Sports

New SBU Men's Lax Coach is Former Ward Melville Standout

Jim Nagle replaces Rick Sowell as head coach.

Welcome home, Jim Nagle.

Stony Brook athletics director Jim Fiore announced Monday that Nagle, a former Ward Melville standout, will replace Rick Sowell as the Seawolves' men's lacrosse head coach. Sowell resigned earlier this month to become the head lacrosse coach at Navy.

Nagle grew up in Stony Brook and earned All-County honors in 1988, the year Ward Melville went 24-0 and won a state championship. He spent the past 10 years coaching at Colgate and built an 86-64 record, including an 11-5 mark in 2011 and a win over eventual NCAA runner up Maryland.

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He leaves Colgate as the winningest coach in school history, taking "coach of the year" honors in the Patriot League twice. Colgate finished the 2011 season ranked twelfth in the USILA Coaches Poll.

Fiore described Nagle as a competitive, passionate coach.

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"With the hiring of Jim Nagle, we have brought in a highly experienced,
respected and motivated head coach, a Suffolk County native and son of the
Three Village community," Fiore said in a statement. "Coach Nagle is committed to
continuing to build Stony Brook University men's lacrosse into a national
power."

Nagle, who becomes the sixth men's lacrosse head coach in the team's 29-year history, said he has watched Stony Brook's lacrosse program "grow immensely."

"I grew up in Stony Brook, and I know how much lacrosse means to the university, the Three Village community, and to all of Long Island," he said in a statement. "I am excited to take over what is an already strong men's lacrosse program and continue to build its national profile."

Nagle will be formally introduced at a 3 p.m. press conference set for Tuesday at the university's Goldstein Family Student-Athlete Development Center.


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