Week 2 – Theories in Action – Cohesion – Tuckman’s Stage Theory

Week 2 saw me begin to seriously work in the office amongst the staff for the first time this summer. Prior to beginning my internship, I had a rather interesting relationship with the entire coaching staff. While I have worked with the program for four full years, I was never a player nor technically part of the staff. I only witnessed the staffs interactions amongst the players rather than alone together. I wanted to find out more about the cohesiveness of the group.

As Dr. Don Forsyth often says, “groups hold the secret to the universe.” I am a firm believer in that statement for several reasons. In regards to college athletics, a college coaching staff rarely spends their entire careers together at the same program. This year marked the end of Coach Hogan’s first full year on staff. This year also marked Coach Chemotti and Coach Richard’s ninth year working together. The cohesiveness of the group was apparent from the moment I stepped into the office. However, I wanted to further understand just how cohesive this group was. Specifically when it comes to college recruiting.

Drawing from Tuckman’s Stage Theory, I pried deeper and deeper into what exactly the coaching staff looks for in a prospective player. Coach Richards emphasized that the staff prioritizes looking for the right player rather than the best player. When building a recruiting class the staff goes through all five stages of Tuckman’s Stage Theory.

1. The staff creates their ideal class, or group, from a massive pool of high school lacrosse players. The staff sets goals that revolve around wants, needs, and actuality. While the staff is very confident, they realize they must temper their expectations when recruiting against other universities, specifically the ACC.
2. Storming: This is where the staff deals with conflict. They have to deal with conflict on various levels that include: recruiting against other schools, scholarship money, grades, financial aid, poaching from other schools, etc. The staff must successfully deal with this conflict when recruiting otherwise they may lose the recruit to another institution or even a recruit that has been committed for several years.
3. Norming: Over the past nine years this coaching staff has increased the structure and stability of the program tenfold. This is no different when putting together a recruiting class. The experience of the entire staff allows them to successfully navigate the conflicts mentioned above. Yes, the staff fails from time to time, but for the most part, they have continued to raise the level and skill of incoming players year after year.
4. Performing: The final stage of building a recruiting class occurs once a player verbally commits to play for the Spiders. The staff must make sure they monitor the class and make sure they do not become uncertain about their decision. Once a recruit signs their national letter of intent (NLI) the work is almost done. When the class arrives on campus the staff serve as leaders and provide feedback to the players both on and off the field. The ultimate goal of the staff is to use lacrosse as a vehicle to develop young men into adults that will be better sons, spouses, fathers, and businessmen. When the class graduates the group adjourns and the coaches can look back on the six years that went into the formation of the group.

Covid has made the formation and cohesion of the past two recruiting classes extremely difficult. The staff has not met any of the rising freshmen. This hurts the cohesion of the group as it would be very easy to question the decision to come to Richmond without even seeing the campus in person. Now that some time has passed and vaccines have become readily available, the coaches have been able to get back on the recruiting trail this summer. Only time will tell just how cohesive the class of 2025 and 2026 will be both on and off the field.