Cardinal Perspectives: Peter Donley, Head Men’s Lacrosse Coach

We are pleased to introduce this episode of Cardinal Perspectives featuring Peter Donley, head coach for men’s lacrosse, and James Higgins, assistant director of leadership annual giving for Athletics.

Peter Donley was named head coach in July 2023. In just his first two seasons leading the Cardinals, Peter guided the team to competitive play in the Landmark Conference, including back‑to‑back appearances in the conference semifinals and several individual honors for his student‑athletes, highlighting the growth and competitiveness of the program. Under his leadership, standout performers have earned All‑Landmark recognition.

Before coming to Washington, D.C., Donley built an impressive coaching résumé across collegiate lacrosse. Peter brings deep tactical knowledge and a passion for developing both the skills and character of his players.
 

*This transcript is based on an audio recording and has been lightly edited for readability. It reflects the substance of the conversation but may not be a verbatim record.

James
I'm here with head men's lacrosse coach, Peter Donley. Pete, thanks for taking some time out of your day.

Peter
Absolutely. Thank you for having me.

James
Awesome. I wanted to start off, Pete, you're in your third season here at Catholic University. Is there a particular moment that stands out from your short time here so far?

Peter
Year three already. Wow.

So many moments come to mind right away. But one that really stands out happened in my first year. It was actually the end of the third quarter, when we were on the road at Cabrini, and it was Cabrini's final year as a program, as well. I have a ton of respect for what they did as 2018 National Champions. A very successful program.

We kind of let the end of the third quarter get away from us a little bit. The team came together in the huddle and it was a very simple moment where we all had to say, “We have to make one play at a time. Pick up every tough ground ball, we have to sell out for the ride and we have to start chipping away at this,” because I think we were down either three or four at the end of the third quarter. And throughout the fourth quarter we were able to stack winning plays and decisions and actually end up winning the game, at the end of it.

That was an awesome moment, to see the guys go out there and bring the core values to life. And then you have so much success together, which is great to see.

James
You guys as a program do a game on the road every year for alumni, and an added touch to that game was that it was the alumni one. I was up there for that. It was even more special to do it in front of all the folks that came out specifically for that.

Peter
That was a lot of fun, even though I think it was a Tuesday.  It was midweek and it was cold and snowy, but had an awesome turnout.

James
Speaking of alumni, you guys have a long, rich alumni history with the men's lacrosse program, having only been a varsity program for 25 years and started as a club back in the 1980s. Is there a particular moment or story that highlights the connection between alumni and the current team?

Peter
One of the first ones that really stands out is obviously the story about how the program was founded back in the 1980s with Brian Kennedy and so many others like Joe Malley, Jeff Klein, Sean McMachan, and so many others. To see those guys still be around the program with such consistency, because without their efforts, without their enthusiasm, without their passion of starting the program – even as a club sport back then – to still see that same passion every time they come out is so inspiring, each and every day. And seeing those guys at practice and all that, it's been fun.

James
And somebody gave you a picture book last year?

Peter
Yes, Joe Owen, who was another founding member. He kept all the pictures and stories and different obstacles they had to overcome over the years.

And I think the binder – I know Kevin Robinson has in his office – ended up being about five inches thick.  It's so great to still see that living history every day.

James
Awesome. And I think that goes back to the culture overall – Catholic Lacrosse staying really close and being tight knit.

What are some of the values and attitudes that you use to shape culture under your leadership for this team?

Peter
Where do we start? It's something that we established in my first fall – to put out on the table, “What is it? Us as a group. What do we want to accomplish?”

Our mission every year is to be the best program in college lacrosse. And that's a lot more than what goes on up at Carlini Field. Don't get me wrong, that's extremely important. We're highly competitive individuals, and we want to win. We want to have a lot of success. But that's not everything that our players want to accomplish here.

So how do we define a program? It's the education that you receive, the outcome that you earn after graduation. The experience that the players have here as current student-athletes, but also the experience that you have as a successful and passionate alumni.  And it's what we can accomplish on the field.

You wrap all that together, to me, that's what makes up our program. And through conversations in my first year with the current team and the staff that was here at the time, I wanted to set core values that would be consistent every year because as a first-time head coach coming in, there are certain things that I hold very important, whether that’s in my coaching philosophy or just how I've gone about my career. There are some things that led me to be the head coach here at Catholic University.

But if I'm the only person in the room that believes in any of those values, we're not going to accomplish anything truly special. So we had a lot of conversations that first fall with the staff, with the current team asking, “How do we want to accomplish it? What values do we wanna bring to our daily actions, decisions and behaviors that allow us to be the best program in college lacrosse?”

And we established three. In no particular order: we're going to love our teammates, we're going to compete without complaint, and we're going to work with relentless purpose.

And how that's evolved, is then we've begun the conversations about how it's not just on the field. When it comes to the education that we're receiving, how are we competing without complaint? When it comes to competing for those great opportunities for either internships or jobs, how are we loving our teammates? Do we help them prepare? Do we work with a relentless purpose in making sure that guys go out to have a positive influence on building a network and learning about opportunities and those kinds of things?

We evaluate each aspect of our program by each core value.

James
I think that goes to the strong culture and development that you've had so far, and that will continue on into this season.

Speaking about the current team this season, what's in store? You guys are coming off a Landmark playoff appearance. What's in store for this season and how's the team shaping up?

Peter
It’s mid-January, and we've had seven practices so far. Practice has been so much fun, the guys have come back with so much enthusiasm, so much energy. Attention to detail is something that we've really focused on from fall into spring, and each and every day that's gotten a little bit better.

Every day we have certain obstacles that we have to overcome, as I sit in here in my very nice warm vest, we all know it's a little cold outside right now. We might be limited in terms of times of practice, or we're getting ready for our first snowfall of the season. Those are obstacles that they have to overcome. But that doesn't mean we can't find a way in order to make this day productive. For us to be better as individual players or as a team.

What I'm excited about this year is the same thing I was excited for in the fall – It's so much newness.  Last year, we graduated an extremely talented class. Guys who had been game-day players in terms of starters, or guys coming off the bench who had given us so many minutes over the last number of years. Guys who were all-conference players, First Team All-Conference, or offensive player of the year.

Coming into this fall, and then the same thing into the spring, those “household names,” so to speak, aren’t there.

And so every day, can we continue to find a way? How can we be a little better? Does somebody need to move into a new role? Do we need to give guys more opportunities in a certain drill?

What you're going to see this spring: a lot of new faces, a lot of energy, a lot of high-compete level, a lot of dive outs, a lot of tough guy ground balls and a lot of riding the ball back.

Those are things that are going to remain constant, because they have allowed us to be successful in the past. We're just going to be seeing a lot of new people do it, which is still so exciting because I get to teach a lot at practice, which is fun.

James
I also think that's exciting for you to have one of the biggest rosters, 57 guys on the roster this year.  It's the unknown, but it's the unknown in an exciting way. It’s an opportunity for guys to step up, guys able to prove themselves, and maybe become game-day players for two or three years on end.

Peter
Every day's a new day. And for everybody to have an opportunity to go out there on the practice field and prove why they need to be looked at a little bit more, or maybe be in a different role. Those are some of the best conversations that I get to have. If there’s a guy who's in either a defensive or offensive midfield role, but he comes in and says, “Hey Coach, I think I can make an impact on the faceoff wing. I can come in, I can box out or I can pick up tough guy ground balls. I can help us in transition defense or offense, and maybe not even have a stat at the end of the game, but I think I can help the team in this way.”

Man, those are fun conversations to have.

James 
Speaking of the large roster, that goes into recruiting. I think every coach in here can speak to this: you do a tremendous job of bringing guys in and out. You really get after it, and it's something that you've been doing for years on end now. As a head coach, you're able to fully have your recruiting vision.

Talk a little bit about that process, where you learned it from and how you're applying it here. What's your favorite part about recruiting that many guys each year?

Peter
Where did I learn it from? I was very lucky in my first coaching opportunity as a graduate assistant out at Illinois Wesleyan University, working for Coach Iannucci, who I still consider a great mentor. When I have the opportunity to connect with him, I always come out of it feeling better as a person, as a coach. He still teaches me so much.

But man, to see the program that he had built out there was really awesome. When I got there, it was in the second year, so everything was new. We were figuring out so many things. It was just me as a graduate assistant and Coach Iannucci, who had a young family. He had two boys under two, I think, by the time I left. So in terms of traveling for recruiting from Illinois out to either Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, wherever it was, he had family responsibilities.

He turned to me and said, “You're going to be doing the majority of the travel. You're going to be the person going out there identifying the talent. We'll work together to get guys on the phone and get to campus.” It was a ton of baptism by fire. And he didn’t give me limitations or anything. Since it was a new program, we really had to figure out what allowed us to be successful. So it was a lot of trial and error. And then I went down roads that didn't bear fruit at the time. Maybe I could have used my time and efforts a little bit more efficiently.

So that's where I learned it, which was so great. And then to have had the opportunity to come back closer to home and be the assistant at Dickinson College under Dave Webster, who has built one of the best programs in the country and is one of the best coaches out there.

Being the recruiting coordinator, it was very similar, where the coach asked me to do a lot, but then it was solving different problems and different Rubik's Cubes in terms of identifying the type of student that we were able to attract or lacrosse players from certain locations. And I learned early and often, it's a 365-day commitment if you really want to have the opportunity to bring in the best possible talent, but also person, into a program.

It's something that is constant that we do every day. Also when it comes to bringing in larger classes. As an example, next year we have 19 guys coming in. That speaks to the retention rate that we have, graduating the largest senior classes. That's how the math works. How lucky are we to go out to these different areas, or see different people from different areas of the country?

Luckily, so many people come out to the East Coast, not too far from campus here, where they'll play. But to get to meet people from all different walks of life, all different areas of the country, learn their story, learn what they want to get out of their college experience, what type of career they want to have, and more importantly, what type of person they want to be, what kind of husband or father, and how they want to go out and really make the world better.

That's something that I truly enjoy when it comes to recruiting: learning what people want to get out of their college experience.

James
Speaking of those recruiting philosophies – you touched on it earlier with the core values of the team. What are strategies that you use to help players thrive as both athletes and individuals?

Peter
With that I'll go back and touch on how we integrate the core values into every phase or every characteristic of how we define a program. To go into talking about the experience that we get, we ask, “Are we working with relentless purpose with the experience that we just have around campus? Are we putting ourselves in scenarios where maybe we're going to be a little bit uncomfortable, because we're going to go do this activity, or go join this group that's not lacrosse, or it's not involved with my major, but it's going to help build a resume and meet new people?”

That's where you really see the growth, in my opinion, in 18-to-22-year-old young men, when they are in uncomfortable situations where they have to either do a task, or communicate, or just get to know different people. That's where you really see the growth of a young man into the person that they will become. That's how we try to encourage and empower our guys to grow not only on the field, but also off the field.

James
That's great.

What's your long-term vision for Catholic University Men’s Lacrosse?

Peter
Long-term is to be the best program in college lacrosse. It's very simple.

I truly believe – and it's one reason that I was so excited about having the opportunity to be the next head coach at Catholic University – is I truly believe that we can compete for national championships here.

I'm fully aware it's not going to happen overnight. It's going to take a lot of hard work. Each and every day, week, month, and year, we have to find ways to improve so that we can get to that point.

But with what this University is, with having Washington, D.C., at our disposal. Being a highly rated academic institution with all the – I'll say just in my little silos, in terms of lacrosse recruiting – every major that I need in terms of attracting some awesome student-athletes. Also the direction of the University and this athletic department, specifically with our new weight room that we have downstairs, adding on Coach Aaron Jahnke as a strength coach, improving facilities. With the investment that we have here, I truly believe that we can do it, and that differentiates us from not only the programs within our conference – who we are probably the most competitive against because we see them so many times – but so many great Division III programs that are out there, across the country.

We have the potential to continue to grow and compete consistently on a national stage. And that's why I came.

James
That's awesome. A couple more here for you. What are some big things that are on the horizon for Catholic Lacrosse and Catholic Athletics as a whole, and what are some ways that alumni can help give back and be part of it?

Peter
For Athletics as a whole, there have already been so many great improvements. And again, this is year three for me. We've seen the update to the varsity weight room. We've seen the Bird Feeder come in. We've seen Coach Aaron Jahnke. We've seen additional athletic training positions, which makes a huge difference in terms of the experience and the performance of the student-athlete. That's always so great to see.

During the interview process, we talked about what was going to happen. And it happened. We crossed the bridge. We said we were going to accomplish a task, and we did.

I think the next big thing in terms of our department, and it's already started in the first phase – Football's been working hard at it –  but the locker rooms. One of the next major projects that Kevin Robinson [vice president for athletics and recreation] has talked about several times, not only to head coaches or staff, but to student-athletes, that's one priority he has: creating a year-round space for every program. And we're beginning that. The dominoes are going to continue to fall.

We're going to continue to work towards getting the football shovel in the ground, and then after that, we'll address the next few programs. And over the next couple of years, having locker rooms for every program here is going to make a huge difference.

And in terms of alumni, how they can help… I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't say financially. There's a dollar sign when it comes to that. That's not the only way that alumni can give back, but that's going to be the biggest box that has to be checked. When it comes to an advancement or fundraising perspective, we're going to need to do a lot of hard work to be able to accomplish all those for all 25 programs.

James
And something that you just touched on, when you were in the interview process, you said you heard about all this and now it's actually getting done. And I think you have the perspective of coming in at a very unique time, a month or two after Kevin Robinson joined us as the athletic director.

Peter
I think it was two weeks. I remember in the interview, I think Kevin had moved into his office just three days before. Things weren't set up how they are now.

James
You've been able to see his vision come to life, and obviously it doesn't happen overnight. There's still work to be done, but I think he's done a tremendous job in following through.

Something else that you touched on, the financial aspect of it. You guys have had a great amount of success in the Cardinal Athletics Giving Challenge over the last three years since you've started. And then in extension – we launched our commitment club for the lacrosse program, the Crease Club, which we saw a real uptick in this past Athletics Giving Challenge. Talk a little bit about that.

Peter
First and foremost, another big thank you to all of our alumni, family, friends, supporters, all those employers out there that do matching gifts. That makes a big difference. We're so grateful, and every little bit makes a difference. That has allowed us to give the best possible experience to our student-athletes.

Every year, we spend every single dollar to improve that year's team's experience. It's been so great. We have a new set of uniforms that we're going to be able to debut this year. I know the guys are really excited about game gloves every year.

Lacrosse, along with having a larger roster, is a sport where equipment is needed, it's necessary. And to be able to give them the best quality of equipment as possible, so that not only can they be as healthy as possible – knock on wood – but so that they can go out there, they can practice, they can play, and feel excited. Make them feel so proud to put on not only the Catholic University uniform and helmet, but gloves, sticks, whatever it is. I think that does make a difference in terms of the day to day, how we go out and compete right up on Carlini.

So thank you so much to all of our supporters. It has made such a huge difference. I know our guys are very grateful, especially when we get around spring break and we're not doing cold cut sandwiches anymore, which I did my first year. That makes a big difference.

And, on to the Crease Club. We got that going last year, and we've got so many members, which we’re so grateful for. The goal of the Crease Club is to get membership up to the point that allows us to check the box off for all of our operational costs that we have every year. We want to say that the Crease Club has got that covered, right? We want to know that from an operational standpoint, we're set.

And then we can pivot our Cardinal Athletics Giving Challenge to be something that will really make a difference, either in this team's experience or hopefully down the road when we're trying to fundraise for a locker room. That may be the main focus when it comes to that. Or maybe it will be a spring break trip, if we want to go down to Florida. But then the Cardinal Athletics Giving Challenge can be raising funds for something specific, or for an individual thing that we want to do as a program enhancement, not so much as an operational thing.

The Crease Club has helped us begin that journey. So thank you so much for the people who have joined the Crease Club, and we got room for plenty more. So please sign up.

Money does make a big difference, but there's one more specific way that our alumni can help give back. Our guys do such a great job when it comes to professional development, job opportunities, and all that. I think one of the biggest impacts that our alumni have is when they come back to campus, when they come to practice, when they come to games, be that home or away. Having an opportunity to go up and meet the person who's wearing the uniform that you wore, or to meet the person that's maybe from the same high school that you went to. Still continuing to build those relationships, I think that makes a huge difference.

So come back and see us! The schedule's up on the website. We'll see you there.

James
This was great. Be on the lookout: men's lacrosse first. For Pete Donley, this is James Higgins. Thank you for joining us today.