Former Muhlenberg Assistant Leads New Program

LYNCHBURG, Va. --- The WildCat Athletic Department took the first step towards starting a men's lacrosse program today as it announced the hiring of Scott Ketcham, a former all-American at Hampden-Sydney College, as the team's inaugural head coach.

Ketcham has spent the last two years at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania where he has served as the assistant men's lacrosse coach. The Mules recently finished their best season in 34 years. Ketcham's responsibilities with Muhlenberg included player recruitment, game-day and practice coordination and strategy, as well as a multitude of other coaching duties.

The Garden City, New York native is anxious to start building the Randolph College men's lacrosse program. "The College will be starting the program in arguably the best conference in NCAA Division III lacrosse," Ketcham says. "This will create a fun and exciting experience for players and a great new tradition at Randolph College."

As a Hampden-Sydney Tiger, Ketcham was a two-time Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) all-conference member as well as a two-time United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association All-American goalie. He helped lead the Tigers to consecutive NCAA Division III quarterfinal appearances.

In addition to his coaching experience at Muhlenberg, Ketcham also spent two years as the assistant coach at Bishop Ireton High School in Alexandria, Virginia. After graduating from Hampden-Sydney, Ketcham worked in Washington, D.C. as a political fundraiser. He is currently pursuing a master's degree in secondary education.

The Randolph College men's lacrosse team will start intercollegiate competition in 2008-2009, competing at a sub-varsity level, before playing a full ODAC schedule in 2009-2010. Ketcham will spend the next year recruiting for the new program. "My short term goal is to bring in quality student-athletes and build a family atmosphere at Randolph College with the long term goal of being a competitive ODAC lacrosse program that competes in the conference playoffs," Ketcham says.

Athletics Director Valerie Cushman is looking forward to working with Ketcham as he builds the new WildCat lacrosse program. "Having competed in the ODAC as a student-athlete, Scott is familiar with the level of competition that he will be up against." says Cushman. "His recruiting and coaching philosophies also coincide with our College's mission, making him a great fit for this position," she adds.

Ketcham will begin working at the College early this summer.

This release is courtesy of the Randolph-Macon Woman's sports information department.