By Chris Goldberg, Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 10/1/24
Westtown School has named veteran Philly mentor Bryan McDermott as its head boys’ lacrosse coach.
McDermott has been coaching Philly schools for 30 years and recently spent 17 seasons as an assistant at Episcopal Academy.
He was at Episcopal from 2007-2023 and also was an assistant at Haverford College (2003-07). He was head coach at Tatnall School (DE) from 1997-2003 where he won two state championships and was named Delaware Man of the Year twice.
McDermott replaces Desi Gonzalez, who guided the Moose to its first Friends Schools League championship and a title in the inaugural PA Independent Schools Athletic Association tourney this May. Gonzalez was named Phillylacrosse.com’s Co-Coach of the Year after leading the Moose to a 14-5 season that included an impressive showing in the National Prep Championships when it defeated Hill Academy (Ontario).
McDermott answered these questions:
What are your short- and long-term goals for the program? McDermott: “We are smack dab in the middle of a hotbed; there is so much great competition around here. (This program) is knocking on the door and we want to take that next step. In the long term, we want to be a part of this hotbed and the goal is to play consistently against national competition.”
How has your experience helped you as a coach? McDermott: “The game has evolved and changed a ton over the past 30 years I’ve been coaching, let alone while I was playing. You have to be a life-long learner as a coach. You’re always playing against different scenarios. The rules have changed; we had a shot clock (in the Inter-Ac League), and now I go to no shot clock. However, working with and against all different people and teams has helped me to keep on top of this growth. It makes it exciting.”
What is your general coaching philosophy? McDermott: “I want all my kids to have a really good fundamental base and then build in systems and knowledge around those fundamentals so they can perform as a unit on the field. There are many different scenarios in lacrosse and I feel the sport is one of the most ultimate team games. The term lacrosse IQ is thrown all over the place; to me that’s understanding the right thing to do at the right time. You have to make changes every 5 or 10 seconds depending on your strengths and weakness and their strengths and weakness. We want to build on that fundamental base.”
McDermott played attack and midfield at Penn State. He is a graduate of Unionville High School.
Billy Hunter will be McDermott’s assistant. Hunter played on the Philadelphia Wings’ 1998 NLL championship squad and has been an assistant at Episcopal Academy and Malvern Prep. He starred as a goalie at Springfield-Delco and later at Penn State.
