Hollins Announces New Lacrosse Coach

Polito Arrives at Hollins from Rollins College

ROANOKE, Va. --- Director of athletics, Aubrey Shinofield made the announcement on Monday that Randy Polito will be the new lacrosse coach at Hollins University.  The announcement was made after a nationwide search throughout the summer to find a replacement for Lizz Steinnmetz, who left the school after four seasons.  Polito will begin his duties at the University on August 8, 2010.

Polito comes to Hollins after a successful stint as an assistant coach at Rollins College in Winter Park, FL.  The University of Central Florida graduate helped to guide the Tars to a 9-5 record during the 2010 campaign.  In addition to coaching at Rollins, Polito served as the head coach at Lyman High School in Longwood, FL.  During his tenure at Lyman, the team saw a school record for wins as well as their first ever All-Conference player.  Prior to Lyman, Polito led Timber Creek High School to three consecutive district championships and four straight regional appearances.  Polito helped produce 10 Academic All-Americans and two US Lacrosse All-Americans during his four seasons with the Wolves.

The success that Randy’s teams have seen on the field has not gone unnoticed.  Following the 2008 season, he was named US Lacrosse Orlando Coach of the Year.  He has also been named a four time selector and two time coach of the WDNT National Tournament team.   This past January Polito was selected to present at the US Lacrosse National Convention.

Randy is excited about the opportunity and ready to get started. “I am very excited to take over the women’s lacrosse program at Hollins. I am thankful that the university has given me the opportunity to serve its student athletes and student body at large.  I am certain that we have the tools to build a program that will be competitive not only in our conference but on a national level as well. I am eager to get on campus to start working with this core group of young women that will serve as the corner stone of our future success."

After overseeing the filling of four positions within the athletic department in the past six months, Shinofield is extremely pleased with the hiring.   “We are very excited to be able to bring Randy to Hollins as the new head coach of our lacrosse team.  Randy has proven his ability time and again to take teams to the next level and he is eager to do the same at Hollins.  His energy, determination and competitive spirit were clear during the interview process and he generated excitement with student-athletes, coaches and the campus community.  We are looking forward to welcoming Randy as part of our team.

This release is courtesy of the Hollins University sports information deparment.