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James Fritz has a reputation as one of the most experienced and productive Division II men’s lacrosse coaches in the Southeast. He has amassed a record of over a hundred wins in his 19-year coaching career and is currently in the top ten among active coaches in Division II in both overall wins and winning %. He also holds both the record for wins in the Deep South Conference with 41, and the school record for wins at Pfeiffer University. While at Pfeiffer, he had the Falcons nationally ranked for 9 straight years. After leading the Royals to an impressive 6th place finish in the conference in just their first season of play in 2004, Fritz was able to back up the team's performance in dramatic fashion in 2005 with a 2nd place finish in the conference, after being picked 6th in the pre-season, and finishing 2nd in the region. Last year, Fritz took the Royals even further leading Queens to a tie for first place finish in the conference and a top 5 finish in the Division II South Region with a 9-5 record. Three players were named to the Deep South All-Conference squad and 3 were also named to the all-tournament team and 1 named to the Division II all-American team.
During his career, Fritz has started 3 programs and helped rebuild the reputation of another. Over the last 19 years, he has won 3 Deep South Conference Championships, produced 22 All-Americans, 3 Academic All-Americans, 52 All-Conference Selections, 3 NCAA Record Holders, 3 World Team Players, 6 North-South Selections, he has had 3 players drafted into to the National Lacrosse League, and has been named the conference coach of the year in ’97,’99 and ‘05. Recently one of his former players was inducted into the Pfeiffer Athletics Hall of Fame.
Fritz also believes in the development of lacrosse not only in North Carolina, but on an international level as well. In 1998, he hosted the England’s World team as they prepared for the World Games. Fritz has also participated in NCAA YES Clinics and has been selected to speak at the US Lacrosse National Coach's Convention. In 1997 he was selected to coach in the Division I North/South game. Currently he serves on the Division II All-American Committee, he had previously been the Chairman of that committee for nine straight years as well and had served on the USILA Rankings Committee for 10 years. Additionally, Fritz served on the US Lacrosse Executive Committee and the NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Championship’s Committee for four years.
An active promoter of the sport in the greater Charlotte area, Fritz serves on the board of both Youth Lacrosse USA and the Charlotte Lacrosse Boosters. He has run the Jim Fritz Indoor/Outdoor lacrosse camps for 11 years and has been an active speaker at various lacrosse camps and is frequently published on uslaxcamps.com, Charlotte Lacrosse News, and in Inside Lacrosse magazine. Fritz also runs the Tony Cullen Tournament annually.
Coach Fritz is a 1985 graduate of Montclair State University and lives in Charlotte with his wife Annemarie and daughter Claire.
Darry Thornton joins the Queens staff as an assistant coach. Thornton comes to Queens from Division III Hartwick College, which plays in one of the toughest and highly competitive conferences, the Empire 8.
“Queens has made a big commitment to our program by creating a full time assistant coaching position,” Fritz said. “For us to accomplish all of our goals as a program, this hire is very important and I think we really got the right person in Coach Thornton. He comes highly recommended and I feel we have added a strong, young coach who will make an immediate impact on our program and players in it. His great work ethic both on and off the field, along with his recruiting experience, makes me excited to have him as part of the program.”
Thornton served as defensive coordinator and goalie coach at Hartwick. While under his leadership, the Hawks achieved an 8.8 goals against average, the lowest in more than 10 years. Thornton was also in charge of a man-down unit which finished second in the Empire 8 conference with a 19 percent conversation rate.
Thornton’s coaching career began in 2003 at Oneonta State College as an assistant coach following his playing days there. Thornton’s playing career was comprised of two years, 1997-1999, at Hudson Valley Community College where he helped the Vikings to the Final 4 of the Region III tournament and two years, 2000-2002, at Oneonta State.
As a player and coach at Oneonta State, Thornton helped the Red Dragons to a 31-19 record with three straight East Coast Athletics Conference tournament appearances.
Thornton, a native of Schenectady N.Y., lettered in football, basketball and lacrosse in high school. As a lacrosse player he was named all league CDHSLL his senior year. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mass communications from Oneonta State College and an associate’s degree in physical education from Hudson Valley Community College.
“I am excited about the opportunity to join the staff at Queens University of Charlotte,” said Thornton. “Coach Fritz has done an amazing job of building Queens lacrosse into nationally recognized team in just a short period of time. The staff, facilities and players here are exceptional and I look forward to adding another positive piece to the growing Queens puzzle. I am grateful to both Athletic Director Jeannie King and Coach Fritz for this opportunity.”
Bennett Love has been named the new men’s assistant lacrosse coach at Queens University of Charlotte. Love, a 2006 graduate of Roanoke College in business administration, will be replacing Taylor Wray, who graduated with a degree in Education as has left Charlotte to pursue his career in the NLL.
While at Roanoke Love was a 4 year starter while being named to the first team all ODAC squad 3 times, and was a 3 time All-American (twice being named to the first team). He was also selected as the 2006 Defensive player of the year, and was named to the 2006 North South Game. He also helped the Maroons to the ODAC title in 2006 and to two final fours, including this year’s OT loss to Salisbury. He leaves Roanoke as the all time groundball leader among defenseman and 3rd all time.
Love will be joining a Queen’s team that, in just their third season, finished tied for first in the Deep South and advanced to the conference final game. “We are very excited to get a quality individual like Ben to join the staff. After losing someone as important to our program as Coach Wray was, it was important to find someone who could come in and fill his shoes and I think we have in Coach Love. I think Ben will bring a lot to our program and be the same kind of outstanding coach as he was as a player. Along with Coach Carlevatti and Coach Phillips I think we will have a very good staff in place for next season”. Says Coach Jim Fritz
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| Carlevatti will be starting his 3rd season working with the Royals. He brings a wealth of experience to the position. A four year letterman at Nazareth, He helped start the program and quickly he helped lead the Golden Flyers to the playoffs in ’88 and ’89, as well as a 3rd place finish in D-III in ’89. He has been a player-coach for the Charlotte Lacrosse Club over the last few years and has also acted as commissioner of the Charlotte Public school club league. He graduated from Nazareth in 1991 with a B.S. in business administration.
Phillips was a key recruit for Head Coach Jim Fritz in his first class to begin the men's lacrosse program, unfortunately injuries cut his career short for the Royals. Switching to the other side of ball, Phillips has been instrumental in helping build the men's lacrosse program success. A team that tied for first place in the Deep South Conference last season and a top 5 finish in the Division II South Region with a 9-5 record.
A graduate of Archbishop Moeller High School in Cincinnati, Ohio, Phillips was a four-year letter winner and elected team captain his senior year. Twice named all Cincinnati, Phillips was also named to all Ohio and all Midwest teams his Senior year. Phillips also participated in Ohio North-South all star game and represented his home state of Ohio in the Ohio-Indiana all star game during his senior campaign. For his career, Phillips finished with 58 goals and 17 assists before choosing to continue his career under head coach Jim Fritz at Queens. “ Mark has been very instrumental in our success and I am very glad he is able to help us again this year.” Said Fritz
Phillips is currently pursuing an undergraduate degree at Queens University of Charlotte.
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