2026 Fall Check-In: UNC Wilmington

(Photo by Lance Wendt)

For our next Fall Check-In we head to the beach to check in with UNC-Wilmington head coach Will Farrow.  The Sea Hawks are coming off a conference championship and a quarterfinal appearance at the MCLA National Championships Presented by New Balance.

You can read our earlier installments of the series here:  Georgia, Tampa, Arizona State, Oregon

MCLA: You guys won the ALC last season after an undefeated regular season and won a hard fought game against Florida Atlantic in the first round of the MCLA National Championships Presented by New Balance before falling to St. Thomas.  What did you all learn as a program from last year’s run?

Will Farrow: The run we went on was amazing, and I think it showed us that we have the system and the talent to play on the big stage. On a small scale it showed us that even if we get down, we are never out, after comeback wins in the ALC championship and against FAU. On a larger scale, I think we had a team that could beat most teams on any given day but we didn’t have the depth to win 4 games in a week that is needed at nationals. 

MCLA: After an undefeated regular season and conference title you all were the 9-seed last year and faced a rested St. Thomas team in the quarters after going to overtime in your first round game.  Did you all schedule any differently for 2027 in order to hopefully get a higher seed?  What are the schedule highlights?

WF: Yes we understood our strength of schedule was on the weaker side last year and that cost us in the seeding. We have beefed up our out of conference schedule to play Montana and MSU in Bozeman, then we will play RIU and CSSMU down in Florida. We wanted to try and get as many ranked teams on our schedule as possible to not only boost our seed but challenge and prepare us for a return to nationals.

MCLA: You all have been promoting a large number of transfers to your program, what are the challenges of welcoming that many new players?

WF: We do have a large number of transfers coming in which has been great talent wise. Probably the hardest part is they were not there with us last year at nationals and winning the alc. I think the returners saw those moments and realized how amazing the MCLA is and found this big stage inspiring. Our president Alan Miller and VP Paul Spencer have done an outstanding job of off field team bonding that has kind of brought everyone together and gotten them all on the same page.

MCLA: You all graduated highly productive players in Landon Parker and Ryan Kazella, how is the team adjusting to that change?

WF: Yes it will be hard to replace Landon and Ryan. Landon will actually join our coaching staff and Landon’s younger cousin, Ben Cook, is a freshman on the team, hoping to step into his role. We still do have 4 returning all Americans and so far Jake Jackson and Cooper legato have been jiving with the NCAA transfers coming in, trying to find that spark and fire power on offense.

 MCLA: What is your focus for the fall and how is Fall Ball going so far?

WF: Our fall focus is to get everyone on the same page and within our system as early as possible. As well as making sure everyone understands our expectations. We really wanted to challenge ourselves in terms of competition, so We are at JMU this weekend to play them and Navy. And we have a big match up later in the year with South Carolina, who was also at nationals on the D1 side. 

Thank you to Coach Farrow for taking the time to answer some questions.

Coaches if you want your team to be featured in our series send an email to info@mcla.us.