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Dave Urick is beginning his 19th season as the head coach of the Georgetown men's lacrosse team. Urick has brought the Hoyas' program to national prominence and has established GU as one of the elite lacrosse programs in the country. Georgetown has made the NCAA Tournament in each of the last 11 seasons under Urick, one of only two programs in the nation who can make that claim, and in eight of those years the Hoyas have made it as far as the quarterfinal round. In 1999, the Hoyas advanced all the way to the NCAA semifinals, the best finish ever in the history of Georgetown lacrosse. In each of his 18 years at Georgetown, the Hoyas have had winning records, the only winning seasons in the program's 35-year history of Division I competition. After leading GU to its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 1997, Urick was the recipient of Georgetown's 1996-97 Outstanding Coaching Achievement Award. Urick has a 194-70 mark at Georgetown, including a school record 13 wins in 1999. His teams have won at least 10 games on 12 occasions. For the past 11 years, the Hoyas have been ranked in the top 10 of the final United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) Top 20 Poll. After beating Maryland in the 2007 season opener, Georgetown was ranked No. 1 in the country in the USILA Top 20 poll, the first time the team was ranked first in program history. In 28 seasons as a head coach at the collegiate level, Urick has posted an impressive record of 306-100 for a .754 winning percentage. Urick's .754 winning percentage ranks first among active Division I coaches. Urick is also fifth with 306 career-coaching victories. He earned his 250th career-coaching win vs. Manhattan in the NCAA Tournament on May 12, 2002, and earned his 300th last season against Fairfield on April 7, 2007. In 28 seasons as a head coach, Urick has had 92 different players earn All-American accolades. All 53 of Georgetown's All-Americans have come under the tutelage of Urick. Attackman Greg McCavera became the first GU player to garner First Team All-America honors in 1999 and four other Hoyas have earned that distinction since, Steve Dusseau (2001, 2002), Kyle Sweeney (2002), Brodie Merrill (2004, 2005) and Walid Hajj (2004). In 2005, Merrill became only the second Georgetown player, joining Dusseau, to earn two first-team honors. Urick was named the ECAC Lacrosse League Coach of the Year in 2000 and again in 2007, and has had 47 players named to the ECAC First and Second Teams. His players have won the ECAC Offensive Player of the Year Award five seasons, the ECAC Defensive Player of the Year Award four times and the ECAC Rookie of the Year Award twice. In addition, Urick has had 49 of his players participate in the prestigious North-South All-Star Game. All but two of the 24 Georgetown players to participate in the North-South Game played under Urick. Urick coached in the North-South All-Star Game in 1984 and 1992 and took the helm of the South squad again in 2004. Urick-coached players also had a major impact on the 2006 International Lacrosse Federation World Championships this past summer. Led by Merrill, who was named the tournament's Outstanding Defensive Player, the Canadian National Team posted a 15-10 win over the United States in the championship game. Team USA's roster included Sweeney and Urick's son, Scott. Urick came to Georgetown after spending 10 years as the head coach at Hobart College. During his tenure at Hobart, Urick amassed a 122-30 record and won 10 consecutive NCAA Division III titles. He is one of only four coaches in the history of the NCAA to have won 10 consecutive national titles. Urick has been inducted to four Halls of Fame for his contributions to lacrosse as a coach. The latest induction was to the Potomac Chapter of the United States Lacrosse Hall of Fame on January 22, 2005 and prior to that he was inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame on July 23, 1998. On October 6, 1990, Urick was inducted into the Hobart College Athletic Hall of Fame. He was also inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Upstate New York Lacrosse Foundation Chapter in February of 1991. Prior to his 10 years as the mentor of the Hobart lacrosse team, Urick served eight seasons as assistant coach and helped Hobart win back-to-back NCAA Championships in 1976 and 1977. Also in 1977, Urick took the helm of the Statesmen's football team and won Coach of the Year honors in the Independent College Athletic Conference in his first season, as he guided the team to a 7-2 mark. He served as Hobart's head football coach until 1981. Urick is a 1970 graduate of Cortland State, where he was an All-ECAC linebacker as well as captain of both the football and lacrosse teams as a senior. He was inducted into Cortland State's Athletic Hall of Fame in 1986 and was the recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1980. One of Urick's many honors in the lacrosse world was being selected to serve as head coach of the 1986 Team USA, which won the gold medal at the World Games in Toronto. He served as an assistant on the 1982 USA team that won the gold medal and is the current Chair of the USA Team Coaches Selection Committee. In 1980 and 1981, Urick was the recipient of the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association's Francis L. "Babe" Kraus Award as the Coach of the Year. Urick is a former Chairman and member of the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Committee and the USILA Rules Advisory Committee. He and his wife Linda, have three children, Holly (C'98), Scott (C`00) and Mindy (C'02), and reside in Fairfax, Va. |
 
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