Raiders boys lacrosse team welcomes new coach
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
M.V. Whitlow jumped into coaching while he was still playing, and he has thrived as a coach since his playing days ended.
Whitlow brings a wealth of championship experience to The Hun School, where he is the new boys head coach.
”It’s gone well,” said Whitlow, who takes over for Don Green, who moved on to Robbinsville High School where he is a school guidance counselor and head coach. “We’re working real hard and laying a pretty good foundation to move the program forward and create victory.”
Chief among Whitlow’s priorities is bringing a cohesiveness to the team and to a program that has had four new coaches in the last five years. Whitlow comes from The Lawrenceville School, where he focused on the defense for the last 10 years as the Big Red won each Prep A state title during his tenure as an assistant coach.
Whitlow was head coach at St. Joseph’s Montvale prior to his stint at Lawrenceville, and he was named New Jersey Lacrosse Coach of the Year for the Risk Division in 2001. He started his coaching career at The Peddie School after graduating from Delaware, where he was a top defenseman for legendary coach Bob Shillinglaw. Whitlow was the North Atlantic Conference Defenseman of the Year in 1992, and he was a part of the Philadelphia Wings team that won the World Championship in 1995. Hun is the third Mid-Atlantic Prep League school that he is coaching.
”I know the league pretty well and have pretty good awareness of all the schools,” Whitlow said. “Hun’s a great place to be. The experience has been great for me so far. I’ve been impressed with how hard the student-athletes are working.”
The Raiders will open their season next Thursday when they host Springside Chestnut Hill. It will be the first chance to see how this year’s group reacts in an official game under its new coach.
”It’s a mixed group, but we are young in some spots,” Whitlow said. “We only have six seniors. They’re a young, hard-working group. The team is really coming together.
”My players have really bought in,” he added. “They’re doing the right things. We’re young in some spots. We see progress every day in practice.”
It helped that they took a trip together over their spring break to Scottsdale, Ariz. That helped the team to adjust to Whitlow’s style and demands while facing their first competition together.
”We went on a great spring trip to Scottsdale, Ariz.,” Whitlow said. “We did a lot of team development. We played some teams out there. Lacrosse in Arizona is growing, as it is nationally. We scrimmaged some teams in controlled scrimmages, and we did a lot of team building, a lot of character building and team building. All the goals that were set forth for the trip were not only achieved but exceeded.”
Whitlow has seen his new team absorb his teaching. He is trying to mold them into a unit that will be tough to stop.
”I like to change my philosophy to coach to my team’s talents,” Whitlow said. “I like to play an aggressive style. We like to get in transition and run when we can. We like to play very solid, fundamental team defense. We like to play an attacking style of offense.”
More than the X’s and O’s of playing, Whitlow is working to establish the underlying features of any success program and its players.
”It’s not just skill fundamentals,” he said, “but the fundamentals of being a real cohesive team on the character side of things, and the fundamentals of execution and decision-making that go into creating victory.
”Overall, the real sense of the spirit of what we’re doing is we’re really trying to create an environment of team unity and really trying to develop a strong understanding of not just skill fundamentals but good lacrosse decision-making fundamentals that go into creating victory.”
While Whitlow worked with the defense at Lawrenceville, he is focusing on the offense at Hun. After coaching a lot of defense, he understands what works on offense.
”This is my 21st year coaching,” he said. “I have a pretty good body of work. I’ll certainly have a hand in the defense, but I have some very good coaches on the defensive end that are doing a good job.”
Assistant coaches Steve Bristol and Matt Mason round out his coaching staff, and they are helping to shape the Raiders. Defenseman Greg Flood and midfielder Zach Bicho are team captains.
”They’ve been excellent in helping me transition in as the new head coach,” Whitlow said. “I can’t ask for more buy-in and hard work on my players’ part right now.”
Whitlow knows that the results may not come overnight. The Raiders were 7-11 last year, but played their best games at the end of the season. They will face another tough MAPL and non-conference schedule.
”My sense is that it’s a great league, and there are great traditions,” Whitlow said. “They’re looking forward to trying to compete with everybody. There are a lot of good players and a lot of good teams. We’ll try to put our best foot forward.
”I’ve known the Hun School for a long time. I’ve always respected their competitive ethic. In this group of players, I’ve been extremely impressed by their level of commitment and effort and committing to be real team guys and doing the work and executing the fundamentals.”
Whitlow is looking to see development daily, and to help build the Raiders program that is only four seasons removed from going 14-1.
”It’s a new start for me, but it’s not a new start for Hun,” he said. “We want to have a strong sense of who we are, and we’re going to define success on our own terms.”

