Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 10/1/16
From Press Release
Princeton men’s lacrosse head coach Matt Madalon likes to speak about the value to young coaches of holding every position on a staff as they move up in their careers.
No wonder he wants Justin Tuma with him.
Justin Tuma
Tuma, whom Madalon has hired to be Princeton’s volunteer assistant coach, has been a Division III offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, face-off coach and recruiting coordinator. Even before he became a coach, Tuma was a face-off man, offensive middie, two-way middie and defensive middie as a college player.
A three-time Division III All-America, Tuma will work with several areas of the Princeton program, especially the face-off men. He will also run the box on game days.
With the addition of Tuma, Madalon’s first staff is now complete, with Jesse Bernhardt as defensive coordinator and Pat March as assistant coach.
“I love the staff we have here,” Madalon said. “The guys are already starting to buy into what we are teaching them, and I couldn’t be more excited for the rest of the fall and then the season. Justin is a great addition for us. He was a great and very versatile player, and he has already proven himself to be an outstanding young coach. He combines his knowledge and philosophies of lacrosse with his great energy and enthusiasm, and those are all qualities that will benefit our program and our players’ development.”
Tuma comes to Princeton from Roanoke College, where he spent the last three seasons as an assistant coach, helping the Maroons to a combined record of 37-17. While at Roanoke, he coached 11 USILA All-Americas, 21 all-league selections and 29 league all-academic selections.
With Tuma as offensive coordinator this past season, Roanoke led the Old Dominion Athletic Conference and was 25th of 223 teams in Division III in scoring offense at 13.56 goals per game. The team also won better than 60 percent of its face-offs, again first in the conference, and 28th in Division III.
Tuma graduated cum laude from Roanoke in 2011 with a degree in business administration and a minor in economics. He was a USILA Scholar All-America, a three-time ODAC Academic Selection and the 2011 ODAC Scholar Athlete of the Year.
On the field he was a three-time USILA All-America, making him and Princeton great David Morrow the only two Michigan natives ever to be three-time USILA college All-Americas (current Notre Dame senior Sergio Perkovic figures to be the third). As a Division III player, he had the rare accomplishment of being named to the Tewaraaton Trophy watchlist as a senior.
Tuma was the 2011 ODAC Player of the Year and a three-time All-ODAC selection. He holds the Roanoke College records for ground balls in a game and career, and he won 522-846 face-offs, or 61.7 percent.
He finished his career with 138 points (68G, 70A).
Tuma then earned a master’s degree in business management, graduating with merit, from Durham University in England, where he also played lacrosse. He began his coaching career as the defensive coordinator at Randolph-Macon in the 2013 season.
Princeton is early in its fall practice schedule. The highlight of the fall will be the Oct. 15 game against Denver in Sparks, Md., on William G. Tierney Field.