FLN has learned from multiple sources that there are huge coaching changes on the way at Saint Andrew’s. Current head coach R.J. Dawson will be reassigned within the program and that legendary college head coach Tony Seaman has been named to head up the program. This hire will send shock waves throughout the lacrosse community in the state on multiple levels.  First, it sends a message to the national lacrosse community that Florida lacrosse is taking it to the next level.  Over the last two years, in this area, Oxbridge Academy hired Stan Ross to build its program and last year Pine Crest hired George Harris, who was a current Division III college head coach.  Those were high profile names coming to this area.  Now this occurs.  There is no other way to put it.  Southeast Florida is rapidly becoming a lacrosse hot bed and the attractiveness of coaching down here is not lost on the biggest names in the sport. On a similar vein, this is Saint Andrew’s deciding that they are willing to compete for coaching talent.  In R.J. Dawson’s first three years at the helm he reached the state championship game, winning one title.  That is a record that most coaches would only dream about in this state but the school decided that they wanted to shoot even higher. This hire also helps Florida kids in the recruiting wars.  Lacrosse is very much a relationship world at this point and with someone with the respect that Coach Seaman has among the coaching fraternity that makes the Florida athlete more desired as a recruit.  Not just Saint Andrew’s players but all of South Florida and the rest of the state.  When you look around at this region it is astonishing how quick the competitive landscape is moving.  From Barron Collier and Gulf Coast, through Columbus Catholic and St. Thomas Aquinas and up the coast through Pine Crest, Boca, SA, PJP, Jupiter, Oxbridge, Benjamin and through the Treasure Coast to Vero Beach, MCC, Jensen Beach, etc., with all the other programs almost too numerous to list like Wellington, University, etc., we are rapidly witnessing an emergence as a national hot bed. Not to mention our central and northern brethren in Lake Highland, Ponte Vedra, Maclay, etc. Never has Florida Lacrosse ever looked stronger. ———- Tony Seaman’s accomplishments in the lacrosse world are numerous. Seaman was elected to the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2011. An excerpt from his current employer, the Denver Outlaws (where he currently serves as General Manager of the franchise) lists: Seaman tutored 85 All-Americans during coaching career at the University of Pennsylvania (1983-91), Johns Hopkins University (1991-99) and Towson University (1999-2011). He registered a 247-153 (.618 pct.) career coaching record at the college level and his teams reached the NCAA Tournament 19 times during his career. He is the only coach to be named the NCAA National Coach of the Year at two different schools (Penn – 1983, ’84 and Towson – 2001), and is the only coach in NCAA Division I lacrosse history to lead three different schools to the NCAA tournament (Penn – 6 times, Johns Hopkins – 8 times and Towson – 5 times). In 1994, Seaman coached the United States National Team in the 1994 ILF World Championships in Manchester, England, leading the U.S. to the gold medal. Seaman began his coaching career at Lynbrook High School (1972-1981), where he earned two Division IV Nassau County Coach of the Year awards and led the team to the South Shore championship in 1978.   More details on his career can be found here at his old biography page when coaching at Towson: http://www.towsontigers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=21300&ATCLID=1546789   Click here for the press release: http://www.saintandrews.net/cf_enotify/view.cfm?n=1767&m=de&u=9001&e=7034