After coaching the boys varsity lacrosse for 16 years, Kevin Pope is retiring. He plans to spend more time with his family and will begin coaching his daughters in lacrosse.

Pope said he will miss the camaraderie with the players the most.

“It’s been awesome being here,” he said. “The best part was working in the school and having the players as part of your classes and everything else. There’s no question that I’m going to miss that.”

During Pope’s coaching reign, he has made some noticeable improvements to the school’s program. After leading a group of guys as an artificial JV team for three years, Pope started and organized an official boys JV team two years ago.

Pope contributed a lot more to the team than simply creating successful offensive and defensive plays.

“Pope is the foundation for the team,” goalie Evan Duncan said. “Him leaving is going to be hard to adjust to.”

Pope has coached boys lacrosse between California and New York for 32 years, and is excited about learning the girls game. He will be working with McLean youth lacrosse.

Athletic director Andy Wetzel says that there have already been applications for the new coaching position. Despite the fact that no Montgomery County lacrosse team has ever beaten a team outside of the county, Wetzel is still optimistic.

“It’s already a strong program,” he said.  “Hopefully if we get the right coach it can keep going.”

In his 32 years coaching, Pope had only one losing season.

Although the team is sad about Pope’s departure, they admire his great coaching over these past years.

“He was a good coach and had a successful program,” attacker Mike Lancellotta said. “No coach can match his love and passion for the game.”