By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Around 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, University of Virginia lacrosse standout John Schroter and his fellow captains received a text from deputy athletics director Armani Dawkins asking them to try to get their teammates on an unscheduled Zoom later that morning.
Eight days earlier, UVA Athletics had announced that Lars Tiffany would not return as head coach of the Cavalier men’s program, so the players figured the search for his successor might have ended. But they didn’t know the identity of the Cavaliers’ new coach, Schroter said, “and when we got that text, everyone’s anticipation went really high.”
Dawkins spoke to the team first on Zoom, and director of athletics Carla Williams followed. Minutes ticked by. “They were slow-rolling us so hard,” Schroter said, laughing.
The suspense built until Williams shared the news that Kevin Cassese had been promoted to head coach. The players celebrated as Cassese, Virginia’s associate head coach and offensive coordinator for the past three seasons, joined the Zoom.
“This last week, it was a time of uncertainty,” said Schroter, an All-ACC defenseman. “Some kids were nervous, but we all stuck together. Seeing Coach Cassese, everyone obviously has such a great relationship with him.”
The players had heard other candidates mentioned, but their preference was clear, Schroter said. “It’s either our guy or somebody else we haven’t worked with before, and we’re taking our guy any day. We love our guy and we’re going to stick with our guy.”
Cassese spent most of his time at practice with the Cavaliers’ offensive players and faceoff specialists, but he “works really hard on building great relationships with players all over the field, whether they’re a goalie, defender, faceoff guy, whatever it may be,” Schroter said. “So I have a great relationship with him, and now that he’s the head coach, I’ll be seeing more of him.”
Tiffany and Cassese and first worked together at Stony Brook, and they were reunited at UVA in 2023. When he joined the Wahoos’ staff, Cassese had 16-plus seasons as a head coach on his résumé.
Cassese, who was a three-time All-American as a Duke midfielder, said Tuesday that his “goal was to get back into the ACC and work with and for one of my good friends, to win at the highest level, win championships, and hopefully set myself up for the next big ACC job that opened up, whether that was Duke, North Carolina, Virginia, whatever that might be.
“And so that was the plan, but I also made the decision understanding that there's very few ACC jobs and they don't open up that often, and so I wanted to make sure it was a situation that, if I was going to be an associate head coach and it was going to be for a while, it was in a really great place.”
Cassese, 45, said he spoke with Tiffany for about 45 minutes Friday night and updated him on “my status with the search.”
As he takes charge of a program that has won seven NCAA titles, two of them under Tiffany, Cassee said his first priority is “to make sure that I thank Lars. He's a friend, first and foremost, and there's a lot of narratives out there that are trying to tear that apart, and that's something that is really important to me.
“There’s always two sides of a relationship, so he's got to be a willing partner of that as well. But at least on my side, I have zero ill will. And I'm just grateful to him for bringing me here and for 22 years of friendship and mentorship.”
🎙️ @CoachCassese on being named our program's 18th head coach... pic.twitter.com/BUrNOCqmsW
— Virginia Men's Lacrosse (@UVAMensLax) May 26, 2026
The departure of a head coach often sends players rushing to the transfer portal. That hasn’t happened at UVA.
“Luckily, all the guys have stayed put so far,” Schroter said, “and that’s kind of what we’re expecting to continue. Everyone’s calling each other, telling them they love ‘em. Everyone’s sticking together.”
Cassese said: “I think it speaks to the bonds that they have with each other and the leadership of the captains, just to keep everybody together. I think that was all them. And so now that there is a new head coach, there's more communication coming. And that's a big part of my job, to try and dive into roster management and retention and potentially acquisition.”
After missing the NCAA tournament in 2025, UVA bounced back to win the ACC title this year. The Hoos finished 10-7 after losing to Georgetown in the NCAA tournament’s first round. They stumbled early in the season but eventually found their footing, defeating eventual NCAA runner-up Notre Dame twice and routing North Carolina in the ACC championship game.
Virginia ranked sixth nationally in goals per game (14.06) this season.
Four Cavaliers were named to the All-ACC team—Schroter, Ryan Colsey, McCabe Millon and Brendan Millon—and they all have eligibility remaining. Others who could return include Joey Terenzi, Ryan Duenkel, Robby Hopper, Michael Meredith, Tommy Snyder, Chase Band, Owen Crann, Brayden Lahey, Sean Browne, Robby Hopper, Griff Meyer, Andrew Greenspan, Hudson Hausmann, Wills Burt and Lindan Verville.
“It's a terrific roster, and talent is just a small component of that,” Cassese said. “It's the quality of young men that are in the program. These are winners. And you saw some of that this year. We were able to win a good amount, and we beat some great teams en route to an ACC championship.
“But there's more in there, and there's more to do. These kids, I know they have it in them. And so, yes, the roster is really strong, and retaining that roster is going to be key. And then wherever we can to try and be additive [from the portal], but not too much, I think, is important. We don't want to upset the balance of a great culture that we have within our team.”