Ready and Able

After he emerged from a fast-forward first few months in which he handled scheduling and myriad other duties, he found joy, as he had hoped, taking to the field each spring afternoon and sharing the team experience with the young men and coaches in the lacrosse program.

 

Little did he know that after just one season, he’d become the head coach when Andrew Stanley, who’d held the post since 2005, stepped away to focus on his duties as athletic director following Karen Doxey’s retirement.

 

“Andrew has done an amazing job getting so many kids involved with lacrosse,” said Schroeder, who served as a varsity assistant. “I took the job at Collegiate because I wanted to be on the athletic director path, but the more I got into coaching, the more I enjoyed it. Obviously, being the head coach within one year wasn’t in the plan. It’ll be a challenge, but I’m excited about it.”

 

Lacrosse is part of the Schroeder family DNA. Zack’s dad John played at the University of Massachusetts, his brother Brendan also at UMass, and his brother Nick at Limestone University (Gaffney, SC).

 

A native of Long Island and graduate of St. Anthony’s High School, Schroeder twice earned All-Catholic High School Athletic Association honors as a long stick midfielder. After his final season, he was selected CHSAA long stick midfielder of the year.

 

He played as a postgraduate at the Naval Academy Preparatory School in Newport, RI, then started for three years at his position of choice at the Naval Academy. Injuries curtailed his college career but taught him valuable lessons.

 

“I had to learn to be more of a leader off the field than on it,” he said. “I had to focus on (a) getting healthy and (b) helping the guys who were stepping into my role get ready to play.”

 

After graduation, Schroeder served five years in the Navy, then landed a job as a fuel pricing manager for Empire Petroleum Partners in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. During his time in Texas, he coached club lacrosse.

        

“I always liked sports,” he said. “When I started coaching again, the itch came to keep doing it and work with teams and learn more about coaching and building culture.”

 

In the ensuing years, he earned a graduate degree in sports administration from the University of Miami (FL), then moved into support roles in the men’s lacrosse program at the University of Maryland and later the Naval Academy.

 

If he learned anything from his military experience – and he learned plenty – it’s discipline, organization, attention to detail, and time management, skills that have served him well and will continue to as he adds “program leader” to his already full job description.

 

“I’m sure there’ll be challenging moments,” he said, “especially when we’re in season and scheduling is what I do from the AD side. I’ll need to make sure I’m communicating with our coaches about their schedules. In the spring, we get a ton of bad weather, so we make changes on the fly. When things change at three o’clock and we can’t go outside, I’ll have to be able to plan a practice and take care of the other programs at the same time.”

What excites you about the sport of lacrosse? I asked.

 

“The fast pace,” he replied. “It’s non-stop. There’s always something going on. The combination of speed, physicality, and the toughness that you need to play the game are what excite me about it.”

 

What did you learn from working with Coach Stan? I asked.

 

“Tactically, a lot, and how to interact with the kids, and compassion,” he said. “A lot of guys saw me as this military guy coming in, and I’d be super strict. Stan taught me how to lighten up and interact with them so they don’t see me that way.”

 

Is this new assignment daunting, I asked, or is anything daunting for a Naval Academy guy?

“I try not to be fazed by anything,” Schroeder replied. “My goal is to be even keeled: never too high, never too low. I think my calm demeanor has served me well in situations both coaching and being an AD. It’ll serve me well late in games, making decisions not based on emotion but thinking clearly when things are getting haywire.”

 

Boys lacrosse has a powerful history, I reminded him. Is there a sense of expectation that comes with the head coaching job?

“Some good advice that Stan gave me,” he said, “was, ‘You’ll never get fired because of your record.  We’re not paying coaches to win games.’ Obviously, we want to win games, we want to win championships, but it’s important that kids have a good experience and learn from me. My big takeaway if that the kids are better men and better prepared for life after Collegiate after being part of the program, then I’ve done something right whether we win championships or not.”

~Weldon Bradshaw