Paul Suggate named Knighthawks head coach

September 2nd, 2008 by Lauren Ward

NLLinsider’s own Paul Tutka brought it up over ten days ago and today the Knighthawks announced it: Paul Suggate has taken over as Rochester’s head coach, with Freeman Bucktooth and former Knighthawks defender Mike Hasen signing on as assistants.

“It is an honor to be surrounded by guys like Regy [Thorpe], Jody [Gage] and Curt [Styres],” said Suggate. “They are high-caliber guys that are doing what they can to win a championship. My focus is simple: I want to be the best that I can and help the guys be the best that they can be. Each night we have to earn the right to be the best.”

Suggate, Bucktooth and Hasen will be replacing former Knighthawks head coach Ed Comeau and assistants Sean Ferris and John Munroe, all three of whom have landed behind the bench of the New York Titans. Last year the Knighthawks missed the playoffs for the first time in franchise history, just one year after winning the Champion’s Cup.

Suggate is a member of both the Ontario and Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fames and is regarded as one of the best two-way players to have ever played the game, having played for the Maryland Arrows in the mid-70’s incarnation of the National Lacrosse League. In addition to his playing experience, Suggate has coached at the international and at the Canadian junior and senior levels. He worked as the head coach of the now defunct St. Catharines Athletics in 2005 and 2006. In 2007, he coached Team Scotland at the World Indoor Lacrosse Championship. This past summer, he coached the Junior A Mississauga Tomahawks in the Ontario Lacrosse Association. He has been named the Coach of the Year at both the junior and senior levels, earning the honors in 1996 with Mississauga (Junior A) and in 2005 with St. Catharines (Senior A).

Bucktooth is returning to the league after nearly a 10-year break, having last coached the Syracuse Smash. With the Knighthawks he will be serving as the team’s head offensive assistant coach. As a coach, he has worked at the international and Canadian junior and senior levels. In his career, he has been the head coach of the Onondaga Junior B’s, Syracuse Lacrosse Club (Vail Colorado) and LaFayette High School (1999-00), where he was named Coach of the Year. On the world scene, he led the Iroquois Nationals to their first medal at the 1999 Under-19 World Games in Adelaide, Australia, and earned World Games Man of the Year honors for his work with the Iroquois Nationals.

Hasen joins Suggate and Bucktooth behind the Knighthawks’ bench as the team’s head defensive assistant coach. Hasen begins his first professional coaching job after playing in the NLL for 13 seasons, nine of those with the Knighthawks.

From Press Releases

Just a quick note: they’re up against the college ballers and you know where IL’s fanbase comes from so be sure to vote for your NLL players at the Inside Lacrosse LAXIE Awards.

Ward began covering lacrosse for The Lacrosse Journal in 2005 and became its editor-in-chief a year later. Email her at lauren.ward@nllinsider.com.

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