Longtime assistant Scott Meehan gets his chance to lead the helm of St. Joe’s men’s lacrosse
After spending seven seasons on staff, Meehan has seen the highs and lows of the program. As a head coach, he doesn’t plan to reinvent the wheel, instead add his own flair.
When former St. Joseph’s lacrosse coach Taylor Wray decided to become Penn’s next head coach this past summer, he brought three assistant coaches with him.
Longtime Hawks assistant Scott Meehan had the option to follow, but he decided to throw his name in the candidate pool as the next Hawks’ head coach.
However, a search wasn’t needed.
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“Jill Bodensteiner our [athletic director] basically called me up after she heard from Coach Ray that he was going to be taking the UPenn job,” Meehan said. “ I was very fortunate, because I was definitely preparing for an interview process. Other candidates are coming in and have to put my best foot forward in the interview process. But fortunately, [I] didn’t have to go through that.”
A few hours after Wray’s announced departure, Meehan was promoted to take the helm on Hawk Hill. He spent the next 30 minutes talking about the role with Charles Giunta, a former St. Joe’s player who Meehan brought on staff as an associate head coach.
Now, with the season opener set for Saturday at Syracuse (noon, ACC Network), Meehan is feeling more “comfortable” in his role and hopes to cultivate a winning culture.
“Our goals are generally pretty simple,” Meehan said. “We want to qualify for the Atlantic 10 tournament every year — that gives us a shot to win an A-10 championship. With an A-10 Championship, you get a berth to the NCAA tournament. … One wants to be able to play late into May. You want to have a chance at it all.”
Meehan played attack, at Washington and Lee University in Virginia. As a senior, he led the team in points (53), assists (23), and was second on the team in goals (30).
When his playing career ended, Meehan says he wanted to combine his love for the sport with teaching.
“I think education has always kind of been in my blood,” said Meehan, whose parents worked as teachers. “It just kind of felt right to get into coaching. The game of lacrosse, and team sports in general, has done a lot for me over my life span, and I learned a lot in the classroom with sports, and definitely wasn’t ready to be done with athletics.”
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He landed at Franklin and Marshall College for three years, overseeing the Diplomats’ offense and picking the brain of head coach Todd Cavallaro, who became a mentor.
Meehan moved on to three different stints before arriving on Hawk Hill in 2019 as an offensive coordinator.
During his first year, Meehan met Giunta, who was the team’s graduate assistant. The two lived together for a few months in Manayunk and became close friends.
Giunta left for Fairfield after the 2019 season. He spent six seasons there, until he got the call from Meehan about joining his staff.
“As soon as I got that phone call, it took me a couple of days to really think it over, but it was an easy decision to come back and to join him,” Giunta said. “He’s an awesome friend of mine. I think he’s a great coach.”
Meehan also added Jack Tortolani to his staff as an assistant. Tortolani played five years at Denver, where he made the Final Four in 2024. He was hired under Wray. However, Wray left before the hiring was official. Meehan wanted to keep Tortolani on the staff.
Meehan also brought on assistant coach Jared McMahon, who played at Mount St. Mary’s and spent last year on Michigan’s staff.
St. Joe’s is two years removed from an NCAA Tournament appearance, when it won the A-10 conference championship in 2024. The Hawks finished 9-6 and were eliminated in the first round of the conference tournament by High Point last season. Meehan hopes the Hawks will have an upward trajectory this season.
“He was here before, he’s not coming in and implementing entirely new systems,” said senior defenseman Liam Quinn, “and trying to reinvent the wheel and create a new team culture. I think Coach Meehan knows exactly what makes our program go and what separates us from other people.”