[This interview was taken as a reflection of last season]
(Interviewer) We’re here with
(Coach Jeff Brzoska) Coach Jeff Brzoska, boys lacrosse coach.
(Interviewer) What’s your favorite part about coaching at Judge?
(Coach Jeff Brzoska) My favorite part about coaching lacrosse at Judge is definitely the players. Love the players. Love the enthusiasm, love the hustle, and the dedication that they show.
(Interviewer) What would you say is the main reason why you came with it?
(Coach Jeff Brzoska) The main reason I came to Judge was I saw an opportunity with the most historic program in the state and a chance to revive the program and bring it back on top where it belongs. And, you know, I knew there was a great youth program behind it and a lot of kids that were dying to play lacrosse that weren’t given the chance. So, yeah, it sounded like and felt like a great fit and a great opportunity.
(Interviewer) What does this program mean to you?
(Coach Jeff Brzoska) This program means so much to me, you know, not just because of the school and my Catholic roots, but also, you know, just the history that comes with this and my love for the sport of lacrosse. You know, being able to share my love of lacrosse with so many.
(Interviewer) You brought together our legendary coaching staff with Utah legends like Coach Duke. How did you manage to get such good coaches together?
(Coach Jeff Brzoska) Putting together the staff that we did, with so many legends in the Utah lacrosse arena, was actually quite easy. You know? Honestly, these are guys that I’ve known in the lacrosse community for a long time. I’m Bubba Fairman’s Godfather, honorary. I go way back with Matthew Duke-Rosati to the days when he was coaching Olympus and, you know, him also being a former Judge alumnus. Guys like Sean Zuckerman, a friend of mine that I’ve known for a few years just in the local lacrosse community. And of course, guys like Walker Bateman, who’s one of my best friends that I’ve been playing lacrosse with in men’s league, and coaching with and against at the club levels and at the high school levels. And then I was fortunate enough to have a guy like Derrick Harris, who actually works here in the school, who I’ve known because I coached his kid as well. So honestly, it was pretty easy. And when I told all these guys what the vision was for Judge and what we wanted to do, and how great the kids were here, it made it pretty simple that they were all on board and ready to do this.
(Interviewer) What are you most looking forward to this season?
(Coach Jeff Brzoska) What am I looking forward to? I’m looking forward to building on what we did last year. I mean, what we did last year was pretty impressive from not having a team to having 33 kids out there that were completely committed to getting better. And, you know, only losing three seniors and having such a young squad had some great transfers come in from different schools. We have kids who are playing different sports that didn’t even think about lacrosse last year and now want to do it because they all heard how much fun we’re having out there and the chance we have to compete and go forward and possibly win a state championship.
(Interviewer) How do you go about attracting new kids to the program who have never played lacrosse before?
(Coach Jeff Brzoska) Okay, so the recruiting process last year, honestly, I did what a good coach should do: he put it on the players from the previous years. You know, I mean, I left a lot of it up to you guys. And I pushed the guys that were committed to the lacrosse program already to kind of go forward and bring in their friends, find athletes, and just tell them to give it a try. You know, that’s all I ever asked. All I’ve ever asked for as a lacrosse coach was for a kid to give it a try. If you didn’t like it, I’m not gonna force you to keep playing. But, you know, I always had a good feeling that the teams that I coach always had a great time. You know, they always found a bond that was not found in other sports in the lacrosse community. And yeah, kind of went from there. And that’s how we formed the team. We formed the team by you guys forming the team.
