John Grant Jr. announced his retirement from the National Lacrosse League on Monday. This came nearly three months after Grant – the Major League Lacrosse record-holder for career goals (374) and points (541) – also retired from MLL.

Upon his retirement from the outdoor professional league, Grant rejoined one of his former teams, the Denver Outlaws, as an assistant coach.

Not all players that retire from the league get an opportunity to stay as involved as Grant is. They do, however, cherish their time spent playing, keep tabs on the league, and hope for its continued growth.

“I love the MLL,” said Trevor Tierney, a seven-year MLL veteran who retired after the 2007 season. “I hope it continues to do well. It’s great for the sport. We need a professional field league for kids to aspire to grow to and the premier level to be there. I’m grateful for the people helping it get there.”

Tierney, a goalie, was drafted No. 2 overall by the New Jersey Pride in the league’s inaugural season. He also played with the Boston Cannons, Baltimore Bayhawks, and Denver Outlaws. He was a four-time all-star and helped the Bayhawks win the MLL championship in 2005.

Not only was Tierney a pioneer playing in the league’s inaugural season, he also helped shaped its current stars. Tierney joined his dad – legendary collegiate coach Bill Tierney – at the University of Denver as an assistant coach prior to the start of the 2010 season. There, he coached current MLL stars such as Eric Law and Wes Berg.

“You see (players) grow-skill wise in the league,” he said. “I’m watching Wes Berg now, and he’s a monster out there. I don’t know how anybody stops him. Kyle Harrison, he’s still getting better, as good as he was five to ten years ago. It’s an opportunity for the sport to be played at a higher level.”

Like Tierney, former all-star defender Brett Hughes began his MLL career with the New Jersey Pride. His first season was 2005 and he later played with the Los Angeles Riptide, Denver Outlaws and Ohio Machine before retiring.

Hughes said a big reason for the league’s growth is the increase of players able to make a living in the sport of lacrosse through coaching, clinics, and sponsorships.

“My last year the demand on the players was more,” he said. “Part of it, I thought was good. You were more engaged to be on a team took a little more than just showing up on the weekend.”

“There’s so much more lacrosse going on every day,” he added. “I can imagine for the athlete who wants to make themselves a year-round lacrosse player, they can do it easier than when I came out.”

Instead of working on Wall Street, many current MLL players coach at the collegiate level, including Chesapeake Bayhawks attackman Matt Danowski, who is an assistant coach at Duke, and Rochester Rattlers goalie John Galloway, who is the head coach at Jacksonville. Not as many, however, have yet to break into the MLL coaching and front office ranks.

Two of the league’s nine head coaches played in the league (Rochester’s Tim Soudan and Chesapeake’s Brian Reese) and seven assistant coaches are former MLL players: Grant (Denver), Spencer Ford (Atlanta), Bill Warder (Rochester), Eric O’Brien (Ohio), Ryan Danehy and Brian Dougherty (New York) and Paul Cantabene (Chesapeake). Ford is also Atlanta’s general manager.

Tierney said that is a new frontier for the league.

“The challenging part is, I think, some of those guys have been presented opportunities through the MLL where it’s sustainable to make a living,” he said. “That’s the next big step for the MLL. How do these opportunities not only become full time positions for GMs and coaches, but also for players? The more time people can invest energy into players and teams, the higher quality that will be out there.”

While the product grows and the talent is at an all-time best, the league has also recently experienced growing pains. Attendance is down. Players have used social media to voice their displeasure about things such as the league’s statistics, inconsistent promotion of regular season games and the All-Star game, and a lack of a television presence.

Hughes and Tierney both admitted they are on the outside of the MLL world looking in, but they also had thoughts on where the league could grow and improve.

While a hot topic of discussion has been the realities of national television coverage against over-the-top streaming services such as Lax Sports Network, Hughes believes the focus should be on the game itself.

“I still think the live product needs to be worked on so it’s an event. You see things like the Big Three (three-on-three basketball league). People are getting pretty creative,” he said. “Put on a really entertaining thing so people come out. Hook them that way, and then they’ll find it on-line. Unless, it’s on ESPN, I don’t know how many people casually scroll through and watch a game anymore.”

Tierney’s focus on improvement was the on-field product.

“The thing that frustrates current players and holds back the level of play is practice time,” he said. “When you talk to guys, it’s the old thing where some teams don’t get together, or they roll the ball out, do some fast break drills, and call it a night. You see incredible team play by the end of (the season). The championships seem to be lower scoring games because the defenses are starting to click. You’re getting better chemistry. If you could get more practice time, more training camp time, where coaches could put in more strategy, you’ll get a better product.”

“I don’t like them starting so early,” he added. “They should keep it a summer season. The first four or five games are completely different teams than the end of the season. For the league to grow, I don’t think that’s a good model.”

While there are challenges to overcome, Hughes and Tierney both love the league and said these discussions will push the league to new heights. They went through numerous highs and lows during their MLL tenures and are proud of how far the league has come.

“I just remember people saying, ‘It’s not going to last. The league is not going to survive,’” Tierney said, “and I remember some of the things we had to put up with like playing on baseball fields, zero people being in the stands, and you see the league slowly growing and getting more professional and it being an exciting opportunity for the younger guys. You’re seeing the baton being moved down. There’s new legends, and kids have new heroes. It’s great to see.”

Hughes said today’s players are just as much part of the league’s advancement.

“We didn’t get compensated much and it was a little rag-tag and Slapshotty at times, and its better now,” he said. “You need the players now to understand, maybe we laid bricks and they’re paving. We’re still a little bit away from it. The way people consume sports is dramatically changing. There’s a lot of different ways.”

With the current players, Hughes believes Major League Lacrosse is in good hands as it continues to develop in the future.

“The players are the most important part of the league,” he said. “The more and more you have the Drew Sniders, they’re not just great for the team they’re in, they have a community behind them. People spending time in that community are important to the league.”

“The more the players can do, Adam Ghitelman’s involved in so many ways, the Scott Ratliffs,” he added, “that stuff is important. It tells more of a story and people will follow that.”