Ravens lax coach has experience
By Justin Feil, The Packet Group
Jim Buchanan never saw a lacrosse game until he was a freshman at Kean University, and he showed his inexperience — and his football roots — in his first game.
”I actually tackled a guy,” Buchanan said. “I remember looking up at the coach and saying, what? I played linebacker. I literally knew nothing.
”I was pretty fast and I could play good defense. That’s what got me in the games early. As I got more and more familiar with the ball in the stick, I did pretty well for myself.”
Buchanan hasn’t stopped playing since then. He went on to play in a semi-pro league that was popular before there was a professional league, and he’s taken on every possible role in the game, including assistant coach and referee. He will try his hand as the head coach of the Robbinsville High School boys lacrosse team this spring.
”I’ve coached youth programs in the past,” Buchanan said. “I used to coach at Freehold Township. I played pretty much the last 35 years. I’m also an official. It’s not like I don’t know the game. I’ve seen it from a coaching perspective and an officiating perspective and player’s perspective.”
Buchanan raised eyebrows with his Ravens team when he showed up with his lacrosse gear to help demonstrate examples of what he wants.
”I’m 53 years old, and they see this guy has his gloves and helmet and wonder, what’s he thinking?” Buchanan said. “They see some old gray-haired guy running around making some catch and throws. If I can do it, they should be able to do it.
”It’s been a lot of fun, but I have a lot of things I want to tell them and I don’t know how much I can let loose with and not overwhelm them. There’s a process of me figuring out what is there lacrosse IQ is and how much can I give them.”
Buchanan takes over for Chris Penna, who led the Ravens to a 12-6-1 record last season. Three of Robbinsville’s losses came against Notre Dame. It was the third consecutive season that the Ravens’ win total has increased, and Buchanan would like to see that progress.
”It’s very interesting to inherit a program and try to institute a new philosophy and system,” Buchanan said. “There’s certainly not enough hours in the day, but so far, so good. I have a great bunch of seniors and a couple underclassmen that are pretty talented. We had our first scrimmage and things appear to be good.”
Buchanan is cautiously optimistic as his team adjusts to the changes. He’s also adjusting to the move in-land.
”I’ve been involved in the Shore Conference for quite some time,” he said. “I know the teams in that division. Coming up here, it’s all new to me.”
It’s also new to his assistant coach, Dave Lisooey. The two have been friends since they played on the same summer league team in the late 1970s.
”We won a couple championships together,” said Buchanan, who was a defensive middie. “One thing we’ve hoped we could do was coach together. When this opportunity came, this all came at the right time and right place. Dave played at Franklin and Marshall. He played football and lacrosse. He’s a really, really smart guy.”
It was going to take the right fit to get them to move out of their area of familiarity. They found it at Robbinsville, a school that has growing sports teams, the desire to improve, a well run youth program to feed into it, and plenty of talent emerging. When he met with Robbinsville administrators, he wanted to know that they had the same vision he did.
”I really would like to build a legitimate program like Summit, like Mountain Lakes, where the youth program and the high school work in tandem,” Buchanan said. “The program that’s there, it’s very popular. I spoke with the coach at New Egypt (Jay Corby), and Jay said something like, I go to Robbinsville and I see their youth program and I see 50 kids coming out with their sticks to play. The Robbinsville youth program, it’s being run very well by Mike Langford. The kids that I have, he’s had them since third grade, so their skill level is up there. It’s definitely something to work with for sure. I’m excited.
”Most of the times in the past, I’ve gone in and helped with the basics and wondered if I could inherit a program with talent,” he said. “I feel like this is the opportunity.”
Buchanan knows how important lacrosse has been to his life. It was through the lacrosse grapevine that his name was mentioned as a candidate for Robbinsville.
”That’s the thing about this sport,” Buchanan said. “You form this brotherhood and they never go away, they’re always there.”
Buchanan is hoping that he can guide a group of young men that will try to make their own special playing memories this spring. He’s looking forward to the start of the season March 31 at Penn Charter, a private school in Pennsylvania.
”I do have a couple kids that look pretty promising,” Buchanan said. “When you play the game and the chips are down, that’s really when you find out what you have.”
The Ravens have a veteran defense and an offense that is starting to figure out Buchanan’s approach.
”I’m trying to get them to understand, it’s about six guys moving together vs. one guy with the ball doing whatever,” Buchanan said. “That’s a tough one to get across. I was a defensive midfielder in college. I know when I played against those teams where everyone was moving, it was a big pain. It was mentally draining. So I said to myself, I want to be that annoying team, how can I teach that? That’s my objective, to get them thinking as six guys moving as one. Whether I can accomplish that or not is a good question.”
The Ravens and Jim Buchanan are learning about each other together, and trying to figure out just how it will all work to make this season as good as it possibly can be.
”We had our first scrimmage and it was promising,” Buchanan said. “I also saw a lot of things that have to be cleaned up, but there’s not a whole mess. It’s more like some fine tuning has to occur. Plus, I want to look at every single kid and see what they’re capable of and who belongs where.”

