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When Cindy Timchal first called Gary Gait back in 1994, he had only watched a few minutes of women’s lacrosse.

While playing with the National Lacrosse League’s Philadelphia Wings, Gait worked for STX, a sports manufacturing company based in Baltimore, Maryland. There he met Erin Millon, a former UMD All-American.

Timchal, then Maryland’s women’s lacrosse head coach, had a spot open up on her staff. Millon was the first person Timchal approached, but she declined and suggested the head coach reach out to Gait. The then-28-year-old was already a lacrosse icon, leading Syracuse to three straight national championships just a few years before.

Coaching wasn’t on his radar. Especially in the women’s game. But after the birth of his first child, Taylor Gait, his mind began wandering.

“I thought, ‘You know what, why not?’ Maybe one day I’ll coach her,” Gait told The Daily Orange. “So I said, I’ll give it a shot.”

Gait’s instincts paid off. He became an integral part of Maryland’s dynasty, helping it win seven straight national championships from 1995 to 2001. But the titles don’t tell the whole story. Timchal didn’t limit Gait’s creativity, paving the way for him to usher in a new era of freedom-driven tactics. He taught his players to use their sticks in ways they hadn’t before. It sounds rudimentary, but Gait changed how the women’s game was played.

Gait — ever-so-laid-back — acted as a calming presence, a trait he still carries today. His time at Maryland laid the groundwork for his later ascension to his roles as Syracuse’s women’s and men’s head coaches. Now, he affords his assistants the same responsibilities he was given decades ago.

And when No. 2 Syracuse takes on No. 1 Maryland — a team the Orange haven’t defeated since 2009 — in the JMA Wireless Dome Friday, he’ll once again be put to the test.

Before joining UMD, Gait’s only coaching experience came as a 15-year-old, when he led 12-year-olds alongside his brother Paul. In their lone season at the helm, the pair helped their team to a British Columbia Provincial Final.

The task at Maryland was a little different. Timchal won the 1992 National Championship in her first season in charge, and she wanted to build something special. She described Gait’s hiring as a “leap of faith” and “belief without proof.”

“I wasn’t looking for anything really rigid or, ‘This is how the guys do it,’” Timchal said. “I felt that Gary was a type of person, player and then, obviously, a coach that would just look outside the box. Look for creative ways of scoring, or creative ways of looking at the game.”

Gait’s hiring was unorthodox. Few men coached in the women’s game, and lacrosse coaching staffs were minuscule. It was only Gait, Timchal and maybe the occasional graduate assistant. So, Timchal put plenty on Gait’s plate, including running the offense.

Gary Gait’s coaching career began as an assistant with Maryland’s women’s program, where he allowed players to express themselves on the field. Jacob Halsema | Staff Photographer

First, he had to learn the rules. When Gait arrived, women’s lacrosse didn’t have boundaries or restraining lines. Out-of-bounds calls were up to officials’ discretion, and all 12 players could travel wherever they wanted.

Tori Hanna, who played at UMD from 1997-2001, said Gait used to carry around a rulebook at practice, filled with sticky notes and highlighted paragraphs. Gait searched for any advantage, he joked, “much to the chagrin of officials at times.”

“I looked at the women’s game as just a different version (of men’s) with a different rule book,” Gait said. “As a player becoming a coach, I just analyzed the rule book, started teaching skills and tried to develop players that could do more offensively on the field.”

When Gait wasn’t hounding referees, he was implementing a free-flowing attack. That started with the basics. Missy Doherty (1993-97) sarcastically said half of Maryland’s practices were spent playing wall ball or passing with a partner. Drills like that emphasized efficiency in each movement, and Gait added another layer.

He implored players to go behind-the-back, throw sideways feeds and dodge with one hand. Gait was known for his innovation as a player, renowned for his famous “Air-Gait” goal and numerous highlight-reel plays.

The women’s game was very vanilla at the time, and Gait wanted to push the envelope. He demonstrated drills to his players with a women’s stick, which was still wooden when Gait began his tenure. He emphasized it should be an “extension of your body,” according to Jen Adams (1998-2001), who won the first-ever women’s Tewaaraton Award in 2001.

“The trademark of Gary as a coach is he really didn’t shackle us,” said Adams, now the head coach at Loyola (Maryland).

Some of Gait’s instructions seemed bizarre. Multiple players initially thought those fancy skills didn’t have much utility, but they practiced them so much that the moves became natural.

To instruct his players, Gait jumped into seven-on-seven games. Still at the peak of his powers, players were wowed by Gait’s abilities. If he told them to make a certain move, they “didn’t have an excuse,” said Karen MacCrate-Henning (1993-96), since he was doing it with a women’s stick.

Adams was a beneficiary, inventing the “Twizzler” — a move in which a player fires a low-angle back-hand shot while facing away from the goal — and making it one of her go-to tricks.

Shots like that were foreign in the 90s. They’re now commonplace in women’s lacrosse.

“My process was to demonstrate and show these players that they can do a lot more with their stick, their dodging and everything if they just work at it,” Gait said.

“He changed the landscape, the way that players played and the approach to the game itself,” Adams added. “This game is where it is today (because) of people like Gary Gait and the University of Maryland’s success.”

Gait didn’t want players to fear making mistakes, MacCrate-Henning said. He never lambasted any of his athletes and allowed them to go off-script. If MacCrate-Henning saw an opening during a crucial moment, she never worried about deviating from the designed play.

“He wanted us to think, and be present in the game and take advantage of the things that were available to us,” MacCrate-Henning said.

The confidence Gait instilled in people was the cornerstone for Maryland’s success. The Terrapins didn’t lose a game until Gait’s third season and finished 164-16 with him as an assistant, including four undefeated seasons.

But that near-unblemished record didn’t mean Maryland never ran into challenges.

The Terrapins had six one-score games in 2001 — Gait’s final campaign with UMD — en route to their perfect 23-0 record. One of them came in the regular season against Princeton. The Tigers shut down Adams, Hannah remembers, resulting in a 3-3 halftime tie.

The tension in the locker room was palpable. The wait for Gait and Timchal felt like an eternity, and Hannah thought they’d get chewed out. Instead, the coaching duo posed a simple question.

Do you guys really want this?

Maryland won the game 7-6.

“Demeanor-wise, (Gait) just didn’t make things a big deal in the moments (where) teammates start to feel that angst,” Doherty said. “He’d be like, ‘What’s the big deal?’”

Doherty felt that power came from his championship pedigree. Any time Adams peered toward the sideline during a pressure-filled situation, she was met with Gait’s classic grin. He knew what success looked like. It didn’t mean Gait was cocky, but the proof was in the pudding. He rarely lost during his playing career at Syracuse, and that didn’t change at Maryland.

Katie Crews | Digital Design Editor

Eventually, he’d have to come up with that formula at his alma mater. From 2008-21, Gait led SU’s women’s team to eight Final Fours and three national championship appearances, yet was never victorious.

In 2021, after legendary coach John Desko left Syracuse’s men’s program, Gait was hired to replace him. Now, he affords the responsibility once given to him as an assistant to defensive coordinator John Odierna and offensive coordinator Pat March. Odierna said Gait gives assistants a lot of room and freedom to lead their group.

It’s why the former Manhattan head coach left the Jaspers in 2023. He explained Syracuse was the only place he would’ve become an assistant because of the environment Gait created.

Gait focuses on connecting with individuals. Miscues are forgiven, as long as they come from a place of aggression. Odierna said SU’s defensive strategy is extremely player-driven — as is its offensive blueprint — and the scheme “isn’t the star of the show.” The variance comes in decision-making and teaching players how to make decisions, and live with them whether they’re good or bad, Odierna said.

“(Gait) gives you an opportunity to try things and fail, or try things and succeed,” Odierna added. “He gives you a lot of space to work, so you’re not micromanaged.”

That message rings truer with March. A holdover from Desko’s staff, March has had full offensive autonomy everywhere he’s coached, from Division III Dickinson College to Vermont and Princeton.

As Timchal once did with him, Gait realized he just needed to trust March’s coaching. It helped that March’s offensive philosophy aligns with Gait’s, allowing players to freely display their strengths. March grew up watching the brilliance of the Gait and Powell brothers, and as a coach, he wanted players to express themselves, as seen in SU’s hidden-ball tricks and Joey Spallina’s wild cross-field feeds.

“I’ve always leaned into the freedom, and it fits here at Syracuse because that’s how the game is played,” March said.

Lacrosse’s revolution in the men’s and women’s game can be attributed to Gait. He gave the sport new life by pulling off the impossible as a player at Syracuse. He furthered that by adding wrinkles coaching at Maryland, but Gait’s tenure in College Park ended on a sour note.

In 2001, UMD’s men’s coach Dick Edell retired, and Gait was considered for the job. The Terrapins ended up hiring Dave Cottle, much to the chagrin of Gait, who “had a different understanding of the way that was going to result.”

A decade later, Cottle flamed out and didn’t have his contract renewed. Having just finished his fifth season as SU’s women’s coach, Maryland alumni reached out to Gait and encouraged him to apply for the job again.

Gait declined.

Taylor was set to attend Syracuse, and Gait felt at home in central New York. Maryland hired John Tillman, who has won two national championships and is widely considered to be the sport’s best coach.

Gait’s still searching for his first-ever win over Tillman, having lost all five meetings. He’ll look for it, alongside those trusted assistants, on Friday.

Even though Maryland haunts him every step of the way, Gait has no qualms with his decision.

“I’m happy,” Gait said. “Life works out for a reason, and I’m right where I want to be.”

Published on February 12, 2026 at 2:07 am
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