The University of Michigan College Lacrosse

John Paul

John Paul just wrapped up his 13th season at the helm of the Michigan men’s lacrosse team having accumulated a 223-43 record during that span.  His teams have earned a dominating 97 – 2 record in the Central Collegiate Lacrosse Association.  Under Paul, the Wolverines have won a stretch of 10 of the last 12 CCLA championships and have appeared in the MCLA national tournament each of the last 12 years as well, reaching at least the quarterfinals every year except one.  In 2008, the Wolverines did something no other MCLA team has ever done before when they completed a perfect season by going 20-0.  The resulting national championship was Michigan’s first, and it also marked the first time any team outside of the WCLL or RMLC has won an MCLA national title.  In 2009 the Wolverines repeated the feat by going 20-0 again and winning their second national championship.  Michigan pulled off the three-peat in 2010, finishing the regular season with one loss to push their overall record to 58-1 over the past three campaigns.

Under Paul, 59 Wolverines have earned MCLA All-American recognition, including 20 on the First-Team.  Michigan has also boasted 28 MCLA Scholar Athletes during Paul’s tenure.  At the conference level, Paul’s teams have produced 129 All-CCLA honorees, by far the highest total in the conference.  In 2008, Brekan Kohlitz became the first Wolverines drafted by a Major League Lacrosse team when he was selected in the fifth round by the Washington Bayhawks.  Kohlitz was a faceoff specialist, a position Paul coaches directly.

Away from the field, Paul’s teams have excelled in the classroom and community as well.  Over the last several years the team has earned over a 3.4 overall grade-point-average.  In addition, team members are regular participants in athletic department visits to Mott’s Children’s Hospital and in area children’s reading programs.

Paul has been involved with the Michigan lacrosse program, as a player and then as a coach, since 1985.  When his playing career ended, he served as an assistant coach before taking over the reigns in 1998.  While he was an assistant coach, Paul spent five years working in the Michigan Athletic Department as a development officer.  His coaching career began at Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor while he was still at Michigan in 1989.

Paul brings his fundraising experience to lacrosse as the Wolverines have become well known in the lacrosse world for an operating budget that surpasses even most NCAA Division 1 teams.  He started the Michigan Lacrosse Booster Club as well as the Michigan Lacrosse Alumni Advisory Board to assist in fundraising and communications, and he has aggressively pursued corporate and business partnerships for the team.  Paul’s Michigan team has direct relationships with adidas, Warrior/Brine and Riddell.

Under his tenure, the team has played a truly national schedule, with trips to Utah, Arizona, Colorado, California, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Florida and throughout the Midwest to play top-level opponents.  Paul built the team from a perennial top-15 performer to a national contender after one year at the helm, and the Wolverines have stayed at the top since.  It is now rare to see Michigan ranked outside the top-5.

Paul’s network in the varsity lacrosse world have allowed his teams to play quite a few NCAA opponents during the regular season and in fall and pre-season scrimmages.  In the fall of 2004 Michigan participated in the Nitany Lion Invitational along with Division 1 programs Penn State and Bucknell and defending Division 2 national champion LeMoyne.  In the fall of 2005 Michigan was invited to play in the inaugural MRB Buckeye Classic, along with Ohio State, Butler and Maryland.  In the fall of 2007 the team had the honor of hosting Army and defending NCAA Division 1 National Champion Johns Hopkins in Arbor for a three way scrimmage involving all three squads.  In addition, the team plays a number of other Division 1, 2 and 3 opponents throughout each year.

The Wolverines draw recruits on a national level, with much of the team hailing from out-of-state.  Almost every player on the Michigan team was recruited to play varsity lacrosse at some level, with quite a few players choosing Michigan over mid-range Division 1 programs or high-level Division 3 teams.  The current team has five high school All-Americans, and numerous All-State selections.

Paul was on the coaching staff of the USA West team that won the International Open division of the 2002 World Lacrosse Championships in Perth, Australia.  He served once again on the USA West staff in 2005 when he helped lead the team to the championship of the Asia Pacific Games in Osaka, Japan.  In addition, he has established a relationship with the University of Tokyo men’s lacrosse team.  Every summer he travels to Japan to work with their team, and every spring several Blue Bullets players spend two to three weeks with the Michigan team, living with the players and attending practices in a valuable cultural exchange.  This team to team international relationship is unique in college lacrosse.

In the summer of 2002 Paul took over as President of the Men’s Collegiate Lacrosse Association (MCLA), a position he held until May of 2009.  A former member of the US Lacrosse oard of Directors (2002 – 2005), he also served on the Executive Board of the US Lacrosse Coaches Council and on the Board of the Michigan Chapter of US Lacrosse.

Paul runs a winter lacrosse clinic at Michigan that draws over 200 players and 80 high school coaches as well as top college coaches from around the country and Michigan summer overnight camps for for all levels of players.  He is planning to add a Team Camp to the stable of Michigan lacrosse camps in the summer.

A three-year captain at Michigan, in 1989 Paul was drafted by the Detroit Turbos of the Major Indoor Lacrosse League.  He also played post-collegiate club lacrosse for the Motor City Lacrosse Club until 1996.

Paul holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Michigan in History (1992).  He is married and lives in Ann Arbor.