A new LSU lacrosse coach plans to expand the recent success of the lacrosse club with his leadership style.
Despite having met only a few players so far, first-year coach Jeff Echols already is making a name for himself. Senior player Jordan Ramirez said the one thing that jumps out to him is the way Echols presents himself.
“We don’t need friends. We need coaches. And that’s who Echols is, that’s who he says he is,” Ramirez said. “That’s what I think is going to make the difference, him being our leader.”
The Tigers reached new heights last season when they made the Lone Star Alliance conference playoffs for the second consecutive season, a first in the club’s history.
After losing only two players from last season’s team, the Tigers now aim to host a LSA playoff game and winning the conference championship to advance to the national finals.
Echols brings a wealth of experience not seen before in the team’s history, most recently coaching at Catholic High School in Baton Rouge.
Experience became a key decision in Echols’ hiring of new assistant coach Brett Smith, a former coach at Tulane in the 1980s.
“In Baton Rouge, we’re not gonna have an inventory of lacrosse experience coaches here,” Echols said. “This type of experience is definitely something that this team has never seen. It’s something we can build on.”
Echols emphasized discipline as one of his strongest characteristics as a coach. He said he counts on this discipline to lead to more productive practices and a more focused mindset among players.
Senior player Saban Sellers said practices in the past lacked initiative and was a large reason for recent season struggles.
“It was upsetting last year with some people not taking things seriously. The coaches, great guys, just weren’t very structured,” Sellers said. “Coach Echols is very organized … he’ll have a set structure to get us ready to go.”
The Tigers will experience a change in style this season as Echols plans to institute a 1-4-1 offense. When executed, the offense spreads the defense out, thus allowing players on the inside to make cuts toward the goal, Echols said.
Echols and players displayed optimism that the team will grasp the new offense quickly.
“We ran the offense last year in practice to prepare for a team playing against us, and that was one of the best offensive practices we had,” Ramirez said.
The team’s practices start on Sept. 9 for returning players and opens up to any freshmen or newcomers the next week.