I listen to a lot of Channel 20, E Street Radio, on Sirius XM.
I mean, a lot.
The station often plays a clip of Bruce Springsteen reminiscing about his earliest days. He recalls, “I remember the first time I ever got paid to play. I remember thinking ‘they paid me five dollars; somebody paid me five dollars to play!’ I wish I still had that five dollars; I mean, that was the best money I ever made – except for all the rest!”
Well, I can say the same thing about some of the various jobs I’ve had – as long as we are sure to add the Boss’s “except for all the rest” disclaimer; that asterisk up there in the title is there for a reason.
For example, when I was a teenager, I worked in Girls Scout Camps for two summers when I was 14 and 15 years old.
Or the next summer job I got, working at Rawhide Ranch in the Catskills for seven years (met my wife there!).
Or my next summer job, reffing in the Fulton Summer League with Terry McNabb, Jeff Akin, and Ken Peterson in the ‘80s, meeting players from all over Upstate NY – and crossing paths with them ever since.
Or the “assistant to the athletic director” title – and paycheck – I had at Oswego State at age 25.
No, I’d have lots of other great jobs to add to my list…
Full-time high school English teacher at Hannibal HS… for 33 years! I taught English 7, English 9-12, the school district’s first-ever AP course, College English as an adjunct at both OCC and Cayuga CC, and Children’s Lit, an elective I created…
Part-time head men’s lacrosse coach at Oswego State… for 28 wonderful years.
Part-time community service coordinator for the Oswego State athletic department… for 12 years.
Part-time assistant men’s lacrosse coach at Oswego State… now in my third year.
Staff member at the Top 205 Lacrosse Camp. I had D-I assistant coaches as my assistants, and we drafted our own teams for the week. At night, camp directors would pick up the food and bar tab.
I was also a staff member at the LeMoyne, West Point, All-American, Four-Star, Hobart, and Cornell Lacrosse Camps – the subject of many RTD pieces over the years.
I was also the Director of the Oswego State Lacrosse Camp.
Seriously – who’s more lucky than me?
I’ve been the Competition Director and Legends Coordinator for the Lake Placid Summit Classic for close to 20 years.
And staff member – from volunteer to administrator – for FIL and World Lacrosse championships in Denver, Onondaga, Israel, Ireland, San Diego, and Utica…
But there was (at least) one more…
For about two years, roughly 2013-2014, I was paid to watch high school lacrosse games and write about the top players I saw.
No – really!
3d Lacrosse, which was very big in New England and Colorado at the time, was looking to expand its reach, so they initiated a 3d Rising platform and hired regional people to profile the top high school prospects all around the country. A mere volunteer assistant varsity coach at Oswego HS at that time, someone knew I had some time on my hands, and with 28 years of college coaching (and recruiting) under my belt, I guess someone felt I was the right guy for the job.
At first, my region was limited to just Upstate NY’s Section III, but I offered to include some Section V, too. Like I’ve said many times before, when you’re in Oswego, a lot of Rochester schools are just as close as many Syracuse campuses.
The best part of the job – besides the paycheck – was that I was free to choose which games I was going to see, and which players I wanted to write about. There was no hidden agenda on 3d’s part – they weren’t pushing me to go see this kid at that school or that other kid at his school.
I’d get out a calendar and then see who was playing where each week, attempting to balance out the schedule by not seeing the same school too many times – or not at all. In either year, I don’t think I ever saw the same team more than twice. I probably made about three trips a week, and I submitted five bi-weekly profiles covering games from April 1 through the state championship in June.
I had so much fun that I did summer tournaments, too. I watched Long Island and Albany teams play at the first Saratoga Shootout. I went to the Pepper Tournament and profiled players from teams I hadn’t caught that previous spring. And somehow I even managed to take notes and cover high school players participating in the U17 Festival games at the FIL 2014 men’s championships in Denver, too.
3d made it easy for me and others by setting up a template for all of its writers. We ranked them as “Legit (a D1 scholarship kid),” “Player (a D1 recruit),” or “Watch-list (potential to be a D1 kid; need to see more, needs to grow, mature, or develop to be a surefire D1 kid).”
We also used a specific choice of labels to characterize their play...
Attackmen, for instance, were broken down into the following categories: “Wing player (finisher/feeder or dodger); X attackman – dodge and feed; or Off-ball attackman (crease, or time and room).”
Middies were identified as “Two-way; Alley dodger (Split and Go, or Wing re-dodgers); Off-ball (Hitch and go, Catch and Shoot, or Cutter); and Face-off.”
Defenders were either “On-ball (Shutdown or Cover); Off-ball; or With-ball.”
Goalies were tagged as “Big in the net” or “Quick.”
These labels helped profilers use a common language and scale, so prospects in Georgia were described with the same terminology as Upstaters, but I’ve got to admit that, looking back on these notes now, they seem rather limiting (I mean, can’t a goalie be big and quick?).
I don’t think you can find these 3d Rising recruiting profiles on the internet these days. 3d was eventually bought out by another company and I don’t think there’s any evidence of what schools I covered or what players I wrote about…
… except that I still have my (paper!) files of notes. Don’t ask me why I kept them all these 20+ years, except for me to say that’s how I roll. Keep everything.
I won’t embarrass myself or the high schoolers I profiled by revealing names and rankings, but I will say that I saw kids who went on to big D-I and even pro careers. Now, did I miss some very good players? Probably. Did I write about players who may not have deserved the press? Maybe. But I’d like to think that it’s also possible that I might have helped a few kids who weren’t on any coach’s radar. Bottom line: unless you can find the profiles archived somewhere, I’ll keep all the names and rankings to myself.
According to my handwritten notes, I saw 24 Section III teams play over the span of those two years, and 14 Section V teams. I also was able to see Ithaca and Corning East (Section IV), Niskayuna (Section II), and Bishop Timon (Section VI) when they came to Syracuse or Rochester.
In 2013 I went to the state finals at St. John Fisher, and in 2014, 3d Rising paid for me to go to Long Island’s Hofstra University to follow F-M and Cazenovia.
Want more numbers?
Year Games seen Admission Mileage Number of players profiled
2013 29 $26 2538 110
2014 29 $35 1965 109
(I told you. I keep everything).
It was so much fun to see the familiar faces of high school coaches as well as college coaches out on the recruiting trail, and it was so refreshing to watch a game with absolutely no dog in the hunt. I didn’t care which team won or lost! I didn’t freak out over a questionable call, and I didn’t really say anything all game long. What a change after 28 years of Laker lacrosse!
I’ll never know who – if anyone – actually read those profiles, but I did get a few thank-you smiles and handshakes from some Lacrosse Dads over the next few years.
The dream job came to an end when 3d brought in someone else to do a more expansive job, but the 3d Rising recruiting profiles ended soon thereafter anyways. With the newly-discovered free time, I agreed to accept the head JV coaching position at Oswego HS.
Thanks to the good people at 3d Rising for giving me the opportunity; those were two fun years. I was well-paid, trusted and appreciated, and free to watch and write what I wanted…
Therefore, it was the best lacrosse job I ever had.*
Thanks for reading. Please consider subscribing at roadtripdad.com to receive weekly RTD newsletters via email. It’s free – really! No fine print; no catches.
In the meantime, please drive carefully, everyone. Put down those cell phones. Volunteer. Donate blood. Get your shots; get your boosters. Love your neighbor. Help someone in need, and always take care of your crew!
But most importantly, stay safe, stay smart, and stay kind.
- Dan Witmer
Dan is currently the author of four books. The Best of Road Trip Dad – The Laker Lacrosse Collection is an accumulation of 45 articles written for www.JustLacrosseUpstate between the years 2012 and 2018, about the history and traditions, the people, and the stories of the Oswego State men’s lacrosse program. … and piles to go before I sleep – The Book of Wit is his memoir describing his 33-year career teaching HS English and coaching at Hannibal Central School. His third book, The Best of RTD – A Lacrosse Coach’s Handbook contains more than 55 weekly Road Trip Dad blogs spanning 2012-2020, featuring Xs and Os, highs and lows, and even some Dos and Don'ts, and plenty of advice for coaches of all levels. His latest book, The Best of Road Trip Dad – On the Shoulders of Giants: Upstate’s Lacrosse Founders and Legends, profiles more than 50 icons who helped grow the game in Upstate NY. All four books are available at www.amazon.com.
Dan grew up in Lynbrook, NY before coming to Oswego State to earn his teaching and coaching certifications. He then taught English at Hannibal High School for 33 years before retiring in 2015.
In addition to coaching the Oswego State Laker men’s lacrosse team part-time from 1982-2010, Dan also coached JV and varsity girls’ soccer at Hannibal for 16 years, girls’ ice hockey at Oswego HS for 8 years, and boys’ JV and varsity lacrosse at Oswego HS for 12 years.
Dan is now in his 18th year assisting Summit Lacrosse Ventures with their various tournaments, especially the annual Lake Placid Summit Classic, and he worked for 3d Lacrosse for three years as well. He has served on the staffs of the 2014 FIL World Games in Denver, the 2015 FIL Indoor Championships in Syracuse, the 2018 FIL World Games in Netanya, Israel, the 2022 U21 World Championship in Limerick, Ireland, and the World Lacrosse Championships in San Diego in 2023. He was the game ops staff director for the World Lacrosse Men’s and Women’s Box Championships in Utica in September of 2024. This year he created Witmer Solutions LLC, a lacrosse event staffing and internship offering service that he hopes will get his foot – and others’ – in the door at lacrosse events worldwide.
Dan served as the Community Service Coordinator for the Oswego State athletic department from 2010-2023 and has been a certified lacrosse referee for the past seven years. He has also been the Volunteer Event Organizer for the annual St. Baldrick’s fundraiser in Oswego for the past 18 years, raising more than one million dollars for childhood cancer research.
In 2023, he returned to the Oswego State coaching staff as an assistant coach, where he currently serves as defensive coordinator and alumni liaison.
Dan and Sue Witmer live in Oswego, while their sons Brian and Eric are currently living in Prague and Denver.
The hope is for many more road trips to come.