Flashback to the 1990s. Men’s lacrosse programs at the Division I level are being cut. The sport is struggling to grow, and talent is concentrated at traditional powerhouses. At least, that’s how Falmouth, Massachusetts native Justin Domingos saw it.
Jump ahead to present day, and Domingos is riding the springtime sport’s resurgence as an assistant coach at Boston University, a program in the midst of its third year. There have been ups and downs aplenty, as the Terriers went 8-20 in their first two years and are on the verge of qualifying for their first-ever Patriot League Tournament.
While BU head coach Ryan Polley is often the face of that tremendous growth, Domingos has arguably been just as important because of his own playing career and gigs at Division III schools Gettysburg College and Colby College. Those experiences led to him marshaling BU’s defense in the 2014 and 2015 seasons, and he switched to running the offense for the 2016 campaign.
Domingos’ duties extend into breaking down film and aiding recruitment efforts, and praise from his colleagues isn’t hard to find.
“I really couldn’t have asked for anything more from an assistant coach,” Polley said. “He’s dedicated, he’s loyal, he cares a lot about the players, he’s very knowledgable and he’s just been terrific … I don’t think we’d be where we’re at right now if we didn’t have Coach Domingos giving some great contributions to the program.”
Domingos hailed the chance to build a program from scratch, but he admitted that there were times during the first couple years when challenges took their toll. The coaching staff had to get on the same page, it was easy to use immaturity as a crutch and the team’s decision making on and off the field could be sporadic.
Yet through persistence and an unwavering desire to make BU into a national contender, players slowly instilled trust in Domingos.
“He’ll be the first to get on you for making a mistake, but he’s also the first to commend you for a good play,” said junior midfielder Sam Tenney. “He’s all business on the field and pushes us to be the same way. When you’re starting a new program, you need that type of tough love or you’re not going to get anywhere. He’s the general and we’re the troops, and I don’t think any one of us would want to go to battle week in and week out for anyone else.”
Given the plaudits far and wide, Domingos’ approach to life largely explains why he’s been so successful as a coach. As the Gettysburg alumnus described, it’s easy to get up each day and do what’s best for yourself. What’s hard, however, is putting others’ needs before your own.
In the lacrosse world, it may mean knowing whether to shoot or pass, or in the finance world many of his players are pursuing, it may mean imparting humility. Either way, Domingos knows his role extends far beyond the lines of Nickerson Field.
“In terms of life and when you leave here and when you walk around campus, put people before you,” Domingos said. “To be a good leader is to be a servant, and that’s something [head coach Hank] Janczyk at Gettysburg said to us all the time. I don’t know if I got it when I was [younger], and now I understand it. Being a servant as a leader means that I’ve put other people before me, I make decisions based about that and I’m always looking to help.”
That sort of rhetoric isn’t fluff, as Tenney said the team has really bought into that sort of mindset and Domingos’ coaching tenants of toughness and grit translate outside the lacrosse field. That dynamic has even surfaced in his relationship with Polley, as he said Domingos was indispensable during the early days of BU lacrosse.
“I really leaned on him a lot in that first year, and it was really tough when we weren’t winning many games,” Polley said. “We went through many different situations and different scenarios and how were we going to get the team better, were we being too hard on them, were we doing this, were we doing that. Just all the different situations of building a program from a culture standpoint.”
That culture often surfaces in BU’s mantra of taking things one play at a time, and Domingos has been an integral part of that. For the assistant coach, that surfaces in the team’s newly found aura of confidence, genuine disdain for losing and firm belief that it’s heading in the right direction.
Even though BU’s journey hasn’t been what the coaching staff expected it to be, Domingos said it’s important to have perspective on how far everyone has come since the fall of 2013. The early days were full of growing pains, but now Domingos stands arm in arm with those trying to leave the Terriers in a better place.
“Our goal is to win the Patriot League and be an NCAA team, and I think after that, this program’s goal should be to win a national title,” Domingos said. “There’s no reason it can’t. We’re competitive in national titles in many other sports here, and with the academic profile that we fit, the facilities we have and the programs we have, there’s no reason you can’t win a national championship here.”
Jonathan's a New Englander who writes about sports, features and politics. He currently covers men's hockey at BU, worked as Sports Editor during the spring 2016 semester and is on the FreeP's Board of Directors. Toss him a follow on Twitter at @jonathansigal.
Great article and right on the money! Justin’s mix of determination backed by knowledge, ability and integrity is not found often.