"Coach Jim is a good communicator and is willing to do anything to help. He actually cares about his job as a coach and will help you if you ask him. Nice and thoughtful person overall too. He is fair and not judgemental, which makes his swimmers feel welcomed. "
"I had a fantastic experience with this coach.
Coach DuPaul took over the worst team in the Patriot League, by far. Before his arrival, Lafayette was 10th of 10 teams in cross country with 284 points. With no scholarships, he led Lafayette to a 3rd place finish in the Patriot League. We were 32 points away from winning the championship! This was the COVID year where Navy did not compete, Army won with 41 points and Lafayette had 73, scoring 5 athletes in the top 20.
In his 5th year, despite losing two of his top runners, Lafayette placed 4th (as Navy competed again) with 134 points. In just 5 years, Lafayette went from 10th to 3rd and 4th, improving 150 points in the league championship in a small, 10 team conference. All without scholarships.
2 years after he left, Lafayette just placed 9th with 256 points. Athlete development has halted since he left. The talented recruits that he brought in, such as a 4:08 high school miler, are not improving. The new coach is doing worse, despite having more talent on the team. It is not a coincidence that Lafayette improved so drastically once Coach DuPaul began, and not a coincidence that the team has declined so rapidly after he left."
"Probably my worst experience ever playing softball. She is not knowledgeable about the game. When I asked questions she said “you do what I say” wouldn’t let players take extra work. Showed up to the field 5 minutes after practice was supposed to start. Did the same practice the whole season. Only won four games and she didn’t care. Would make comments about how she wanted to go home mid game. Did not care about players mental health or well being. Played her favorite players, and made it obvious she didn’t want to win. When players would go to her she would dismiss them and not listen. Did zero team bonding activities and had no personality. Was the reason I stopped playing softball "
"Coach Mike means well but is disorganized, doesn't communicate clearly, and doesn't seem to know what he's doing all the time. Our team should be better than we are."
"I ran on some of this coach's earlier teams. Maybe he has improved, but I had a challenging experience with him. He lost all of our trust in him as he would constantly complain about each of us members on the team to the other members of the team in private meetings. Of course, he would not say any of this to our faces, but it just created a toxic relationship between much of our team and him. I also heard that he said nasty things to the team about me after I graduated which was upsetting because I put a lot into the program for him and was respected by my other coaches and teammates. Our team rallied around each other and did well but I certainly wish we had had a different coach."
"This coach struggles with a high degree of the basic necessities of scholastic coaching such as caring about and putting the athletes first, communication, fostering a structured and competitive team environment, and being an educator. Not to mention he also lacks the knowledge of the sport to generate the best competitive results out of his athletes and is to vain to admit that and attempt to learn from other, more successful coaches in the sport. The results at Lafayette were misleading as they were achieved after the pandemic in which the athletes were largely away training on their own and their success had nothing to do with this coach and was about the ambition, dedication, intentionality, and locker room vibe facilitated by the athletes themselves. Worst of all, this coach makes everything about himself and suffers from "blame the kid syndrome" when things go poorly on race-day. A coach in a collegiate program owes it to their athletes, institution, and community to be a servant leader, educator, and instill skills in their athletes that can foster success both competitively and after graduation in the professional world. This coach comes up markedly short in those areas."
"Coach Dupaul is pretty knowledgeable in the sport and overall a good coach. Some workouts I question on why we’re doing them or if the time is really right but for a vast majority they’re fine. He creates an emphasis on making the team closer together outside of the sport. I don’t have any real complaints other than at some points the program seems a little bit disorganized and things are put together at the last minute."
"Very good guy. Genuinely cares about your well-being. However, does not really create a good team culture and doesn’t really seem to know how to create fast runners."
"I like Cocah DuPaul, he really loves coaching and has made me love track and field again. I think he does struggle a bit with creating a rigid structure for us to follow but some athletes work better with flexibility. Overall a good coach!"
"He is a difficult person to deal with. Doesn't know much about soccer at all, and runs an autocracy where players often cannot express themselves on the field. Style of play is old-school and not fun to play in. The players who are not within the top 5 or so are often ignore and not treated fairly."
"I was able to take a visit to Lafayette and I was not impressed with Coach Bohn. I barely had any contact with him and I was unable to get a feel for him as a coach. He didn't take a lot of time with me being a recruit on campus."
"Passive aggressive. Almosy always makes players feel bad after mistakes are made & does not recognize or acknowledge when players make solid contributions or fantastic plays. Unable to motivate players. Very little knowledge of the game. "
"He’s very kind and fair. Has a real passion for the sport and that is definitely shown when he is coaching during practices and matches. Stays very calm during matches and that helps the players stay loose. "
"Had a great experience with my host and they made me feel very welcomed. I loved the tour and the classes I visited as well as the rest of the team and Coach. After the visit I knew where I wanted to be"
"She was not a good role model for her players and I would not wish anyone the college experience that I had with her. Her outright favoritism led to team tension and it has driven the program into the ground. Her immaturity and lack of knowledge for recruiting and the game has negatively affected the reputation of Lafayette Softball. "
"Coach McConnell is an excellent coach and made my last two years of college the best years of my life. She is tough and gets it done but you can trust her and she knows exactly what she is talking about."
"The worst coach you could ever play for. Only cares about himself, expects his kids to be robots who only care about winning. Lies to recruits, also brings in 20+ per class. Holds grudges for small mistakes and acts bipolar around the team. Do not play for this man unless you want to quit, transfer, or have a pretty miserable college experience."
"Highly unprofessional and unhelpful. Completely disrespectful to her athlete's time and knowledge, while providing few insights into the program. She is often on her phone during practice, and she almost always arrives late, if at all. Treats all drills like Sabre. Quite disappointed that the administration has removed her and her assistant coach."
"Can never tell you what you are doing right without a backhand. Not motivational at all. Is not consistent tells you what he wants from you and even if you do it it changes nothing. Not a fair chance for all players."
"I had the best college soccer experience and it was all thanks to Coach. I had a terrible finally season of club and coach made me love soccer again. His experience playing pro in England and his coaching endeavors have led me to respect his decisions. He cares so much about our growth during soccer and our future afterwards. He is simply the best."
"Jim is as intense as you want him to be as a coach. If you show that you don't care about dropping time, he wont bother you about training harder. If you tell him your goals, he will push you to reach them."
"Probably would have quit swimming a long time ago if it weren't for his dedication to me and to this sport. It was because of him that I have stuck with it this long. Could not have more respect for him as a coach and as a person. The best coach I've ever had by far. "
"Out of all the 13 years I have been swimming he has been the best coach. He is personal and makes each swimmer feel important. You need to make an effort but he cares about everyone on the team. He loves to tell stories and knows all his swimmers personally. He is like a father figure."
"Jim does a great job of balancing the team's goals with our individual goals to produce the best season for both the team, and the individual. I'm really enjoying my experience on the team, and a large part of that is due to Jim. "
"Jim is a great coach. He prioritizes academics over swimming, whice parents like, as you go to college to learn and get an education. He's very good with getting to know his swimmers on an individual level and you know he's there for you if you ever need anything. He keeps swimming fun and not too intense so everyone enjoys going to practice. "
"For all of the answers I chose as strongly agree, I can say that I've never felt more about a coach, let alone an adult figure, before. He cares about all of the players so much in every aspect of their life including academic, athletic, social, emotional, learning, etc. and wants each of us to be as successful as possible. He has an extremely positive attitude and makes great strides to give each player a great experience. Also is one of the most intelligent people I have met."
"Unfortunately it was not a good experience. I left the school in a lot worse shape mentally and physically than I started. The school is great but going there for baseball was the biggest mistake of my life."
"Coach DuPaul was the lone bright spot among the Lafayette coaching staff. He always had a positive attitude and went the extra mile to support athletes in other events. Even though I was a thrower and he coached the distance team, he always talked to us and cheered us up. He was well respected by everyone.
The angry kid below is probably one of the troublemakers that everyone on the team disliked.
"
"Coach Scott had very little success recruiting and it hurt the team. I was a thrower but there were a lot of complaints about Coach Scott from the sprinters."
"Curcio is a mean, angry coach. Her temper causes most of her athletes to lose respect for her. She is a bully.
She makes athletes feel like dirt when she gives instructions, so possibly good technical instructions are not received well because they are given in a demeaning manner.
She arbitrarily picks favorite athletes, and then ignores everyone else. Even her favorite athletes don't like her."
"At Lafayette, Coach DuPaul turned the worst team in the Patriot League into one of the top teams in the league. It was a transformation that none of us thought could happen because we were so far behind the other teams.
We ran bigger PR times and stayed healthier compared to schools we competed against. We were consistently beating athletes from other teams that were a lot faster than us in high school.
He improved the team culture by making small changes over time. Changing it all at once wouldn't have worked. Over time we grew more passionate about the sport and now more than half of us that he coached are running marathons after college."
"Has a lot of time to be there for his athlete and does care for their success. Needs more intensity to form motivation. Would also help with controlling his athletes. Too much flexibility mostly occurring because lack of effective communication. "
"I think Coach Dupaul is very dedicated and cares a lot about his athletes and this program. He is extremely flexible and easy to get along with, which works better for some and not so well for others. I do think the team could benefit from a little more structure and organization, and I also think Dupaul needs to be more vocal about the team culture and mentality he expects from us. Seeing as how he has only been coaching here for a little less than a year, I think he will develop his coaching style here with time."
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