Lars Tiffany

BY THE NUMBERS

Two-time ACC Coach of the Year Lars Tiffany enters his seventh season as Virginia men’s lacrosse head coach in 2023 after being named the program’s 17th head coach on June 21, 2016. 

Delivering two NCAA Championships to Charlottesville in back-to-back attempts in 2019 and 2021, Tiffany is one of the most successful and respected head coaches in the game of men’s lacrosse. He was bestowed ACC Coach of the Year in 2019 and 2022 after guiding the Cavaliers to ACC Championships in both years. Over the course of his head coaching career, Tiffany has mentored 30 All-Americans and 22 PLL draft picks, including 11 selections from UVA. 

Tiffany, the reigning ACC Coach of the Year, guided Virginia to its sixth consecutive winning season in 2022 after posting a 12-4 overall record and went 5-1 in ACC play. UVA’s program-record five ACC wins clinched a share of the league’s regular-season crown and Virginia’s 19th ACC Championship overall. The Cavaliers also posted a perfect 8-0 record at their home edifice, Klöckner Stadium, in 2022. On May 14, Tiffany and the Cavaliers won their ninth consecutive NCAA Tournament game – also a program record – with their 17-10 victory at Tiffany’s alma mater and former post, Brown University. For the seventh consecutive year, a Tiffany-coached team finished top 2 nationally in ground balls (38.12/game). UVA also stood out among the nation’s best in several other statistical categories including: third in scoring offense (15.50/game), fifth in assists (8.81/game) and man-up offense (.500), and sixth in opponent clear percentage (.789) and shot percentage (.331). 

Under Tiffany’s tutelage, Virginia attackman and Charlottesville native Connor Shellenberger was named UVA’s 11th Tewaaraton Award finalist in 2022, which also marked the program’s first finalist since Steele Stanwick in 2012. Shellenberger, who garnered his second career USILA First Team All-America honor in 2022, was one of eight Cavaliers to nab USILA All-America honors. Virginia’s eight selections were good for third most among any program in the nation last season. Defenseman Cole Kastner and goalie Matthew Nunes were tabbed the ACC’s Defensive Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year, respectively, under the guidance of Tiffany and his staff. In addition to being named an All-American, attackman Matt Moore was drafted No. 4 overall in the 2022 PLL draft by the Archers. Moore, who set UVA’s all-time career points record in 2022, also became the third Senior CLASS Award recipient under the guidance of Tiffany. In addition to Moore, faceoff specialist Petey LaSalla also etched his name atop the UVA record books. LaSalla, who set UVA single-season records in faceoff wins (277) and ground balls (137) in 2021, became Virginia’s all-time career faceoff wins and ground balls leader in 2022. 

In 2021, Tiffany guided fourth-seeded Virginia to its seventh NCAA title after a triumphant 17-16 victory over third-seeded Maryland at Rentschler Field (East Hartford, Conn.) on May 31. With no NCAA Tournament held in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), UVA’s 2021 title marked the first time in men’s lacrosse program history it won back-to-back national championships, having also done so in 2019. Under the direction of Tiffany in 2021, Virginia became just the seventh men’s lacrosse program in Division-I history to win back-to-back national championships and the first Division I men’s lacrosse program to win six straight games in the NCAA finals (1999, 2003, 2006, 2011, 2019 and 2021). 

Tiffany and his staff also guided nine USILA All-American selections in 2021, including first-team selections Shellenberger and long-stick midfielder Jared Conners. UVA’s nine USILA All-Americans tied for the most by any team in the nation in 2021. Shellenberger was crowned the Most Outstanding Player of the 2021 NCAA Tournament. Shellenberger and Conners were also two of UVA’s five all-tournament selections. Conners was named the nation’s most outstanding midfielder by the USILA. Both Conners and teammate Dox Aitken were selected in the first round of the 2021 PLL Draft. 

The 2021 season marked the fourth consecutive year that the Tiffany-led Cavaliers finished first in the nation in ground balls (41.94/game).  

Virginia was 4-2 during the 2020 season before it was canceled on March 12 due to the onset of COVID-19. The abbreviated season saw Michael Kraus become just the fourth Cavalier to reach the 100-goal, 100-assist mark for a career. 

Led by three First Team USILA All-American midfielders in Ryan Conrad, Aitken and Conners, Tiffany and the Cavaliers brought both NCAA and ACC titles to Charlottesville in 2019. En route to claiming the program’s sixth NCAA Championship, UVA finished with an overall record of 17-3, which tied the program’s record for wins in a single season. The Cavaliers’ NCAA Championship also marked its first since 2011 and first ACC title since 2010. 

Conrad, a two-time captain, was the recipient of Senior CLASS Award in 2019. He was also tabbed MVP of the ACC Tournament and later named to the NCAA All-Tournament Team. Conrad finished the 2019 season with 31 goals and 18 assists, which placed him tied for third all-time for points by a UVA midfielder in a single season. He was selected second overall by the Atlas in the 2019 PLL Draft. Aitken was named a First Team All-American for the second-straight season after shattering his own UVA single-season record for points by a midfielder (52). Aitken is also the only midfielder in UVA history to reach 100 goals in a career. During his sophomore campaign, Moore became UVA’s first 40-goal, 40-assist player in a single season. Goalie Alex Rode was named the Most Outstanding Player of the 2019 NCAA Tournament after going 4-0 with 43 saves between the pipes. He recorded 18 saves against Duke in the NCAA semifinal round and posted 13 saves against Yale in the championship game. Conners anchored a UVA defensive unit that led the nation in ground balls (41.55/game) and was second in opponent clear percentage (.711). Virginia was also one of two programs to have a top-20 offense and defense, as the Cavaliers limited opponents to 10.25 goals per game, while scoring 14.10 per game. 

The 2018 season marked Tiffany’s first trip to the NCAA Tournament as UVA head coach. In addition to leading the nation in ground balls (38.00/game), Tiffany’s Cavaliers were fifth nationally in assists (7.72/game) and seventh in scoring offense (12.61/game). Kraus became the third Cavalier in program history to tally 80 points in a single season after finishing with 83, which was good for No. 8 in the country. Aitken, who represented UVA as a First Team All-American midfielder, set a then-program record with 51 points in 2018.  

After a losing season in 2016, Tiffany and the Cavaliers got back to their winning ways in 2017 as the team achieved an 8-7 record in his first season as UVA head coach. The Virginia offense led the ACC and finished third nationally in three offensive categories: goals (14.40/game), assists (9.13/game) and points (23.53/game). Aitken shattered UVA’s freshmen midfielder record of 29 goals in just eight games and totaled 40 points. Kraus was named ACC Freshman of the Year and was the only rookie on the All-ACC team after leading UVA with 34 goals and 56 points. 

Tiffany came to Virginia with 12 years of head coaching experience after a 10-year stint at his alma mater, Brown University (2007-16) and a two-year stop at Stony Brook University (2005-06). 

Since taking over as head coach in 2007, Tiffany transformed Brown into one of the nation’s premier teams. He led the Bears to Championship Weekend in Philadelphia in 2016 behind a program-record 16 wins and the nation’s No. 1 offense (16.32/game). Attackman Dylan Molloy was crowned the recipient of the Tewaaraton Award and the nation’s most outstanding attackman in 2016. Additionally, Jack Kelly was named the nation’s most outstanding goalie and the recipient of the 2016 Senior CLASS Award. Under Tiffany’s guidance, Brown had a program-record eight USILA All-Americans in 2016. 

Brown’s historic success in 2016 was the culmination of four Ivy League titles in 2008, 2010, 2015 and 2016 and three NCAA Tournament berths in 2009, 2015 and 2016. Tiffany and his staff are widely credited with changing the modern landscape of college lacrosse after implementing a unique fastbreak-style of offense that produced an average of 13.94 goals per game – good for fifth best in the nation – in 2015. At Brown, Tiffany garnered back-to-back Ivy League Coach of the Year honors in 2015 and 2016. He was also named New England Coach of the Year in 2008, 2009, 2015 and 2016. 

After inheriting a Brown program that went winless in Ivy League play in 2006, Tiffany coached the Bears to their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1997 before falling to Johns Hopkins in overtime in the first round of the 2009 NCAA Tournament. Tiffany’s 2008 squad captured the Ivy League title with a 5-1 league mark and achieved an 11-3 record to earn the most wins in a single season by the Bears since 1994. In his first season at the helm at Brown in 2007, Tiffany turned the fortunes of the program in the right direction by guiding the Bears to a 7-7 record and a national ranking as high as No. 18. 

Tiffany’s first head coaching stint was at Stony Brook during the 2005 and 2006 seasons, where he compiled an 18-13 overall record. He was named America East Coach of the Year in 2005 after the Seawolves cracked the top 20 for the first time in program history and led the nation in man-up offense. In 2006, his squad finished second in the America East with a 4-1 league mark and was ranked in the top 20 in two weeks. 

Tiffany arrived at Stony Brook after successful stints at Penn State, Dartmouth, Washington & Lee and LeMoyne. He spent his four years at Penn State (2000-2004) as the top assistant under head coach Glenn Thiel, who previously served as UVA head coach from 1970-77 and guided the Cavaliers to their first NCAA title in 1972. At Penn State, Tiffany was involved in all facets of the lacrosse program as the team’s defensive and recruiting coordinator. In 2002, the Nittany Lions led the nation in man-down defense. 

Prior to coaching at Penn State, Tiffany was an assistant coach at Dartmouth College, where he spent the 1999 and 2000 seasons under head coach Rick Sowell. In his two seasons as defensive coordinator, the Big Green’s goals allowed per game in Ivy League contests dropped from 15.3 to 9.0. Dartmouth earned its first share of the Ivy League title and a berth in the NCAA tournament in 2003. 

Tiffany was an assistant coach from 1997-98 at Washington & Lee University. In 1998, the Generals went 13-3 and advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament while finishing fifth in the USILA Division III national rankings. 

Tiffany began his collegiate coaching career at LeMoyne College, where he served as an assistant coach of men’s lacrosse and co-head coach of the women’s lacrosse program from 1994-96. A native of LaFayette, New York, Tiffany graduated from LaFayette High School where he lettered in football, basketball and lacrosse. Upon graduation from Brown, he taught Marine Science and Marine Biology and coached lacrosse and football at the Robert Louis Stevenson School in Pebble Beach, California from 1990-94. 

A 1990 graduate of Brown, Tiffany was a two-time team captain and starter on defense for three years under the guidance of former Virginia head coach Dom Starsia, who served as head coach at Brown from 1982-92 before accepting the head coaching position at UVA. A Biology concentrator, Tiffany played on two Brown teams that advanced to the NCAA Tournament (1987 & 1990). He was co-MVP of the 1900 Brown squad that captured its first-ever NCAA playoff victory, a 12-9 victory over UMass. Tiffany capped his career by playing in the North-South Senior All-Star game in 1990. 

Lars and his wife, Tara, reside in Charlottesville with their daughter, Charlotte.