Florida Lacrosse News on Substack 05/13/2025 - College Edition
Welcome to today's post!
In this issue . . .
Keiser Men with the 3-peat
Tampa Men move on to the Final Four
Tampa Women and FSC to meet in the quarterfinal
Gators one win away from the Final Four
FIU’s (and Florida) lacrosse pioneer Paul Hartman passes away
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#TAFTAG
#LayOffTheRefs
#FloridaRising
#LacrosseFanandDamnProudOfIt
#StopYellingWard
#AcknowledgeFloridaLacrosse
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Dr. Paul Hartman RIP
(photo from the Lincoln County News in Maine)
Thank you to Dermot Whelehan for sending me this, and the photos below:
Dr Paul Hartman passed away last December in Maine. Dr Hartman was FIU’s first athletic director and because of his deep love of lacrosse established FIU’s men’s lacrosse club back in the early 70’s (of which I was a member). In addition to his responsibilities as FIU’s athletic director, he established a youth/high school lacrosse league which was the precursor to the high school club program which eventually led to its inclusion as a FHSAA varsity sport.
In my opinion, and the opinion of many others, he was the “founding father” of lacrosse - at all levels - in the state of Florida. Among his many accolades Dr Hartman was a member of the U.S. Lacrosse Hall of Fame. Additionally, Ohio State (where he coached) named its lacrosse scoreboard after him as well an annual award for one of its players.
(photo via elevenwarriors.com website)
Most importantly he was a mentor, a great leader and one of the finest men I’ve ever known. I believe there are many past and present Florida lacrosse players who’ve received college scholarships that can trace that opportunity to Dr Hartman. Dr Hartman is survived by his wife, sons and grandchildren.
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Paul’s obituary in the Lincoln County News contains more lacrosse information:
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Smartening the Audience
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I will be using a different approach to Smartening the Audience in the off-season.
We’ll be going with dedicated articles for extended looks at offense and defense, plus other topics, so you can receive a more intelligent way to learn about the game.
It was kind of a haphazard jumping around before.
I’ll be thinking through that approach with conversations with coaches and put it into action.
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