Dan Witmer's Roadtrip Dad Blog
Soon after Dan finished his 28-year head coaching stint at Oswego State in 2010, he decided to chronicle his travels and thoughts as he followed his own sons’ college lacrosse experiences. For the first time, he now had time to attend both their home and away games and, ever since February of 2012, his “Road Trip Dad” articles have enabled him to share those adventures with us.
However, older son Brian graduated in May of 2013, and Eric graduated in 2014. Originally intended to describe his experiences as a dad-with-a-coach’s-perspective, Dan’s RTD pieces have continued since then to include his sons’ post-collegiate lacrosse experiences, his work coaching high school sports (including girls’ soccer, girls’ ice hockey, and boys’ lacrosse), his experiences working for 3dLacrosse, the Lake Placid Summit Classic and other tournaments sponsored by Summit Lacrosse Ventures, refereeing, and volunteering at FIL World Games in 2014, 2015, and 2018. Still following his sons as they travel the country and the word, his journeys have taken him to Colorado (three times), Nova Scotia (for two box games), Six Nations (for the 2017 President’s Cup), Montreal (2020), and Prague, Czech Republic for the 2019 Menschner Cup; here’s hoping the road trips return and never end!
During Dan's career as head coach at SUNY Oswego, the Lakers appeared in six ECAC tournaments (winning the championship in 1996 and finishing second in 1994 and 1997), won three Empire Lacrosse League titles (1994, 1995, 1996), and were ranked among the nation’s top 20 teams in both 1994 and 1996. Dan also sent seven players to the prestigious annual United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) North/South Game and worked with six USILA All-Americans, one USILA Scholar All-American, and 100 all-conference players. Dan was named Empire Lacrosse League Coach of the Year in 1990 and 1995, and SUNYAC Coach of the Year in 2009. He coached in the D-III USILA North/South Game in 2002, and in December of 2010 Dan received the Lifetime Service Award from the IMLCA (Intercollegiate Men’s Lacrosse Coaches Association).
Dan taught English at Hannibal High School for 33 years before retiring in June of 2015. He served as the Community Service Coordinator for the Oswego State Athletic Department from 2010-2020, and is currently in his 15th year as Volunteer Event Organizer for the annual St. Baldrick’s Day in Oswego fundraiser to benefit childhood cancer research.
About to celebrate his ninth anniversary writing weekly RTD blogs here at JustLacrosse.com, Dan has written more than 450 articles. He is the author of three books: .
The Best of Road Trip Dad – The Laker Lacrosse Collection,
… and piles to go before I sleep – The Book of Wit, and
The Best of RTD – A Lacrosse Coach’s Handbook. All three books are available at Amazon.com.
With this extensive resume, Dan is a well-known and well-liked fixture in the Upstate Lacrosse community. His nostalgic if not historical perspectives on people, rules changes, trends, and anything else related to the great game of lacrosse appear here every week, and we're lucky that he is willing to let us be the vehicle for sharing his thoughts on lacrosse with the Upstate lacrosse family.
At times, though, his opinions may not necessarily reflect those of JustLacrosse Upstate.
Got a comment? Idea for Dan to cover? E-mail him at
daniel.witmer@oswego.edu
