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Coast Guard Academy Welcomes New Coaches
New London, CT. – The U.S. Coast Guard Academy is pleased to welcome two new members to their lacrosse coaching staff.
Coach Gary Weller joins Coach Brian Krautler as co-Head Coach this year. Coach Weller is a Long Island native with a long lacrosse history in Southeast Connecticut. Weller, of Gales Ferry, joins the Coast Guard staff after retiring as Head Coach at both Mitchell College and Ledyard High School, where he also served as Assistant Athletic Director for eight years.
During his tenure at Ledyard, Weller is credited with starting the varsity and junior varsity programs for boys’ and girls’ and compiling a 65-34 record. In 2005, Weller was named the Division II High School Lacrosse Coach of the Year for the State of Connecticut. In 2002, Weller was involved with starting the Ledyard Youth Lacrosse League for children in second through eighth grade.
A graduate of Hofstra University, Weller played both varsity lacrosse and football at the NCAA Division I level. Weller was the crease attackman for the “Flying Dutchmen” (now the Pride) in the early 1970s, when the team was consistently one of the top lacrosse programs in the country.
Coach Krautler said “Coach Weller is an outstanding coach with a long history of success and we are very excited to have him aboard. His vast knowledge of the game and his talents at developing players will take the Coast Guard Academy Lacrosse program to the next level. Coach Weller knows the game, but more importantly, he knows how to help us graduate leaders of character for the U.S. Coast Guard through the sport of lacrosse. The Coast Guard Academy Men’s Lacrosse program has a great tradition of success, but one of our challenges is that our coaches have tended to be military officers who have to transfer out after three or four years. Coach Weller changes that. He’ll stay on when the other coaches transfer and be able to maintain continuity in the program.”
Joining Coach Weller is Coach Dan Ursino, a native of Springfield, Massachusetts. LCDR Ursino is a 1999 graduate of the Coast Guard Academy, who played midfield during the 1997 & 1998 seasons, and was a member of the varsity Wrestling Team for four seasons.
Coach Ursino has served aboard two Coast Guard Cutters, the USCGC CONFIDENCE (WMEC 619) homeported in Port Canaveral, Florida and the USCGC ACTIVE (WMEC 618) homeported in Port Angeles, Washington. Coach Ursino has served ashore at Base San Juan in Puerto Rico and Engineering Unit (CEU) Miami, FL where he deployed as a member of the Disaster Assessment Team and responded to Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma.
Coach Weller and LCDR Ursino will make immediate impacts for the Bears, as they replace two extremely knowledgeable, dedicated coaches in LT Marty Berg and LT Nick Parker, who both transferred to new assignments this summer. LT Berg is now the Construction Manager at Civil Engineering Unit Alameda, CA while LT Parker is the Technical Contract Manager for the Coast Guard’s National Security Cutters, the newest ships in the Coast Guard Fleet. LT Berg and LT Parker departed the Coast Guard Academy as part of the normal career rotation for officers, who tend to serve for three to four years in each assignment. Coach Krautler said, “We wish Coach Berg and Coach Parker all the best and thank them for all of their support of Coast Guard Lacrosse. It’s tough to lose two great coaches in one year, but we know we’re in great hands with Coach Weller and Coach Ursino.”
For more information, check out our website at: www.coastguardlax.vicid.net
As the smallest of the five U.S. service academies, the Coast Guard Academy offers the elite higher education, rigorous professional development, and honor and tradition of a military academy but with a more personalized approach.
The CGA offers an integrated life experience which emphasizes academics, physical fitness, character and leadership, in order to graduate officers of the highest caliber. Graduates go directly to positions of leadership in “The Shield of Freedom,” one of the most admired organizations in the world. The Academy also features an impressive teacher-student ratio and picturesque waterfront campus that instills a traditional small college feel.
Cadets devote themselves to an honor concept and graduate to work at sea, on land, in the air, and even in space, in meaningful careers of selfless service to others.
