Men's Lacrosse Coaching Staff

Head Coach Matthew Heitman

JOHNSON, Vt. (November 18, 2009) - Johnson State College Athletics has announced the hiring of Matthew Heitman as their next Head Coach of men's lacrosse.  Heitman, who served as the team’s Associate Head Coach in 2009, will take over for Michael Osborne who was the Interim Head Coach for the last two seasons.

 

Heitman helped lead the Badgers to the program's first North Atlantic Conference (NAC) semifinal appearance last season as the team finished 7-5 overall and 6-3 in NAC, his first season with the program.

 

"I am obviously really excited about for the opportunity to continue moving the program forward and working with the fine group of guys we have.  I hope to continue to develop the level of play, recruit quality character and highly skilled student-athletes, and bring it to a championship level," stated Heitman.

 

Prior to arriving at Johnson State Heitman played four seasons at the United States Naval Academy, one on the junior varsity and three at the club level.  After earning his Bachelor’s degree at the Naval Academy Heitman became an officer in the United State Marine Corps where he held many posts at Camp Pendleton, California, the final being as Legal Officer for Marine Aircraft Group 39.

 

The Badgers will return in a very strong core of players from the 2009 team including NAC 1st Team members Billy Noyes (Boston, Mass./Northeast Regional) and Mike Murphy (Woodstock, Vt./Woodstock), 2nd Teamer Steve Noyes (Barre, Vt./Spaulding), and Honorable Mention goalkeeper Branden Sawyer (East Greenwich, R.I./East Greenwich). 

 

Contact Information

Matt Heitman

Head Men's Lacrosse Coach

Johnson State College

337 College Hill                                                        

Johnson, VT 05656
(619) 325-9342

hispeed87@comcast.net

 

Matt Riani

Assistant Men's Lacrosse Coach

 

Johnson State athletics has announced that former standout Matt Riani will rejoin the men's lacrosse program as Assistant Coach.

 

Riani will join first-year Head Coach Matt Heitman and will be involved in all aspects of the program operations.

 

Riani, 2009 graduate, help lead the Badgers lax program to the two most successful seasons in the program's history in his junior and senior campaigns.  In his final season Riani led JSC to their first ever North Atlantic Conference (NAC) Semifinal birth while being named to the 2009 NAC All-Tournament Team. 

 

Riani ranks second all-time in scoring at Johnson State with 93 career points (57 goals, 36 assists) and led JSC to 22 wins in his career and 15-9 record in his final two seasons.