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After weeks of interviews, Stony Brook has found its next coach — and he’s pretty familiar with the area. The Seawolves will announce former Towson offensive coordinator Anthony Gilardi as their next head coach, first reported by Ty Xanders of Inside Lacrosse.

Gilardi, a native of Baldwin, N.Y., spent nine seasons as an assistant for the Tigers, including seven as associate head coach under Shawn Nadelen. He replaces former Stony Brook coach Jim Nagle, who led the team for eight seasons — including an NCAA berth in 2012 — but fell to UMBC as the top seed in the America East tournament last season.

Under Gilardi’s tutelage, Towson has produced offensive talents like Ryan Drenner, Joe Seider, Andrew Hodgson, Greg Cuccinello and Thomas DeNapoli.

He helped form the duo of Drenner and Seider, who fueled the Tigers’ run to the final four in 2017. That season, Towson scored double digits on 10 different occasions.

In 2019, the Towson offense finished 17th in the country with 12.69 goals per game, the highest mark since Gilardi arrived on campus. Senior Brendan Sunday, who had 23 points in his career leading up to 2019, led the team with 74 points last season.

As for Stony Brook, it finished last season 55th in scoring offense with 10.13 goals per game. However, the Seawolves return their top eight scorers next year, giving Gilardi and wealth of experience with which to work.

Gilardi’s previous coaching stops included Navy (where he led the Midshipmen to a Patriot League title as an offensive coordinator), his alma mater at Ohio State and Denison. Gilardi was a captain for the Buckeyes as a player and earned Academic All-Big Ten honors in 2003-2004.

According to Xanders, Duke assistant Matt Danowski and Navy defensive coordinator Ryan Wellner were finalists for the job.