Duke's or UNC's, but it's been good enough to compete nationally. This will no longer be the case if we bring in the 20th best recruiting class every season (as we will next year). Even our 2027 ranking (11th) isn't very good, considering the class was recruited in the wake of our national title. So, we need to step it up.

I don't know what you mean by "this is cope." The young people these days speak a different English than Old Bill Strunk. This Cornell team is as good as Princeton. Our team just didn't play well. Ask any player or coach, who I think you will agree may know a thing or two about the game, maybe even more than you. I'm certain they will tell you the same.

I'm sure Cornell players and coaches would say that. Ask any impartial observer and they'd tell you Princeton was a significantly better team than Cornell this year.

If Princeton had beaten us twice, I might agree with you. But the scoreboard speaks louder than us internet experts. 

Quote from: BearLover on May 28, 2026, 12:51:31 AM

Quote from: mike1960 on May 27, 2026, 09:49:14 PM

Quote from: BearLover on May 27, 2026, 09:37:55 PM

Quote from: mike1960 on May 27, 2026, 09:17:35 PM

Quote from: Swampy on May 27, 2026, 03:56:30 PM

Quote from: CU77 on May 25, 2026, 12:30:52 PMAt least 90% of recruiting has to do with factors that the coach has no direct control over: academics, campus culture, weather, facilities, likelihood of a championship,  etc. There's not some magic knob that a coach can turn to improve recruiting.

Perhaps. But while Princeton and ND may have some advantages, I don't see enough difference in the five things you explicitly mention (academics, campus culture, weather, facilities, likelihood of a championship) to account for Princeton repeatedly recruiting the #1 class (several years in a row with 5x5*) while we recruit #20.

This is particularly vexing because until recently we have regularly recruited generational players like Kurst, Teat, Adler, etc.

We are still recruiting potentially generational players.

The fact we still get the occasional 5-star doesn't disprove the broader point. BTW, Adler was not a big-time recruit. Nor was Pannell.

The problem is not recruiting. The problem is how well we play. We're absolutely able to beat the national champions Princeton Tigers. Do you know how I know?

Sorry, but this is cope. Can we beat Princeton? Yes. Were we as good as Princeton this season? No. We fortunately recruit well enough that we aren't completely overmatched against the top teams, and often we do beat them, but we'd beat them more often if we recruited better. Developing players is important, but the ceiling is higher on a 5-star recruit than a 3-star recruit. You'll win more by developing a 5-star. What I'm saying is so simple that it's practically tautological: bringing in better players means you win more. Yes, we can beat the teams that out-recruit us, but this is in spite of the recruiting disparity, and we'd beat those teams more often if we recruited better.

Overall our recruiting has been fine. Clearly not as good as Princeton's or Notre Dame's or UVA's or Duke's or UNC's, but it's been good enough to compete nationally. This will no longer be the case if we bring in the 20th best recruiting class every season (as we will next year). Even our 2027 ranking (11th) isn't very good, considering the class was recruited in the wake of our national title. So, we need to step it up.

I don't know what you mean by "this is cope." The young people these days speak a different English than Old Bill Strunk. This Cornell team is as good as Princeton. Our team just didn't play well. Ask any player or coach, who I think you will agree may know a thing or two about the game, maybe even more than you. I'm certain they will tell you the same. 

Quote from: LGR14 on May 27, 2026, 10:01:13 PM

Quote from: Swampy on May 27, 2026, 03:56:30 PM

Quote from: CU77 on May 25, 2026, 12:30:52 PMAt least 90% of recruiting has to do with factors that the coach has no direct control over: academics, campus culture, weather, facilities, likelihood of a championship,  etc. There's not some magic knob that a coach can turn to improve recruiting.

Perhaps. But while Princeton and ND may have some advantages, I don't see enough difference in the five things you explicitly mention (academics, campus culture, weather, facilities, likelihood of a championship) to account for Princeton repeatedly recruiting the #1 class (several years in a row with 5x5*) while we recruit #20.

This is particularly vexing because until recently we have regularly recruited generational players like Kurst, Teat, Adler, etc.

Adler was a 3-star recruit when he committed.

Yes. How well a team develops players is as important, and in many cases more important, than their high school rankings.

Quote from: BearLover on May 27, 2026, 09:37:55 PM

Quote from: mike1960 on May 27, 2026, 09:17:35 PM

Quote from: Swampy on May 27, 2026, 03:56:30 PM

Quote from: CU77 on May 25, 2026, 12:30:52 PMAt least 90% of recruiting has to do with factors that the coach has no direct control over: academics, campus culture, weather, facilities, likelihood of a championship,  etc. There's not some magic knob that a coach can turn to improve recruiting.

Perhaps. But while Princeton and ND may have some advantages, I don't see enough difference in the five things you explicitly mention (academics, campus culture, weather, facilities, likelihood of a championship) to account for Princeton repeatedly recruiting the #1 class (several years in a row with 5x5*) while we recruit #20.

This is particularly vexing because until recently we have regularly recruited generational players like Kurst, Teat, Adler, etc.

We are still recruiting potentially generational players.

The fact we still get the occasional 5-star doesn't disprove the broader point. BTW, Adler was not a big-time recruit. Nor was Pannell.

The problem is not recruiting. The problem is how well we play. We're absolutely able to beat the national champions Princeton Tigers. Do you know how I know?

Quote from: Swampy on May 27, 2026, 03:56:30 PM

Quote from: CU77 on May 25, 2026, 12:30:52 PMAt least 90% of recruiting has to do with factors that the coach has no direct control over: academics, campus culture, weather, facilities, likelihood of a championship,  etc. There's not some magic knob that a coach can turn to improve recruiting.

Perhaps. But while Princeton and ND may have some advantages, I don't see enough difference in the five things you explicitly mention (academics, campus culture, weather, facilities, likelihood of a championship) to account for Princeton repeatedly recruiting the #1 class (several years in a row with 5x5*) while we recruit #20.

This is particularly vexing because until recently we have regularly recruited generational players like Kurst, Teat, Adler, etc.

We are still recruiting potentially generational players. 

Quote from: Swampy on May 23, 2026, 03:25:33 PM

Quote from: mike1960 on May 22, 2026, 02:15:54 PM

Quote from: djk26 on May 22, 2026, 02:03:08 PM

Quote from: CU77 on May 22, 2026, 01:08:35 PMVirginia fired their coach Lars Tiffany (two national championships in his ten years there) on Monday.    Rumor mill has four coaches interviewing, none named Buczek.

Does anyone have a handle on the rumors (I know that's a contradiction in terms) that the players (one player in particular) forced him out?  Or a link to a summary of such rumors?  I don't want to venture into the swamp that is FanLax Forum for this one. 

On another note, Princeton all the way this weekend, right?  No, I don't love it either but there's no way this Cornell lacrosse fan will root for Syracuse or Duke, and Notre Dame has won it all twice recently.  Plus back to back years of having an Ivy League team win it all would be good for the league.

Too bad about Tiffany. He is a great coach. He'll find a good gig elsewhere if he wants.

I have given up on lacrosse for this year after our losses. I'm still angry at how we played against Princeton and then Hopkins. There is just no excuse for how poorly we played.

How we played was so out of character that I have to presume some unknown factors (injuries?) were at work.

But I'll agree insofar as I think we need to modify our recruiting strategy with regard to a few things.

• I know star-rankings can be misleading, and we've done well with our coaches finding hidden talents. Nonetheless, we're getting far fewer 5 stars than some of our peers & main competitors (e.g. Pton, Scuse), and in some contexts the things that stand out to make a player get 5-star attention become important factors against certain defensive and offensive strategies, and the lack of 5-star depth can make a team vulnerable to injuries to key players. Even if we have some great under-the-radar players, top recruits need to be available to fill in.
• Size matters. Lacrosse is a great sport in part because smaller players can be superstars. (Think Jeff Teat, Ryan Goldstein, Rob Pannell. But often you need a Connor Buczek or Max Seibald who can bull & speed their way into scoring position. Our recruiting, training, and internal balance needs to put more emphasis on having several skilled, bigger players to complement the skilled, smaller, quick players. 
• Along with better recruiting of standout talent and paying more attention to size, should come more diverse offensive and defensive strategies. Of course, teams practice certain things, which then become their style. But in several games this year better fundamentals (namely, passing, catching, & ground balls) would have prevented turnovers. Hopefully, in future years having an indoor facility will allow more time for early season practices (including captains' practices) to rid the team of such unnecessary flaws.
  

We had the players this year to compete with anyone in this field. I don't mind losing to Princeton if we competed well. They are an excellent team. But they ran us out of our own gym the night before the big tournament. We were going nowhere after that.

Quote from: djk26 on May 22, 2026, 02:03:08 PM

Quote from: CU77 on May 22, 2026, 01:08:35 PMVirginia fired their coach Lars Tiffany (two national championships in his ten years there) on Monday.    Rumor mill has four coaches interviewing, none named Buczek.

Does anyone have a handle on the rumors (I know that's a contradiction in terms) that the players (one player in particular) forced him out?  Or a link to a summary of such rumors?  I don't want to venture into the swamp that is FanLax Forum for this one. 

On another note, Princeton all the way this weekend, right?  No, I don't love it either but there's no way this Cornell lacrosse fan will root for Syracuse or Duke, and Notre Dame has won it all twice recently.  Plus back to back years of having an Ivy League team win it all would be good for the league.

Too bad about Tiffany. He is a great coach. He'll find a good gig elsewhere if he wants.

I have given up on lacrosse for this year after our losses. I'm still angry at how we played against Princeton and then Hopkins. There is just no excuse for how poorly we played.

Quote from: CU77 on May 05, 2026, 11:51:07 PM

Quote from: CU2007 on May 05, 2026, 08:19:13 PMGenuine question since I just don't know - what did he do?

He was Cornell's head coach, and left to take the same job at Hopkins.

Some people here apparently believe that coaches are like feudal vassals pledged to their leige lords in perpetuity

The Stupendous Yappi reads minds on the internets.

Quote from: jjanow99 on May 05, 2026, 08:44:35 AMSince winning the NC last year, I no longer feel any animosity toward Tambroni. It'll take another NC before I feel the same way about Milliman.
But, yes, we ended up with the better coach.

Same here. Tambroni left during an emotional time. I read somewhere that he keeps reminders of that time in his office.

I'd like to beat Milliman 20 - 0.

I missed the game because of a family obligation. Looks like a good one to miss. How did they score 19 on our defense?

Q is better than he used to be. That is what I will say.

Quote from: jjanow99 on May 02, 2026, 08:43:57 AMPretty strong stuff here:

Cornell's taken a lot from us over the years, and there's a lot of rage built in us from that,"  Palumbo said. "And there's nothing more we wanted [than] to see Cornell. We've wanted it all season since we lost to them the first time. And when this group comes out, you're gonna see a ferocity that frankly I don't think we've seen all year."

If the team comes out with the ferocity that we saw Friday, we'll be fine.

I'd love to see Yale again for a little payback.

Quote from: CU77 on May 01, 2026, 05:51:19 PMI miss Barry 

Yep. It saddens me that he didn't call the championship year.

Nice Firth BTB! A little French pastry, as Barry used to say!