Dave Pietramala (born 1967) is the defensive coordinator for the Syracuse University Men's Lacrosse team and the former

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

for the Johns Hopkins University Men's Lacrosse team. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest defensemen in lacrosse history, and is a member of the U.S. Lacrosse Hall of Fame. He is the only person to win a men's lacrosse NCAA national championship as both a player and coach, and the only person to be named both player and coach of the year.

Playing career

Born in

Hicksville, New York Hicksville is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) within the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York. The population of the CDP was 41,547 at the 2010 census. History Valentine Hicks, son-in-law of abolitionist an ...

, he went to St. Mary's High School. Pietramala chose to attend

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...

at the advice of his father, George, who wanted him to play for the lacrosse powerhouse. Dave Pietramala stated that he originally intended to go to the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

: "I loved Coach ick/nowiki> Edell and loved Maryland ... I grew up a huge basketball fan and they had

Len Bias Leonard Kevin Bias (November 18, 1963June 19, 1986) was an American college basketball player who attended the University of Maryland. During his four years playing for Maryland, he was named a first-team All-American. Two days after being selec ...

Keith Gatlin Keith Larnell Gatlin (born December 23, 1964) is an American basketball coach and former professional player who is an assistant coach for the High Point Panthers. He was one of the best players of the high school class of 1983, and committed to ...

and

Lefty Driesell Charles Grice "Lefty" Driesell (born December 25, 1931) is a retired American college basketball coach. He was the first coach to win more than 100 games at four different NCAA Division I schools, Driesell led the programs of Davidson College, ...

. I thought it was all set. I was going to Maryland." At Hopkins, Pietramala was a member of the 1987 National Championship team. He won the Schmeisser Award as the nation's top defenseman in 1988 and 1989 and the 1989 Enners Award as the nation's top player. He was also named a first-team All American three times while at Hopkins. Pietramala also played at the club level for the storied

Mount Washington Lacrosse Club The Mount Washington Lacrosse Club is an amateur field lacrosse club based in Baltimore, Maryland. As one of the most successful and well-known lacrosse clubs in history, at one point it dominated the sport at both the collegiate and club level. Th ...

in the 1990s, the professional level for the

Pittsburgh Bulls The Pittsburgh Bulls were a member of the Major Indoor Lacrosse League from 1990 to 1993.They were based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The National Lacrosse League would return to Pittsburgh in 2000 with the Pittsburgh CrosseFire, but the team woul ...

in the

Major Indoor Lacrosse League The National Lacrosse League (NLL) is a men's professional box lacrosse league in North America. The league is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The NLL currently has fifteen teams: ten in the United States and five in Canada. The N ...

, and nationally for the United States Men's National Lacrosse team. He won two world championships in the International Lacrosse Federation World Championship, was named All-World in both 1990 and 1994, and ''Best and Fairest Player'' (MVP) in 1990. In addition to these awards, Pietramala was named to the NCAA Silver Anniversary Team in 1995, the All-Time Johns Hopkins Team, and Lacrosse Magazine's All-Century Team. He was inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2004.

Coaching career

After 1991, Pietramala took jobs as an assistant coach at

Gilman School Gilman School is an all-boys independent school located in the Roland Park neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland. There are three school divisions: Lower School, grades pre-kindergarten through five; Middle School, grades six through eight; and Up ...

, the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

, and Loyola College before returning to Johns Hopkins as its defensive coordinator in 1995. In 1998 he took over the head coaching job at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

, where he was named the national

Coach of the Year Many sports leagues, sportswriting associations, and other organizations confer "Coach of the Year" awards. In some sports — including baseball and association football — the award is called the "Manager of the Year" award. Some of the ...

in 2000. In 2001, he took the head coaching position at his alma mater, where he revitalized the Hopkins program. In his 20 years at the helm, the Blue Jays had a 207-93 record, 18 NCAA Tournament appearances, six NCAA Final Four appearances, National Championship game appearances in 2003 and 2008, and the 2005 and 2007 National Championships. In April 2020, after the 2020 season was cut short by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, Johns Hopkins announced that they had mutually agreed to part with Pietramala, ending his tenure as the head coach. Pietramala joined the coaching staff of

Boys' Latin School of Maryland Boys' Latin School of Maryland is an all-boys, university-preparatory school located in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1844, it is the oldest independent, nonsectarian secondary school in the state of Maryland. The school is divided into Lower, ...

in the spring of 2021, assisting on the defensive side of the ball and coaching his two sons, Dominic and Nicholas. An up and down regular season gave way to a hot playoff streak that saw the sixth-seeded Lakers win the MIAA A Conference championship, defeating Archbishop Spalding in the finals. On Monday, June 14th, 2021, it was announced that Dave Pietramala would be joining the Syracuse University coaching staff, led by

Gary Gait Gary Charles Gait (born April 5, 1967) is a Canadian retired Hall of Fame professional lacrosse player and currently the head coach of the men’s lacrosse team at Syracuse University, where he played the sport collegiately. On January 24, 2017, ...

, as their defensive coordinator for the spring 2022 season. The unification of this tandem gives the Syracuse coaching staff, arguably, the best offensive and defensive players in the history of the sport.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pietramala, Dave Johns Hopkins Blue Jays men's lacrosse players Johns Hopkins Blue Jays men's lacrosse coaches Syracuse Orange men's lacrosse coaches Cornell Big Red men's lacrosse coaches 1967 births Living people Mount Washington Lacrosse Club players People from Hicksville, New York Sportspeople from Nassau County, New York Lacrosse players from New York (state) Lacrosse defenders High school lacrosse coaches in the United States Penn Quakers men's lacrosse coaches Loyola Greyhounds men's lacrosse coaches