I’ve debated whether or not I should write this, but with the Philadelphia Wings being officially eliminated from playoff contention this weekend, it was time. This is my personal opinion. I’ve tried to keep quiet, and I don’t think I can.
I have coached men’s and women’s lacrosse for a number of years. I have never coached professional lacrosse, and I would never want to. Give me five-year-old kiddos through college age. There is way more that goes into the games and the preparation than just the actual games. I know some of you will crucify me for this list, and if you are unwilling to consider these things, just skip ahead to another post.
For all of those Philadelphia Wings fans who want head coach and general manager Paul Day gone, I would ask that you be quite cautious. There are a number of factors that need to be examined that you may or may not have thought about.
Please consider the following before you add to the #FirePaulDay hashtag on X:
- His experience both in the NLL and outside of it. Day has proven himself with multiple championships as an architect in the NLL and Canadian senior lacrosse. In Philly, he took a thankless job where fans have and had high hopes because of past glory days. He had to compete with teams that never left and came back at that time. There have been other coaches who have been here – not naming names – that the players couldn’t stand. Remember when the team was moved – the SAME DAY they sent out a season ticket email?!?! In fact, within hours of that? Remember how some players and workers didn’t know?
- Not everyone wants to play in Philadelphia. I know that’s shocking for people who live, breathe and die Philly sports. I am actually one of those people! But there are guys who genuinely don’t want to or cannot be here. I’m not naming names here – I’m going to take the high road. But there are professional athletes who won’t play lacrosse here. You have to remember that. At that point, you try to get what you can in a trade, so you don’t walk away with nothing. This doesn’t even take into account the geographic location of Philly and getting those Canadian guys/far away guys here. Remember the Philly area experience before? The U.S. experiment? Big fails.
- The Wings are owned by a bigger organization/entity. As a coach, even as a GM – your hands are tied. You don’t have full autonomy when you are in one (or both) of these positions. Even I don’t know what all the limitations there are. Imagine being a boss and wanting to do what’s right, but your hands are tied. Paul Day does not control the schedule. Paul Day cannot control which players cannot get out of their other jobs to be here.
- There have been a lot of changes. Other teams have guys like Rose, Vinc or Thompson, who stay in one place. When you are constantly changing a core unit, it takes time to rebuild. Again, I go back to previous points about people not wanting to play in Philadelphia or not being able to play in Philadelphia.
- Day, as well as others, give up family time to be here. He’s made these guys his family as well. They believe in him, and that should say something. He’s brought in big names who support him. They mention family – listen to the press conference interviews. He is sincere. He doesn’t name drop people. He doesn’t call out guys. He takes the weight of all the failure as a coach and as a GM on his shoulders. I don’t hear him make excuses, other than injuries. Those tears in a recent press conference were real. The emotions are real. He genuinely wants to be successful, and so do the guys on the floor. He mentions confidence, but how can anyone have confidence when they are constantly hated, their backs are against the walls, and everyone you face is a critic?
Just look at what Joe Resetarits had to say about how much Paul Day means to him after a recent game:
The @NLLwings Joe Resetarits on how much Head Coach Paul Day means to him and to the Wings:
“I’ve been fortunate enough to be around Pauly almost my whole NLL career. Ya know, when I first started, he was the one that gave me a crack at this in Rochester back in the day. The…
— Adam Levi (@AdamLeviNLL) March 31, 2024
- Some of these teams get to practice together regularly. They have facilities they can use. They can get together for a cup of coffee, a workout, a hang out. Anything. It is hard to bond when you only see each other a few times, and you’re required to work for almost all of them. We don’t have this.
- The Philadelphia way is to fire your head coach when things go south. It has ALWAYS been that way. The fans want someone’s head. That’s where they start. Charlie, Andy, the list goes on with firing the head coach. It doesn’t work. Then the second that new coach doesn’t work, the process repeats. There are numerous problems with this. Including there will be guys who won’t play for the new coach, you are disrupting your locker room again, you have new schemes and new game plans. In a quick-fix society, this is not a quick-fix team.
- I don’t have the answers. I don’t know any coaches who are frothing at the mouth to coach this team. I do know that you have a guy who was willing to start from scratch and try to build this team back to where it needs to be. I don’t believe he was ever given a fair shake. No one has put up signs asking for another organization to purchase the Wings. No one has called out the offensive or defensive coordinators. Do people even know who they are? Instead of making a scapegoat of Paul Day, let’s recognize everything he has done.
