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When former Syracuse goalie Alyssa Costantino reflects on her career with the Orange, she remembers a wooden stump. SU carved through its opponents seamlessly amid its glory days in the early 2010s.

But after falling by two goals in the 2012 national championship game to Northwestern, then-assistant coach Regy Thorpe brought in a wooden stump for the 2013 season. The team placed a nail slightly into the stump before each game. It hit the nail fully into the log in the postgame locker room to signify its work was complete.

“(Thorpe) is a blue-collar guy. Us being from upstate New York, he made us a blue-collar team,” Costantino said.

Syracuse hired Thorpe, 53, on June 6 as its fourth head coach in program history, taking over for Kayla Treanor following her departure to Penn State. While Thorpe spent the past few years helping Florida to back-to-back Final Four appearances, he first started with SU as a defender in its men’s program in the early 1990s.

He served as the Robin to head coach Gary Gait’s Batman for a decade with the women’s squad and will now run the show in college for the first time in his career. The Daily Orange spoke with SU alumnae, including Thorpe’s daughter Ella Riorden, who played under the newly-minted head coach to detail what’s in store for Syracuse’s future.

“It just doesn’t feel real that this is now a program that he’ll be leading,” Riorden, who played under her father at Syracuse from 2012-16, said. “A program that he’s cared about for so long, he finally has that head coaching position.”

When Treanor suddenly accepted the head coaching position with the Nittany Lions 10 days after SU’s loss to Yale in the NCAA Tournament, Costantino immediately thought of Thorpe as a potential replacement. So did Sam Swart, who was recruited by Thorpe. Multiple alumnae acknowledged former teammates Michelle Tumolo and Katie Rowan Thomson as options, too.

Riorden said their family didn’t think the Syracuse job would open anytime soon. Thorpe and his wife continued to build their life in Florida as he ran the Gators’ defense for four seasons. The family still kept its home in Elbridge, New York, and considered it their “true” home. Thorpe only lived in Florida during fall ball and the regular season.

When the head coach position opened, it became a no-brainer for Thorpe to apply. Riorden saw confidence in her father. Thorpe knew in his heart if there was ever a time to acquire his “dream job,” it would be now. Thorpe was a finalist for the job alongside Stony Brook head coach Joe Spallina, according to a report from Syracuse.com. But around 8 p.m. on June 5, Thorpe called his daughter to tell her he received an offer from SU to become its next head coach.

“It was very surreal. It honestly still a little bit feels like a dream,” Riorden said. “I know that sounds very cliche and corny, but I’ve had so many alumni, friends, people within the Syracuse community reach out.”

With Thorpe’s return, Riorden said many of her former teammates have declared the “dads are back.” Gait leads the men’s program, and he and Thorpe coached their daughters in the 2015 and 2016 seasons.

Costantino was one of many players who went to Thorpe’s house for Easter, as it fell in the middle of the season. Swart said years later the Thorpes invited players on Thanksgiving if they couldn’t travel back home. She still jokes with her father about how he’s her “third dad,” behind Gait and Thorpe.

The head coach remains close with his athletes far past their playing careers. Julie Cross, the younger sister of fellow alums Amy and Kelly, said he was invited to all three of their weddings.

Gait, the four-time All-American attack, was the offensive coach. He wore a suit and tie to each game and drew up intricate plays to ignite SU’s attack. Thorpe balanced him perfectly, consistently sporting a Syracuse quarter zip and hat. He conducted the Orange’s defense while building tenacity among the group with his memorable traditions — like his wooden stump — and firey pregame speeches.

Tenacious. Moxie. Junkyard dogs. It didn’t matter who the opponent was. Nor the time of year.

Thorpe came prepared each game with a calculated speech based on a few words to motivate the team. They set the theme for the day, often based on a broader view of family, tradition and life rather than lacrosse. Though they induced varying expressions, many had the same undertones.

“You could be having the worst day of your life on game day and he would come in with those pregame speeches, and it always got you fired up,” Cross said.

Regy Thorpe discusses the gameplan to Florida’s players while he coached for the Gators the last four years. Thorpe helped Florida to back-to-back Final Fours, which he hopes to do with Syracuse as its new head coach. Courtesy of Florida Athletics

Ahead of Syracuse’s 2012 national title game, Thorpe’s pregame speech made Costantino cry. She doesn’t even recall the words from the speech. It was his delivery that stuck with her.

Years later, Thorpe’s players think back to those speeches. Former defender Natalie Glanell said she wishes there were media teams like the modern day back then, so she could watch the speeches back. Another defender, Kasey (Mock) Eckroth, often tried to channel her “inner Regy” when coaching club lacrosse post-college. Swart uses the lessons now in the corporate world, “fighting to live another day” as Thorpe often told her. Even at Riorden’s wedding last October, he turned the welcome speech into a pregame speech, making many of her former teammates in the audience laugh.

As the fatherly figure of the team, he was a reliable voice for players to speak to in times of need. Swart remembers when she visited the school during her recruitment, Thorpe brought her into the classes she’d be taking, using his experience at the school to add comfort.

“He’s the type of person I can call at 4 a.m. and he’ll be there and pick you up no matter how far he has to drive,” Swart said.

The coach who multiple players described as cool and collected, yet passionate and animated, has improved his prowess away from central New York. Riorden said her father’s become more well-versed in using technology and analytics, particularly analyzing how fast teams move the ball. In recruiting, Thorpe was challenged to recruit from the hotbed of the Northeast to Florida. While it may seem easy to recruit players to the Sunshine State, convincing families to allow their child to move many miles away poses new tests.

Now back in Syracuse, Thorpe is in the heart of the lacrosse world and can reteach the traditions he did a decade ago. He’s the third consecutive head coach of SU’s women’s program to be an alum of the university. The strategy has become consistent among the Orange’s top programs — with Adrian Autry helming the men’s basketball team, Felisha Legette-Jack on the women’s side and Gary Gait with the men’s lacrosse squad.

Glanell, a former teammate of Treanor, said she was originally bummed to hear her move to Happy Valley because of the alumni connection. Thorpe’s hiring encouraged her to look into returning for alumni weekend, something she hasn’t done in a few years, and she promptly texted a group chat of former teammates to spread the idea. Eckroth believes alumni will “come out of the woodworks” for Thorpe.

“He’s perfect for this role, and he’s definitely been the heart of this team for years,” Glanell said. “He knows the program. He is culture. Being coached by him didn’t just make me a better defender, it made me a better human being.”

While Thorpe has produced many memorable sayings and words of encouragement over the years, Eckroth nailed down one as most prominent.

Family first. School second. Then lacrosse.

A new generation of Orange can now learn under Thorpe, keeping family and school before lacrosse, yet chasing the program’s first national championship.

Published on June 13, 2025 at 8:55 am
Contact Aiden at: amstepan@syr.edu | @AidenStepansky