By Randolph Campbell

Andrew Stanley’s passion for Collegiate athletics and helping student-athletes achieve their goals has been a value of his since he arrived here in 1996, long before becoming Collegiate’s new Athletic Director this school year. Ever since Stanley first arrived at Collegiate as a Lower School assistant, his love for coaching and his drive to help athletes become the best version of themselves has not changed. 

Between 1996 to 2013, played many different roles at Collegiate, including teaching 3rd Grade in the Lower School, math in the Middle School, working in admissions, and he was an assistant athletic director for nine years. Stanley had also been the head coach of varsity boys lacrosse since 2005, while also coaching 8th grade Cub football. He continues to also serve as an Upper School advisor.

Giving up his role as a coach to become Athletic Director was challenging for Stanley, but necessary, as he believes that “it is difficult to successfully be an athletic director while also coaching a varsity sport.” Stanley said he wants to be fully committed to the athletics program as a whole and feels as if it would be tough splitting time between being a program leader and also Athletic Director.

Despite Stanley stepping down from his role as a coach, he leaves behind a legacy of 17 years as Collegiate’s lacrosse coach. During his time as head lacrosse coach, he helped the program win two state championships and four prep-league titles, while also helping numerous players reach their goal of playing college lacrosse at both the Division I and Division III level. Stanley’s mindset and drive to continue to improve Collegiate’s athletics program is a key asset for our community. More importantly, however, the values he has instilled in athletes as a coach are what has made him such a respected leader around our community.

Stanley’s love for the game has spread outside the community. Stanley has helped direct Geronimo, a program that provides the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of lacrosse to boys and girls from grades 1-6. In addition to Geronimo, Stanley has and still helps coach club lacrosse in the fall and summer for Fusion, a local organization that provides teams for several age groups.

For me, some of my earliest lacrosse memories came from early Saturday mornings out at Robins Campus, competing against kids from schools around the area. During Stanley’s time as head lacrosse coach, he always valued his own players making a sacrifice and coming out to help coach Geronimo because “that’s what the kids will remember.”

Stanley on the lacrosse field. Photo credit: Maggie Bowman.

In an interview, Stanley stated that “he knew that our program is in a great position now with head varsity boys lacrosse coach Zack Schroeder,” a former standout and coach at the US Naval Academy and a coach at University of Maryland. Stanley said, “if it was a hard decision for me, then it would be more about me and not about the kids.” 

As Stanley’s time as head lacrosse coach has now come to an end, he still lives everyday and comes to work with a simple but powerful approach: “fight and smile.” During the 2017 lacrosse season, Upper School counselor and assistant coach at the time Alex Peavey was diagnosed with cancer. Stanley said of Peavey’s impact on the team at the time, “While his impact as a coach was significant for so many of the students, parents and coaches, the impact he had on their lives was immeasurable.”

On April 17, 2017, Stanley’s team beat St. Stephen’s and St Agnes School in a tight game and later received a text from Peavey after the game stating, “When you fight with a smile because you love what you are doing and good things will happen.” As Stanley enters his new chapter as Athletic Director, he hopes to live through Peavey’s message because he believes that it is “the most important lesson that we can teach kids, and the most important lesson we can learn ourselves. Fight for every inch. Do it for the right reasons, with a smile on your face, and know that good things will happen.”

Stanley plans to keep teaching the values of of former athletic directors Karen Doxey and Charlie McFall, while also pushing our athletes and coaches to a higher level, knowing that we must keep taking steps in a positive direction. Stanley wants to keep pushing our athletes to pursue loftier goals because “that’ll translate to how they’ll pursue goals academically and in life.” 

When asking Stanley what he is most excited about in his new role, Stanley said he is “excited about the opportunity to work with our athletes, coaches, and families to build on our great traditions as we forge a path together into the future.”

Featured photo credit: Collegiate School.