Following the 2008 lacrosse season, coach Joe Breschi arrived at his alma mater, North Carolina, after leaving Ohio State — where he spent 11 seasons building a team from scratch.
On Saturday, Breschi will return to Columbus for the first time as an opposing coach, when the No. 3 Tar Heels face the Buckeyes in their famous football stadium.
“We know this game will have a little bit more meaning for coach Breschi,” senior captain Billy Bitter said. “Just in a sense that he started his family out there and he started a great program there.”
Breschi downplayed the homecoming aspect of the game, noting that he has already been back to visit Columbus with his family.
“We spent a week seeing friends and family members and it was great to see everybody,” Breschi said. “So this is more of a business trip for me.”
Though he’s been gone for almost three years, Breschi’s imprint is still strong on the Buckeye team. He was responsible for recruiting the Buckeyes’ current junior and senior classes.
And the ties between the two teams don’t end there. The Tar Heels’ chief assistant coach, Pat Myers, is the brother of Ohio State head coach Nick Myers, who spent five years as one of Breschi’s assistants.
The Tar Heels have beaten Ohio State in each of Breschi’s two seasons as head coach — once at Chapel Hill and once at a neutral site in Baltimore — and he admitted the games have been tough on his emotions.
“(Nick and I are) both miserable after the game regardless of who wins,” Breschi said. “No one’s really happy after the game, regardless of the outcome.”