Rocky Point's Joe Spallina to Coach Stony Brook Women's Lacrosse

After years of success at and four years at Adephi University, Joe Spallina has made the move to Division I Women's Lacrosse and will coach at this season, athletic director Jim Fiore announced Wednesday.

Spallina is fresh off three straight National Championships at DII Adelphi where he produced a 73-2 (.973) record in four years. Before that, he led the Eagles to five Suffolk County finals, including three consecutive championships in his last three years, compiling an impressive 87-9 overall record. The Seawolves are coming off a 4-11 season overall and are excited to have the veteran coach take over.

“We are thrilled that we have found a head coach who is representative of the type of program we want to have here at Stony Brook - tough, competitive, tenacious and smart,” Fiore said. “Coach Spallina has proven to be committed to student-athlete excellence on and off the field. He has produced national championships by continually recruiting the top local talent on Long Island, and his record speaks for itself."

After taking Adelphi to the top in 2009, Spallina’s team won its first 14 games in 2010 to reach an overall 32-game winning streak before a loss against C.W. Post. The Panthers got their revenge over Post, however, in the national semifinals and then took down West Chester for a second consecutive national championship. In 2011, Adelphi continued its winning streak, capping off the program’s second-ever undefeated season with its 26th consecutive victory in the national championship game.

“I am incredibly excited about this phenomenal opportunity to become the head coach of the Stony Brook University women’s lacrosse team,” Spallina said. “As we prepare to compete for championships at Stony Brook and to continue to build a strong brand, it is also important that I express my sincere appreciation to everyone at Adelphi University for the exceptional experience I had there during the past four years."

During his successful coaching career, Spallina has racked up personal honors: He is a two-time IWLCA Coach of the Year and a three-time conference Coach of the Year (Northeast-10 in 2010 & ’11 and East Coast Conference in 2009). He was named the Nassau County Sports Commission College Coach of the Year in 2011 and the FieldTurf NCAA Division II Women’s Lacrosse Coach of the Year in 2009.

Spallina is also in his second season as an assistant coach for the Long Island Lizards of Major League Lacrosse (MLL) who made it to the MLL championship game in 2010. He is also the director of the Pro Player Girls Lacrosse Camp in Oakdale, N.Y.

"As a lifelong resident of Long Island," he said, "it has been and will continue to be my great honor to represent the strongest lacrosse community in the nation here on Long Island as the newest member of the Seawolf family.”

Spallina graduated from Adelphi in 1996 and was a four-year starter, earning two national championships in 1993 and ’95. Spallina is also a graduate of Rocky Point High School, where he was All-Conference in lacrosse and All-County in soccer.

Spallina will leave as job as physical education instructor in Rocky Point, where he currently resides with his wife, Mary Beth, and four children.