Lars Tiffany is the head coach of the Virginia Cavaliers men's lacrosse team. Lars is in his 6th season as the head coach after being hired in 2016, and prior to his transition to Virginia, he spent 10 years serving as the head coach of men's lacrosse at Brown University. Coach Tiffany led his team to the 2021 NCAA DI lacrosse championship trophy, as well as being ACC and NCAA DI champs in 2019. 

We interviewed Coach Tiffany to find out more about his keys to success and how to bring success with you wherever you go. In addition, Coach Tiffany also touches on what he looks for in prospective players, and advice for those who want to become an athletic coach in the future. 

Related: Get on the Radar of a Successful Coach

What are some of the main values you try to instill on your players and how do you do so?

It's about defining a culture. We spend time once a week, about a half hour, we call it cultural Thursdays. It could be addressing things in the program, maybe a guest speaker, or we also have team books. We're actually on our 8th book this season. We share about these stories  and the messaging of the book and how it relates to Virginia lacrosse. It's a natural way to instill the values that we're looking for, not only as a team but in the individual men themselves. We look at it as our opportunity to instill the values of what it means to be an elite athlete with all the pressure that comes with it and taking on that responsibility. 

Related: Rate your Coaches, Facilities, and Campus Visits

We try to really make sure that these men know that we care about them, that we're investing in you–not just as a lacrosse player, but we want to make sure that what you've got is a fantastic internship while you're here and then that first job as you're leaving. I think that builds a trust, and lets them know that no matter how hard we push them in practice, and how much we demand of them, that they know we really really care about them. 

What parts of the game do you emphasize the most with your players?

The scouting reports, understanding our opponents, [and] how to put our players in the best position possible. I'll admit, we're a coaching staff that does like to ask a lot of our men, we want to play more of a cerebral game than maybe some other coaches who may follow the old but good adage of K.I.S.S: “keep it simple stupid.” We do challenge our men. I'm a big cerebral coach, and I think the more I ask of them the more they respond in a positive way. The biggest thing we do is we want to make it a collaborative experience. When we're in our classrooms and our meeting rooms, I don't want to be dictatorial, I want it to be a collaborative, communicative back-and-forth sharing ideas, and that's when our best game plans happen. 

How can a player succeed at the collegiate level?

When you make that transition from high school to college, it's daunting, no matter how good you were in high school. How do you adapt to not being the guy that we all look to to make the big play, how do you adapt to being on the bench for a little while? Emotionally, you have to understand that that's probably going to happen. You can't just step in and play, most of us have to wait a bit. 

Related: Are You Cut Out For the Next Level? 2 Key Traits Recruits Need To Become College Athletes

If an athlete in high school played multiple sports, they're not too blown away by the time commitment of college sports, but the young athlete who has only done one sport in high school…that is a big transition. All of those college coaches no matter what the sport is or the level (D1, DII, DIII, etc.) have expectations of your time commitment. In the off-season semester too. You have got to be ready for a whole lot of work, but if you love it, and you're passionate about it, it doesn't feel like work.  

When looking for players to help your program succeed, what do you look for?

Initially there's got to be that attraction. I use the analogy of seeing someone handsome or pretty, it's the initial reaction. It doesn't mean you have to have a great connection with them or to spend a bunch of time with them, but as a lacrosse recruiter I need to see film, or live [play], and I've gotta be like “woah.” 

Related: DeSales Lacrosse Coach Rachel Smith's 11 Recruiting Tips

[I like] someone who's quick. They do things fast, whether it's their foot speed, their decision making, their hands, they're doing things faster and quicker than the norm. That's the initial attraction. And then from there, we make the conversations and we make the connections, the relationship begins.  

Do you have any advice for athletes that aspire to be coaches in the future?

You have to expect to be poor. You are going to sacrifice the dream of being fiscally wildly successful. For most of us, especially in the non-revenue generating sports, there's not a ton of money, and there's absolutely not a ton of money in those first few years when you get into it, so you have to be ready for that. 

The next thing I would tell you is to go wherever you can to be on a good coaching staff. We don't necessarily have a system in place for something like getting your Masters in coaching, or a school to go to for coaching. We're more like the middle ages where it's the apprentice underneath a master. If you're a blacksmith and your master is great, then you're probably going to be a great blacksmith yourself. You've gotta find the ability to be on a good coaching staff and to be underneath someone who you're going to learn a lot from. But, if you're willing to do all that, then it's really worth it. 

Have a story idea or know an awesome athlete/coach we should interview? Email us at [email protected]

* Originally published on November 18, 2022, by Tyler Traskos