Lafayette men’s lacrosse coach Jim Rogalski is leaving to become an assistant at Michigan under new Wolverines coach Kevin Conry, sources have confirmed with US Lacrosse Magazine.
Lafayette announced Wednesday that Rogalski has resigned and that assistant coach Ed Williams will be the interim head coach for the 2018 season. The sources confirmed an Inside Lacrosse report that he is headed to Michigan.
Rogalski, who led Division III Scranton to its first NCAA tournament appearance before taking over for Terry Mangan at Lafayette, went 14-54 in five seasons as the Leopards’ head coach. He also spent six seasons on the coaching staff at Rutgers, preceded by additional stops at Drexel, Washington & Lee, Goucher, Western New England and St. Mary’s (Md.), his alma mater.
Lafayette, which competes in the Patriot League, has had just six winning seasons in its 91-year history and has finished above .500 just once (2010) in the last 33 years. With the exception of an occasional upset — like the Leopards’ 9-8 win over Navy on March 11, just their second victory over the Midshipmen in 18 all-time meetings — Lafayette has struggled to gain traction in one of the nation’s toughest conferences.
Michigan started 8-1 last season before faltering down the stretch in Big Ten play, ending with five straight losses against teams ranked in the top 15 nationally. Conry, the defensive coordinator for Maryland’s first NCAA championship team since 1975, was hired to replace John Paul, the architect of the Wolverines’ widely celebrated move from club to varsity status in 2012, on June 21.
Rogalski presumably will be the defensive coordinator at Michigan. Conry decided to retain offensive coordinator Conor Ford.
Lafayette, coming off of a 2-12 season, will be the fifth Division I team with new leadership in 2018, joining Canisius (Mark Miyashita), Cornell (Peter Milliman), Delaware (Ben DeLuca) and Michigan. The university had previously announced that assistant coach Mike Terranova left to become head coach at Division II Chestnut Hill.