When universities consider the qualifications for a college lacrosse coach, they usually focus on playing and coaching experience at the national level with a college powerhouse, professional lacrosse team or international team.
But rarely do coaches come around who have all three.
Brian Voelker, who just completed his first season as head coach for the Penn men's lacrosse team, has accumulated an impressive list of lacrosse experiences as a player and as a coach in his 12 years since graduating college.
As a player for Johns Hopkins University, Voelker was selected the Blue Jays' most outstanding player and first team All-American on defense in 1991 and was part of a 1989 national championship team.
Voelker made his coaching debut as a defensive coordinator for another perennial national contender -- Princeton. There he earned his first ring as a coach, as his All-America-laden defense won two national awards and led the Tigers to an NCAA championship victory in 1992.
"Coming out of college and going to a place like Princeton was a pretty special thing," Voelker said. "I was expecting to go to a good team, then all of a sudden we're very good and we win the championship right here on Franklin Field."
In 1997, Voelker returned to Johns Hopkins as defensive coordinator, and helped lead the Blue Jays to the NCAA Final Four in 1999 and 2000. During the off-season, he played defense and for the Philadelphia Wings of the Major Indoor Lacrosse League in 1994 and 1995. As team captain, he led the Wing to a championship in 1998.
After leaving Hopkins in 2001, Voelker coached the Baltimore Bayhawks and led them to the inaugural championship game of Major League Lacrosse. Last summer, he played for the MLL's Boston Cannons and may play for the Long Island Lizards this summer.
"Playing lacrosse gives me something to talk about with the recruits, other than like, 'How's the weather, or 'how are your classes going?'" Voelker said. "They can see me on TV or live, and we can talk about our experiences on the field."
That is the experience Voelker brings. That is what he will use when pacing the sidelines of Franklin Field to try and bring Penn's program -- which is coming off a 6-7 season and a 2-4 mark in the Ivies -- among the nation's elite.
"I feel like I got really lucky. This is a great place for me to be," Voelker said. "There's a tradition of winning here, being in the playoffs, winning Ivy League games, and I just thought it was a place where I could come and be successful."
Voelker, who has become Penn's third coach in the last three years, will try to add some stability to a program that was forced to adjust to frequent changes in leadership.
"I think [stability] is real important," Voelker said. "I've had two coaching changes throughout my career at Hopkins... it creates a lot of disturbance and a lot of turmoil.
"This is a big part of some young men's lives, and you want things to be stable -- they have enough things to worry about."
Voelker immediately let his team know that his methods would be different than those of previous coaches. After being hired -- with fall practices right around the corner -- Voelker chose to look at no tapes from the previous season. The past would no longer dictate the future of Penn lacrosse.
"I just really felt like coming in here, number one, everybody should be starting with a clean slate," Voelker said. "And that no matter what's happened here in the last year or 10 years, I can figure out and my coaching staff can figure out what guys can do and what they can't do."
"I liked that [Voelker] came in and gave everyone a chance to play," senior co-captain and preseason All-America candidate Alex Kopicki said. "I admit even I was nervous for a while when he first came in."
But Voelker acknowledges that his "clean slate" policy may have taken a toll on his fall instruction.
"There were 58 guys who came and tried out for the team, so we took probably six or seven practices to sort everybody out," Voelker said. "Looking back and seeing how the season turned out, we probably would've liked to have done a bit more teaching heading into our first game."
Voelker was able to lead the Quakers to a 6-7 overall record this year against a tough schedule that included five top-20 teams. Although the Quakers were unable to repeat on last year's winning record -- Penn's first since 1989 -- Voelker and his staff are pleased with this year's outcome.
"After our first couple of scrimmages, if you would have told myself, or any of the coaches that we were going to win six games, we probably would've been real happy with that," Voelker said.
Several of the graduating seniors also say that Voelker's style meshed well with the team's, helping Penn have some success.
"He adjusted very well to the program from the beginning," senior co-captain Evan Weinberg said.
Weinberg, who played under Voelker in junior high school, reunited with the coach who first taught him to play defense this season.
"He is a really great guy, and I'm happy to begin and finish my career with him."
Despite a victory over Yale in Penn's final game this season, Voelker knows that much work still lies ahead to make the Quakers a championship-caliber team.
"We're not anywhere near the team I want us to be," Voelker said. "But we're working extra hard to get there.... I feel that our program is headed in the right direction."
