Disqus - Latest Comments for Rusty_Papagiorgio

Re: New T-shirt Series: Bro Academies

Rusty_Papagiorgio — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 15:26:34 -0000

Bishop Kelly - Boise, ID

Broseph Kelly

Re: Daily Cheese: Boathouse Revolution

Rusty_Papagiorgio — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 16:49:40 -0000

Wowza!

Re: Daily Cheese: Top 5 NLL Plays O’ The Week

Rusty_Papagiorgio — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 12:01:49 -0000

Starting up some box action back here in Boise. I can see why Munro thought this would benefit the field game so much.

Re: The Politics of Lacrosse

Rusty_Papagiorgio — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 15:51:06 -0000

#3 is huge. Well done.

Re: Daily Cheese: Jamie Munro Talks Recruiting

Rusty_Papagiorgio — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 23:01:12 -0000

That's all he preached. All day, ever drill, it was box.

Re: Vandal Shots Week 12: Tropical D-Unit

Rusty_Papagiorgio — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 09:35:39 -0000

Seriously. It got up to 49 in Boise the other day, and I almost broke out the banana boat.

Re: The Cajun’s Corner: Support For Lacrosse In Louisiana

Rusty_Papagiorgio — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 09:24:50 -0000

I was part of a program that started up in 1999 and faced a lot of the challenges that you just discussed (save the money issue, a lot of my teammates were pretty well off). We will officially start our 12th season next month, and are now more entrenched in to our school’s culture than some of the long standing varsity sports at the school. Here’s what we did:

1. Persistency – Every year we were told we couldn’t do certain things (use certain fields, practice at certain times, have more than one squad, receive money from the school’s boosters, etc). Every year we came back and asked again. Eventually the school got the idea that we weren’t going away, and it might be easier to have a positive relationship with us.

2. Like Connor said, keeping your nose clean is a huge issue. When you’re the new kid on the block, every bad thing you do gets magnified. It’s important for the coach to make sure that his players are representing the lacrosse program with class while they are at school.

3. Recruitment – Our school has just 640 students. In some years we’ve had as many as 60 boys and 60 girls involved in the lacrosse program. When 20% of your student body participates in something, you can’t ignore it anymore.

4. Get Involved – Many of our kids are in student government, many others volunteer to help with school fundraisers, participate in other clubs, etc. When your guys become noticeable participants in campus life, it lends credibility to everything that they do, including lacrosse.

In 1999 we weren’t allowed to practice at our school. Now we have three fields to work with, access to the scoreboard, access to the PA system, access to the weight room all year long, and access to the school gym during the winter. We can even pull our kids out of school for a day to go recruit junior high players, or leave early for a travel tournament. It’s a long road, but if you follow Dr. Lou’s mantra of “Do what’s right and do your best”, you'll get there.

Re: Dr. Lou On Lax, Part 1

Rusty_Papagiorgio — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 19:16:52 -0000

Between this and the earlier post on playing tough, this might be one of the site's best content days.

Re: Defining Toughness In College Lacrosse

Rusty_Papagiorgio — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 13:14:20 -0000

I just e-mailed this to every one of my players. Great work.

Re: Day 1 In Baltimore & Big News From US Lacrosse

Rusty_Papagiorgio — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 09:23:06 -0000

Jealous...wish I was there.

Re: Connor Wilson Must Dye: Maryland Edition

Rusty_Papagiorgio — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 16:56:17 -0000

I'm going to need a Woozle goalie head...stat.

Re: Lax Link-O-Rama

Rusty_Papagiorgio — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 12:50:24 -0000

Trivia for the week. Jac Coyne refs high school games over here in Boise.

Re: Best Tracks of 2009 & Noteworthy Memories

Rusty_Papagiorgio — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 16:19:12 -0000

Growing up goalie, my left hand still leaves something to be desired. How about taking care of that in 2010.

Re: Winter Workout Survival Guide

Rusty_Papagiorgio — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 13:00:24 -0000

- Guy who doesn't wipe the sweat off any of the benches he uses.

- Guy who does yoga in the middle of the free weights area.

- Guy who still uses the portable CD player instead of an iPod (stole that one from a comedian).

- Guy who spends more time asking other people if they need a spot than doing his own lifting.

Re: That’s thirty minutes away. I’ll be there in ten.

Rusty_Papagiorgio — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 19:10:08 -0000

I know I'm a couple of weeks late to this party, but thought I would get my two cents in.

First, not sure how my name came in to this, but to make things easier for everyone, Rusty = Blake. Both because of my game, and because I like the movie Vegas Vacation.

Second, I agree with Mike that Boise State is certainly on the rise. A team with "no commitment", as boiselax puts it, would not have been able to pull out a victory over Montana like the Broncos did last spring.

That said, I don't think the key to Boise State's future success lies with an attitude shift in high school coaches. The faceless boiselax is right about one thing, the recruiting of BSU is very slim. In the four years that I have been at BK I have received one e-mail regarding any interest in any of my players from the Boise State staff. This e-mail was regarding a number of my seniors, and was sent during their senior season. By that time, most of my guys had already solidified their college plans. I was pleased to see BSU initiate contact, but it was quite a bit late.

In my opinion though, this isn't Boise State's primary problem. We have two types of potential college players in the Treasure Valley Lacrosse League. The first are guys like Cody Hart, Luke Kannor, Deke Jackson, Brian McDonagh, and more recently Alex Williams and Joe Eck. Everyone knows they have a chance to play at the NCAA level. They are likely going to choose the school they attend based on the chance to play NCAA lacrosse, and BSU isn't going to snag any of them. I realize Williams chose Chapman, but they're one of the closest things you'll get in the MCLA to an NCAA program.

The second is the good player who isn't interested in making lacrosse their top priority in college, or don't quite have the skills to make NCAA. These are the kids that Boise State has the best shot at, but unfortunately, they often choose their college based on factors outside of BSU's control. I'll throw myself in to the good but didn't have NCAA skills category, and use my situation as an example. I chose the University of Utah for the following reasons: 1. A girl (turned out to be a good bet, as she's now my wife), 2. Skiing (7 resorts within an hour, none of which I ended up ever having time for), 3. Big city (wanted to experience a bigger area). Were those all good reasons? No, but I was 17, and a lot of 17-year-old kids think in a similar fashion. Furthermore, while none of those reasons are a knock against Boise State, Boise State didn't have much of a chance of overcoming them.

Don't place the blame on high school coaches. I will go to bat for just about any coach in this league and say that they're not actively working against the Broncos. If BSU wants a chance at area recruits they need to start getting themselves to high school practices and making their pitch. Their outreach has been minimal. In 2002 I was getting at least one e-mail or phone call a week from Mason Goodhand, and that certainly helped solidify my interest in the Utes. That kind of attention can be very influential on a junior in high school.

Re: Lou Holtz US Lacrosse Preview

Rusty_Papagiorgio — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 13:50:09 -0000

I don't think they're bringing him to the convention to talk about breaking down a football game. The guy compiled a career NCAA Division 1 coaching record of 249-132-7. He was 13-8-1 in bowl games. He never took over a winning program, but always turned it around.

From a motivational standpoint, I don't know that it gets any better than Holtz.

Re: In Amherst for the Coldest Winter

Rusty_Papagiorgio — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:45:26 -0000

It kills me that Utah isn't consistently in the Top 20 anymore. That program was on the rise for a good five years, and now it's like they don't exist.

Re: 412 Lax in Wonderland

Rusty_Papagiorgio — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 16:30:07 -0000

In high school I played against a team that used a 4 man screen as their standard offense. They would set up in the 1-4-1, with a dodger up top, a man to back up the shot, and four guys to stand there covering their crotch. It was tough as a goalie, but rougher on my d-men, who had to take more shots to the back in one game than they did the rest of their careers combined.

Re: Early Christmas For Coach

Rusty_Papagiorgio — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 16:06:09 -0000

BK is Black and Kelly Gold (not yellow). White is a universal color (everyone wears white jerseys), and the black will be adequately represented.

Re: IMLCA Convention Day 3

Rusty_Papagiorgio — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 00:19:28 -0000

Once again, I NEED to get out there next year. A December 2010 without a trip to Baltimore will be chalked up as a personal failure.

Re: IMLCA Convention Day 1

Rusty_Papagiorgio — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 17:58:04 -0000

I need to get myself to this convention next year.

Re: From The Sidelines: Chapman Lacrosse

Rusty_Papagiorgio — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 11:27:05 -0000

"Coach doesn't even know I'm flipping right now.".....classic

Re: Connor Wilson Must Dye: Miami Edition

Rusty_Papagiorgio — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 13:53:02 -0000

"think" you're a creeper Kraig?

Re: The Emperor’s New Clothes

Rusty_Papagiorgio — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 11:24:26 -0000

The "Knights" reversible unis are from the high school I coach in Boise. We haven't purchased those, but ever since we ordered some shooters from elevation three years ago, they've been using our logo on mock ups. It's pretty flattering, and a great advertising strategy. I'm already trying to convince our treasurer to spring for those next year.

Re: Blast From The Past

Rusty_Papagiorgio — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:20:22 -0000

That Conan piece just made my day. Haven't laughed like that in a bit.