(Photo: Jodi Vosika/ASU Lacrosse)
Although ASU head coach Joseph Thon is brand new to the program, he is no rookie to the game of lacrosse or success as both a coach and a player. Thon was a two-time NCAA Division II lacrosse All American and Defensive Player of the Year in 2007 for Mercy Hurst University. That same year, he was drafted by the MLL’s Rochester Rattlers, where he served two years on their practice squad. Since then, he has coached at Albright College in Reading, Pennsylvania and McQuaid Jesuit High School in Rochester, New York. Read on for WCSN’s exclusive interview with Thon.
Michelle Minahen: How are you adjusting to the Arizona weather?
Joseph Thon: I love it! I should have been born in the south to be honest. Over the summer there are coaching showcases and tournaments and all the coaches bring big umbrellas and big hats and I’m the only coach who’s sitting there rolling up my sleeves. I love the sun and couldn’t be happier to be here.
Q. What do you consider to be your coaching philosophy?
A. I really like to push in transition. I played long-pole midfield in college so I was always running up and down the field creating offense, creating transition, causing turnovers, so that’s something I like to push with the guys. Aside from that, depth. I try to get as many kids on the field in a game as possible. I like to run a rotation of four attackmen, four close defensemen, three lines of midfield. A lot of kids are getting in and getting playing time and improving as players. When we create depth as a team, we are harder to defend and harder for the opposition to cover.
Q. How does your playing experience translate to coaching?
A. It translates in that you can identify certain situations with the guys on the field, as opposed to coaches who have never played before and just have done it a couple of times. Having played, you see small details that might get overlooked so you can point it out and do more one-on-one coaching with a kid on the team who didn’t see that. You can have more of a personal interaction with the players because you’ve been there and you’ve done it and you know what you’re doing.
Q. Have you developed any personal connections to particular players yet?
A. Not yet really. Unfortunately I was more of a general overseer of the team in the fall. I didn’t really get to have the opportunity to work one-on-one with too many guys and I hated that because I’m not that kind of coach. I’m a guy who’s gonna sit in there and go one-on-one with you and show you what I want you to do and direct you that way. I’m looking forward to the spring because we’ve got a new coaching staff now where I’ll be able to spend more one-on-one time with the guys, especially the defenders.
Q. What are the strengths of the midfielders as a whole?
A. Size. They are big. Aside from size, depth and experience. We’ve got three pretty solid midfield lines right now that we’re running through. We’ve got one line of three juniors who have all played a while and have a lot of experience. Our two big seniors, Kyle Denis and Cooper Pickell, have been playing since freshman year so they’ve been through it and been to the national championship. This will be their second or third year running on the first line. So size, depth and experience are our greatest strengths.
Q. What are your thoughts on only having sophomore Chris Roufanis at the goalie position?
A. It’s going to be a challenge obviously, but to be honest I’m not gonna approach it any differently because if you start to coddle the kid, he could get injured. You gotta let it ride out. It sucks and is not an ideal situation, but we’ve got two guys that are on the practice squad so we have three guys that we can use in practice so Chris gets injured or takes a shot during the game and needs to take a breather the following practice, we’ve got enough guys on the practice squad to be able to do that.
Q. Do you think you could still take these players on if you were to play them today?
A. Oh yeah! Are you kidding? All of them! I do all of the conditioning with the guys at the end of practice. I don’t do it if they screw up. If they screw up it’s on them. I’m committed to running at the end of practice with them and I workout with them so I still stay in shape. I always hated the fact that when I was playing, I had bigger out-of-shape coaches yelling at us to run faster and work harder when we all knew they couldn’t do it. So when I took my coaching job I told myself I would never be that guy. I will never be the fat, slow, out-of-shape coach who’s yelling at players to work harder when they can’t get out there and run a 40-yard sprint. So I take pride in staying in shape and trying to keep up with these guys because if they see me doing it, it gives them the extra incentive to work harder.
You can reach Michelle Minahen on Twitter @Meechmina or via email at mminahen@asu.edu.
