The Coquitlam Jr. Adanacs are looking for a new head coach.
The team announced Wednesday Pat Coyle is stepping down “to focus on his other commitments.” He is currently the coach and general manager of the Natonal Lacrosse League’s Colorado Mammoth. He just took on the latter position in July, after serving as the team’s interim GM since last December.
Beginning Thursday, Coyle will also be working as an assistant coach behind Team Canada’s bench at the World Indoor Lacrosse Championships that is being played in Langley.
Coyle, who was inducted as a player into the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2017, took his place behind the Adanacs’ bench in 2015 and subsequently guided the team to five appearances in the Minto Cup including two national championships. This past season, the team won the BC Junior A Lacrosse League championship but faltered in the national tournament and failed to reach the semi-final.
Coyle was also the BCJALL’s coach of the year in 2015, ’16 and ’17.
During his tenure, Coyle’s Adanacs lost only eight times in 84 games and in 2016, the team went through the season undefeated.
Adanacs’ president James Abbott said Coyle “was invaluable in helping our club develop a winning, inclusive family culture.”
Scott Wortley, the team’s general manager, called Coyle “a true champion, leader and professional. He made everyone around him better.”
Coyle played most of his junior lacrosse in Brampton, Ont., and when he came west in the 1990s he captained the Sr. Adanacs to a Mann Cup victory in 2001. He also won five championships in the NLL and he was inducted into its hall of fame in 2014. In 2017, he was also named to the Adanacs’ Ring of Honour.
