The Spartans won the title in 2018, but fell flat in 2019. A new, but familiar coach, hopes to take the team back to national prominence.
Two years ago, Michigan State’s Men’s Club Lacrosse team won the national championship. Last season, the Spartans lost in the first round of the tournament, and fell well short of their goal of repeating as champions.
But there was a good reason for the rough finish to the season. MSU lost its head coach during the season, as Cam Holding left to play for the NLL San Diego Seals. The team adjusted, completed the season without an official head coach, and finished 8-8.
The 2020 season is shaping up to be more stable and hopeful, thanks to a familiar face: Matt Holtz. He graduated from MSU in 1996, and was assistant coach for the club team in 1997-2005, and then head coach for one season. He also coached at Olivet College and University of Detroit Mercy before returning to MSU.
Holtz moved back to the East Lansing area with his wife and kids, and his love for lacrosse and MSU made it a no-brainer to become the team’s head coach.
“I’ve been a Spartan my whole life, both my parents went to MSU, my wife went to MSU and now my wife is a professor here at MSU,” said Holtz. “It kind of made sense to move back.”
Holtz wants to bring his fun-first play style to a team filled with 13 experienced seniors and a slew of talented young players.
“I like to have fun and the like for the guys like to have fun, especially at this level. There’s no point if you’re not having fun,” Holtz said.
Senior Keegan Wells said the players have felt the impact of Holtz immediately.
“Right away, he introduced a bunch of new things,” Wells said. “Everything was new pretty much right away in the fall and it’s continued to be like that, new drills and different variations of offenses we’ve ran and they’re more effective honestly.”
The team believes last season was an important learning experience. Winning a championship two seasons ago and then being a first-round exit has humbled the players in a way that has been inspiring and motivating.
Senior Ian Genord is a co-captain and one of the players that was a part of the 2018 national championship. He is looking forward to what the team can accomplish this season.
“From day one it’s felt different because everyone is acclimating to the new environment and culture that we’re trying to build,” said Genord. “On top of that, just bringing in a good group of new guys, the chemistry has been better than last year and it feels like we got something here.”
Senior co- captain Will Pankratz described this year’s team as tough and resilient, and is excited to get the 2020 season underway.
“After being on top and holding the trophy up, it’s really hard to exit in the first round and not feel like you accomplished what you wanted to in the next season,” Pankratz said. “But also, I think there was a hunger that was put inside of us and something that guys are holding onto now because we don’t want to exit in the first round and we don’t want to go home until we’re holding the trophy.”
The Spartans start play on Feb. 22 against East Carolina University.
“We want to win a national championship and I think we can do it,” Holtz said. “It’s still going to take a lot of work and it’s going to be very difficult to do, but we have the talent, the experience and the leadership to do it.”
