Over the span of 12 seasons, one man has been a leading force in Cornell’s return to national prominence in lacrosse. The progression forward is far from over, but head coach Jeff Tambroni is pleased with the journey. After serving as an assistant coach with the Big Red from 1997 to 2000, Tambroni became the second Richard M. Moran Head Coach of Men’s Lacrosse in June 2000. The position was endowed in March 2000 by gifts from Cornell lacrosse players and numerous friends of the program.
Tambroni’s time with Cornell has been filled with milestones and a resurgence of one of the greatest programs in the history of collegiate lacrosse. The 2009 Morris Touchstone Award winner as the USILA Coach of the Year, Tambroni was also named the 2007 and the 2009 FieldTurf/NCAA Division I Coach of the Year in men’s lacrosse. He has led the Big Red to two NCAA semifinal appearances in the past three season (2007 and 2009), as well as a spot in the national championship game in 2009. Tambroni is currently ranked fourth among active Division I coaches in winning percentage (.740) and hit the 95-win plateau with an 11-8 victory over Hofstra on May 9. He became the second head coach in Cornell men’s lacrosse history to reach that mark, and he did it in his 128th career game. The 2004 and 2009 Ithaca Journal Male Coach of the Year and three-time national Coach of the Week, Tambroni has overseen eight consecutive seasons with nine or more wins on East Hill, including six campaigns in which the team achieved 11 victories, as well as the 2007 season in which Cornell finished with 15 wins.
During his head-coaching tenure, Tambroni’s players have earned 35 first-team All-Ivy honors, including four Ivy League Player of the Year awards and three Rookie of the Year selections. He has also helped his players to earn a combined 39 All-America honors, including midfielder Max Seibald ’09 and defender Ryan McClay `03, who were both four-time All-America selections, with Seibald making the first-team in 2007, 08, and 09, while McClay earned a spot on the first-team in 2002 and 2003. Under Tambroni’s tutelage, Joe Boulukos ’06 became the first Big Red player in nearly a decade to win one of the major USILA honors, earning a share of the Lt. j.g. Donald McLaughlin Jr. Award as the nation’s top midfielder. In 2007, the Big Red swept the defensive honors given by the USILA, as Mitch Belisle ’07 earned the Schmeisser Cup as the Outstanding Defenseman in Division I, and Matt McMonagle ’07 won the Ensign C.M. Kelly, Jr. Award as the Outstanding Goaltender in Division I. That same season, Seibald was named a finalist for the Tewaaraton Trophy, becoming the first Cornell player to earn that distinction. As a senior in 2009, Seibald collected most of college lacrosse’s major hardware, winning the Tewaaraton Trophy, while being named the Lt. j.g. Donald McLaughlin Jr. Award winner, as well as the Lt. Raymond Enners Award winner as the Outstanding Player in Division I.
A coach that believes that his players should also be productive members of both the Cornell community and the Ithaca community, both McMonagle and Seibald were named recipients of the Lowe’s Senior Class award, an honor that is given on the merits of classroom, competition, community and character.
Tambroni also stresses excellence in the classroom, resulting in five of his players earning ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-District honors, including David Key ’01, Tim DeBlois ’04 and Casey Stevenson ’05, who were named to the 2001, 2004 and 2005 Academic All-America second-team, respectively, and Belisle and McMonagle, who earned Academic All-America first-team honors in 2007.
Over the past six seasons, Tambroni has led Cornell to the heights of Division I, boasting the highest winning percentage of all Division I teams during that span (.787) and ranking fourth in number of victories (70). Likewise, the Big Red has not fallen out of the top 10 in either national poll in over four years, with the last occurrence happening on March 28, 2005 when Inside Lacrosse had the Big Red ranked 11th.
In his ninth season leading Cornell, Tamboni took the Big Red to the heights of the lacrosse world, as the team advanced to the national championship game for the first time since 1988. Although Cornell dropped a heartbreaking 10-9 decision in overtime to Syracuse, the Big Red made its presence felt in the lacrosse community with its second final four appearance in three years. Cornell finished the year with a 13-4 record overall and a mark of 5-1 in the conference, earning a share of its seventh straight Ivy League title, the longest stretch since Cornell won 10-straight championships between 1974 and 1983. Cornell’s seven consecutive regular season Ivy titles is the longest current stretch by any men’s lacrosse team in any conference. The Big Red was also a perfect 6-0 at home, upping the team’s record on Schoellkopf Field to 51-10 (.836) during Tambroni’s tenure. Cornell finished the year ranked in the top 10 in the nation in scoring offense (fifth – 12.18), points per game (fifth – 19.12), scoring margin (sixth – 3.76), assists per game (sixth – 6.94), face-off win percentage (10th – .552) and ground balls per game (10th – 34.94).
Tambroni led the 2008 squad to an 11-4 record overall and a mark of 5-1 in the Ivy League, giving the Big Red a share of its sixth straight conference crown. Cornell advanced to its fifth-straight NCAA tournament, making the sixth appearance under Tambroni. The Big Red finished the year ranking in the top 10 in the nation in scoring offense (eighth - 11.13 gpg.), face-off winning percentage (third – 0.610), scoring margin (ninth - 2.60 gpg.) and win percentage (eighth - .733).
The 2007 season proved to be one of the greatest in recent years as the Big Red capped an undefeated regular season (13-0) with the program’s first trip to the national semifinals since the 1988 campaign. Cornell earned the fourth seed in the NCAA tournament after holding the top spot in both national polls for the final nine weeks of the season. The team finished the year with a 15-1 record, one victory shy of the school record (16 in 1976) and eighth all-time in NCAA history for wins in a season. The Big Red finished its Ivy League schedule with a perfect 6-0 record, winning its second outright league title in the previous four years. Cornell finished the year ranking in the top five in the nation in scoring offense (first - 14.00 gpg.), scoring margin (first - 7.00 gpg.) and scoring defense (fifth - 7.00 gpg.).
The remarkable 2007 season came on the heels of a 2006 campaign in which the Big Red went 5-1 in the conference, winning a share of its fourth-straight Ivy League title. The Big Red also won 11 games in the regular season for the first time since the 1987 team went into the NCAA tournament with an undefeated record of 11-0. Under Tambroni’s guidance, Cornell rose as high as No. 2 in the nation in the March 20 Inside Lacrosse media poll, and found themselves among the national leaders in scoring offense, scoring defense, scoring margin, man-up offense and man-down defense. The Big Red made its third-straight trip to the NCAA tournament, and fourth overall during Tambroni’s tenure, where it was eliminated by eventual national runner-up Massachusetts in a dramatic 10-9 contest.
The 2005 campaign was one of the best in Tambroni’s young career as the Big Red went undefeated in Ivy League play and won its first outright Ivy title in nearly 20 years. Cornell finished the regular season with a 10-2 overall record and took a spectacular 12-11 opening round victory over Towson in the NCAA tournament before falling to eventual national runner-up Duke, 11-8. For his efforts, Tambroni was honored by being named the co-head coach for the Division I North squad at the 64th annual North-South Classic.
During an emotional 2004 campaign in which the squad dealt with the death of teammate George Boiardi ‘04, Tambroni led Cornell to a share of the conference title and earned the confrence’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, where the Big Red came within one goal of the NCAA semifinals for the second time in three seasons.
After leading the Big Red to a 7-6 record and a second-place finish in the Ivy League in his first season as head coach in 2001, he took the program further in 2002, posting an 11-4 record and earning a berth in the NCAA tournament, where Cornell defeated Stony Brook and fell in a tight 11-10 battle with Virginia in the national quarterfinals. The win over Stony Brook marked the Big Red’s first NCAA tournament win since 1988. The Ivy championship in 2003 was the program’s first since 1987, when the Big Red won it outright. Tambroni has also helped Cornell earn key regular season wins over Syracuse at Schoellkopf Field in 2000 and in 2002, when the Orange lost only twice all season en route to the national championship.
A former three-time All-American at Hobart College, Tambroni joined the Cornell lacrosse staff as an assistant coach in September 1997. Cornell improved in each of his first three years, going from 6-7 in 1998 to 7-6 in 1999 and 10-4 in 2000. The Big Red earned its first berth in the NCAA tournament since 1995 during the 2000 campaign, dropping a hard-fought 14-12 decision to Georgetown in the first round.
Prior to joining the Cornell staff, Tambroni served as assistant coach at Loyola College during the 1997 season, helping guide the Greyhounds to a 10-4 record, as Loyola appeared in its 10th consecutive NCAA tournament. He assisted in all facets of the program, including recruiting and on-field coaching. Tambroni served as the Greyhounds’ offensive coordinator, focusing specifically on extra-man situations.
Before moving to Baltimore, Tambroni was an assistant coach at Hobart for three seasons, helping the Statesmen to the 1994 NCAA Division III championship game. He was an assistant as the team made a successful transition to NCAA Division I competition in 1995, finishing the season ranked 12th in the nation.
A 1992 graduate of Hobart with a bachelor of arts degree in American studies, Tambroni was named first-team All-America as a senior, after scoring 33 goals with 24 assists. He was a second-team All-America selection in 1990 and 1991, as the Statesmen won the NCAA Division III championship. He was named most valuable player of the 1990 championship game when Hobart defeated Washington (Md.) College 18-6. Tambroni had his most productive season in 1990, scoring 69 points on 38 goals and 31 assists. He concluded his college career tied for seventh on Hobart’s all-time scoring list with 202 points. He left the Statesmen ranked sixth in assists (99) and 12th in goals (103).
Following his graduation, Tambroni, a native of Camillus, N.Y., coached the Heaton Mersey Lacrosse Club of the English Lacrosse Union for one year. He also served as a visiting coach for the Czech-American Lacrosse Foundation in Prague in the summer of 1996. Tambroni was a former high school All-American while playing at West Genesee HS in Camillus.
Tambroni resides in Ithaca with his wife, Michelle, and their daughters, Carissa, Madison and Ella.
