Pair of Sachem Alums Coaching at Lafayette

Inside the men’s lacrosse coaches’ office at Lafayette College in Easton, PA are two men sharing a similar background, whose bond sits 130 miles away in Lake Ronkonkoma, N.Y.

Terry Mangan and Jason Fautas graduated from Sachem High School almost 20 years apart, but today they coach lacrosse for the Leopards.

For Mangan, a 1984 grad, he had as a gym teacher at Sagamore Junior High School – it was a junior high then, not a middle school – and recalls his patient nature, and ability to allow the young athletes to grow. His varsity coach was Blayney MacAneney, whose coaching career ended at Sachem in 1984.

Mangan reconnected with Mercurio, who took over the varsity in 1985, in the spring of 1989 when he coached at Sachem for a season at Seneca Junior High.

It was being around coaches like , , and , who he played soccer for, who sparked Mangan into wanting to be a career coach.

“I wanted to do what these guys do,” he recalled.

In 1983, he was a member of the Sachem team that lost to Ward Melville in the Suffolk County championship. But his most memorable Sachem moment came in 1993, a decade later, when the Arrows won their first state title in boy's lacrosse since 1979. He was at the game and along with the rest of Black & Gold Nation took a collective breath when Sachem finally beat Ward Melville for the big prize. Many of the players he coached at Seneca during his one-year stint in the district were on the team.

At Roanoke College, a small liberal arts school not unlike Lafayette, about 550 miles from his surroundings at Sachem, Mangan played college lacrosse for John Pirro, who hails from Huntington. As a goalie, he earned four varsity letters and led his team to the NCAA Tournament all four years.

After his year at Sachem, he settled at Archbishop Spalding High School in Maryland for two seasons and won Anne Arundel Sun Boys Lacrosse Coach of the Year honors.

He spent time as an assistant at Washington College, Hobart, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Massachusetts before landing the head gig at Lafayette in 2002.

With the Leopards he earned Patriot League Coach of the Year honors in 2010 after his team made it to the league tournament for the first time in school history. He also led Lafayette to its first wins over nationally-ranked opponents (Navy and Bucknell) and first victory in school history over Navy.

“It is rewarding to work with young people and to help them set and achieve goals and be a steady influence in their lives for a few years,” he said.

For Fautas, a 2003 graduate of Sachem, he played four years as a goalie at Hartwick and captained the team his final two seasons before taking an assistant coaching role with the club from 2007-2009.

He’s responsible for bringing Sachem athletes like Harry Hughes and Phil Schaefer to Hartwick and the Hawks have reaped the benefits of their offensive prowess this season. Both combined for 64 goals and 89 points through this week.

He applied for the Lafayette job and it was difficult to leave a place where his heart will always be, but jumping on the coaching carousel is almost a necessary move if you want to become a head coach one day, which he said he does. For now, he’s happy being a sponge, learning everything he can from Mangan.

“He’s a great teacher of the game,” said Fautas, who coaches the defense and goalies. “He is really able to connect to the guys. Win, lose or draw he’s able to motivate and keep these guys going.” 

This season the Leopards are 0-5 in conference play and 2-10 overall, so now more than ever they need strong leaders. Both Mangan and Fautas agree they’ve learned how to cope with adversity when they were young athletes at Sachem.

“The record doesn’t show it, but the guys are working hard,” said Fautas. “You have to keep to the grind, get better each game, learn from the pat games and put together a full 60-minutes.”

Fautas credits Fusaro, Mercurio and , now the head football coach at Sachem High School East who was a defensive coach for Sachem football when Fautas played, as the guiding mentors during his adolescence.

“Everything relates to what I learned at Sachem,” he said. “One thing I did take from Sachem is teaching life lessons through athletics. My coaching philosophy and style was generated through what I learned there.”