W

ithin days of returning from Championship Weekend, Charlie Lockwood remembers Syracuse parents making plans for the same weekend next year. The Memorial Day weekend was tiring, so the parents rested a few days. But soon after, the “team moms” were reaching out to find and reserve groups of hotel rooms.

For over two decades, SU’s return to Championship Weekend was considered “automatic.” Gary Gait wasn’t playing at Syracuse for the start of the 22 consecutive final four appearances in 1983, but many alumni point to him as the “peak” of the program’s success and as the greatest player ever. He won back-to-back-to-back national championships (1988-90), the only time that’s happened in program history, and revolutionized the sport of lacrosse in the process.

“Gary was part of so many of those teams in that environment,” said Lockwood, a former player from 1991-94. “(Winning is) ingrained in him.”

In June, Gait replaced Hall of Fame coach John Desko, making Gait just the fifth head coach in SU’s storied 106-year history. But in recent years, Syracuse has been slipping away from the consistency of greatness that it established back when Gait was a player. The longest final four drought since the early 1980s means parents probably aren’t booking hotels a year in advance anymore, Lockwood said.

Gait’s hiring brings optimism that the program can restore that standard, one that he helped set. It washed a refreshing feeling over the alumni community, one of excitement and promise for the future.

“When you bring in the greatest player of all time, it just gives you hope that Syracuse will be a mainstay on Championship Weekend for years to come,” said Paul Carcaterra, an ESPN analyst and former SU player from 1994-97. “He brings hope for a return to dominance.”

Over the years, thousands of people have asked Gait if he wanted the men’s head coaching job, but he never outwardly expressed interest, said Tom Marechek, a former player from 1989-92. The community was bracing itself for its first-ever outside hire as a head coach, as many thought Gait would be reluctant to take the job given how close he came to a national championship with the women’s program last year. Gait said it would’ve been ideal to “go out on the top,” but he said that the program is in good hands with Kayla Treanor.

“This is just another one of those great opportunities in life that comes up, and I jumped at it,” Gait said on Feb. 3.

Sergio Salcido called Gait’s hiring fortuitous. He was the best candidate for the job, many alumni said, but he was an even better fit because he used to wear the Syracuse jersey, said Ryan Powell, a former player from 1997-2000. He understands the program’s tradition, one that “started with the Gait brothers,” Salcido said. He understands where the program started, where it evolved to and where it’s going, said Todd Curry, a former player from 1984-87.

The transition from Desko to Gait felt like a comfortable, natural fit, Desko and many others said.

“People wouldn’t want it any other way,” Powell said. “They want somebody with the history of Syracuse lacrosse, and (somebody) that has won the big games and played in the Dome.”

Before Gait, there was the “West Genny Way.” Named after the style of lacrosse at West Genesee High School, the game was played very much by the book. Hold your stick by your ear while throwing and catching, and nothing else. The near-robotic approach worked, but there was never any flashiness in the way the game was played, said JoJo Marasco, a former SU player from 2010-13. Gait changed that.

When Gait arrived at Syracuse, he got the green light from then-head coach Roy Simmons Jr. and his assistant, Desko, to be more creative. Gait used the skills developed while playing Canadian box lacrosse to score on the run between his legs and toss 30-yard passes behind the back, among other things.

“If there was social media when the Gaits played, they would be the lacrosse players with a million followers,” said Ric Beardsley, a former player from 1992-95. “There’s one Gary Gait, and there will never be another.”

Gait’s fearlessness and willingness to continue trying new things would later revolutionize the sport into a more free-flowing game, Marechek said. Both Simmons and Desko advocated for “artistry,” Curry said. They wanted Gait to try new things, and almost everything he tried worked.

In the 1988 final four against UPenn, Gait jumped from behind the crease and dunked the ball under the crossbar in a play that’s since been dubbed Air Gait. “I call it the shot heard around the world,” Desko said, adding that everyone on the field that day was shocked and the officials had no idea what to do since the move had never been executed before.

Lacrosse has changed drastically over the last five decades, stretching far beyond what used to be the three major hotbeds (Baltimore, Long Island and upstate New York). The sport has hit so many huge milestones, but Carcaterra said the “single biggest influence” on lacrosse has still been Gait.

“He was the greatest gift to our sport,” said Michelle Tumolo, a former women’s lacrosse player who Gait coached at SU from 2010-13.

After Gait’s time at SU, previously unorthodox moves became routine. Behind-the-backs weren’t considered showboating — oftentimes, they were the correct, functional passses to make. The game had more flair, and later generations were inspired.

The Powell brothers pretended to be the Gaits while playing in their yard, Powell said. The Thompson brothers molded their game similarly to Gait’s, Carcaterra said. Marasco watched film of Gait two decades later “in awe” and tried to emulate his game. He walked downstairs to Gait’s office, which sat directly below Desko’s, from time to time to pick his brain. So did Salcido as well as a small handful of other players.

Later in his professional playing career, Gait became an assistant coach for the Maryland women’s lacrosse program. He said he was prepared to teach his stick skills because he and his brother coached a peewee team at age 15, joking they were probably the youngest coaches ever. Gait knew then he liked coaching, but he said he hadn’t thought about it much until the opportunity arose to join Maryland’s staff.

Gait’s competitiveness rubbed off on the Maryland players, then-head coach Cindy Timchal said. He was on the staff for nine years, and the team won an astounding seven consecutive national championships.

“If I would say during a scrimmage or during a practice that ‘the next goal wins,’ he would want to score the next goal,” Timchal said, referencing times when Gait would join the team’s drills to demonstrate certain concepts. “It’s just a mentality.”

Gait was — and still is — a selfless coach ready to share all his knowledge with his players, Timchal said. Great players don’t automatically make great coaches, but numerous SU alums who are close to Gait said he’s both.

His roots as a creative, innovative player means he creates a similar, unconstrained environment for the players he coaches, Carcaterra and Curry said. Gait makes every player on the roster feel valued, Timchal said, so they step up when their number is called.

Beardsley said Gait’s ability to explain complex concepts and X’s and O’s is “magical.” What takes him five minutes to implement with kids will take other good coaches 30 minutes, Beardsley added. Gait has an “aura” that makes players want to impress him, Marasco said.

On the recruiting trail, Gait brings “instant credibility,” Marechek said. His name still strikes a chord with not only young players, but their high school coaches as well as parents, friends and other family members who know his name as well, Powell said.

Maya Goosmann | Digital Design Director

“He’s a straight legend,” Beardsley said, adding that young lacrosse players today still know who Gait is because of social media.

To Curry, a recruiting visit from Gait is like New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick coming to your house: You’re in awe, he said.

Gait’s roots should also help Syracuse regain some of the top-level Canadian talent that’s been going elsewhere over recent years, said Marechek, who’s from Victoria, British Columbia just like Gait. It’ll take time for Gait to build the program his way — the 2022 recruiting class is still Desko’s — but the assumption is that Gait will “crush it” because his name alone changes the entire recruiting dynamic for SU, Carcaterra said.

On the field, the results might not come instantly, either. Gait’s hiring doesn’t mean an automatic championship this season, and fans need to be patient, Carcaterra cautioned. But there’s already a different “feel” on the field because of the respect that the best-of-the-best command, Curry said. SU’s alumni base is hopeful that Gait will deliver — Beardsley said Gait can build the same thing he did with the women’s program, and he can do it quicker than expected.

“(Winning) kind of exudes from his being,” said Brad Kotz, a former player from 1982-85. “A lot of it is organic.”

Syracuse has the resources, commitment and tradition to stay on par with programs like Maryland and Duke, Carcaterra said. The loss to Georgetown in the first round of last year’s NCAA Tournament felt like a “breaking point” for the program, Kotz said. “We were not Syracuse lacrosse on that field,” he said.

But Gait brings hope of restoring the brand of Syracuse lacrosse. He’s played with the best-of-the-best and coached the best-of-the-best all his life. Salcido called Gait, and the Simmons family, the “glue” that holds the SU lacrosse pyramid together. Gait was crucial to the foundation of that pyramid, Salcido said.

“He’s the staple and the standard,” Salcido said. “If the guy who sets the standard for the program is at the helm, then the standard for that team has got to be pretty high.”

Photo courtesy of SU Athletics

Published on February 9, 2022 at 10:01 pm

Contact Roshan: rferna04@syr.edu | @Roshan_f16