Cottle quiets critics with ACC title

After watching the Terrapin men’s lacrosse team lose three straight for the first time since the late ’80s — all of which against their biggest rivals and in their most meaningful regular season games — it was easy to look down on the Terps. Much of that blame invariably falls on coach Dave Cottle.

The criticism came to a head a few weeks ago when a guest column entitled “Cut Cottle” appeared in this newspaper, calling for Cottle’s dismissal.

He’s not the only one, though. Since taking over the program, many in the lacrosse community grumbled about the university hiring Cottle over the legendary Gary Gait.

On March 11, 2003, a letter to the editor said athletic director Debbie Yow snubbed Gait, an “in-house candidate who is a legend,” in favor of Cottle, who was said to be out of favor by players and wasn’t able to win a national championship.

I’ve been around this team for two years and Cottle certainly connects well with his players. He may not have a national championship yet, but the Terps completed a surprising run to their second straight ACC tournament title Sunday, knocking off two of the top three teams in the country over three days in Baltimore.

They gutted out a thrilling overtime victory Friday night against Virginia — a team that hung an embarrassing 10-2 loss on them a month ago.

Then, the Terps shut down one of the most potent offensive attacks in the country en route to a convincing 9-5 win over Duke in the final.

Yep, cut Cottle. He’s killing the program.

In four years under Cottle the Terps have claimed a pair of ACC titles, something no Terp coach has done before him.

Since the ACC men’s lacrosse tournament began in 1989, the Terps have won it three times. Even former Terp coach Dick Edell — one of the most respected minds in lacrosse — captured the ACC tournament crown just once.

In 2003, Cottle led the Terps to their first final four appearance in five seasons. Last year, he was named ACC Coach of the Year.

So let’s recap.

Four years. Two ACC titles. One final four appearance. One Coach of the Year award.

Debbie Yow, please fire Dave Cottle.

Sure, the Terps stumbled through their toughest losing streaks since the late ’80s this year. They lost to then-No. 3 Virginia, No. 8 Navy and No. 1 Johns Hopkins over three weeks before salvaging the season at No. 15 Fairfield.

Cottle has not beaten Hopkins since he arrived in College Park, but there aren’t too many teams that have. No one has knocked off the Blue Jays this season.

The Terps could have packed it in after that skid, but I’m pretty sure Cottle had something to do with the seemingly overnight turnaround of this team.

He may have won the ACC Coach of the Year Award last season, but the job he did leading the Terps to another conference title was no small task either. Now the Terps are brimming with confidence. They have a hot goalie (Harry Alford), playing in front of a strong defense.

Oh, and there offense still features one of the games greatest goal scorers (Joe Walters).

So it’s a wonder what exactly are people going for in calling out Cottle, who has done almost everything short of win a national title in three-plus seasons.

I guess a final four appearance and last year’s ACC title weren’t enough to spare Cottle of some more criticism. Maybe they’ll come around now.