CHARLOTTESVILLE -- When Division I jobs come open, Krissy Lasagna frets. She understands Marc Van Arsdale's value to her husband's lacrosse program at the University of Virginia. She also relishes the friendship that's developed between two families over the ages.
"I don't think that this could be working out any better than it has," U.Va. coach Dom Starsia said. "My wife is always deathly afraid when she hears about these other jobs opening up."
Good news for the Cavaliers: Van Arsdale, the team's associate head coach and offensive coordinator, isn't looking to leave. And that's one reason U.Va. isn't likely to fall from the ranks of the sport's elite anytime soon.
Van Arsdale, 45, has been a head coach -- he went 27-39 in five seasons at the University of Pennsylvania -- and realizes that not all situations are equally conducive to success. Moreover, he and his wife, Karen, love Charlottesville, as do their two children. Their son, Owen, is a star attackman at nearby St. Anne's-Belfield School and has committed to play for his father and Starsia. He plans to enroll at U.Va. in 2010.
"With them in 11th and ninth grade, it would take something really, really special to pop up, I think, to even consider it at this stage," said Van Arsdale, who interviewed at Duke in 2006 after Mike Pressler was forced to resign as coach.
Few teams have been as potent offensively as Virginia this decade, and that's Van Arsdale's area of expertise. He was an All-American attackman at Hobart, after all. Starsia was an All-American defenseman at Brown.
"I think they work very well together," said Ben Rubeor, a former U.Va. great who's now a graduate assistant at his alma mater. "Dom is very good at managing a group of people, and Marc is very good with the X's and O's, the technicalities of the game."
This is Van Arsdale's second stint at Virginia. The first began in 1991, when he arrived at U.Va. to work for Jim Adams. That arrangement didn't last long. Adams retired after the 1992 season, leaving Van Arsdale in what he terms "a precarious position" when Starsia was hired as head coach.
"I knew who Dom was, and I think he probably knew who I was, but we'd never really had a conversation," Van Arsdale recalled. "I'd just bought a house that spring, and Karen was pregnant with Owen. I'm thinking, 'I may be looking for a job here,' but fortunately things worked out.' It was a pretty good working relationship almost from the start."
After the 1996 season, Van Arsdale left for Penn. Five years later, an opportunity arose for him to return to U.Va. His job was safe at Penn, but the family lived about 50 minutes from campus. His commute in Charlottesville is non-existent, and he's able to spend much more time with his wife and children.
"I think he made a quality-of-life decision as much as anything else," Starsia said, "and we're glad he did."
Van Arsdale, a New Jersey native, has been part of 10 national-championship teams: four as a Hobart player, four as a Hobart assistant and two as a U.Va. assistant. He's seeking his 11th ring this weekend in Foxborough, Mass., where top-seeded Virginia (15-2) meets No. 5 seed Cornell (12-3) in an NCAA semifinal tomorrow.
Starsia's absolute confidence in his No. 2 man is reflected in the autonomy Van Arsdale receives.
"When you find somebody that's so completely trustworthy, I have no troubles handing things over," Starsia said. "People have asked me what we're doing on extra-man [offense] sometimes, or this or that, and to be honest with you, I don't always know. I just don't worry about it.
"I have suggestions at the offensive end, and Marc takes them all in and uses the ones that make sense for us."
Contact Jeff White at (804) 649-6838 or jwhite@timesdispatch.com.
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