Andy Shay, who in 2012 finished his ninth season of his first collegiate head coaching job, has engineered a 31-13 mark over the last three seasons and has three consecutive 10-plus win seasons. He also directed the Bulldogs to three straight Ivy League Tournament appearances, a 2012 Ivy Tournament Title, a 2010 regular-season Ivy League Championship and Yale’s first NCAA appearance in 20 years. His position was endowed after the 2012 season and he is now the Ryan and Forst Family Head Coach.

The Bulldogs’ 2010 season marked the first post-season appearance since 1992 and the first Ivy championship since 1990. Shay’s squad was ranked as high as No. 9 at one point during that campaign.

Shay, whose defenses have been ranked in the nation’s top 10 the last three seasons including 2012, coached his eighth consecutive top 10 ranked face-off unit.

The 2005 Elis climbed as high as No. 14 in the national polls. His first two squads ranked second in the Ivy League in offense, while the 2005 unit was 14th nationally.

Shay (66-58 overall), named Yale head coach on June 25, 2003, helped guide the University of Massachusetts to the 2002 and 2003 NCAA quarterfinals as an assistant coach for four years under Greg Cannella. During his tenure, the Minutemen won two ECAC championships and three New England titles. UMass posted an impressive 37-9 overall record in his last three seasons.

Shay served as the recruiting and defensive coordinator for the Minutemen. In 2002 and 2003 his defensive unit allowed under 10 goals a game and ranked third in nation in scoring margin. The 2001 squad led Division I in man-down defense, allowing opponents only 11 goals in 80 chances (.138).

Prior to joining UMass’ staff, Shay was an assistant coach at Delaware, where in 1999 he helped the Blue Hens capture the America East title with a 14-3 record and advance to the NCAA Tournament for only the second time in school history.

In June of 1999, Shay was selected to join Delaware head coach Bob Shillinglaw on the coaching staff of Team USA for the inaugural World Cup of Lacrosse. Team USA defeated Team Canada in a best-of-three series at John Hopkins University in Baltimore.

Shay began his coaching career as the head coach at Morrisville (N.Y.) Junior College, and he compiled a 20-17 record in three years. His 1995 team established a school record with a 10-4 mark, qualified for the regional playoffs and was ranked No. 5 in the final national poll.

Shay is a 1994 graduate of LeMoyne College where he was a four-year starting defenseman and served as team captain for two years. He was an All-Empire League selection as a senior when he led the team to a league title. He and his wife, Sheila, their sons, Logan and Griffin, and daughter, Everly, live in Guilford.

Graham Niemi, promoted to offensive coordinator late in 2010, has been running the Yale offense for the last five seasons. He completed his ninth campaign with the Bulldogs in 2012.

His 2012 offense ranked 15th in country and third in the Ivy League with 11 goals per game. That helped the Bulldogs (11-5) win nine straight games, take the Ivy Tournament and earn the school's first NCAA berth in 20 years. Niemi, who also handles the face-off men, has had a Yalie among the top 15 in the nation for eight straight seasons. Four of them have been among the top five, including Dylan Levings (2012) and Cole Yeager (2011), and all but three were in the top 10.

Three of Niemi's Elis earned All-Ivy honors in 2012, one also an All-America pick.

The 2011 squad, which won 10 games for a second straight season, finished 13th in Division I scoring with 10.93 goals per game. His last two offensive units have helped the Blue reach consecutive Ivy League Tournaments.

Niemi, a four-year letterwinner for the Maryland Lacrosse team and a 1997 graduate, played on Terrapin squads that reached the NCAA playoffs every season. His 1995 team fell to Syracuse in the title contest.

Niemi, the 1996 William P. Cole Award winner as Maryland's best midfielder, was a two-year starter who became an undergraduate assistant coach for the 1997 Terrapin team that made it to the NCAA final.

He went on to coach the defense for a National Junior College championship team at Anne Arundel Community College and then serve as graduate assistant at Washington College (24-7, 2 NCAA tournaments). His 1998 team was recently inducted into the Anne Arundel CC Athletics Hall of Fame.

In 2001 he was an assistant for a Loyola (Md.) College squad that reached the NCAA quarterfinals before returning to his alma mater in 2002 as an assistant. Niemi, who has played or coached in nine different NCAA tournaments, was the defensive coordinator for Washington College and coached in the 2002 NCAA tournament.

Niemi's coaching experience has extended beyond the U.S. He served as head coach of the Finnish National Team for the 2008 European Championships.

He and his wife, the former Courtney Dickinson, reside in Milford.

Andrew Baxter, a collegiate men’s lacrosse coach for the last 12 years, is Yale’s new defensive coordinator. He joins the Bulldog staff after four seasons as defensive coordinator and the top assistant at Ohio State.

As a Buckeye, Baxter handled all aspects of recruiting while leading a defense that ranked fourth in 2012 and 10^th in 2011 for scoring defense among Division I schools. He coached All-America players each season at Columbus.

Baxter, both an offensive (2004-05) and defensive coordinator (2006-08) in five seasons at Drexel University, helped the Dragons rank seventh nationally in scoring defense in both 2007 and 2008. They also recorded the nation's fifth highest face-off win percentage in 2008 en route to winning the Colonial Athletic Association regular season championship.

Before heading to Philadelphia, Baxter spent two seasons (2002-03) on the sidelines at Colgate.

Baxter, who replaced Ryan Polley (new head coach at Boston University) on Yale’s staff, earned his bachelor's degree in movement and sport studies from Springfield College in 2001, where he played two seasons with Ohio State head coach Nick Myers and helped lead the team to two Division III NCAA Tournaments.

A native of Rochester, N.Y., Baxter graduated from Brighton High School. He and his wife, the former Marika Hartog, also a Springfield College graduate, have a daughter, Rae, born in 2010.