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| Metz on Metz |
There would not have been six NCAA men’s lacrosse championships at Princeton University without David Metzbower. Just don’t ask him to talk about it.
• By Jerry Price
Metz–or the more informal, Metzy–is fidgeting. This has not been a good 20 minutes for him. He’s spent the entire time talking about himself, and clearly it’s not something he likes.
Now he’s left with one final question. Aside from lacrosse and family, what else is he interested in?
Tick. Tick. Tick. 10 seconds go by. Tick. Tick. Tick. 20 seconds. Tick. Tick. Tick. Now it’s been 30 seconds.
Finally, he comes up with an answer.
“I like,” he says. “to go to the beach.”
And with that, he excused himself and went off after one of his two passions.
It was time for Princeton University men’s lacrosse practice.
His name is actually David Metzbower. Almost no one ever calls him “David.” It’s always “Metz” or “Coach Metz” or “Metzy.” He has been Princeton’s top men’s lacrosse assistant since 1990.
“He’s a simple person,” says Bill Tierney, the Tiger head coach. “His loves and passions are simple. Family and lacrosse. That’s Metz. He’s got a simple name, and he’s a simple guy. But what he does for us is very complex.”
Metzbower is technically Princeton’s associate head coach and specifically is Princeton’s offensive coordinator and goalie coach. He has been an integral part of six NCAA championships, eight NCAA finals, 10 NCAA Final Fours and 13 Ivy League championships.
“Metz has a brilliant offensive mind and is as responsible as anyone else for Princeton’s success,” says B.J. Prager ’02, the MVP of the 2001 Final Four and the fifth all-time leading goal scorer in Tiger history. “He is extremely dedicated and hard working. When he is not in The Pit [on Jadwin Gym E Level] teaching players how to shoot correctly, he is up in the office breaking down film and writing in depth scouting reports and doing everything else.”
Metzbower’s resume includes working with Princeton’s top four career point scorers and top five career goal scorers, 21 first-team All-Ivy attackmen, four attackmen who were named Ivy League Player of the Year, three attackmen who were named Ivy Rookie of the Year and three first-team All-America goalies. He has coached six winners of USILA national awards for being best at their position.
The 11 highest team single-season goal totals at Princeton have happened on his watch.
“This program wouldn’t be close to what it is without him,” says Tierney. “It’s not just coaching. He does everything, from recruiting to travel to office stuff to computers to ordering sticks to everything. Everything goes through Metz. He’s tireless, organized, loyal to a fault. Nobody, nobody has been more important to the program.”
Metzbower is in many ways the perfect complement to Tierney, the ultimate front man. Tierney is the one credited with turning around Princeton’s program. Tierney is the one in the Hall of Fame. Tierney is the one the media people want to talk to before a game, after a game. Tierney is the one synonymous with Princeton lacrosse.
Through it all, though, Metzbower has been right there with Tierney, who has never hesitated to share the praise. It’s one of the longest-lasting head coach/assistant coach relationships in Princeton athletic history.
“David Metzbower has been a very loyal member of the Princeton athletic department and an invaluable part of Princeton’s men’s lacrosse success of the last two decades,” says Director of Athletics Gary Walters. “He has been an excellent role model for his work ethic, dedication to the team and commitment to the players who have played for him. He has done all this without any need to call attention to himself or seek out the spotlight. He is an outstanding coach and an outstanding person, and we’ve been fortunate to have him here.”
Metzbower had a classic introduction to the sport of lacrosse. He grew up in Baltimore, where his grandfather introduced him and his brother Jim (who would play lacrosse at Washington & Lee) to the game. He played soccer, basketball and lacrosse growing up and soccer and lacrosse at Loyola High School in Towson. When it was time to go to college, he went to the school that had shown the most interest in him –the Naval Academy.
“I liked the military side,” he says. “I did really well with the summer cruises. I could have seen myself staying there. I was a military guy. I loved the place.”
His fate took a dramatic turn after his second year, when Navy underwent a coaching change. Metzbower, who missed most of his sophomore year with a knee injury, was faced with the prospect of even more diminished playing time because “I wasn’t in the new coach’s plans,” and he preferred to keep playing rather than stay at Navy. In addition, the five-year military commitment doesn’t become binding until the start of a third year at the Academy, so he was still able to transfer.
He did so, finishing his career at Delaware for Blue Hen coach Bob Shillinglaw. After graduating, he stayed for another semester to finish school and then was asked to join the staff as an assistant coach. His starting salary was $1,500.
He ended up staying for three years when he figured he would look for something a little more lucrative. He found it when Tierney called.
“He offered me $4,000 a year,” Metzbower says. “Plus, it came with a place to live. I got a room in the Dillon Tower [of Dillon Gymnasium]. The first year went well, so I figured I’d try one more year.”
That first year was 1990. Tierney arrived at Princeton in 1988 and went 2-13 his first year and 6-8 his second. The 1990 season would be the breakthrough year.
The Tigers reached the NCAA tournament for the first time that season and then knocked off Johns Hopkins in the first round, ending a 24-year losing streak to the Blue Jays, before falling in the quarterfinals to Yale. Princeton’s team was dominated by freshmen and sophomores, and the 1991 season would see Princeton bring in another great class.
Princeton would earn the No. 2 seed in the 1991 NCAA tournament, only to fall 14-13 in triple overtime to Towson at Palmer Stadium. Having some so close, Metzbower decided to hang around one more year.
The 1992 season saw Tierney, Metzbower and the Tigers reach the top. First, there was the program’s first Ivy League championship since 1967. That was followed by an overtime win over Maryland in the NCAA quarterfinals at Palmer Stadium for the program’s first Final Four appearance. Then, in the Final Four at Penn’s Franklin Field, Princeton knocked off defending champion North Carolina 16-14 in the semifinal and Syracuse 10-9 in double overtime to win the NCAA championship.
“By the third year, we won it,” Metzbower says. “That changed things a little. Once you win one, you want to win two and then three and then keep going.”
Tierney and Metzbower didn’t stop at three. They won again in 1994 to prove the first wasn’t a fluke and then put together one of the great runs in college lacrosse history, winning the championship three straight times from 1996-98 and going 43-2 during the process. During that time, Metzbower oversaw an offense that featured Jon Hess, Chris Massey and Jesse Hubbard and put up the three highest single-season goal totals in school history. Princeton reached Tierney’s self-imposed 19-goal limit 10 times in those three years, including in a 19-7 win over Maryland in the 1997 NCAA final.
“The minute Metz got here, he became instrumental in recruiting some of the greatest players we’ve had here,” says Tierney. “When I think of the ’92 team, I think he did a lot of that with mirrors. We had some great players, but what he got those guys to do was phenomenal. Then, we could have averaged 20-something goals per game if we didn’t stop at 19.”
Princeton would go on to add three straight NCAA championship game appearances from 2000-02, adding the 2001 title to make it six for Tierney and Metzbower. The Ivy League championship from last year was the 13th.
“You can’t have two guys like T,” Metzbower says. “Early on, I was sort of emotional like he is. I learned that I have to be the calm one. I have to stay level-headed during those times.
“One of the things we’ve always talked about, even in recruiting, is that he’s the sales guy. He’s the guy you see before you buy the car. I don’t think he minds talking to the press. He has to worry about a lot of stuff that I haven’t had to. That’s been okay with me.”
To a point. There are several longtime assistants in college lacrosse, notably Maryland’s Dave Slafkosky (24 years), Syracuse’s Kevin Donahue (19 years) and Army’s Mac Diange (18 seasons), and they all look to the day when they might the head coach. Metzbower is no different.
“My goal is to be a head coach,” he says. “I’ve had chances to go places where I thought lacrosse wasn’t a priority. One of the things about Princeton is that the kids have always worked hard. We’ve shown you can win championships here. That’s one of the reasons I’ve stayed here, because I think you can win the national championship every year. To me, that’s been just as important as running my own program. I hate losing so much that it makes you want to get back at it the next year.”
And so he goes about his business as Tierney’s alter-ego. He has found time to start a family, as he and his wife Mimi – a “saint,” he says – have a daughter Jordan and a son Derek.
Beyond that, he’s all business.
“Metz is the best,” says Corey Popham, a goalie and the MVP of the 1998 Final Four. “He and I spent the first 30 minutes of every practice together, because he warms up the goalie. He’s still the most accurate shooter I’ve ever seen, better than Jesse Hubbard even.”
In 1998, Princeton defeated Maryland 15-5 in the NCAA final at Rutgers Stadium. As the celebration unfolded in the Tiger locker room, Tierney stood in front of the room to give out some special thanks to people who had meant so much to the championship run. He saved Metzbower for last, but Metzbower wasn’t there when Tierney called him out. No, he had been in the press box, gathering up the team’s video equipment, as if it had been any regular season game.
A year earlier, at Byrd Stadium at the University of Maryland, Tierney insisted on bringing Metzbower to the postgame interview room and having him join him and the players on the podium. Few have ever been as comfortable and natural in the postgame interview room as Tierney; few have ever wanted to be there less than Metzbower that day.
“I wanted him to be there,” Tierney says.
“It was uncomfortable,” Metzbower says.
Of course it was. No lacrosse. No family.
For Metz, that’s no day at the beach.
Earlier Articles
The Ultimate Warrior
Seeing 30-30
Think You Know Bill Tierney?
Letter of the Law
Andy Moe, Where Did You Go?
Caught in His Web-The Swami
Jerry Price is Associate Director of Athletics and Athletic Communications at Princeton University.
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