Providence unveiled its new coach this week with the hire of Maryland assistant Bobby Benson. It might as well have doubled as an announcement about the program’s intentions moving forward.
The Friars’ job opening was arguably the most intriguing of the six Division I vacancies to this point in the cycle. In another corner of Rhode Island, Bryant achieved impressive consistency under Mike Pressler. And Manhattan is coming off an NCAA tournament appearance under Drew Kelleher, who left Thursday for UMass Lowell.
Providence, though, has made a splash with its facilities upgrades in recent years, and its Big East membership (along with the likes of Denver, Georgetown and Villanova) means there is realistic access to an NCAA tournament at-large berth every season.
“We’re committed at the highest level,” said incoming athletic director Steve Napolillo, whose hire of Benson was his first. “I feel like this program is a sleeping giant.”
Thing is, there were hints in recent years the Friars were getting closer. Providence made NCAA tournament appearances in 2004, 2006 and 2007 when it won the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, but it faced a steep competition gap when the Big East initially sponsored the sport in 2010.
Chris Gabrielli, Benson’s predecessor, took over in 2013 and made considerable progress. The Friars won 10 games and reached the Big East final in 2017. Providence emerged as a nascent goalie factory. It was 5-1 in 2020 when the pandemic shut down the season.
That seemed to have hurt the Friars more than most. They went 10-17 over the last two years, including a 4-11 mark in the Big East.
Enter Benson, who applied for the job a decade ago and whose wife, Taylor, is a Providence graduate.
“This is a slam dunk for me professionally,” Benson said. “It was a no-brainer. This is a place with great potential. This is a place that fits me as a person, and this is a job I would love to have.”
Now he does, but not after a circuitous couple of years. Benson, whose playing career included a Memorial Day appearance with Johns Hopkins in 2003, was a fixture in the Baltimore area as a coach for nearly two decades. The longest stint was a 14-year run as the offensive coordinator at Hopkins and featured a national title in 2007.
When former Blue Jays coach Dave Pietramala was fired in the early days of the pandemic, Benson and his family moved to Atlanta, and his college coaching career went on hiatus. Less than a year later, though, Maryland offensive coordinator J.L. Reppert took over at Holy Cross a month before the 2021 season started. Within a week, Benson was an assistant at Maryland.
“It’s definitely been a wild ride, but all things happen for a reason,” Benson said. “I’ve just been super blessed to be part of the schools and lacrosse programs that I have so far.”