I found Jeff Tambroni, the Cornell men's lacrosse coach, standing on the sidewalk by the lacrosse office as I walked up the hill from the Statler Hotel. I had played against Jeff in college when he was an All-American attackman at Hobart College and I was a face-off man and defensive midfielder for Cornell. I could still picture the way he looked back then and remembered his incredible quickness and uncanny ability to create scoring opportunities for his team. Unfortunately, it had happened against Cornell and me far too many times.

My time at Cornell is regrettably called the beginning of the dark years. Before I had joined the team, Cornell had made it to the national championships two years in a row. My sophomore year, we were ranked ninth in the country but, during my senior year, we had the first losing season in the history of legendary Richie Moran's coaching career. The program experienced a number of challenging times and losing seasons in the years following my graduation, but Jeff Tambroni, first as an assistant and then as head coach, had restored Cornell to a lacrosse powerhouse program once again.

When I asked Jeff how he got Cornell back to its winning ways, he said, “We know and embrace who our people are. In years past we would recruit lacrosse players en masse, but now we are looking to recruit a specific ten who most appropriately fit our culture. In fact, instead of trying to be everything to everyone, we actually try to weed out the people who wouldn't be a good fit. We highlight the reality of our culture; it's really cold in Ithaca much of the time and if you don't like the cold, this is probably not the right place for you. We let them know it snows a lot during the late fall and winter at Cornell, and if you don't like the snow, this is not the right place for you. We tell them that if they come here, we will provide them with an opportunity to train hard and be one of the hardest-working teams in the country with no illusion of wins and losses. If you don't like to work hard for others, this is not the right place for you. We tell them about the hard hat, and if it doesn't resonate with them then we know it won't be a good fit. The hard hat has become a big part of our culture and represents all that we stand for. By weeding out the wrong people, we are able to zero in on the right guys that fit our culture and then partner with them as they develop into great teammates and a great team.”