MAAC Coaching Spotlight – Canisius’ Allison Daley
Edison, N.J. (May 12, 2020) – Canisius College Women’s Lacrosse Head Coach Allison Daley sat down with the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) to provide insights on the Griffs’ program, the canceled 2020 season, and even the shows she has been binging during quarantine. Daley, a former Canisius student-athlete and MAAC Defensive Player of the Year, is in her third season at the helm of the program.
Q: As a coach taking over a program two years ago, what were the first things you looked to establish?
A: The first thing for me was team culture. I think that's very important, having a solid foundation and good team culture. I strongly believe culture starts at the top and it comes to life from the bottom-up through our players. I have a background with Canisius culture and what it means to be a Griff, so that is something that I wanted to make sure was established right away. I’m a believer that strong culture drives our success. It was important to me that we established that. I delivered clear expectations to our players about what it means to be a member of our program, what it means to be a Griff. If we build our culture and treat it in the right way, it will help us lead to success down the road and sustained success in the future.
Q: What is it like coaching a team that you played for?
A: It's such a huge honor to come back and coach at my alma mater. I was fortunate enough to be coached by Scott Teeter and still have him as a mentor to this day. I think the opportunity to come back was really quite an honor for me and one that I appreciate and I'm thankful for and show a lot of gratitude for each and every day. It's not something that many people get to do. I have so much pride for Canisius, so the opportunity to come back and to lead a strong program is something I'm very grateful for. One thing that myself and all of our players have in common is that we chose Canisius, we chose to be a Golden Griffin. I think that's an important bond I have with my team and my players. They can share their experiences and how they want to pave the way and leave a legacy and build on what those before them have built and everything the Canisius program stands for. They can utilize that in building team success both on and off the field.
Q: How long does it take to build a program your way after taking over?
A: When I took over, our recruiting landscape was just changing. Prior to that, there was a lot of early recruiting happening everywhere in the NCAA and women's lacrosse, so when I took over at Canisius that had just begun to change. I think it takes time. We are still in that process of making it our own. This coming fall of 2020 will be the first recruiting class that myself and Caitlin Formato, our assistant coach, recruited. Prior to that, there was a mix between players Coach Teeter recruited and players we recruited. I think it certainly takes time to really build the program and make it your own, from a recruiting standpoint. But I think we're still looking to put our own stamp on it, continuing to build our relationships with players and communicate with them on the way we do things. I think we're still in the infancy of growing our program and making it our own, but we've taken some great steps forward in doing that. It takes a little bit longer than you might think, I'm still learning as a head coach and still learning things as I go day-to-day and year-to-year, so it certainly takes some time. You just have to have that mindset of trusting the process.
Q: What steps forward were you expecting in your third year?
A: I think this year we were really on a bend to turn a corner and go on an upward swing. We were certainly coming off of a disappointing season in 2019, with some injuries along the way. We played some tough competition early on in our non-conference play this year and I think that helped us prepare for conference play. So, I really think we were starting to turn the corner with our confidence on the field and our confidence with our ball handling under pressure, which is something that we really put an emphasis on. As a program, we wanted to be able to handle that pressure from opponents, especially some of our conference opponents who are going to put high pressure on us. We wanted to make sure we were prepared for that. I thought we took the necessary steps in the fall with our mindsets, working with a sports psychologist. But I thought we learned a lot as a younger team throughout our non-conference schedule against some tough teams, a lot of players got some valuable experience. I think we were just starting to turn that corner into having that confidence and putting all three phases together in terms of our mental game, our physical game, and the tactical and technical side of things.
Q: Were there any specific players you were expecting to progress forward this season?
A: Yeah, I think Riley Lucarelli, who was a senior captain for us, she has continued to grow her game over these last few years. She was able to get some conference recognition at the end of last season, which I thought was important for her and her growth. She had a great season as a shutdown defender for us. One player in particular that I feel has made the biggest jump was Bryar Cummings in the midfield. I think she was playing at an elite level this spring and I'm confident she would have gained a lot of attention from opponents and head coaches as we turned into MAAC play. I feel she really would have pushed this year to be an All-MAAC midfield selection for us. We had a freshman in Paige Stachura who came in along with Kaitlyn Salce in the midfield. Katie Smolensky proved herself this year to be a dual-threat, both in a driving and a feeding role. Last year she played alongside Jordan Roemer, who was a former MAAC Offensive Player of the Year for us, so I think that experience she gained really showed this year for her on the field. It was a lot to ask of her as a sophomore, but she really stepped up in that area. Both of our goalies were competitive, and we had a few other attackers and midfielders who really made some headway for us. I was really excited for the development of a lot of our players on our team moving forward going into conference play.
Q: Being a former goaltender, and a MAAC Defensive Player of the Year, does your team have an extra emphasis on defense?
A: I'm also the defensive coordinator for us so I focus more on the defensive side of the ball, whereas Caitlin (Formato) handles the offensive side. There's always that saying “offense wins games, defense wins championships” so I'm certainly biased when it comes to protecting the goalies and protecting the defensive side of things. We have a pretty good balance and pretty good competition on both sides of the ball, just the way the game has changed over the last number of the years, it's pretty fun to be on the offensive end and be creative that way as well. There's probably a little bit of bias in me when it comes to defense, but I do like both sides of the ball.
Q: What was your personal reaction to the canceled 2020 season? How were student-athletes informed and what was their reaction?
A: I just had that feeling, but once you actually hear it you get that knot feeling in your stomach. It was heart-wrenching for our seniors and for our entire team. We were fortunate to play our last game the night before and had a big win, so we were fortunate to end on a high note. You just walk into the locker room to have that discussion with your players, to let them know, just communicate as best you can. Our seniors have worked so hard to get to this point, we really felt like the team was turning that corner. For it to end just like that was absolutely heart-wrenching, it was difficult having to explain that to them. We had to come together as leaders and talk to them about being all in this together, we're aren't the only team, we aren't the only sport affected by this. Taking a look at the big picture of what's happening in front of us is eye-opening. But it was certainly a difficult thing to do. We tried to get our team together as quickly as we could, just to get this message in front of them and let them know that we were here to support them. Everybody handles things differently, there was certainly the sadness and shock effect, some were angry and mad. But we just had to make sure we were there to support our student-athletes through it.
Q: What were your thoughts on the season before it was canceled?
A: We were getting excited for MAAC play. Like I touched on before, our non-conference schedule was difficult, but we need to play games like that for us to be competitive in the MAAC. I thought Monmouth was having a phenomenal season, Fairfield is the two-time defending MAAC champions, Siena and Manhattan had huge growth, Marist is always a big game for us. When you're preparing your non-conference schedule to get ready for conference play you hope that playing these difficult opponents will help prepare you for those moments. Being able to come out with a big win and start clicking, we were certainly excited to be competitive in MAAC play. My first year on staff we made it to the MAAC Championship Game, prior to that Canisius had been in a MAAC Championship Game eight of the last nine years, winning six. We were prepared to be competitive members in the conference. Every year the MAAC has continued to get better and improve, so we had to do the same in order to improve our game. I like to say I was cautiously optimistic for us to make a good run in conference play.
Q: Does the canceled season delay your efforts to continue building the program?
A: I don't think it necessarily delays it, I think it gives us an opportunity to stop and pause and think about how the season went. Just dealing with this condensed little piece, what did we feel was going well for us, what areas can we improve on. I've challenged myself and our assistant coaches to take this time to grow as coaches, reaching out to others, reviewing film, doing webinars, and challenging our team to do the same thing. I think adversity makes us stronger as a team. That saying “if today was your last day to play, how hard would you play” is a reality this year. Like I said before, we were cautiously optimistic that we could be really competitive in the conference and I know the team felt that way too. As we continue to face this adversity, we will hopefully continue to ignite that fire that we have, knowing that we have to come out of this better than we had before, because you truly never know when it may be your last opportunity to compete or play. I think we've done some things virtually to really make us better individually and make us better as an entire team.
Q: How does the canceled season affect your recruiting?
A: It's certainly going to be a different way of recruiting, but as much as prospects are going to navigate their way through it, we will be navigating it right there with them. If that's spending time looking through highlight videos, continuing to review tournament film, whatever it is, we can develop that list so when the time is right, we can get out there and evaluate in an effective way. I think it's just being creative with recruiting. It's just something that we will have to work through and, who knows? Maybe it slows down the recruiting process a little bit more and we all benefit from it. There may be some players out there right now that needed this time to grow and work on their game and in four or five months, they may be a better player because of it, which will give them an opportunity. I think it's definitely a unique situation, one that we have to keep navigating through together and doing our best.
Q: What does it take to be a Canisius College Women’s Lacrosse student-athlete?
A: To be a Canisius Women's Lacrosse student-athlete, right off the bat, something we ask our players to do is have a positive attitude, put the team first, and put in hard work. Those are the three things. If our players come to practice every day with that type of mindset and a good work ethic, we can grow. We try to look for those things as we're recruiting. That team-first mentality, how they interact with their team on the field, their work ethic out there and if they have a positive attitude. We do our research on the back end to make sure we're bringing in the right people for our program. Work ethic is certainly a big one for us. We look at speed and strength and all the technical aspects of their game as well, their game IQ, which I would say most coaches do. But it's those non-coachable traits that we’re really looking to tap into and see. We want them to come in and be super coachable while working hard and having a team-first mentality. With that, our team can grow and you can grow as a student-athlete.
Q: How do you stay in contact with your team during the pandemic?
A: We've been doing academic check-in meetings and some team virtual meetings as well every week. We've been making sure we're communicating individually with players and also as a group with players. We’ve been doing our homework and watching some of our conference opponents and working together with our team. They're providing us feedback with what they see while they watch in order to help us grow, getting the feeling of what it would be like on a scout day. For us to be able to see what they're seeing as we get back into scouting down the road is important, we know what sticks out to some of our players, what they see and what we can go into some more detail on and explain why teams do that. That's been fun. We've been having fun with this, us coaches, I hope the players are having fun too. It allows us to keep the game fresh and stay in the game without physically being able to do it. I know our team has been doing some virtual team meetings on their own too. We talked about some different stuff, we opened last week with what shows we are binge watching on Netflix now. Fun stuff like that so it's not all business all the time, and we can continue to build those relationships. That way I can also build my list of shows that I need to watch during this quarantine.
Q: With that being said, what shows have you been binging?
A: I just finished Homeland, I loved it. That was great, eight seasons of it. Homeland and Ozark were the two big ones that I've made my way through so far, so it's been good.
Q: What have you personally been doing during the pandemic?
A: I'm a big routine person, I like to have a schedule and keep a routine. Monday through Friday I make sure I put a routine together, get up and go through emails, do a little bit of work, and mid-morning or so I'll go and workout. Jordan Roemer, she's put together a strength program for me, so I'm working hard on that. She's working me hard. Just making sure I'm getting up and getting moving, then I'll come back and use my afternoons to recruit or work on some film. Everybody knows the weather in Buffalo is always interesting, so on those nice days I like getting out, maybe getting an afternoon walk or a bike ride in, trying to stay busy. Trying to cook a little bit more, working on my culinary skills. I just knew a routine would be big for me, so having that in place day-to-day is important. Just using this time to grow as a coach, joining different webinars that I have loved, picking up the phone and talking with coaches to see what they're doing, trying to grow as a coach. It's been fun, I feel like I do about 20 Zoom meetings a week. There's a group of my former teammates, we jump on a Zoom call every other weekend. Spending time catching up with friends and family and teammates during this time when I normally wouldn't be able to do it before. In that aspect, it's been nice to take some time and really reflect and grow and virtually spend some time with friends that we normally don't get to talk to as much.
Q: What is the first thing you are going to do when allowed back on campus?
A: I'm going to give everybody a hug and tell them how much I appreciate them and how fortunate I am to be able to coach them and be with them on a daily basis. We'll celebrate that, that everyone is happy and healthy, then we're going to get out on the turf and we're going to have one of the best practices Canisius has ever had. Do some fun drills that are high-energy, they love that, and just have that opportunity to be together. Just go out and practice and play and not do a whole lot of x's and o's. Just putting the balls out and having a great practice and appreciating what we get to do on a day-to-day basis as coaches and players.
About the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference:
With 11 institutions strongly bound by the sound principles of quality and integrity in academics and excellence in athletics, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) is in its 39
th year of competition during the 2019-20 academic year. Current conference members include: Canisius College, Fairfield University, Iona College, Manhattan College, Marist College, Monmouth University, Niagara University, Quinnipiac University, Rider University, Saint Peter’s University, and Siena College.