Dave Pietramala

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Dave Pietramala
Biographical details
Born1967 (age 5758)
Hicksville, New York
Playing career
1986–1989 Johns Hopkins
Position(s)Defenseman
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1990 Gilman (Md.) (assistant)
1991 Johns Hopkins (assistant)
1992–1993 Penn (assistant)
1994 Loyola (assistant)
1995–1997 Johns Hopkins (DC)
1998–2000 Cornell
2001–2020 Johns Hopkins
2022–2023 Syracuse (DC)
2024– North Carolina (DC)
U.S. Lacrosse Hall of Fame
Inducted in 2004

Dave Pietramala (born 1967) is the defensive coordinator for the University of North Carolina men's lacrosse team and the former head coach for the Johns Hopkins University Men's Lacrosse team. He also served as the DC for the Syracuse University Men's Lacrosse team. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest defensemen in lacrosse history, and is a member of the U.S. Lacrosse Hall of Fame. He is the only person to win a men's lacrosse NCAA national championship as both a player and coach, and the only person to be named both player and coach of the year.

Contents

Playing career

Born in Hicksville, New York, he went to St. Mary's High School. Pietramala chose to attend Johns Hopkins University at the advice of his father, George, who wanted him to play for the lacrosse powerhouse. Dave Pietramala stated that he originally intended to go to the University of Maryland: "I loved Coach [Dick] Edell and loved Maryland ... I grew up a huge basketball fan and they had Len Bias, Keith Gatlin and Lefty Driesell. I thought it was all set. I was going to Maryland." [1]

At Hopkins, Pietramala was a member of the 1987 National Championship team. He won the Schmeisser Award as the nation's top defenseman in 1988 and 1989 and the 1989 Enners Award as the nation's top player. He was also named a first-team All American three times while at Hopkins. [2]

Pietramala also played at the club level for the storied Mount Washington Lacrosse Club in the 1990s, [3] the professional level for the Pittsburgh Bulls in the Major Indoor Lacrosse League, and nationally for the United States Men's National Lacrosse team. He won two world championships in the International Lacrosse Federation World Championship, was named All-World in both 1990 and 1994, [4] and Best and Fairest Player (MVP) in 1990. [4]

In addition to these awards, Pietramala was named to the NCAA Silver Anniversary Team in 1995, the All-Time Johns Hopkins Team, and Lacrosse Magazine's All-Century Team. [2] He was inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2004. [5]

Coaching career

After 1991, Pietramala took jobs as an assistant coach at Gilman School, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Loyola College before returning to Johns Hopkins as its defensive coordinator in 1995. In 1998 he took over the head coaching job at Cornell University, where he was named the national Coach of the Year in 2000. [5]

In 2001, he took the head coaching position at his alma mater, where he revitalized the Hopkins program. In his 20 years at the helm, the Blue Jays had a 207-93 record, 18 NCAA Tournament appearances, six NCAA Final Four appearances, National Championship game appearances in 2003 and 2008, and the 2005 and 2007 National Championships. [2] [6]

In April 2020, after the 2020 season was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic, Johns Hopkins announced that they had mutually agreed to part with Pietramala, ending his tenure as the head coach. [7]

Pietramala joined the coaching staff of Boys' Latin School of Maryland in the spring of 2021, assisting on the defensive side of the ball and coaching his two sons, Dominic and Nicholas. An up and down regular season gave way to a hot playoff streak that saw the sixth-seeded Lakers win the MIAA A Conference championship, defeating Archbishop Spalding in the finals. [8]

On Monday, June 14, 2021, it was announced that Pietramala would be joining the Syracuse University coaching staff, led by Gary Gait, as their defensive coordinator for the spring 2022 season. The unification of this tandem gave the Syracuse coaching staff, arguably, the best offensive and defensive players in the history of the sport. [9] [10] He inherited a defense that was one of worst at Syracuse and struggled to dramatically improve the squad. During his short tenure, the Orange defense could stop opponent's best option but allowed secondary scorers to thrive. [11]

Just after one season at Syracuse, Pietramala left for UNC to join Joe Breschi's staff. [12] [13]

Head coaching record

Statistics overview
SeasonTeamOverallConferenceStandingPostseason
Cornell Big Red (Ivy League)(1998–2000)
1998Cornell 6–74–23rd
1999Cornell 7–64–2T–2nd
2000Cornell 10–45–12nd NCAA Division I first round
Cornell:23–17 (.575)13–5 (.722)
Johns Hopkins Blue Jays (NCAA independent)(2001–2014)
2001Johns Hopkins 8–4 NCAA Division I quarterfinals
2002Johns Hopkins 12–2 NCAA Division I semifinals
2003Johns Hopkins 14–2 NCAA Division I runner-up
2004Johns Hopkins 13–2 NCAA Division I semifinals
2005Johns Hopkins 16–0 NCAA Division I champion
2006Johns Hopkins 9–5 NCAA Division I quarterfinals
2007Johns Hopkins 13–4 NCAA Division I champion
2008Johns Hopkins 11–6 NCAA Division I runner-up
2009Johns Hopkins 10–5 NCAA Division I quarterfinals
2010Johns Hopkins 7–8 NCAA Division I first round
2011Johns Hopkins 13–3 NCAA Division I quarterfinals
2012Johns Hopkins 12–4 NCAA Division I quarterfinals
2013Johns Hopkins 9–5
2014Johns Hopkins 11–5 NCAA Division I quarterfinals
Johns Hopkins Blue Jays (Big Ten Conference)(2015–2020)
2015Johns Hopkins 11–74–1T–1st NCAA Division I semifinals
2016Johns Hopkins 8–73–2T–2nd NCAA Division I first round
2017Johns Hopkins 8–73–2T–2nd NCAA Division I first round
2018Johns Hopkins 12–53–2T–2nd NCAA Division I quarterfinals
2019Johns Hopkins 8–83–2T–2nd NCAA Division I first round
2020Johns Hopkins 2–40–0Season canceled due to COVID-19
Johns Hopkins:207–93 (.690)16–9 (.640)
Total:230–110 (.676)

      National champion        Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion        Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion      Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

References

  1. Keith Mills, Petro's Life Lessons Archived 2010-12-04 at the Wayback Machine , Press Box Online, March 8, 2007.
  2. 1 2 3 "Dave Pietramala". Hopkins Sports. December 8, 2017.
  3. Md. falls just short of Mt. Wash. in South final, 11-10, Baltimore Sun, June 13, 1993, retrieved May 26, 2010.
  4. 1 2 "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 16, 2007. Retrieved March 3, 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. 1 2 "Dave Pietramala HOF Biography". Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved March 3, 2007.
  6. Vasudevan, Anish (March 10, 2022). "Dave Pietramala's journey to becoming 'synonymous' with Johns Hopkins lacrosse". The Daily Orange . Retrieved September 2, 2023.
  7. "Johns Hopkins, Dave Pietramala Mutually Agree to Part Ways". USA Lax-Magazine. April 14, 2020. Retrieved July 14, 2021.
  8. Graham, Glenn (May 21, 2021). "Boys' Latin seniors key 9-8 win over Spalding for MIAA A lacrosse crown". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved June 15, 2021.
  9. Lee, Edward (June 14, 2021). "Ex-Johns Hopkins coach, player Dave Pietramala joins Syracuse men's lacrosse coach Gary Gait's staff as defensive coordinator". Baltimore Sun . Retrieved June 16, 2021.
  10. "Gait Taps Pietramala as Assistant Coach". Syracuse University Athletics. June 15, 2021. Retrieved June 16, 2021.
  11. Vasudevan, Anish (July 9, 2023). "Syracuse assistant Dave Pietramala departs to UNC". The Daily Orange . Retrieved September 2, 2023.
  12. "Pietramala Joins Men's Lacrosse Staff". University of North Carolina Athletics (Press release). August 28, 2023. Retrieved September 2, 2023.
  13. DeJohn, Kenny (July 10, 2023). "Dave Pietramala to Join Joe Breschi's Staff at North Carolina". USA Lacrosse Magazine . Retrieved September 2, 2023.