Hereâs the release
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Can someone make this make sense? We fired the head coach only to hire his assistant. But we also offered Lars to stay two months ago. What did he do in the last two months to change things
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We offered Lars to extend last summer. Something about the offer he didnât like, so he sat on it for six months. When we started out horribly this season and he felt his job was in jeopardy, thatâs when he finally signed.
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Ok that part makes sense. But if we fired him based on poor performance then I donât understand why weâd hire his assistant. Feel like we have no money for lax and Cassese was fine with getting a salary increase and dealing with the lack of funds but who knows
The predominant theory is that Cassesse was preferred by an influential cabal of players parents.
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The story is that Tiffany was managed up by his assistants and they protected the players from his unevenness and outbursts.
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There is also this rumor floating around. 
(Hadnât seen that @StLouHoo referenced this rumor above)
https://twitter.com/mikejohnson_2/status/2056447065933164731?s=46&t=vkjgQUekzGC7z44tIfnIRQ
Iâve heard the assistant coaches this season were done with Tiffany and âwere talking about telling the AD they were all quitting if Lars wasnât outâ.
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Seeing a ton of lax people on Twitter shitting on Carla, saying the AD âdoesnât care about laxâ and isnât supporting the program enough.
In all honesty, lax is like MAYBE 5th on the totem pole of sports I care about and would like UVA to succeed in. If Carla is refusing to give lax more attention and funding than they proportionately bring in, thatâs just a smart move. I think some lax people have an inflated sense of its importance to the University. Itâs fun being a lax powerhouse, but Iâm fine to fall a bit behind the others if it means weâre competing in football, basketball, womenâs basketball, baseball, or even menâs and womenâs soccer.
That being said, I also donât think we will fall behind others and fully trust Carla to fund the program competitively. Just kinda funny to see people get mad at her for supporting other sports more when that kind of pragmatism and realism is actually what makes Carla a great AD. No bullshit with her, none of the UVA posturing and romanticism, doesnât put up with entitlement. I get why some donât like her but Iâm glad sheâs here.
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Couldnât agree more. Lax is way way way down the list of sports that the national audience cares about. Football, menâs basketball, womenâs basketball, baseball, softball, womenâs volleyball, possibly more than those too. I love our menâs lax program (womenâs lax is terrible to watch), but it doesnât deserve anything more than the minimum funding from the admin.
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RE: the importance of lax at UVA long term, keep in mind the SEC doesnât play lacrosse. Carlaâs #1 job is to get us out of the flailing ACC and into the SEC or B1G, and lacrosse is completely unimportant to that process.
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This is all very weird. Will be interested to see if thereâs a press conference and what questions Carla gets asked. I honestly feel like I donât have enough info to make any kind of informed assessment of whatever it was that happened here.
Not super thrilled with the hire given his track record, but who knows. Iâm assuming he impressed in interviews or something. I donât think Carla just said âYou know what player parents, youâre right - Iâll do what you want.â
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Also keep in mind that a ton of lax players commit to SCHOOLS, not programs. Professional lax isnât even a consideration for most college players. Theyâre not looking for the best team, coaches, etc, theyâre looking for the best mix of school, student life, AND lacrosse. Thatâs why the best lax schools are always the same and why theyâre always ritzy east coast PWIs with strong academicsâthose are the types of schools that attract great lax players, who tend to be wealthy white northeasterners.
All that to say UVA could attract top lax talent if a monkey was the coach, just by virtue of its legacy, vibe, and how awesome it is to be a rich white athlete at this school. That introduces cultural issues that every lax team deals with, sure. But from a recruiting standpoint, UVA will always be fine.
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Donât think recruiting will be fine now that there are uncapped amount of full scholarships. Not a lot of top recruits are going to love UVA enough to choose to pay for it vs a full ride from Duke, UNC, ND where they can get comparable degree. And if money is no concern then they will likely choose Ivy over UVA as well.
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If money is no concern, UVA is a top 5 program all time thatâs been top 5 itâs entire existence (not trending out like other historic programs Hopkins or Gtown). If we get the right guy, uva lacrosse will continue to be at or near the top
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Seems like Carla is âall inâ on Football, Menâs Basketball (distant 2nd), and Womenâs Basketball. That is probably the right strategy given the landscape, but is sad to see given the strength of olympic sports historically at UVA.
Oak was rumored to be unhappy that Womenâs basketball was getting more resources relative to baseball. He definitely left for the resources and paycheck at MSU, but he picked up the phone because he thought the AD wasnât all in on his sport.
As much as I love Football & Menâs basketball, I just hope this isnât a harbinger for soccer, swimming, tennis, etc. The breadth of UVA athletic success is one of the cool things about being a fan here.
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Iâll feel a lot better about all of it if we have another good season in football. But weâre in crisis mode if we lay an egg, especially while VT has all the momentum in the world with Franklin, while we also trend downhill in our once dominant non rev sports
Itâs unfair to compare what Carla can spend with what an SEC school can spend. Oak was always going to have more resources at an SEC school that gave a rip about baseball, I doubt thereâs a single ACC school that outspends many if any of the top-half SEC programs.
And when the school just won national championships in two non-rev sports and ACC titles in many more, really hard to suggest Carla isnât taking non-Rev sports seriously.
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Yeah this was my piece of pushback. Are we trending downward across the board in non-rev sports? Doesnât really read that way to me
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Non revs will be just fine. Baseball and softball have also gotten PLENTY in the last decade⊠Carlaâs job with raising and managing UVA money is one of the best in the country IMO. Which is mostly what her job is to do.
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