Taylor Wray ready for ‘next step’ as Penn men’s lacrosse coach after parting ways with St. Joe’s

Taylor Wray is joining his third Philadelphia-area lacrosse program as he takes over as Penn men’s lacrosse coach after 14 seasons at the helm at St. Joseph’s.

“Philly is the best sports town in the world,” said Wray, a former defender for the Philadelphia Wings, a professional box lacrosse team. “If you can create a product that is exciting and represents the city and the toughness of the city and the grit of the city and the passion of the city, then people will support you.”

Wray was named Penn’s coach in on July 11. He said it was time for a change in his coaching career, and he wanted to experience coaching in the Ivy League, a top conference in college lacrosse, at a school known for pouring resources into its lacrosse programs.

“This just feels like the next step in the progression of my coaching career,“ Wray said. ”There’s a lot of tradition and history at Penn that I need to get to know, but the infrastructure there is definitely in place to build something that can contend at the national level.”

The coaching change came late. Penn began its search for a replacement after parting ways with Mike Murphy, who led the team for 16 seasons, in late June. USA Lacrosse Magazine called the timing of the decision “peculiar.”

“A change in leadership is needed to elevate the men’s lacrosse program to compete for Ivy and national championships,” Penn athletic director Alanna Wren wrote in a press release.

Scott Meehan, who has been involved with St. Joe’s program since 2019, will take over as head coach.

Last season, Penn compiled a 4-10 record (1-5 Ivy), the program’s worst since 2012, while St. Joe’s, which competes in the Atlantic 10, finished 9-6 (2-3 A-10).

Ultimately, the Quakers found what they were looking for in Wray, who leaves St. Joe’s as the winningest coach in program history.

Wray, an Edmonton, Alberta, native, played at Duke before joining the Professional Lacrosse League from 2004 to 2011. He was drafted by the Calgary Roughnecks and was the National Lacrosse League Rookie of the Year in 2004.

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His last five seasons in the league were with the Wings, and he began coaching as an assistant at St. Joe’s during that stint.

“I couldn’t say enough good things about my experience at St. Joe’s and how well positioned they are to continue to be successful in the sport of men’s lacrosse,” Wray said. “There were a lot of growing pains the first few years, but we started to kind of turn things around in the third year there and got things moving in the right direction.”

Wray acknowledged that Penn has had success before. The Quakers won the Ivy League and made NCAA quarterfinal appearances in 2019 and 2022, but he also knows what it takes to turn a program around.

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“The Ivy League is as tough a conference from top to bottom as any conference in Division I lacrosse,” Wray said. “It’s definitely going to be a challenge to compete with the other teams in the Ivy, but not much different than the Atlantic 10, which is a very challenging league from top to bottom as well. The level of play in the Ivy might be slightly higher, and we’ll need to make sure that we’re prepared to compete with those guys.”

Wray is excited to join a program with a long heritage. St. Joe’s lacrosse is heading into its 33rd year as a varsity sport, whereas Penn has 125 seasons under its belt.

“I learned a lot about recruiting [at St. Joe’s],” Wray said. “I learned a lot about how important it is to have the right people on board and to have the right culture established, and I think that those are going to be the biggest keys to bring to a more well-established program like Penn.”