Rich Petillo
Rich Petillo

Bio


Rich Petillo is entering his seventh season at the helm of the Mitchell College men's lacrosse program in 2021-22. 

Petillo has spent the past six years rebuilding the Mariners from the ground up. After recording four wins in 2019, the program was poised to make a leap in 2020 before the majority of the season was canceled due to Covid-19. In an abbreviated 2021 campaign, the Mariners posted three wins in eight games. 

Petillo made his collegiate head coaching debut with the Mariners in 2016, leading the team to a 3-1 record in league play and a total of five wins on the season. Mitchell secured the second seed in the NECC Championship and produced five all-conference selections, including three first teamers and the NECC Goalie of the Year.

Prior to his arrival at Mitchell, Petillo served as a volunteer assistant coach at Hartwick College in Oneonta, N.Y. In addition to duties with both the offensive and faceoff units, he also spearheaded the Hawks’ recruiting efforts for two seasons.

Before arriving at Hartwick, Petillo was the head varsity lacrosse coach at Harborfields High School in Greenlawn, N.Y. Prior to that, he was an assistant lacrosse coach with Sachem North High School.

A Long Island native, Petillo was an all-county defenseman for the Sachem High School lacrosse team that won a state championship in 1979. He continued his career at Hofstra University where he was a four-year starter on the lacrosse team and a three-year starter on the football team. He also served as a captain of both squads.

Petillo, who earned a degree in business computer information systems from Hofstra, is a retired police officer who served 23 years for the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey. He currently resides with his wife, Jeanine, and has three sons—all of whom have played lacrosse at the college level—and two daughters.

 

Meet The Coach
JD LeMay

JD LeMay will enter his first season as the head coach of the Mitchell College men's lacrosse program in the spring of 2025.

A 2017 graduate of Mitchell College, LeMay arrives back in New London after serving as the head men's lacrosse coach at Brevard College in Brevard, North Carolina, from 2021-2024. Prior to his tenure with the Tornados, LeMay gained extensive coaching experience at Missouri Valley College in Marshall, Missouri, most recently serving as the head coach for both the men's and women's lacrosse programs at the NAIA institution.

LeMay came to Missouri Valley in the fall of 2017, and spent two seasons as a graduate assistant coach for the men's lacrosse program before being elevated as the team's assistant coach in June of 2019. In August of the same year, he was named head coach for the women's lacrosse program, leading the Vikings for the 2020 and 2021 seasons. In November of 2020, LeMay also assumed duties of head men's lacrosse coach at Missouri Valley.

One of the most accomplished players in the Division III era of the Mitchell men's lacrosse program, LeMay was a three-year captain at goalkeeper who was a three-time New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) All-Conference First Team selection, a three-time Goalie of the Year, and the Rookie of the Year in the conference in 2014. LeMay remains the program's all-time leader in saves with 773, and is second in both save percentage, goals against average, and wins.

Off the field, he served two years as the Co-President of the Mitchell Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) and attended the NCAA Student-Athlete Leadership Forum.

LeMay graduated from Mitchell with a Bachelor of Science degree in Sport and Fitness Management, and obtained his Masters of Arts in Sports Leadership from Concordia-Chicago (Ill.), in June of 2019.

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