Past & present: Where NLL coaches come from
Jimmy Quinlan, Saskatchewan Rush, 2022
When Jimmy Quinlan was officially named the Saskatchewan Rush’s head coach last week, he became the first full-time HC hailing from the province of Alberta in National Lacrosse League history.
That’s kind of crazy considering the NLL has had 91 different individuals serve as a head coach since 1987, as per the latest available NLL Media Guide (with some additions from over the past few seasons).
Troy Cordingley & Dave Pym, Calgary Roughnecks, 2007 NLL Entry Draft
A stingy 1.1% of NLL bench bosses (so, just Quinlan) have made their way to the NLL from Alberta. And before you tweet at us or send an email, Dave Pym, who many associate with Alberta after working in the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League and the Calgary Roughnecks, was actually born in New Zealand, grew up playing lacrosse in British Columbia, and only moved to Alberta in his 20s.
The promotion of the Edmonton-born Quinlan aligns with a slowly but surely growing spike in Albertans on NLL rosters, the Colorado Mammoth winning this past season’s Cup with more Alberta boys on their roster than any previous champion. In fact, the Mammoth’s 2022 roster was the most diverse Cup-winning lineup the league has ever had.
Leading the head-coaching pack, as expected, is the province of Ontario, who’ve owned 43 of the 91 confirmed spots in the NLL since 1987.
Adam Mueller, New York Titans, 2008
As with the league’s early rosters (Eagle Pro Box Lacrosse League and then Major Indoor Lacrosse League before being rebranded as the NLL), many head-coaching positions were possessed by Americans. The NLL’s first-ever Les Bartley Award (Coach of the Year) winner was an American, HOFer Tony Resch of the Philadelphia Wings. The only other American to win the award was Adam Mueller with the New York Titans in 2008.
While there have been several Indigenous assistant coaches over the years, only five had led or co-led an NLL bench. Four of those five had winning percentages over .500, two are in the NLL HOF, and another coached his crew to an NLL title. Those five Indigenous HCs were: Freeman Bucktooth, Duane Jacobs, Darris Kilgour, Rich Kilgour and Barry Powless.
Duane Jacobs, Minnesota Swarm, 2008
"I've always looked and been proud of my family, my nation and my heritage," Powles said back in 2000 after he’d finished coaching Rochester to a Cup a few years earlier. "If I can be any sort of role model to children, whether they are Native or non-Native, then I hope I can do that. I want to show them that they can go out and achieve big things, too."
In 1999, Bucktooth was the only Indigenous pro coach in seemingly any sport, anywhere (Windspeaker Publication).
Below, check out where head coaches in the NLL have come from (where they grew up playing lacrosse) over the last 35 years. The league’s current crop is almost exclusively from Ontario outside of Quinlan and BC’s Curt Malawsky in Calgary.