The father of Central Virginia lacrosse

The old coaches will tell you after they retire that it wasn’t all about the wins and losses, but rather how they influenced others and what impact they had on their sport.

That being the case, there’s a spot waiting at the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in Portsmouth for Doug Tarring. The long-time St. Anne’s-Belfield boys lacrosse coach hung up his whistle this week after more than three decades of directing the Saints to 407 wins and seven state titles.

Numbers are nice and something one can thump their chest about, but Tarring’s legacy is defined by much more than records.

Mentor to many

“You see 31 years of men who sort of consider Doug their dad,” said Myron Ripley, who both played for, coaching against and coached for Tarring. “I was lucky in that I had great parents, but a lot of guys who came through the program over the years didn’t.

“Many of those kids lived a vacant family life and Doug was their family,” Ripley said. “So many of those guys, when they get married or have children, one of the first people they call is Doug Tarring.”

Certainly, Tarring breathes rarified air in Central Virginia high school athletics, right up there with icons such as Lane’s Tommy Theodose and Madison’s Eddie Dean. Such men achieved so much more than simply coach youngsters, they molded them and touched their communities in so many ways.

Former University of Virginia lacrosse coaches Bob Sandell and Gene Corrigan, who grew into iconic figures in the sport via myriad avenues, believe Tarring had a major impact on the growth of lacrosse in this region, if not the entire state.

Spreading the gospel

“Doug played on that 1972 Virginia national championship team, and from then on, lacrosse in Charlottesville really got started,” Sandell said. “Kids who had never even played the game came out for the first summer league in town. There were only four teams, but they were excited about UVa winning the title.”

One of those kids, a few years later, started playing lacrosse at age 9 in Tarring’s summer league.

“That program birthed local lacrosse,” said Todd Hawkins, who later played for Albemarle High, went on to officiate high school lacrosse, and still plays in a local senior league. “Doug and all his [UVa] teammates got it all started here and most every local high school player in the 80s got their start and learned the fundamentals from Doug, either in summer league or in camp.

“Doug Tarring was the Dean Smith of local lacrosse. Doug Tarring is STAB lacrosse.”

Corrigan and Sandell spoke of how there was little lacrosse played in the state in 1972 — just a handful of private schools, including

St. Anne’s. With Tarring leading the way, the sport grew in Central Virginia and is now played in most corners of the state, especially Northern Virginia, where it has exploded.

“Doug is a wonderful guy, a positive person who loves the game,” Corrigan said.

“Lacrosse is his whole life, really,” Sandell said. “He’s dedicated to the sport and has had a great influence on the sport in this area and across the state.”

The influence is evident in all lacrosse circles. Just ask long-time assistant coach Dave Riddick, who like Ripley, coached against Tarring at one time. Hey, if you can’t beat ’em ...

Riddick, who coached at Western Albemarle, likes to remind Tarring that seven of Tarring’s 407 wins came against Riddick that before he joined the staff in 1987. Of course, Tarring also reminds him of that fact from the other side of the fence.

“You know, what’s amazing is that for a guy [Tarring] who doesn’t have any children of his own, he’s raised a thousand kids,” Riddick said. “In coaching meetings, when there’s a kid struggling, Doug always knew exactly what was going on in that kid’s life. You’d scratch your head trying to figure out how he knew, but he knew what was troubling the kid, the home situation, the academic side of it. That enabled us to reach out to the kid as soon as possible.”

St. Anne’s lacrosse has been the leader in the state seemingly forever, and Riddick, who always insisted he would step down whenever Tarring did, knows how the program is viewed around the Commonwealth.

“In a humble way, players and coaches on other teams, when their schedules come out, they look to see when the St. Anne’s game is on their schedule,” Riddick said. “It was an important game for them. When was the STAB game, when was Coach Tarring coming to town? Plenty of coaches over the years measured themselves in how they did against Doug Tarring.”

Because of those facts, St. Anne’s coaches were always cautioning their players about wearing a bullseye on their jerseys.

Riddick said the kids who attended STAB from kindergarten onward always understood that, guys like Matt Yancey, who went from ball boy to team captain. However, the kids who enter in their later years don’t quite realize what’s about to happen until it’s right in their faces.

“This year we had some new kids transfer in, wonderful kids,” Riddick recounted. “I watched them at our Norfolk Academy game — Tarring versus [Tommy] Duquette — and I had to chuckle.

“About the middle of the second quarter, those kids started to realize, uh oh, we’re in the middle of something a little different than what we’re used to being in,” Riddick laughed. “This game’s a bit more intense, a little more special because these two [coaches] facing off go back to high school players in Baltimore, and were then teammates at Virginia.”

Tarring, who succeeded Duquette at St. Anne’s, said while he may be the leader in the clubhouse in terms of career wins (407) that Duquette, inducted into the state Hall of Fame last month, will probably pass him.

But don’t get Tarring wrong. He is sensitive to his players, but when it comes to competition, Ripley said the Saints’ coach could be as intense and tenacious as anyone.

Riddick calls his boss a brilliant tactician in the game. Tarring would call Riddick up at 11 p.m. the night before a game with an idea of how to shut down an opposing player the next day.

The assistant wouldn’t think the gimmick would work, but it did. It always did.

“When I first joined the staff after coaching against him, I was amazed at what a tremendous sideline coach he was,” Riddick said. “I was in awe of watching him do his thing.”

Ripley also identified with that notion.

“Doug’s IQ for lacrosse is phenomenal,” Ripley said. “He just sees things so long before they develop. It’s uncanny.”

Ripley said that those who may not understand lacrosse can get a feel for what Tarring’s coaching ability is like by comparing his style to former UVa basketball coach Terry Holland. Players admired both, wanted to be around both.

“Doug always developed a mindset that we were the best team in the state, that we weren’t going to cut corners, we were going to respect the officials and respect our opponents,” Ripley said. “He inspired generations of lacrosse players, but more so kids. It was great to see his career have such a storybook ending.”

That ending included back-to-back state championships, adding to St. Anne’s sizeable collection of trophies.

It will be odd next season, not seeing Tarring on the sidelines of a St. Anne’s lacrosse game for the first time in 31 years.

There’s a safe bet, though, that the old coach will be around, probably standing in a familiar corner of the field, rooting for his boys. That’s what old coaches do.