Harkins’ Consistency Orchestrates Growth at FSU
By Dan Delagrange (CollegeLAX News Intern)
As the Florida State Seminoles enter the 2010 season, they do so with a target on their collective back. Things haven’t always been this way.
Since 2003, the defending champions of the SELC have made an impressive run from the depths of obscurity to the ranks of the MCLA elite. Head Coach Bill Harkins has been the catalyst behind the rise to prominence in Tallahassee.
Before Harkins’ arrival at Florida State, the ‘Noles had never been ranked higher than No. 35 in any MCLA poll. “It was a program in shambles,” said Harkins. “There was talent, but no direction.”
Since then, FSU has won two SELC conference titles, 94 games and has made five trips to the MCLA National Championship tournament. The humble Harkins credited the Seminoles’ aforementioned talent as being key to the team’s ascent to this success. “The steady coaching helped, but it wouldn’t have gone anywhere without the talent,” stated Harkins.
Harkins sees this talent and the fast-paced brand of lacrosse employed by the Seminoles as advantages held over opponents. “Our biggest strength this season is our speed…how fast we play the game,” added Harkins.
Despite the abundance of talent and sound coaching at Florida State, Harkins recognizes the difficulty associated with the kind of exponetial improvement seen at FSU. “Everybody in the MCLA has gotten better,” said the coach.
If one were to trace Florida State’s surge to the top of the SELC to one attribute, consistency would be a good place to start. According to FSU Assistant Coach Matt Waesche, Harkins’ coaching style and philosophy haven’t changed since taking the reins as head coach.
“During his whole tenure here, Coach has always worked hard, been organized, and been passionate about his players ‘honoring the game’…playing the game the right way has always been a big point of emphasis for Coach Harkins, and that hasn’t changed for him at all during his time here,” said Waesche.
“If he’s coaching 20 years from now, that will still be the biggest thing he emphasizes—honoring the game by playing it the right way all the time,” added Waesche.
The ‘Noles face a very tough schedule that includes ’09 national tournament invitees Boston College, Chapman, Cal Poly, Texas and Virginia Tech. Not to be forgotten are two contests against bitter rival Florida, to whom FSU lost last season.
“The Florida State-Florida rivarly is extremely intense,” said Waesche. “In addition to all the history between FSU and UF, a lot of our players have been competing with or against players from UF their whole lives, and I think that familiarity really adds an additional layer to that rivalry that you don’t get in a lot of other rivalries.”
Last year, FSU’s 17-3 season ended in a close loss (9-8) to national semifinalist BYU in the second round of the MCLA National Championship tournament. The Seminoles were picked as the SELC’s No. 1 team in a recent preseason poll of the conference’s coaches.
If the ‘Noles are to trudge through their schedule unscathed and with an invitation to nationals, the consistent dedication, game-planning and talent from players and coaches alike will be crucial.
Considering what Harkins has done as FSU’s man in charge, there’s a good chance his team will do just that.
January 15th, 2010 at 8:35 am Internet Explorer 6.0 Windows XP
Actually, FSU was ranked as highly as 18 during the 2003 season. We started 8-1 that year, unfortunately dropping our last four. We finished the season ranked 26.
http://www.laxpower.com/update03/other/ccr05.php
This team was not devoid of success. Four of the five losses were by one goal including two overtime games.
January 28th, 2010 at 7:12 am WordPress abc
[...] It is also with great pride that I announce that FSU Men’s Lacrosse has received the Ace Adams Sportsmanship Award for 2009 for the Southeast. All schools with lacrosse programs are eligible for this award, including all DI, II, II, MCLA, and high schools. This award is presented by US Lacrosse and was to be presented to me at the recent national convention. Unfortunately, I was unable to travel at that time. I would like to thank Sonny Pieper for nominating us for this award and Eric Rudolph for endorsing the nomination, as Eric’s endorsement was necessary in order for to us win. It is interesting that both men are referees and that I have had good and bad patches with each of them. I believe that they are able to see through our differences of opinion and understand that at FSU, although far from perfect, we are trying to do the right thing. I would also like to thank Dan Delagrange, for the kind words in his most recent article for CollegeLax. [...]
January 28th, 2010 at 5:38 pm Internet Explorer 8.0 Windows XP
Haha. Visitors to this story should note that Hugh Nunn was the former FSU Lax coach. I played under both Nunn and Harkins. Nunn was an idiot. Didn’t know anything about the game. Harkins brought the program to another level. He was smart, but more importantly, tough. He expected a lot from the players, and he let you know if you weren’t getting it done. Generally speaking, he was a great coach. Five years removed from FSU Lax and I can still remember four important words from the Harkins era: “Shut Up And Play.”