Richie Moran

Richard M. "Richie" Moran is a Hall of Fame lacrosse player and coach.

His playing career began as an All-County midfielder at Sewanhaka High School in Floral Park, New York from 1951–1955 and helped his team to four consecutive undefeated seasons before heading to the University of Maryland where he was a key performer on the 1959 Terrapins National Championship team.

Moran's head coaching career began in 1961 at Manhasset High School, where he compiled a 67-5 record over five seasons, winning the Long Island Championship from 1962 to 1964. In 1966, Moran became the first lacrosse coach at Elmont Memorial High School and promptly posted a 29-3 record and won two league championships in two seasons. He was also the head coach of the Long Island Athletic Club from 1966–1968, leading the team to a 31-4 record and capturing the 1968 club championship, the first-ever United States Club Lacrosse Association (USCLA) club title won by a northern team. In 1969, he succeeded the legendary Ned Harkness as the head men's lacrosse coach at Cornell University and went on to lead the Big Red for 29 seasons, winning three national championships (1971, 1976, 1977). His teams won 15 Ivy League championships, including ten straight from 1974 to 1983, and turned in three national runner-up performances, losing in the title game in 1978, 1987 and 1988. Moran also set an NCAA record as he guided his teams to 42 consecutive victories from 1976–78 and an Ivy League record 39 straight conference wins from 1973-1979.

During his tenure with the Big Red, Moran was named the USILA Coach of the Year three times (1971, 1977, 1987) the USILA Man of the Year (1975), and served as the head coach of Team USA in the 1978 World Lacrosse Championship. He currently serves as the President of the Irish Lacrosse Foundation and recently coached Team Ireland in the World Lacrosse Championships in 2006 in London, Ontario, where the team took a seventh-place finish. Moran served as Ireland's head coach at the World Championship in Perth, Australia in 2002, where the team went undefeated (5-0) en route to winning the Green Division title.

Moran has been inducted into the Manhasset, Long Island and Upstate New York Lacrosse Halls of Fame, as well as the Cornell University Athletic Hall of Fame and most recently, the Nassau County Sports Hall of Fame in 2007. His 1976 and 1977 Cornell teams featuring players Mike French and Eamon McEneaney are frequently cited as among the top college lacrosse teams in NCAA history. Moran is also considered a lacrosse innovator by introducing the game to a greater pool of talented lacrosse players, specifically by recruiting box lacrosse players from Canada as well as high school talent from upstate New York.

Head coaching record

See also

• Members of the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame
• 1971 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship
• 1976 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship
• 1977 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship

External links

• Cornell University Men's Lacrosse Media Guide
• Hall of Fame Profile
• Career Stats at NCAA website
• Big Red Votes Itself No. 1