By Chris Goldberg
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 10/4/10
Malvern Prep has named David Metzbower, former Princeton University associate head lacrosse coach and Haverford School assistant, as its new head lacrosse coach, Malvern Athletic Director Kurt Ruch announced today.
“Excited is an understatement,” said Ruch. “We are very lucky to have someone
of Coach Metzbower’s vast experience and wealth of knowledge. In addition, his connections to the college coaching world will pay dividends for our scholar-athletes as they strive to compete at the next level.”
Metzbower – a 1986 Delaware graduate who was an assistant there from 1987-89 – served as an assistant coach at Princeton from 1990-2009 under the legendary Bill Tierney. He was associate head coach at Princeton from 2004-09, and during that time he was the Tigers’ offensive coordinator and goalie coach.
Metzbower, who resides in nearby Devon, was an assistant under John Nostrant at Haverford School last year. He is also the president and co-founder (with Nostrant) of Gold Medal Lacrosse Recruiting, located in Wayne. The agency helps families navigate the college selection process and educated players and families about the recruiting process.
Recently, it was announced that Metzbower and Nostrant were starting a club program in conjunction with Gold Medal Recruiting. Now, the two old friends and business partners will be huge rivals.
“Its funny; we’ve talked about it a couple times,” Metzbower said of his friend and new rival. “Like in the college world, you have good friends and you, unfortunately, have to play them.
“You hate them for 60 minutes on the field, and then you move on.”
The Friars were co-champions of the Inter-Ac league last year with Haverford School. And both times the teams met, Malvern Prep – coach by Dan Keating – prevailed.
Metzbower said the goal is first to win the Inter-Ac.
“The goal stays the same: win the Inter-Ac,” he said. “And you want to try to play the best competition within the state. Unfortunately, we cant play in the PIAA, but we want to try and play the top teams and get national and state-wise recognition.
“Like in college, the first goal was to win the Ivy League and then worry about the next step.”
Metzbower – who turned down the chance to succeed Tierney as the Tigers’ head coach when he left for Denver in 2009 – said coaching at the major college level is not much different from the high school level.
“I don’t think much is different,” he said. “In fact, you go back to more basics, helping the kids to eliminate mistakes and have great fundaments. That’s how you win games.”
Metzbower’s list of accomplishments at Princeton are extensive. He worked with Princeton’s top four career point scorers and top five goal scorers. He coached 22 first-team All-Ivy League attackmen, four of whom were named league player of the year.
Metzbower, a graduate of Loyola Blakefield in Baltimore, coached three first-team All-American goalies and six USILA national award winners for being the best at their position. During his tenure the Tigers won 14 Ivy League championships, made 10 NCAA Final Fours, eight NCAA finals and won six NCAA championships (1992, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998 and 2001).
Keating resigned a month ago to pursue an assistant coaching job at Lehigh University.
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