Dartmouth Big Green men's lacrosse

History

Dartmouth College fielded its first lacrosse team in 1926. Archival images highlight early Dartmouth lacrosse practices (note the limited head gear, unlike current day standards).

Tom Dent era

Head Coach Tom Dent led the team for its first 35 seasons until his retirement in 1960. Tom was one of the beloved figures of Dartmouth coaching. He died May 10, 1962. Dartmouth Alumni Magazine archives elaborate on Coach Dent's accomplishments: Born in Stirling,Scotland, he attended Birmingham University, and went on to see WW1 action with British Colonial Troops in France and Mesopotamia, and thereafter arrived to this country to recuperate from a gassing suffered during the War as a member of the Black Watch Regiment. He had played professional soccer with the Aston Villa team, and was originally recruited to teach French at Dartmouth and coach soccer. He became soccer coach in 1924, but also took on the task of coaching Dartmouth lacrosse in 1926 although he had no experience in the latter sport. Through the 1940s the Indians were considered a lacrosse "power" as they rolled up nine New England championships in 11 years. Dent's overall lacrosse record for 35 years is 192 wins, 126 losses, and three ties.

A successful coach in terms of winning, Coach Dent was also concerned with the characters of his charges. The Dartmouth lacrosse team bestows an annual award in Tom Dent's memory, and it is "To be awarded to the Senior player who by vote of the entire team, has demonstrated the ideals of Tom Dent through his aggressive play, his proven ability as a team player, and his enjoyment of the game, and who by his sportsmanlike conduct is a credit to the memory of Tom Dent and to Dartmouth."

Ivy League Competition, 1954–present

The Big Green secured the Ivy League championship in 1964, 1965, and 2003. This was determined by the Ivy League teams' regular season conference records until the inception of a tournament in 2010. As of 2010, seventy Dartmouth players had been named USILA All-Americans.

In 1999, Dartmouth Men's Lacrosse named Rick Sowell as its head coach, the first African-American Head Coach in Division 1 lacrosse. He would lead the Big Green for the next 5 seasons, overseeing an incredible turn around in the program's success. He announced his departure to St.John's University at the conclusion of the 2003 season.

In 2003, Dartmouth's Men's Lacrosse team posted one of the most famous upsets in lacrosse history when unranked Dartmouth played #2 Princeton at Princeton's Class of 1952 Field on April 26, 2003. Dartmouth, having finished last in the Ivy League in 2002, were ten goal underdogs against Princeton, the defending Ivy League champs. Nevertheless, Dartmouth prevailed and stunned the Tigers 13-6. That was the first time Dartmouth had beaten Princeton lacrosse since 1956. Dartmouth went on to win the Ivy League title and qualify for the NCAA tournament.

Dartmouth made its first appearance in the NCAA tournament in 2003, where it was eliminated in the first round by Syracuse, 13–11. That game was highlighted by the end-to-end goal scored by Dartmouth goalie, Andrew Goldstein.

In 2003, Dartmouth announced the hiring of Bill Wilson as the Big Green's Head Coach. "During his tenure with the Big Green, (Wilson) compiled a 40-44 overall record, while coaching nine first-team all-league players, one Ivy League Rookie of the Year, 18 first-team All-New England players and seven players selected in the Major League Lacrosse Draft. Signature wins for Dartmouth during Wilson's six-year stint include an upset of fourth-ranked Maryland in 2005, a pair of victories of top-10 ranked Notre Dame and a win over 10th-ranked league rival Princeton in 2008.

in 2009, Dartmouth announced the hiring of Andy Towers as the Big Green's Head Coach, the 9th in the program's history. Towers had been an assistant Dartmouth coach for the preceding 5 seasons.

In 2013, Dartmouth Men's lacrosse posted another stunning upset against then #9 Princeton, beating them 10-9 at Scully-Fahey field on March 13, 2013. As reported in College Crosse: "Entering that game, the Big Green were just 2-8, suffering through a six-game losing streak (against some admittedly strong competition). Yet, Dartmouth pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the season, dropping Princeton -- ranked ninth in the media poll and eighth in the coaches poll going into the game -- in impressive fashion: Down 7-5 at the half, the Big Green used a three-goal run over the final 6:43 of the third quarter and the first 5:49 of the fourth quarter to draw even with the Tigers at eight; then, after falling behind 8-9 following a Jake Froccaro goal with just over seven minutes remaining in regulation, Dartmouth ripped off two goals in the latter stages of the final period to pull out the improbable victory (what would be its third and final victory of the season)." The winning goal was scored by Freshman, Cam Lee. Laxpower ranked the Dartmouth win over Princeton as the 4th biggest upset of the 2013 season.

Brendan Callahan era

In August 2014, Brendan Callahan became the new head coach at Dartmouth, replacing former head coach Andy Towers (2010-2014).

The 2015 Dartmouth lacrosse season, coach Brendan Callahan's first, saw the Big Green post a 5-8 record (Ivy League record of 1-5). The season was highlighted by the exciting double overtime victory over Ivy League rival Harvard, 12-11, on March 21, 2015. Freshman Jack Korzelius scored the winning overtime goal in that game. Philip Hession had a dominant game at the face-off winning 20 of 24 face-offs and scooping 15 groundballs. Following the game Hession and Korzelius were named Ivy League Player-of-the-week and Rookie-of-the-Week, respectively. Korzelius was also named the Corvias ECAC player of the week on March 23, 2015. Laxpower ranked the Dartmouth win over Harvard as the 2nd biggest upset in the 2015 season.

The 2015 Dartmouth lacrosse season was highlighted by notable player achievements. Captain Phil Hession was named a USILA Scholar All-American. The All-Ivy team had two Big Green players named for the first time since 2010: Captain Phil Hession was named 1st team midfielder, and Bobby Osgood was named 2nd team defender. Two Big Green players finished in the top 10 of national D1 lacrosse statistics for 2015: Adam Fishman, attack, finished 3rd in Shooting Percentage (.481), and Philip Hession, midfielder, finished 6th in Groundballs per game (7.77), as well as 9th in Face-off percentage (0.625).

In the off-season, Dartmouth added new assistant coach, Scott Hackett-Dalgliesh. Hackett-Dalgliesh came to Dartmouth from UMass Lowell, where he served as an assistant coach for the 2015 season (the team's first season as a Division 1 program).

Dartmouth finished the 2016 season with a 1 - 13 record; going winless in the Ivy League. Sophomore Jack Korzelius received an All-Ivy Honorable mention

In the off-season, Dartmouth added new assistant coach, Nate Norbo. He had served the previous two seasons as assistant at Elizabethtown.