Fairfield University Director of Athletics Eugene P. Doris today named Andrew Copelan the Stags new head men’s lacrosse coach.  Copelan becomes the Stags third head coach in the program’s varsity history.

“Andrew is one of the bright young coaches in the game today,” said Doris, “and I am excited to have him leading our program.  He has shown the ability to win big games and recruit the top student-athletes in the nation, and I am confident that with Andrew our program is in good hands.  I would also like to thank the search committee for the fantastic job they did in conducting this national search of highly-qualified candidates.”

Copelan has served as an assistant coach to Dave Cottle at the University of Maryland, for the past three seasons.  In each of those campaigns the Terrapins qualified for the NCAA Tournament, advancing to the Final Four in 2006.

“I am extremely excited and honored to be given the opportunity to be the head coach of the lacrosse program at Fairfield,” said Copelan.  “There is a strong tradition of winning at Fairfield and I look forward to the challenge of taking the Stags to the next level.”

For the past two seasons Copelan has been the Terps’ offensive coordinator, leading one of the top ranked offenses in the nation.  Last season the Terps finished the year 13th in the nation in scoring offense, averaging 10.5 goals per game, while finishing the season as the sixth-best team in man-up scoring. The Terps were also seventh in the nation in scoring margin in 2008.   In 2007, Copelan had Maryland ranked fourth in the nation in man-up goals and 12th in goals.

Copelan has also served as the recruiting coordinator for Maryland the last two seasons, with great success.  InsideLacrosse ranked the Terps’ 2008 class as the third best in the country, while the 2007 class was ranked second.  Individually, Copelan helped the Terps secure six of the nations top-50 recruits in this season’s class.

"I think that Fairfield hired an outstanding coach, and more importantly a great person,” said Cottle, the 1988 USILA Coach-of-the Year. “Andy is very prepared for this job.  We are going to miss Andy, but wish him nothing but the best at Fairfield."

Copelan broke into the coaching ranks at Marist College in 2004 as the youngest Division I head coach in the nation.  That first season he was named the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Coach of the Year, leading the Red Foxes to the MAAC Regular Season crown and their first winning season in six years.  He followed that the next season leading Marist to their first-ever NCAA Tournament berth.

Copelan was a four-year varsity letter winner at Bucknell University, where he earned All-Patriot League accolades. Additionally he was named to the Academic Honor Roll for Student-Athletes in each of his four seasons.

Fairfield lacrosse is in its fourth season as a member of the eight-team ECAC Lacrosse League.  The Stags made NCAA appearances in 2002 and 2005 as the champions of the Great West Lacrosse League.