Author’s Note: We thank our friends at ‘NorthFL_Lax’, a Twitter only provider (https://twitter.com/LaxNorthfl) of great lacrosse content for this in depth interview with Matanzas Head Coach Efrain Gutierrez!  The interview covers a number of topics and our readers will certainly enjoy hearing from one of the head coaches in the rapidly growing north Florida area. And if Coach Gutierrez ends up getting into the FIL World Championships next week we wish him the best and hope he’ll be willing to write something up on his experience!  

To watch Matanzas High School Boy’s Lacrosse Coach Efrain Gutierrez it’s impossible not to be caught up in the energy and passion has not just for teaching the game, but for his players. Just last year, at the ripe age of 24, he was selected to be the head coach of his alma mater, and quickly faced a slew of challenges. They graduated many of their key contributers, and one of their star players, Notre Dame commit Maximus Schalit, transferred across county to the regional powerhouse. Many may have thought twice, but not Coach Gutierrez. Rebuilding the culture and instilling a never quit attitude through discipline and meticulous organization shifted the Pirates from rebuild to reload. Battling every game, the Pirates were one goal away from advancing to the Regional playoffs and now they have the continuity and leadership to guide them well into the future with Matanzas poised to take their game to the next level. But for Coach Gutierrez, coaching the Pirates is just one of the many duties he has. He is also on the board for the Men’s Development committee for the Puerto Rican National team which is scheduled to compete in the FIL World Championships later this month in Israel. Find out what makes him so passionate, a little about his background, and how he approaches the most important task he has – molding and mentoring student-athletes to be successful ON and OFF the field!   NFLax: How did you get your start in lacrosse? I grew up in Brewster New York, and everyone I grew up with played Lacrosse, so I have had a stick in my hand since very young. But I finally decided to get competitive my 8^th grade year. One of the high school coaches was my middle school gym teacher and after our “Lacrosse Lesson” part of the class he told me I should really be playing for the school. That’s when I decided to actually begin playing. After one High School season in New York, my family decided to relocate to Florida.   NFLax: Was there a person who influenced you along the way? There have been many people who have influenced me along the way, as a player and a coach. The list goes on, but if there is one person I had to choose I would have to say Coach Dan Cocchi, the current defensive coordinator for Towson University. He was my first coach when I moved to Florida, and we both bonded over our New York roots. He took me under his wing and molded me into the defensemen I was. During my senior year he moved on to coach at Towson, where he then recruited me to play. I made one of the toughest decisions of my life to focus on my academics instead of playing Division 1 Lacrosse. Even still, his and my relationship has continued to grow. He comes and works with our guys from time to time and has always had an open line with myself, he has helped me through some tough times as a coach. I have a lot of love and respect for Coach Cocchi.     NFLax: Do you have any plans for the summer, personally and from a club standpoint? This is a big summer for me, in terms of playing, coaching, and growing the game. I currently serve on the board for the Men’s Development committee for the Puerto Rican National team. Ultimately, we oversee a large portion of what happens with our men’s teams. We have been fairly hands off with our team competing in the 2018 FIL World Games seeing as how they are already so established. However, we are focused on a large portion of what is to come after, such as building our U19 National Team as well as preparing for the World Box Games, which are approaching. We are working on finding coaches, hosting assessments and developing rosters. I also recently had an opportunity to compete with Team Puerto Rico at the 2018 Heritage Cup, which was an absolutely incredible experience. The guys we have representing our Island are truly top class. We ended up 5-1 on the weekend falling to Team Israel in the finals. Along with this, I have Goatlax, our summer high school club as well as working out the Matanzas guys in preparation for next season.   NFL: How did you get involved with the PR National Team? I had been researching about a Puerto Rican National team for quite some time with no real luck. Then I finally found something. That is when I met Miguel Lozada, Jose Esquilin and Nathan Lowmaster three of the founders of Team Puerto Rico. These guys are incredible, they share an amazing vision about using the game of Lacrosse to help the island, its truly special. Shortly after that, around January 2017 I attended my first Team Puerto Rico Assessment in which I made the team and was officially on the depth chart. Some time after that I received a call from the founders stating that they thought I would be a great fit on their Men’s Development Committee. NFLax: What would it mean to compete in the FIL Championships? It would mean the world to me, the events I have already competed in with Team PR have been nothing short of incredible. It’s the most fun I have had playing the game, there is just something about playing for a flag rather than a school, or a mascot. So being able to be on that stage would be life changing. [Update: Coach Gutierrez found out just recently that he was 24^th on the roster with only 23 players going to the FIL World Championships]   NFLax: Turning to high school, you assumed duties as the Matanzas Head Coach this year. What was that experience like? Taking over the program this year was really a big deal for me. Not only was it my first Head Coach Position at the age of 24 but it was my Alma Mater. I already knew the players being an assistant, so the transition was not too difficult but changing the culture was a little difficult at first. As far as the experience as a whole, it was a blast, the kids were incredible, and my assistants were the best I could ask for. I had nothing but support from everyone in the program. The guys on the team were really fun to coach, they enjoyed working hard and really were a funny group. We never had a dull moment between practice, workouts, games, bus rides, team dinners, everything these guys truly were a family and we all had a great year.     NFLax: How would you describe your coaching philosophy? My philosophy is quite simple this game and life will give to you what you put into it. Making sacrifices and working hard everyday to reach your goals will only yield success, but make excuses and cut corners, you can’t expect success. It may sound silly to a lot of people, but I preach lacrosse secondary. In our program at least at this level we preach STUDENT-athlete, books first always! We had team study halls in my classroom almost every morning before school. Obviously as a coach and a program full of athletes we want to win games and be competitive. But if we lose a majority of our games but our players leave our program with the grades and test scores to attend a university “We’ve Done Our Job”. If our players are equipped with the tools and character to be successful after high school, “We’ve Done Our Job”. If our guys understand the meaning of hard work and making the necessary sacrifices to reach their goals We’ve Done Our JOB! At the high school level, I feel its about finding a strong balance between being competitive as well as building lasting relationships and teaching life lessons to prepare these young men for life after high school.   NFLax: You took over a team that lost several key seniors and had a big transfer to another school, yet you were within a goal of being regular season and tournament champions. Tell us about coaching that group of kids. The seniors we lost in 2017 were incredible. Some of them I had given lessons to since they were very young, so seeing them go was difficult but I couldn’t have been more proud of those guys. But taking over the program I can’t lie I was a little nervous. I truly thought it was going to be a re-build. But after our first couple weeks of pre-season training and club practice I learned really quick it wasn’t a re-build it was just a reload! Not only did we still have a great deal of talent with guys like Jonah Robertson, Jackson Courson and Corey Gales. We had a senior led defense with a very solid goalie and a great faceoff guy, all the keys to being competitive. As if that wasn’t enough, these guys worked their tails off. I remember the first day I told them we were going to start 2-A-Days 2 days a week (weights @6am and practice right after school). I was expecting a lot of moaning and groaning but I got the exact opposite. They wanted it, they were hungry! All those guys rallied around all of the time, and got there early for lifts and worked. They competed with each other; they simply wanted to be good. I was lucky to have those guys.   NFLax: Your team fights hard and battles regardless of opponent or score. What do you try to instill in your teams that keep them battling? I think it is a combination of things, part of mine and our staff’s philosophy is that its never over until that last horn blows. Regardless of the score, the conditions, and anything else we tell our guys to stay focused on things they can control like their attitude and effort. The fact that we were very mature this year with a large number of seniors, made that philosophy easy to follow. They believed it, no matter what we could be in every single game. I remember a perfect example this season against Bartram Trails, we went down early by 5 goals, we weren’t sliding properly, and their defensive adjustments stalled out our offense. I remember speaking with them at halftime and telling them to trust their coaches, their teammates and to keep up the energy and just fight, one goal at a time. They did just that, every groundball our sidelined erupted, every little play was celebrated, every hustle play every little thing was a chip in clawing back into the game and before we knew it we had a chance to tie it up. We did just that, the guys never hung their heads, never surrendered, they put their heads down and just worked, which is who we are, its our identity. Unfortunately, we lost in overtime but it’s a pure example of the fight our guys had this year.   NFLax: How do you see the future of Pirate lacrosse? What is the outlook going into next year? I strongly believe our future is bright, we still work just as hard if not harder, and our guys believe in our culture. We preach to our players about the guys before them, the alumni and the mark the left. Our guys want to leave their mark, we have some really talented players and great coaches to continue to remain competitive. Granted we lost some incredible talent but I believe we have gained some great talent as well. I couldn’t be more excited for what the future holds for us at Matanzas.