Inside Lacrosse Podcasts

PLL analyst Joe Keegan joins Inside Lacrosse's Dan Kaplan and Kevin Brown to set the stage for the 2023 PLL title game between the defending champion Waterdogs and the high-powered Archers. Can the Waterdogs repeat? Will the Archers become the league's fourth title winner? From comparing overarching storylines to discussing coaching strategies and the impact of injuries, this is a must-listen.

Inside Lacrosse's Dan Kaplan and Kevin Brown welcome on both PLL championship game head coaches in Waterdogs' Andy Copelan and Archers' Chris Bates. From their thoughts on the underlying storylines with the Waterdogs' repeat bid and the Archers getting over the semifinal hump to explaining different coaching choices throughout the season, this podcast is a must listen. Bates' Archers and Copelan's Waterdogs play for the PLL title on Sept. 24 at 3 p.m. in Chester, Pa. on ABC.

Because of his unique perspective on the field as a goalie, Jacksonville coach John Galloway joins IL's Terry Foy for the 13th installment of the "How Recruiting Works" Series and they begin by discussing Galloway's evaluative criteria at each position on the field. From there, they transition into discuss how recruiting is impacted by two of the most significant hallmarks of the program — its unique location and its rate of bringing in transfers.

The 12th installment of the "How Recruiting Works" series, Boston U coach Ryan Polley joins IL's Terry Foy to discuss the first 11 years of recruiting to the Terriers (and how he managed to find so many good players — hint: he valued hands and didn't concern himself as much with size), how he's had to protect his recruits from being poached (and cope with losing others) and how he's managing a "salary cap" and success.

Now that the "How Recruiting Works" series has heard from a coach of a team in each of the 10 men's DI lacrosse conferences, IL's Terry Foy opens the doors to coaches from other programs with unique recruiting situations. First up? Harvard and Gerry Byrne.

Whether it was how he helped promote the program or his method of talent acquisition while at Notre Dame, Byrne made a name for himself as a pitbull on the trail. Now with four years under his belt in Cambridge, how similar are his tactics and in what ways has he adjusted his strategy?

Vermont head coach Chris Feifs joins for the 10h installment of the series in which IL's Terry Foy tries to answer question, "How does recruiting work?"

Representing an America East program, the series now includes a coach from one of each of the 10 conferences in men's Division I lacrosse. Feifs threw down the gauntlet in preparing for the conversation, saying that the Catamounts' recruiting strategy is "vanilla." The discussion proved to be anything but, starting with UVM's unique appeal to Canadians, how their methods have evolved with the program's success, how he frames Burlington and more.

The 2022 PLL Championship MVP Michael Sowers joins the PLL Happy Hour Podcast to talk about the Waterdogs' quest to repeat as league title winners as Matt Kinnear, Dan Kaplan and Kevin Brown set the stage for the Quarterfinal round at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.

Providence head coach Bob Benson joins for the ninth installment of this month's series in which IL's Terry Foy tries to answer question, "How does recruiting work?"

Heading into his second recruiting cycle leading the Friars, Foy starts by (jokingly) confronting Benson on a core aspect of their friendship that is both true and overblown — that because he worked for two coaches who handled such a significant percentage of the recruiting burden, he wasn't involved. From there, they discuss how Benson values athleticism vs. IQ, what he's learned about what attracts prospects to Friartown and much, much more.

Drexel coach Brian Voelker joins for the eighth installment of this month's series in which IL's Terry Foy tries to answer question, "How does recruiting work?"

Foy starts by asking Voelker whether, among programs that have won an NCAA Tournament game in the last decade, Drexel's recruiting strategy is the biggest outlier. Voelker says yes, and from there, they discuss why and how, and eventually get to one of the aspects of Voelker's experience that most informs how he conducts his recruiting strategy: his son went through the process.

Iona coach Chad Surman joins for the seventh installment of this month's series in which IL's Terry Foy tries to answer question, "How does recruiting work?"

The newest program in Division I, Iona is a member of the MAAC located in New Rochelle, N.Y., just north of New York City. Surman explains how he went from Le Moyne to Salisbury to Lehigh to Mercer — ultimately becoming the Bears' head coach — to Manhattan before getting tapped to lead the startup program in the fall of 2022. He's bringing in 17 members of the Class of 2023 for a Year Zero before they begin competition in the spring of 2025.