WASHINGTON - Georgetown University Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Lee Reed has announced that Kevin Warne has been named the head coach for the Hoyas men's lacrosse program. He becomes the 12th head coach in the program's 50-year history.
Warne comes to the Hilltop after two years as an assistant coach at the University of Maryland, where he helped lead the Terrapins to back-to-back appearances in the national championship game. He takes over for the legendary Dave Urick, who stepped down from coaching after winning 223 games in 23 years at the helm of the program.
"I'm really excited to name Kevin Warne as head coach for our men's lacrosse program," Reed said. "Kevin's commitment to student-athlete welfare and his passion for the game makes him the perfect person to take over our lacrosse program at this time. He is considered to be one of the top young assistants in the country and he has a terrific track record of success as an assistant coach, including appearances in the last two national championship games. We welcome Kevin to the Hoya family and look forward to working with him to build on the great tradition and success of Georgetown lacrosse."
Regarded as one of the top defensive minds in men's lacrosse, Warne helped guide Maryland to consecutive NCAA National Championship games in his two years in College Park with a 25-11 record. The Terps finished the season ranked No. 2 in the country by Inside Lacrosse in 2011 and 2012.
In 2011, his first season with Maryland, Warne helped lead the Terps to a 13-5 season record, the 2011 ACC championship and three-straight wins in the NCAA Tournament to reach the title game. In 2012, Maryland finished the regular season, 9-5 and again advanced to the NCAA Tournament Championship Game. In two seasons, Warne helped guide seven Maryland players to earn All-America honors, including defender Brett Schmidt, who was named the ACC Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 2011.
Prior to Maryland, Warne spent three seasons as an assistant coach at Harvard, where his primary responsibility was overseeing the Crimson defense. In his first season with the Crimson program in 2008, the team had the most All-Ivy League selections since 1999 and was ranked in both major polls during the year. During the 2009 campaign, Warne's defensive unit ranked third in the nation in goals allowed per game and Harvard won eight games for the first time since 2002. The Crimson earned five All-Ivy picks and was ranked as high as No. 11 in the nation in the USILA poll. Harvard allowed 10 or more goals only twice and upset No. 5 Duke to open the season. Warne's work with the Crimson earned him recognition as one of college lacrosse's top assistant coaches by ESPN's Quint Kessenich prior to the 2010. In 2010, Warne helped the Crimson win at least six games for the third straight season, as Harvard earned its first victory over No. 6 Princeton since 1990.
Warne came to Harvard from UMBC, where he served as associate head coach for the Retrievers and helped UMBC advance to the NCAA quarterfinals in 2007. He also served as UMBC's main recruiting coordinator, as well as the program's liaison to the equipment and strength & conditioning departments. Prior to his position at UMBC, Warne served as an assistant coach from 2001-04 at the University of Delaware, working primarily with the offense..
A 2000 graduate of Hofstra, Warne majored in psychology while playing for the Pride from 1995-99. He was a four-year letterwinner and a two-time All-America East honoree. As a senior, he was also named an honorable mention All-American after guiding Hofstra to its third league championship and postseason berth.
While finishing his degree at Hofstra, Warne served as an assistant coach at Plainview-Old Bethpage High School on Long Island. He got his start at the collegiate coaching level in 2000 at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy prior to moving on to coach at Delaware.
Warne married the former Jennifer Merrill, who was a four-time letterwinner and team captain at Hofstra in volleyball, in August 2009. The couple currently resides in Baltimore with newborn daughter, Campbell.