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News Release

Head Men's Lacrosse Coach Don Zimmerman Signs Six-Year Contract Extension Through the 2013-2014 Season

6/11/2008

Baltimore-- UMBC head men’s lacrosse coach Don Zimmerman has signed a six-year contract extension through the 2013-14 season, Director of Athletics Dr. Charles Brown announced today.

Zimmerman, 55, has piloted UMBC to three consecutive NCAA Division I tournament appearances, a feat accomplished for the first time in the school’s 27-year Division I lacrosse history. This past season, the Retrievers (12-4) set a new school record with 11 straight wins before a tough 10-9 loss at second-seeded Virginia in the first round of the championships. UMBC climbed to a school record ranking of No. 5 by the USILA in mid-April and was ranked No. 6 in the final poll.

For his efforts, Zimmerman was named Coach of the Year in the 2008 LaxPower men's lacrosse Fan Awards.

“My family and I are extremely happy that I will continue as head men’s lacrosse coach at UMBC,” Coach Zimmerman said.  “We appreciate all the support that Dr. Brown and [UMBC] President [Dr. Freeman] Hrabowski have shown over the past 15 years and especially over the past several weeks.

“We have all worked so hard to have achieved our recent success and I am confident we can continue that down the road. But even more important than those records are the great kids we have in this program.

“It was an honor to be considered for the head coaching position at North Carolina, but in the end, I’m a Retriever. It doesn’t get any better than this.”

UMBC Athletics recently completed a five million-dollar stadium locker room complex. Amongst its many amenities, it is the first building on campus to be completely outfitted with fiber-optic cable. In the spring of 2005, the stadium field was outfitted with Sportexe’s Momentum turf, the same product used at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Md. The addition of a pair of new grass practice fields on the site of the former UMBC Driving Range will begin in this fall.

Coach Zimmerman just completed his 15^th season at the helm of UMBC and his 22^nd campaign as a head coach. He is 186-110 (.628) and 113-94 (.546) at UMBC. His Johns Hopkins (1984-1990, seven) and UMBC teams (1998-99, 2006-08, five) have made 12 appearances in the NCAA Championships and he won titles with the Blue Jays in 1984, 1985 and 1987. In 2007, the Baltimore native presided over UMBC’s first team to advance in NCAA Tournament play as the Retrievers defeated Maryland to earn an appearance in the quarterfinals.

He came to UMBC in 1994, and in 1997 UMBC was the most improved team in the nation turning a 3-9 record the previous year into a 9-3 mark. In 1998, the Retrievers defeated top-ranked Maryland, 12-8, in the regular season finale and earned their first trip to the Division I tournament with a 9-5 record. UMBC earned back-to-back appearances in the 12-team NCAA field the following year, posting a school, Division-I record 11 victories (11-4).

The Retriever mentor was inducted into the Greater Baltimore chapter of the United States Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2003. The Retrievers joined the America East Conference in 2004 and have won league titles in two (2006, 2008) of the past three years and won or shared regular season championships in each of the past four seasons. He was named America East Coach of the Year in both 2006 and 2008.

“Don Zimmerman has created a wonderful men’s lacrosse program at UMBC,” Dr. Brown said. “I believe that with his new six-year contract, we will be able to achieve great results in the future. He is the consummate professional and a superb teacher of the game to our student-athletes. Coach Zimmerman does all that we can ask of him and we have the resources in place for a continued high level of success.”

Coach Zimmerman prepped at St. Paul’s School, where he was a member of three M.S.A.A. Conference championship teams. A 1976 graduate of Johns Hopkins, Zimmerman played under the late Henry Ciccarone, received Honorable Mention All-America recognition, and was awarded the Turnbull-Reynolds Award for Sportsmanship and Leadership in 1976. In his first season after graduation, Zimmerman was named coach of the Hopkins B squad. After spending a year as assistant coach at Princeton in 1978, he joined Willie Scroggs’ staff at North Carolina. The Tar Heels won a pair of national titles (1981, 1982) in Zimmerman’s four years in Chapel Hill. He then returned to his alma mater the following year, and when Coach Ciccarone retired after the 1983 season, Zimmerman became head coach.

He has coached 39 All-Americans in his 22 years, including four at UMBC this past season. The foursome of award winners (defender Bobby Atwell, goalkeeper Jeremy Blevins, midfielder Terry Kimener, attackman Ryan Smith) ties the 1981 and 1999 classes as the most in a single season in the school’s Division I (1981) history.

"Don Zimmerman is one of the nation's top collegiate lacrosse coaches,” Dr. Hrabowski said. “He is a gifted teacher and mentor, and we are delighted he will remain at UMBC, keeping our lacrosse program nationally competitive."

The Zimmerman File

Career Record: 186-110 (.628)

(22 Seasons)

at UMBC: 113-94 (.546)

(15 Seasons)

Zimmerman Year-By-Year

Year     Record             School              Postseason Accomplishments

1984    14-0                 JHU                 NCAA Champions

1985    13-1                 JHU                 NCAA Champions      

1986    10-2                 JHU                 NCAA Tournament appearance          

1987    10-3                 JHU                 NCAA Champions      

1988    9-2                   JHU                 NCAA Tournament appearance          

1989    11-2                 JHU                 NCAA Tournament appearance          

1990    6-5                   JHU                 NCAA Tournament appearance

1994    7-7                   UMBC

1995    4-9                   UMBC

1996    3-9                   UMBC

1997    9-3                   UMBC

1998    9-5                   UMBC             NCAA Tournament appearance

1999    11-4                 UMBC             NCAA Tournament appearance

2000    7-7                   UMBC

2001    5-7                   UMBC

2002    5-7                   UMBC

2003    7-6                   UMBC

2004    6-8                   UMBC

2005    7-8                   UMBC

2006    10-5                 UMBC             America East Champions/NCAA Tournament

2007    11-6                 UMBC             NCAA Tournament quarterfinals

2008    12-4                 UMBC             America East Champions/NCAA Tournament

Zimmerman’s Accolades

1976 - All-American, Johns Hopkins University

1981 - NCAA Champions, North Carolina, Assistant Coach

1982 - NCAA Champions, North Carolina, Assistant Coach

1984 - NCAA Champions, Johns Hopkins University, Head Coach

1985 - NCAA Champions, Johns Hopkins University, Head Coach

1986 - United States World Games, Assistant Coach

1987 - NCAA Champions, Johns Hopkins University, Head Coach

2002 - North-South All-Star Classic, Assistant Coach

2003 - Inducted into Greater Baltimore Chapter of United States

           Lacrosse Hall of Fame

2006-   Named America East Coach of the Year

2008-   Named America East Coach of the Year

12 NCAA Tournament appearances

39 All-Americans produced as a head coach