Navy lacrosse coach Richie Meade, the architect of six straight NCAA tournament appearances and a trip to the 2004 national title game, resigned Monday after 17 seasons.
Meade was 142-97 during his tenure, though his last team went 4-9 and set a school record for losses in a season. Despite that blip, Meade was one of 10 coaches nationally to average at least 10 wins over the previous eight seasons.
“What I can say is it’s been the greatest honor of my life to be the Navy lacrosse coach,” Meade said. “The thing that I treasure most is the relationship with the players. That’s the thing that means the most to me.”
The school said Meade will remain at the academy as a professor for the Stockdale Center for Ethical Leadership.
The highlight of his tenure was a magical 2004 season, when the Mids reached their first national title game since 1975. Meade led Navy to the NCAA quarterfinals in 2005 and 2008 and five Patriot League titles. He also guided the Mids to a victory over Johns Hopkins last spring, snapping the school’s 36-game skid against the Blue Jays.
However, pressure escalated on Meade when the Mids - riddled by injuries and inexperience - followed up a 7-8 mark in 2010 with a five-game slide to close out this spring. Navy lost its April 23 season finale at Hopkins, 14-5.
“I have no regrets and no apologies,” Meade said. “I went as hard as I could. I was very impressed with this year’s team and their ability and enthusiasm and their work ethic. We have good players coming in next year, so there’s no reason for our program not to keep going. We’ll hire a good coach. When a captain leaves the ship, someone else takes over, and that’ll happen here.”
• Patrick Stevens can be reached at pstevens@washingtontimes.com.
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