David Metzbower - Men's Lacrosse Coach - University of North Carolina Athletics

David Metzbower

Title:
Offensive Coordinator
Email:
dmetz13@unc.edu
Phone:
919-962-2890

A veteran coach with more than a quarter century of experience on collegiate sidelines, David Metzbower was named in July 2014 as the offensive coordinator for the men’s lacrosse program at UNC. He was promoted to associate head coach in 2017.

Within two years, the hiring of Metzbower proved extremely profitable to the Tar Heels’ sucess on the field as a dynamic offense led Carolina on a post-season run that resulted in UNC’s first NCAA championship since 1991 during the 2016 campaign. UNC followed that up by winning the ACC Tournament championship in 2017, just its second league title since 1996.

In beating four seeded opponents in the 2016 NCAA Tournament, Carolina scored in double digits in all four games including 13 goals against Notre Dame in the NCAA quarterfinals, 18 goals against Loyola in the NCAA semifinals and 14 goals against top-ranked Maryland in the NCAA championship game. The Tar Heels scored 31 goals in the 2017 ACC Tournament’s two games against the top two teams in the nation in the NCAA RPI. All three starting attackmen were named to the All-ACC Tournament Team and Chris Cloutier was tapped as league tourney MVP. Cloutier finished his stellar career in 2018 as one of Carolina’s all-time leading scorers and went on to be named the Major League Lacrosse Rookie of the Year for the Denver Outlaws.

In the fall of 2016, Metzbower was tapped as the NCAA Division I assistant coach of the year as named by the U.S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association. In 2016, UNC finished sixth in the nation in goals per game at 13.06 and the Tar Heels were fifth in man-up offense at .500. All three Tar Heel attackmen - Luke Goldstock, Steve Pontrello and Chris Cloutier - were named to the 2016 NCAA All-Tournament Team with Cloutier being tapped as the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.

In his first season as offensive coordinator, the Tar Heels averaged 14.35 goals per game in 2015 in reaching the NCAA quarterfinals, the team’s best scoring average since 1996 with players like Joey Sankey, Jimmy Bitter, Chad Tutton and Luke Goldstock rewriting large portions of the Tar Heel record book. All four of those players earned All-America honors in 2015 including Tutton on the first team.

Metzbower joined the Carolina staff from Loyola University (Maryland) where he had served as an assistant coach and the Greyhounds’ offensive coordinator since November 2012. In his two years on the staff at Loyola, the Greyhounds earned back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances and won the Patriot League regular-season and tournament championships in 2014. The Greyhounds went 26-7 in Metzbower’s two years as an assistant coach to veteran Loyola mentor Charley Toomey.

Beginning in 1990, Metzbower spent 20 years as an assistant coach, offensive coordinator and goalkeeper coach at Princeton University, the final seven seasons as the Tigers’ associate head coach. Metzbower helped the Tigers win six NCAA Championships and 230 games during his tenure in New Jersey.

Originally from the Baltimore area and an alumnus of Loyola Blakefield High School which is also Coach Breschi’s alma mater, Metzbower graduated from the University of Delaware in 1986 after a standout career as an attackman.

After graduating from Delaware, Metzbower joined the Blue Hens’ coaching staff and spent 1987-1989 on the sidelines in Newark.

In 1990, Metzbower joined the Princeton staff as the top assistant to new Tigers’ head coach Bill Tierney and helped create dynamic offenses that averaged 181.6 goals per year over a 20-season span.

Metzbower helped the Tigers win six NCAA championships, reach the NCAA semifinals 10 times and advance to the NCAA quarterfinals on 16 occasions. During Metzbower’s tenure, the Tigers won 14 Ivy League titles while achieving a cumulative 230-65 record.

He helped develop the top five goal scorers in Princeton history and the top four in career points. His players included 22 All-Ivy League attackmen, seven Ivy League Players of the Year, 27 first-team All-Americas and 74 All-Ivy League first-team selections. Under Metzbower, Kevin Lowe (1994) and John Hess (1997) won the Lt. Col. J.L. Turnbull Award as the most outstanding attackman in Division I, and Josh Sims twice won the Lt. Donald McLaughlin Award as the top midfielder in NCAA Division I (1998 and 2000).

As Princeton’s goalkeeper coach, he directed three players - Scott Bacigalupo (1992-1994), Trevor Tierney (2001) and Alex Hewitt (2006) - who won the Ensign C. Markland Kelly Award as the top NCAA Division I goalkeeper a combined five times.

Metzbower left the Princeton program in June 2009 as associate head coach after turning down an offer to be the Tigers’ head coach and served as an assistant coach at the Haverford School in 2010. He then served as head coach at Malvern Preparatory School in suburban Philadelphia for two years before moving to Loyola University in 2012.

He was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2009. That same year, he was tapped as the IMLCA Assistant Coach of the Year.

Metzbower and his wife, Mimi, have two children, a daughter, Jordan, a student at the University of Denver, and a son, Derek, a student at East Chapel Hill High School, and a lacrosse attackman in his own right.

Joe Breschi on David Metzbower: David Metzbower has a tremendous pedigree of winning. His ability to coach the nuances of the game in his quiet tone gets the message across very effectively and the kids love him. They love to play for him. He designs very simple offenses. He’s very technically sound in regards to how he teaches, for example emphasizing which hand the ball should be in, your stick should be in. He’s very good at the subtelties of the game and he allows everybody to be involved and I think that’s pretty cool with what he does. It helps the upperclassmen engage with the younger guys and that makes them good teachers. What David brings is a quiet confidence and a great personality that releates so well with the kids. His knowledge of the game is exceptional so I am thrilled to have him back for another year.