“I’ve forced myself into very uncomfortable positions,” brand new head coach of the Philadelphia Wings being one of them, Ian Rubel is a three-time NLL Champion and a Constable Instructor in the training unit for the Niagra PD.

He’s a low-key bad ass.

He’s the only new head coach heading into the 2024-25 NLL season.

Rubel joined the Philadelphia Wings as the Defensive Coach prior to the Wings return to Philadelphia in 2018 and was promoted to Head Coach ahead of the 2024-25 season after General Manager Paul Day stepped away from coaching.

His playing career saw him patrolling the back end for the Columbus Landsharks, Toronto Rock, Minnesota Swarm and the Rochester Knighthawks. With the Toronto Rock, Rubel played on three championship teams; 2002, 2003, and 2005. Along the way he also represented Canada in a Heritage Cup game.

As a use of force and ground tactics police instructor, Rubel pushes himself daily outside of lacrosse to become a better communicator and teacher, skills that have helped him become a better coach.

He recommends the Blood Sworn Trilogy of fantasy novels by John Gwynne.

Listen to Season 1 of Coaches Calls wherever you get your podcasts.

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The World Lacrosse Box Championships are upon us. Every four years since 2003, the world has come together for this tournament, in which Canada has never lost a game, let alone a gold medal. The tournament has swelled to 28 teams, ranging from Puerto Rico to Poland, Hungary to Hong Kong, and Australia to Austria.

But none of these nations would be here if it weren’t for the Haudenosaunee.

The people who created this game for the Creator. The people who view lacrosse as more than just a game or sport; it is a way of life—the medicine game. A celebration of health, strength, courage, fair play, and spirituality, as stated by the Haudenosaunee Nationals.

This is a game from which they were once banned from international competition—a game they created and continue to exemplify with some of the most creative and electrifying superstars in the sport today. Still their participation in the 2028 Olympics remains a possibility, not a certainty.

So what lies ahead? What can we control right now? That’s the World Box Championships.

In this tournament, the Haudenosaunee have finished second all five times, earning five silver medals, including a heartbreaking one-goal overtime loss to Canada in 2007.

The lacrosse world would love nothing more than to see a Haudenosaunee gold medal. It would be more than validation; we already know how skilled and entertaining they are to watch, and they’re the fan favorites at these tournaments. For General Manager Landon Miller and the Haudenosaunee Nationals, it would mean an inspirational story for every Indigenous person from coast to coast about what is possible.

He’s the General Manager of the Haudenosaunee, the man who helped construct the roster that will represent them in their quest for a gold medal. We’ll discuss the weight of that gold, who he chose to represent the team, and what kind of lacrosse they need to play.

He’s an expert team builder and manager, having won four Minto Cups in a decade with the Six Nations Arrows. He assisted Curt Styres in managing the Rochester Knighthawks' historic three-peat—the only three-peat in NLL history. When the Philly Wings relaunched in 2018, one of Paul Day’s first calls was to Landon, seeking his expertise in building that expansion team in a crucial NLL market.

Landon is also a revered business leader—President, founder, and advisor of many successful and groundbreaking ventures. In 2016, he opened the largest free-standing Tim Hortons on First Nations territory in Canada, which was considered one of a kind for being Native owned, operated, and situated on Native soil.

We’ll discuss his business experience and how he manages teams off the lacrosse floor in this episode.

Raised in Six Nations, Landon now lives in the beautiful Westbank First Nation in the Okanagan.

Purchase; The Power of Your Subconscious Mind by Joseph Murphy

Support; Haudenosaunee Nationals Lacrosse

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Glenn Clark returns! This time to talk about coaching Team

A tournament where Canada has never lost a game, and has won all 5 gold medals. Glenn Clark has been a part of almost all of them as a player or coach. We’ll talk about Canada’s responsibility to exemplify lacrosse at the highest level, educate developing nations and grow the game all the while chasing gold and the perfect record. We’ll also talk about roster construction and the players selected to represent their nation.

Since the last time we spoke, Clark won another Les Bartley award for NLL coach of the year and GM of the year after leading a young Albany team to the NLL Finals with an energetic and entertaining brand of lacrosse. We’ll talk about their magical run as well as thoughts on the recent PCLC dispersal draft.

Thanks for listening.

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Walt Christianson is Head coach of England’s men’s box lacrosse team.

And though current NLL fans might faintly only recall his 48 games coached in the National Lacrosse League over 3 seasons, he’s a hugely influential legend of the game that needs to be talked about.

We talk a lot about the Les Bartley coaching tree. But what about the Chris Hall coaching tree? Island style! There might be no stronger limb or branch than Walt Christianson.

Chris Hall, the NLL Hall of Fame head coach who won NLL championships with two different teams and helped West Coast Canadians like the Gait brothers head south to the NCAA for the first time, is one of the greatest minds the game has ever seen.

Walt played with and for Chris Hall. He coached with and against Chris Hall. They were neighbors, friends, and when Chris Hall passed away in 2014, it was Walt who announced the Chris Hall scholarship fund at his service.

A two-time Mann Cup winning player with the Victoria Shamrocks. And a two-time Mann Cup champion coach with the Victoria Shamrocks.

A student of the game who didn’t find lacrosse until he was 19 – to one of the greatest teachers of the game for countless players from Victoria and beyond.

A retired school teacher at Vic High, he now mentors and coaches coaches literally worldwide as the head coach of England’s national box team. A role he inherited from… Chris Hall.

A love of basketball connected them and influenced both their lacrosse coaching methods, and we’ll talk about that on this episode.

We’ll talk about where England lacrosse is at on the world stage, how players travel hours for 6-hour marathon practices on Sundays and only Sundays.

Walt’s 3 seasons in the NLL were short but wild. Those San Jose years had rookie Matt Vinc, goalie Paul Dawson, young Ryan Boyle, kinda still prime Colin Doyle, and a handful of players that paved the path for the 2010 championship team.

He’s coached Gaits, Dawsons, Crawfords, Jenners, and left an indelible mark wherever he’s been.

We’ll talk about his greatest moments, his biggest challenges, and his vision for the future of lacrosse.

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The main definition of extroversion is simply gaining energy from engaging in social interactions. People who are high in extroversion get energized and refreshed from certain interactions. That’s definitely how I felt after this next conversation, and I hope it’s how you’ll feel too.

Darryl Gibson brings the energy! As the offensive coach for the Albany FireWolves, he helped lead the youngest and smallest team in the NLL to the finals in 2024. It was a magical season and one of the best single-season turnarounds in NLL history, with an 8-win increase year over year.

His approach is super current, always evolving, and even a

Energy, pace, experimentation, and how about FUN? We’ll talk about how he got that gig, his expectations, and what makes him the right fit to help take Jamaican lacrosse to the next level.

Gibson played 12 seasons in the NLL as a shutdown defender. From Albany, San Jose, Arizona, Chicago, Minnesota, Buffalo, he won 2 championships with the Toronto Rock under Les Bartley. He’s another one of over

His son Tyson is now an NLL champion with Colorado, and we’ll talk about how raising a number one draft pick and rookie of the year helped keep his coaching approach fresh and relatable to the young guys in the league.

We’ll get deep into his offensive principles in this episode

Thanks for listening.

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Reilly O'Connor is a good dude. He's a great teammate. He's mentally tough. He's a leader, and he's the Head Coach of the Toronto Beaches of the Ontario Junior

He walks the walk as a coach. The actions match the words, so much so that he's also still a player in the National Lacrosse League with the new Ottawa Black Bears.

He's also-also a coach with Beast Athletics in Toronto and its offshoot Leadership Project.

Dude is a full-timer. And it's super important to note that Reilly O'Connor's life is lacrosse, leadership, and coaching. Helping people get better.

He's a seven-year NLL vet, played college lacrosse at Georgetown off a recommendation from Brodie Merrill, he won two Minto Cups with the Whitby Warriors, he's also the youngest guest I've had on this podcast so far. He's 31. And we'll talk about how being that close to today's game – he's still playing today's game –

He will be a coach in the National Lacrosse League when his playing days are done.

On this episode, we talk about the differences in preparing for a game as a coach versus a player, knowing when to push someone to go harder, and the skills that

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"Champions are never satisfied.” That's the mindset of

Dietrich is relatively new to coaching and devours film to

His eye for talent, knack for seeing several steps ahead,

In this episode, we discuss his unique approach to scouting, how to welcome new talent to the Bandits while chasing a three-peat, and how he transformed the culture from the big, bad Bandits that no one wanted to play

Managing the league's flagship franchise since 2012, they've appeared in the NLL Finals five times, winning twice. Dietrich has won the GM of the Year award on three occasions, only the second GM in history to achieve

He played 18 seasons in the NLL, was a four-time All-Pro,

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Paul Dal Monte has done everything in the sport of

3-time Minto Cup champion as a player with the hall of

3-time Mann Cup champion as a player with the New West Salmonbellies.  

3-time Minto Cup champion head coach with the hall of

3-years as the first and only head coach of the Vancouver

Current WLA Commissioner. 

All while building a successful career as an executive

A life-long dedication to growing the game and elevating

On this episode we explore the makings of dynasties and

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Welcome to NLL semifinals weekend!

Only four teams remain: Albany will play San Diego, and in the time-honored tradition of the best rivalry in lacrosse, Toronto will host Buffalo.

On this week’s podcast: Rusty Krueger. He is the offensive coordinator for the Toronto Rock and also the head coach of the Orangeville Northmen in the Ontario Junior Lacrosse League. Krug Dog, one of the most renowned offensive minds in the game, joined the Rock coaching staff in 2021. Prior to that, he served as an assistant coach with the Buffalo Bandits.

We often talk about coaching trees in sports, and I always like to trace back the lineage of who guys learned their styles and philosophies from. Well, when you’re from Orangeville, the answer is usually Terry Sanderson, but it’s also the guys you surround yourself with. Josh and Phil Sanderson, the Merrill Brothers, Matt Sawyer, and Troy Cordingley, who is there now, but Rusty Kruger is also a name synonymous with Orangeville lacrosse. He’s cut from the same cloth and has brought a tradition of excellence, a give-back mentality, and a will to win everywhere he’s played and coached.

As a player, he won an NLL championship with the Rock in 2005 and played 11 seasons total in the NLL. He’s won 6 Minto Cups as a player or coach – that has to be close to if not a record – as a player with Orangeville in ’93, ’95, and ’96 and as a coach in ’08, ’09, and 2019. One of the great captains in Northmen history, he also once sucker-punched Jake Elliott in the chin – so that’s not something a lot of guys can put on a resume. And all-around beauty, really.

On this podcast, we take a look at this weekend’s semi-final series against the Buffalo Bandits, what makes Orangeville lacrosse so successful, some of his offensive principles, and striking a balance between structure and creativity.

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It's playoff eve!

On this bonus episode of Coaches Calls, we preview the highly anticipated 2024 NLL Playoffs with exclusive highlights of conversations with the 8 NLL head coaches still competing for the NLL Cup.   

Insights, strategies, expectations and philosophies from Matt Sawyer (Toronto Rock), Mike Hasen (Rochester Knighthawks), Patrick Merrill (San Diego Seals), Tracey Kelusky (Panther City Lacrosse Club), Glenn Clark (Albany Firewolves), Mike Accursi (Halifax Thunderbirds), John Tavares (Buffalo Bandits), and Ed Comeau (Georgia Swarm).  

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