Zack Greer, the NCAA's all-time leading goal scorer, has decided to use his NCAA-granted fifth year of eligibility with former Duke head coach Mike Pressler at Bryant, sources told Inside Lacrosse's Quint Kessenich Monday.
Pressler was forced to resign from his Duke position in 2006 in light of rape allegations that later proved false. He became coach at Division-II Bryant in August 2006, and he will lead the Bulldogs as they transition to Division I next season, even though the team will not yet be eligible to participate in the postseason. Adding Greer, Duke's best attackman and leading scorer, will undoubtedly mark a step in the right direction for Pressler's program.
Greer graduated from Duke in the spring, but, unlike other members of his senior class with the option of a fifth year, had not announced his intentions for 2009. He could have used his fifth year at Duke, as the NCAA's all-time leading scorer Matt Danowski did last year. Instead, he will be a graduate student at Bryant in Smithfield, R.I., markedly closer to his home in Canada. Greer needs just 68 points to eclipse Danowski as the NCAA's all-time leading scorer. He amassed 95 points in 2007.
Of course, there are still swirling questions about Greer's decision to attend a school with no lacrosse history just to play for his old coach. If anything, it is perhaps the greatest athletics-related development in the lacrosse case in a long time. It will likely catapult the story back in the spotlight and place Greer and Pressler under a magnifying glass, at least for Bryant's first game next year.
We'll have more reaction, analysis and try to get quotes from Greer as this story develops.
What do you think about Greer's decision to use his fifth year with Pressler at Bryant?
--by Ben Cohen
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