Less than a week after Navy and Harvard fired their men’s lacrosse coaches, Fairfield announced Wednesday that coach Andy Copelan is stepping down after 11 seasons.
Copelan, who led the Stags to an 87-78 record and a pair of Colonial Athletic Association regular-season titles, has accepted a position as the boys’ lacrosse coach and major gifts officer for athletics advancement at Greenwich (Conn.) Country Day School. The 2015 CAA Coach of the Year called it a family decision.
In addition to the vacancies at Navy, Harvard and now Fairfield, two other current Division I coaches — Holy Cross’ Peter Burke and Quinnipiac’s Mason Poli — were tabbed as interim replacements to their predecessors. Both were relatively successful. Holy Cross was 7-7, the first time in 31 years the Crusaders did not finish with a losing record, and qualified for the Patriot League tournament. Quinnipiac, whose former coach was fired amid a hazing investigation, finished 9-7 after advancing to the MAAC championship game.
Fairfield is coming off of a 5-9 season in which it went winless in the CAA. Copelan was previously an offensive coordinator at Maryland (2006-2008) and head coach at Marist (2004-2005).