Jim Stagnitta will enter his second season as head men’s lacrosse coach at Arcadia University in 2015. He was named the program’s second head coach September 27, 2013.
The Knights posted an overall 6-8 in Stagnitta’s first season at Arcadia - setting a school-record for wins in a season, finished just one game out of a Freedom Conference Championship Tournament berth, and featured a pair of Second-Team All-Freedom Conference selections. The Knights’ 11-3 win at Manhattanville College was the 225th career victory for Stagnitta, while their 8-6 win over King’s College (Pa.) at Easton Field marked his 200th collegiate coaching victory.
Stagnitta has 27 years of experience and a proven record of success at the highest levels of lacrosse. He holds a career professional and amateur record of 226-136 (.624), and has guided teams to seven NCAA tournament appearances and two MLL playoff appearances.
Prior to arriving in Glenside, Stagnitta spent two seasons leading the Denver Outlaws of Major League Lacrosse (MLL) to two first-place finishes in the regular season with a combined 26-4 record. Denver went 11-3 and advanced to the MLL championship game in 2012 while establishing five team records, including wins and a single-season MLL record 229 goals. Stagnitta was named the MLL Coach of the Year after the Outlaws had another record-setting season in 2013, going 14-0 during the regular season before being upset in the MLL semifinals.
Stagnitta’s previous collegiate coaching stop was at NCAA Division I Rutgers University, where he led the Scarlet Knights to 58 victories in 10 seasons, placing him fifth on the program’s career victories list, and back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances in 2003 and 2004. Stagnitta was named U.S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) and Eastern College Athletic Conference Division I Coach of the Year in 2003 after engineering the biggest turnaround in Division I lacrosse history, leading Rutgers to a 10-5 record after the team went 2-12 in his first season in 2002.
Stagnitta’s first head coaching position was at NCAA Division III Washington and Lee University, where he has more wins than any coach in the program’s history. In 12 seasons there, he guided the Generals to a record of 136-42 that included 12 consecutive top-10 national rankings, six conference championships, and five appearances in the NCAA tournament.
Stagnitta began his collegiate coaching career as an assistant at his alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania, helping lead the Quakers to two NCAA tournament berths and a trip to the national semifinals in 1988. As a student-athlete there, he was a three-year letterwinner, earning a bachelor’s degree in political science in 1984. He led the Quakers to a pair of Ivy League championships and two appearances in the NCAA championship tournament.
Additionally, Stagnitta is the owner and operator of MVP Lacrosse, one of the largest lacrosse camp programs in the country with more than 4,000 athletes attending each year nationwide. From 2001 to 2004, he served as president of the USILA.
Updated 06/24/2014
