PU assistant is also pro player
By: Bob Nuse
After graduating from Johns Hopkins University in June, Shawn Nadelen had hopes of getting into coaching lacrosse. At the same time, he hoped he would be able to continue his playing career as well.
Just a few months later, Nadelen has been able to enjoy the best of both worlds.
This past summer he was a defenseman for the Baltimore Bayhawks of Major League Lacrosse. The 22-year-old, who had reached the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament with Johns Hopkins in the spring, helped Baltimore reach the championship game during the first year of MLL play.
Once the MLL season was over, Nadelen took a big step in his coaching career, landing a job as the second assistant under Bill Tierney at Princeton University. And along with his coaching at Princeton, Nadelen is also in his first playing professional indoor lacrosse for the New Jersey Storm of the National Lacrosse League. The Storm dropped to 1-8 this season with a 17-15 loss to the Philadelphia Wings on Sunday, but Nadelen is enjoying the chance to play and coach.
"This is a great situation with Coach Tierney," said Nadelen second-team All-America as a senior at Hopkins. "Being the second assistant, I don’t have the responsibility of Coach Tierney and Coach Metzbower. It gives me the flexibility to be able to play and practice with the (Storm). Coach Tierney is in full support and I’ve picked up a lot from him telling me about his old playing days. He’s been able to give me pointers."
For now, Nadelen is ecstatic about being able to both play and coach. The indoor season will end just in time for the start of the college season. The Tigers, who won the national championship a year ago, will open at Johns Hopkins on March 2. It will be a quick homecoming for Nadelen.
"That will be interesting," said Nadelen, whose next home game for the Storm will be Feb. 8 at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford. "I knew when I got the job here that the first game would be against Hopkins. And we’ll be playing down there."
For the past four years beating Princeton had been on the top of the agenda for Nadelen. Now, it will be helping Princeton beat teams like Hopkins that will be his No. 1 priority.
"I was a little hesitant there for about a minute because I didn’t know I would feel after having been die-hard Johns Hopkins for four years," said Nadelen, who was a captain for the Blue Jays last year. "Now I’m on the other side. Coach (of Johns Hopkins Dave) Pietramala has been very supportive of me as well. He’s explained to me that this is the way it works with coaching. This is a great place form me to get started."
For a while it looked like Nadelen wouldn’t land a coaching job, especially this one. But a fortuitous afternoon in Baltimore this summer helped him land the job at Princeton.
"I had applied to a couple different places in July and wound up not getting the positions," said Nadelen, who is now living in Plainsboro. "I started thinking about whether or not I wanted to pursue other different coaching positions.
"After a summer league game, I was playing with the Baltimore Bayhawks, we were playing against the Pride down in Baltimore and Trevor (Tierney, the former PU goalie) was playing for the Pride. Coach Tierney was there and I talked to him afterwards and he said he heard I was looking for a position and that he might have one opening up."
Now Nadelen juggles his time between coaching and playing. The Storm are in their first year and Nadelen has made an impact for the team. He started the season on the practice squad, but was promoted last month and has a pair of goals already this season. He’s also enjoyed learning from the variety of players in the league.
"A lot of the guys are older, some of them are 32 or 33 and have been in the league for a long time," Nadelen said. "They have a lot of experience playing the indoor game. And they’ve also played outdoors. There are a lot of guys that just want to keep on playing.
"Everybody uses a short stick. I was a midfielder in high school and my first year at Hopkins. So I had used a short stick my whole life. I think it really helped me know how to play defense with a short stick."
For the long term, Nadelen is looking towards a career in coaching. But he also know how long he’d like to continue his playing career.
"As long as I can do it," he said. "I really want to get into coaching and learn all there is to learn. But I would also like to be able to keep playing as long as I can. I think it helps to keep the passion going. I also think it will help me with my coaching because I’ll be exposed to more styles and coaches.
"I’m learning so much working with Coach Tierney and Coach Metzbower. I’ve had the chance to learn so many defensive styles over the years. And now I’m learning from one of the best."
And at the same time, he’s enjoying the best of two worlds coaching and playing.