The Toronto Rock are the most famous lacrosse team in Canada.

25 years of history. 6 Championships. The NLL Hall of Fame is bursting with their alumni. A deep rooted tradition of lacrosse excellence.

It means a lot to coach the Toronto rock. The coach of the year award is named after their first coach, Les Bartley.

Only 9 people have done it. And only 6 people have been invited back for another season.

Now entering his 7th season – no one has done it longer than Matt Sawyer.

A career winning percentage of over .600, Sawyer has guided the team to the NLL East Division Final in 4 of his 6 full seasons. Hailing from Orangeville, Ontario, Sawyer is a 3-time Minto Cup Canadian Jr. A Champion as a Head Coach and 2-time Minto winner as a player all with the Orangeville Northmen. He served as an assistant coach in the NLL in Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto, and got his first head coaching gig with the Boston Blazers in 2011. During the summer he coaches the Oakville Rock of Major Series Lacrosse to keep his feet wet.

Matty does not like talking about himself. You’ll hear throughout this chat that one of his philosophies, and one he got from the late Terry Sanderson is to surround yourself with good people and to credit team above all else. He has a world class bench in Toronto with Rusty Krueger and Bruce Codd and he’s a great connector and someone who helps people get better.

On this podcast we discuss his approach to using video, how to get the most out of slumping players, lazy players and one of the game’s all time greatest players.

Follow on X @BradChall

And email [email protected]