Jeff Tambroni laid out his message as clear as he possibly could. Binders were passed out to every Penn State player, 20 pages full of everything from academic and athletic expectations to how to maintain social well-being.

A blueprint for success. Taking over a losing program, Tambroni knew he had to turn the previous coaching regime’s culture on its head.

And it began with his first meeting with the Nittany Lions.

‘One of the things that we heard coming in here was that the culture just really needed to be shaken up, needed to be changed in a lot of ways,’ said Tambroni, who took over as PSU head coach this offseason after 11 years as head coach at Cornell. ‘We were meticulous in that message and very thankful that in the beginning we were able to map it out.

‘We needed to give these kids an idea of why we were there and what we were trying to accomplish to see who was on board.’

Tambroni shocked the lacrosse world on June 17 when he left his head coaching position at Cornell to take over a Penn State team coming off a 2-11 season. The Nittany Lions were coached by Glenn Thiel for the last 33 seasons, but they made only two NCAA tournaments and never won a tournament game. Tambroni went 109-40 in 11 years at Cornell and took the Big Red to the NCAA championship game in 2009, where it lost to Syracuse.

So when Tambroni took a less-than-prestigious Penn State job, it was a big surprise. Especially to the current Cornell head coach and former assistant under Tambroni, Ben DeLuca.

Tambroni and DeLuca were at a lacrosse camp in Minnesota when Tambroni got a chance to talk to his former assistant about his decision.

‘I thought he might be kidding around with me or pulling my leg at first,’ DeLuca said. ‘But once I had a chance to speak with him about the different factors he considered that went into his decision, it made a little more sense to me.’

Tambroni actually turned down Penn State when the job was first offered to him this summer. After about three days of discussions with administrators from both athletic programs, he chose to stick with Cornell. He said he wasn’t in a place where he could see the potential to change the culture and program in State College, Pa., at that time.

But a few days later, he heard from the Penn State athletic department again and decided to give it second thought.

Then came the decision. Stick with a program he led to the NCAA final four in three of the past four seasons, or take over a program with minimal success and no tradition?

He chose the latter.

‘I just felt at this stage in my career, what a great opportunity to take a step back and see if you can help guide, help build a program,’ Tambroni said. ‘Alongside your assistant coaches and a group of guys in an athletic department that stands for a lot of the same things Cornell did.’

The new head coach quickly got to work assembling a coaching staff that would be with him every step of the way. He hired two young assistant coaches, Chris Doctor and Peter Toner. Doctor was an assistant at Lafayette, where he guided a proficient offense that led the nation in goals per game in 2009. Toner was previously the defensive and recruiting coordinator at Bryant.

Both assistants are young, eager coaches who believe in Tambroni’s message about changing the culture. And that’s necessary to turn around a program that has been stagnant for the better part of 33 years.

Toner and Doctor both remember that first meeting Tambroni had with his players. Players’ eyes grew wide as their new coach spoke. Some nodded as Tambroni laid out his plan for turning Penn State into a respectable lacrosse program.

And it affected Doctor just as much.

‘He was just excited and emotional,’ Doctor said. ‘That was the first time I was around him in that setting where he’s kind of raising his voice a little bit.

‘It gave me a little chill, I’m not going to lie. It amped me up to coach.’

It’s just as important to receive those feelings from his players. He tells his players they don’t always need to agree with him, Tambroni said, and he doesn’t have to agree with them. But when they step out of the locker room together, they need to be on the same page.

Getting the understanding and confidence from his players has been especially difficult in this first year. Recruiting season for 2011 was long over when he took the job, so all of the current Nittany Lions were recruited by Thiel.

And not all players have adjusted to the new regime. Some — Tambroni said a couple seniors — decided it wasn’t for them right away. He said others have been weeded out over the past couple of months.

Overall, a ‘handful’ of players have left the program.

‘I said to our guys our time frame needs to be today,’ Tambroni said. ‘They need to think long and hard the moment their feet hit the ground in the morning about what they’re about to undertake during the day. … There were some non-negotiable things we talked about, and a couple guys decided they didn’t want to do it.’

The Nittany Lions lost their first exhibition game of the season, 7-4, to Johns Hopkins on Feb. 5. Tambroni looked at the positives, though. It was the first time he saw his team play with a high level of energy for 60 minutes straight.

Winning will be a process. Tambroni said winning isn’t the main focus for 2011. But it will still be a focus. Tambroni expects to compete and to make the NCAA tournament down the line.

But for now, the most important thing is making a losing culture believe it can win.

‘As far as doing our job, I don’t think that’s a three-, a five-, a 10-year job you have to wait for,’ Tambroni said. ‘I think we can do it today. … Our expectations are more based day to day, making these guys feel part of something special.

‘And if winning follows, which I think is kind of the next progression of building from within, I think that will happen.’

mcooperj@syr.edu

Published on February 16, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Mark: mcooperj@syr.edu | @mark_cooperjr