Head Coach Mike Daly has led the Tufts University Men's Lacrosse program to three NCAA Championship titles, including the last two (2014, 2015). Under his direction, the Jumbos are one of the most successful programs in the country year in and year out.
In May 2015, the Jumbos defeated Lynchburg College 19-11 in the NCAA final. In 2014, the Jumbos won their second NCAA Championship with a 12-9 victory over Salisbury in Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium. Daly's 2010 won the school's first-ever NCAA team title with a 9-6 victory over Salisbury in Baltimore.
Tufts finished 21-2 in each of the last two seasons. Coach Daly oversaw a prolific Tufts offense which scored 423 goals to set an NCAA All-Divisions record for a single season in 2014. The Jumbos’ 45 assists in five NCAA Tournament games set another national mark. The 2015 had seven players finish with 50 points or more.
Tufts has also won six consecutive New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) titles under Coach Daly. He is a three-time NESCAC Co-Coach of the Year, including 2014, 2007 and 2004.
Coach Daly’s 2010 NCAA Championship team finished 20-1, a .952 winning percentage that is one of the best in NCAA DIII Men's Lacrosse history. Tufts returned to the national final in 2011 and reached the NCAA semi-finals in 2012. Playing in their seventh straight NCAA Tournament and eighth overall last spring, Tufts has compiled a 22-5 record in NCAA Tournaments overall. Daly's 2007 and 2009 teams also played in the NCAA’s.
Now in his 18th season as leader of the Jumbos, Daly is the program’s all-time leader in coaching victories with a 224-80 record for a .737 winning percentage. He is among the top 10 active coaches for winning percentage and is in the top 20 for victories. Among all-time DIII coaches, he is in the top 15 for winning percentage and top 30 for wins.
Prior to his promotion to head coach of men’s lacrosse at Tufts in 1999, the team had compiled a 3-25 record in the 1997-98 seasons combined.
Daly’s recruits have been some of the best players in the nation for Tufts. John Uppgren, a senor in 2015-16, has led Division III in points two consecutive seasons. Cole Bailey, a 2015 graduate, received the 2014 United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) LT. COL. J.I. (Jack) Turnbull Award as the Most Outstanding Attackman in Division III. The team's seven USILA All-Americans in 2015 marked the 13th straight year that Tufts had representation on the USILA teams. Current assistant coach Matt Callahan, a 2013 graduate, was the USILA Defenseman of the Year.
Daly has also recruited and coached five players who have won six NESCAC Player of the Year honors.
The men’s lacrosse program also succeeds academically and contributes to the community. Five team members were named 2015 USILA Scholar All-Americans, the most on any team in all three divisions. In November 2013, the Jumbos adopted seven-year old cancer survivor Jacob Beranger via Team IMPACT, whose mission is to improve the quality of life for children facing life-threatening illnesses by establishing a team-based support network.
A 1995 Tufts graduate, Daly and his wife Norah, daughter Fiona, and son Liam reside in nearby Reading, Mass. He received a master's in education at Tufts in 1997.
Record at Tufts: 224-80 (17 seasons through 2015)
