Halfway Hawks
By Dan Freshman
Ask the average kid on the SAT to describe a Bayhawk. At least half won’t be able to do it.
The word doesn’t appear in most dictionaries. The term doesn’t pop up outside Maryland save a microbrew company in California. And in the last four years, fans across Towson, Fairfax, Washington and Annapolis have been wondering what a Bayhawk is as well.
By definition, the conventional Bayhawk is an ace hunter, a predatory creature that feeds upon the flesh of fishes—and sometimes, lizards. They have wingspans up to six feet long and target their victims from as far as 130 feet—more than a full lacrosse field—away. Bayhawks adapt well to any environment, nesting in urban areas as effectively as in the wild—or even on the road.
At the beginning of the decade, the Bayhawk fit the profile to perfection. But lately, the Bayhawk seems to have forgotten who he is.
“It’s certainly been a tough season for us in a lot of ways, but not entirely unexpected,” Bayhawks coach John Tucker said. “We knew we had to create an identity.”
Tucker took over the Bayhawk last December, becoming the father figure of the most confused franchise in lacrosse. Like the spoiled eldest brother of the family, the Bayhawk was the only team in MLL history to reach the playoffs in its first five seasons, reaching the championship game all but once. The team was blessed with on-field toys like Gait, Marechek, Millon and the short guy who plays guitar. The team peaked in 2005, sporting arguably the greatest lacrosse team in history.
But on the morning of the 2005 championship game, its MLL parents announced that they would be getting a bigger family. It turned out to be more like a bad divorce.
In popped four sibling expansion franchises, and away went the Bayhawk’s success. They told the Bayhawk that they would be taking away toys like Gait, Guitar Hero, Sonke, Prout, Tierney, Merrill, Zink, Cocchi and Cantabene.
At the same time, in came new babysitters/team executives Scott Hiller and Jeff Harvey, who watched helplessly as their goldenboy Bayhawk grew into adolescence as a confused, stunted nightmare of a former childhood star. Under the new regime, the Bayhawk has failed to reach the postseason every summer since 2006. Attendance went from second-best in the league to as low as 2800 fans a game. Relocations from Baltimore to Virginia to Washington and to Annapolis have left the team struggling to find friends. Of the remaining original franchises, the Bayhawk is the only team sitting at home this Championship Weekend—even though they’re hosting it.
“I was a little surprised by the unwillingness to work hard, to see a goal, and instead just expect to be in a lineup,” Tucker said. “It was never the case in L.A. Never. It was easy to do there with a new franchise.”
Tucker was the latest high-profile coach to steer the Bayhawks, following the likes of recently hired Drexel coach Brian Voelker, Gait, Hiller—who was the league’s Coach of the Year in 2006, and Jarred Testa, who led the Outlaws to a record-tying 10 wins in their inaugural season. Yet with such a rich history and a slew of distinguished coaches, the Bayhawks evidently needed a John Cena trademarked “attitude adjustment.”
“I’m not saying I’m a great coach, but I know what’s behind changing the attitude and culture of the team,” Tucker said.
To his surprise, Tucker inherited a team unlike the system he founded in Los Angeles, where he led the expansion Riptide to a 2007 MLL Championship game appearance and won Coach of the Year. He opened his doors to a feckless group, one largely rooted in the Baltimore community and team history—but was ultimately unsuccessful and ineffective since league expansion. Like a relentless truant officer, Tucker ripped the Bayhawk from its nuzzled deathbed of despair, hot pockets and whiney music, hoping that a fresh breath of air, sunlight, and interacting with new people would bring better results.
Tucker swore from the start of the season that he would continue to change the team lineup and chemistry until he found a system that worked. By season’s end, the team was awarded the Director of Lacrosse Operations Carl Uttaro Migraine Award for most appearances on the transaction wire.
In all, 35 players saw action in a Bayhawks uniform this summer—nearly enough to field two full rosters. Take starting long stick midfielder Kyle Hartzell. During his tenure with the Bayhawks, he was first signed in February, then cut in May, then signed again nine days later, then demoted to the practice squad three weeks later, and then promoted to active roster two weeks after that, where he remained on the team. Since February, 74 players have been Bayhawks property at one point or another, through contraction, reassignment, drafting, signings and trades—nearly enough for four full teams.
Tucker’s roster changes, most notably with veteran players, drew the ire of some fans, leading him to become at times a controversial figure in the community.
“[Starting with a new team] is really a terrible thing to have to go through in a lot of respects because you’re friendly with these guys and [roster changes] are taken personally when it shouldn’t be,” he said. “But as a coach in my position, you’re given a job to do and it’s turning around a franchise that’s been struggling, and the best way to do it is to change up personnel, get younger and get guys who play with more enthusiasm. In that sense it’s rewarding. At the same time it’s emotionally draining and traumatic. It’s not an easy thing to do.”
Tucker spearheaded the Bayhawk makeover through the 2009 MLL draft—a place that had left the roster largely stagnant the past three summers. The team held three of the first five picks in the 2006 draft, but only one selection, Kyle Dixon, remains with the team. The following summer, the team didn’t hold one of the top 20 picks in the draft, and none of the teams selections remain on the team. Last summer, the team held just one pick in the top 15, and only one of its selections remains in the league at all.
Refusing to be discouraged, Tucker and the Bayhawks drafted the deepest of any team this summer. By the team’s season finale against Boston, Tucker used eight rookies in his rotation, double that of any team in the league. Boston, meanwhile, suited just one the entire summer.
“[The rookies] played well together,” Tucker said. “We forced some guys in there early on in the season and I think they’re getting their feet under them and I like where we’re headed.”
Early results of the makeover included a 19-12 drubbing at the hands of Toronto and a 19-9 embarrassment to the Cannons in back-to-back weeks, leading to a 1-5 start. Former MLL All-stars Jake Byrne, Scott Urick, Buggs Combs and Spencer Ford all spent time on the practice squad for the first time in their careers, while low draft picks like Ben Hunt, Jeff Reynolds, Dan Groot, Michael Evans and Peet Poillon received steady playing time.
“Here, there’s a lot of ties binding to the community and expectations,” Tucker said. “People have names so they think they should be given certain things. That’s not what I’m about. I could be completely wrong. I have a recipe in mind, and it’s always worked. Fortunately [the team has] turned around. I think it’s gone in a positive way.”
After fending off negative feedback from the community, Tucker bounced back to lead the Babyhawks to a 4-2 record the second half of the season, keeping the team in the playoff chase until the very last night of the season. And for the last three weeks, Tucker’s Babyhawks gave Uttaro a well-deserved break from the transaction wire, appearing on it sparingly for a few injuries. The lack of transactions indicates the Babyhawks may have finally found their identity.
“One of the biggest things I’d like to say is about the judgment on our team and our staff and organization,” Tucker said. “I feel good about it if you simply look about it this way: is a team or franchise better from the day you took it from what you’ve done? I feel strongly that we’re in a good spot. I’m happy it’s taken a lot. It had to come from difficult, emotional decisions, especially for guys and friends I’ve known for a long time.”
With attendance as the team’s highest since 2005, Tucker was just a Lizards loss away from leading the Bayhawks to their former home for the first time in four years—and hopefully out of their franchise adolescence.
“I didn’t expect the resistance and turbulence that has occurred but I think we’re going into the right place and I hope to be a part of it next year,” Tucker said.
Tucker deserves Father—err, Coach—of the Year. Or at least an aspirin.
Follow Dan on Twitter at www.twitter.com/danfreshman
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