Gary Gait, a former Syracuse great who helped revolutionize lacrosse, is officially the new head coach of the Syracuse women’s lacrosse team.

The Syracuse athletics department announced the hiring through a press release Monday afternoon. Gait will be introduced today by SU Director of Athletics Daryl Gross at a 12:45 p.m. press conference.

‘I am completely thrilled to have the opportunity to be back at Syracuse,’ Gait said in a statement released by SU Athletics. ‘I’m looking forward to working to take the women’s lacrosse program to the next level.’

The Daily Orange reported the hiring on July 31, but an official announcement from Gross wasn’t made until Monday.

Gait was about to start his third season as head coach of the Colorado Mammoth, a National Lacrosse League team, before Gross began showing interest in Gait coaching the women’s team at Syracuse.

The coaching spot was left open by Lisa Miller, who resigned to take the head coaching job at Harvard on June 26. Miller took the Orange to six NCAA tournament appearances in her 10 years and had a 106-53 overall record. The SU women’s lacrosse team won its first NCAA tournament game last year.

The team first met with Gait Monday morning before classes started.

‘It was casual talk,’ Syracuse attack Katie Rowan said. ‘We didn’t talk much about lacrosse. We just introduced ourselves. I am very excited. I’ve only heard wonderful things about him.’

As an athlete, Gait led SU to three Division I championships from 1988 through 1990 and set a school record with 192 goals. A three-time first team All-American, Gait also holds a single-season record of 70 goals in 1988.

Gait has experienced success in every facet of lacrosse, winning championships in box, field, international and women’s lacrosse. Gait spent nine seasons as the women’s assistant coach at Maryland (1994-2002), winning seven straight NCAA championships.

‘We continue to bring the best coaches we can find in the world to Syracuse University,’ Gross said in the statement. ‘Gary has proven that he is one of the best. His being a huge part of seven NCAA titles as a coach at Maryland is remarkable and speaks volumes for his credentials. To have the greatest player to play the game who has had success at every level of coaching leading our program is extraordinary.’

Syracuse attack Kristin Brady is friends with former Maryland players Courtney Hobbs and Sascha Newmarch, both of whom already shared with her personal insight about Gait.

‘They said he was the best coach they ever had, and he was a very big part winning the national championships,’ Brady said. ‘They said he was an innovative coach. I could tell in just 15 minutes with him that he was innovative.’

Jen Adams, the associate head coach at Maryland and a former Maryland player, saw Gait’s innovation as the main component to the Terrapins’ success. She remembered him immediately showing an understanding of how to apply his experience with the men’s game without disrupting the nuances and style of the women’s game.

It didn’t take long to see the results.

‘He sometimes played against us,’ Adams told The Daily Orange in July. ‘He earned that level of respect. He’d grab a women’s stick, and it gave us a sense that he understood where we were coming from. He’d have five girls running around trying to check his stick.’

Gait and his twin brother, Paul, came to Syracuse from British Columbia, Canada, and brought a different flair to lacrosse with flashy stick skills and a knack for scoring with ease. He invented the ‘Air Gait,’ a move that involved jumping over the crease behind the goal, scoring in mid-air and then landing on the opposite side of the crease. Both Gaits were inducted into the U.S. National Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2005.

Syracuse head coach John Desko, who was an assistant coach for SU when Gait played, acknowledged he had a role in the selection process once the head coaching spot became vacant.

‘As an old coach and friend, I told him we’d be excited for him to consider it,’ Desko told The D.O. in July. ‘If it worked out, it would be interesting for him to come here again.’

The Gait brothers arrived at SU after former coach Roy Simmons Jr. offered them scholarships without seeing them play lacrosse. He knew how Canadians’ experience in box lacrosse made some players see the field game as an offensive clinic.

That became the case for the Gait brothers. Simmons Jr. knows Gary’s name recognition and his continued reinvention will make his coaching stint at SU another chapter in a storied career.

‘When it comes to lacrosse, Gary’s name is on the tip of everyone’s tongue,’ Simmons Jr. said in the statement. ‘It’s like magic in this game. Because of that, when he’s recruiting young ladies out of high school, there isn’t one that won’t give the Syracuse program a look.’

Published on August 27, 2007 at 12:00 pm