New boys’ lacrosse coach brings wealth of success
By: Justin Feil
If Eric Kemp could win by osmosis alone, the new Hun School head boys’ lacrosse coach would be in great shape. He’s enjoyed the experience of working for two of the winningest coaches in the game. He’d settle for a little of their success to rub off on the Raiders.
Following an All-America career plus a year as a graduate assistant at Middlebury, Kemp worked at Washington and Lee for head coach Jack Emmer for two seasons. From there he went to Massachusetts as an assistant to Dick Garber for three seasons.
Just over two weeks ago, Emmer’s Army team defeated Holy Cross to give Emmer his 300th career win, equaling Garber, who retired in 1990 and has since passed away.
"It’s really interesting that I’ve coached for two of the winningest coaches in the country," Kemp said. "They were very different. Jack Emmer was very disciplined. Dick Garber was a basketball coach. He was a UNLV running style; he just let the kids play. Jack is more disciplined and aggressive. I’m a little of both. That’s how I view the game. That’s hopefully my style."
Kemp’s collegiate coaching experience wasn’t just about riding the coattails of two of country’s best coaches. He helped make their programs better.
"At UMass, I started their recruiting program," Kemp said. "I was able to recruit three-time World Team goalie Sal LoCascio, who’s considered the best goalie to ever play the game. I coached Greg Cannella, who’s now the head coach at UMass. I’ve coached Mike Pressler, who’s now the head coach at Duke University."
In his final collegiate coaching job, Kemp stood down the sidelines from current Princeton University head coach Bill Tierney, who was then an assistant at Johns Hopkins. Kemp is adjusting now to the high school lacrosse scene, which has changed considerably since he was a collegiate coach to his delight.
"The number of teams has doubled," Kemp noted. "It’s a lot of fun to be a part of that. It’s doubled the interest in the sport. I can remember I went to 20 schools in New Jersey when I was recruiting. Now there’s over 100 and there’s youth teams. This area is great to be in. All our kids are day students. They’re all local."
Kemp would like to continue the influx of local talent as he looks to build the Raiders program. He takes over for Greg Raschdorf, whose Hun squad went 10-7 last season while Kemp was serving as an assistant coach at Lawrenceville. Kemp brings a wealth of experience at the next level to his Hun debut against the Big Red 4p.m. Wednesday.
"You can bring concepts from college to high school," he said. "You can bring in different schemes and ideas."
To that end, Kemp points to assistant coaches Jonathan Stone, who he assisted with basketball this winter, junior varsity head coach Chris Lehmann and his assistant Francois Bourbeau.
"I try to give my assistants as much responsibility as I can," Kemp said. "I let Jon head the offense. I tried to teach the staff as much as I can so we’re all on the same page. I’ve talked to the middle school coach, too. I hope we can be a school where we can run some of the same stuff in middle school. There should be similar concepts for five years for the kids.
"The most appealing thing about this job is developing a program, and being able to bring in post-graduates. It’s a great area for that."
Kemp is enjoying his first head coaching job. It’s something new in that it’s an opportunity to oversee all aspects of the program and put his signature on it.
"It’s good for me to see both sides," Kemp said. "I’ve always heard that every defensive coordinator is a frustrated offensive coordinator. It’s fun for me to work with the offense. It’s nice to be involved in both."
At Middlebury, Kemp was most frequently a frustration for opposing offensive coordinators. He earned first-team All-America honors as a defenseman. He was captain and a two-time most valuable player for Panther teams, a first-team All-New England player and played on three Eastern College Athletic Conference champion teams. At a time when there was only one division for men’s lacrosse, Kemp, who also played football at Middlebury, played in the Division I North-South game.
After so many years at the highest level of collegiate lacrosse as a player and coach, it’s also a bit of an adjustment to work on building a high school program. Kemp has high expectations for the program, and he’s working to establish the roots of a solid program this season.
"Jon keeps telling me that these are only high school kids," Kemp said. "It’s different from college. Being a college coach, you’re devoting 10 to 12 hours a day just to that, to scouting teams, evaluating talent. You’re on the cutting edge of the game. Washington and Lee was perennially in the top 10. UMass was always in the top 20. You’re thinking lacrosse all the time.
"It is an adjustment, but you’re still working on the same fundamentals. You’re just working on the fundamentals more with high school kids."
And after serving under two of the sport’s all-time great coaches, Eric Kemp brings plenty of winning fundamentals to the Hun boys’ lacrosse team.