A Long Run

While Elsewhere Coaches Come and Go, at IC They Stay

By Steve Lawrence

The landscape of collegiate sports is littered with the stories of so many coaches who have bounced around — some willingly, some not so much — from program to program, town to town, state to state. It can be a tough life.

Let’s look at this common scenario: A college football coach is terminated, and all of a sudden his six assistant coaches are also job-hunting. The head coach might prefer to take care of his staff, but he is often neck-deep in his own job search, and whatever program he lands with already has its staff in place and he is the final piece of the puzzle. I have known many coaches who paid a high price for such a vagabond life – their kids grow weary of changing schools, their spouses get sick of house-selling and house-hunting... It can be rough.

To get a glimpse into the other side of that pendulum, one might just want to look at Ithaca College. Let’s take a look at some of the tenures up on South Hill... First, Mike Welch retired a few years ago, and he was the junior member of this club. Welch coached the Bomber football team for 23 seasons, racked up 164 victories in winning eight Empire 8 titles and making eight NCAA appearances, going deep into the tournament several times.

Next up is Deb Palozzi, who retired in 2019 after winning 858 softball games over the course of 31 seasons. Palozzi’s team went to ten College World Series, and won the national championship in 2002.

Then there is the Wise (Not So) Old Man on the Mountain, George Valesente. Before retiring two years ago, George led the baseball team for 41 seasons, won 1,136 games, made 35 NCAA tournaments and won it all twice.

Those are all very impressive coaching runs, and now another face will be added to that Mount Rushmore, if you will. Jeff Long, the head coach of men’s lacrosse (for 36 years) and an assistant for the women’s soccer team (31 seasons) has announced his retirement.

Long was himself an elite lacrosse player, as he was a three-time All Ameri- can at Navy, and continues to hold the program’s points and assists record. Long’s Bomber lacrosse teams won four Empire 8 titles, made 10 NCAA appearances and Jeff was the Empire 8 Coach of the Year six times. He was inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2009, and the Ithaca College Hall of Fame in 2010. His 362 wins rank him at #11 across all divisions of men’s collegiate lacrosse.

I have had many conversations with Welch, Long and Valesente over the years, and all three men have shared similar values. For many coaches, Division III jobs are seen as a stepping stone to the brighter lights (and higher salaries) that accompany D-1 positions. For Mike, Jeff and George, the stability that comes with keeping their kids in the same schools, building connections in the community and nurturing long-term relationships align more fully with their personal values, and staying in one place for decades was the right thing to do.

Many members of Bomber Nation are very pleased about that, as all those coaches contributed greatly to the rich tradition of Ithaca College Athletics. Congrats, Coach Long. I hope you get to enjoy your retirement for as long as we enjoyed the product you put on the field. ●

With the 2023 season in the rear-view mirror, Cornell’s lacrosse team’s Connor Buszek, C.J. Kirst and Gavin Adler all garnered major awards. Busczek is the 2023 ECAC Coach of the Year, Kirst (who led the nation in scoring0 is the Offensive Player of the Year, and Adler (who was the #1 draft pick) is the Defensive Player of the Year.

Down in the flat lands, Ithaca High lacrosse coach Clayton Fickenscher was named Section IV Coach of the Year and eight Little Red Players were earned AllStar recognition.