ASU men’s lacrosse club coach Justin Straker gives final instructions to his players before they take the field. (Photo courtesy of Jodi Vosika)
PHOENIX – Coaching a collegiate athletic team is never easy, but for Justin Straker, the challenge is even greater. Even without the availability of scholarships, Straker has built the Arizona State men’s lacrosse club into a rising force by focusing on skill development and preparing his 45 players for life beyond the sport.
At ASU, only the women’s lacrosse team is a Division I squad due to the school’s necessity to comply with Title IX requirements. Although the Sun Devils men’s lacrosse team — founded in 1985 — has a history of success with four Southwestern Lacrosse (SLC) conference titles and three national runner-up finishes (2010, 2011, 2014), under Straker’s leadership the program is entering a new era of competitiveness.
Straker, who grew up in the Phoenix area as the oldest of Edward and Juliet Straker’s two sons, spent his freshman year at the University of Oregon before transferring to ASU for the next three years (2011-2014). He played a key role as a player in the team’s regional and national success alongside Nick Hillier and Ian Connell — both of whom now support him in his coaching role.
“I was very fortunate to play with a lot of good players and for a good coaching staff,” Straker said of his collegiate playing career at ASU. “We were in the Final Four each year and ultimately in my senior year, we lost in the national championship by a goal. We had a perfect season until the final game’s loss, so it still eats at me a little bit and serves as a motivator to keep trying to build that success for the teams and guys I am coaching now.”
The next year, he stuck around to help out as a graduate assistant. Then he headed to the University of Tennessee to earn a master’s degree in sports management while working with the school’s athletic department. Returning to the Valley in 2020, Straker served as Hillier’s assistant coach at Boulder Creek High School in Anthem, including the team that captured the state title in 2021.
In the spring of 2021, Straker jumped at the chance to take the reins at his alma mater, knowing that the situation he was entering would take a while to rectify. Emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic posed a unique challenge for the rookie head coach as the team had more or less shut down during the pandemic.
At the beginning of his tenure, Straker held open tryouts, putting everyone from first-year players to senior leaders on the same level to assess the program and assemble the best team possible.
“We tried to, I guess, figure out who was on campus,” Straker said. “We collected a group of about 25 freshmen on top of the older guys on the team and, you know, it allowed us to kind of build the structure of both our culture and our group from the ground up.”
In addition to being a natural leader and a kind-hearted person, it is clear that Straker lives and breathes lacrosse. His vast knowledge and passion for the sport provided him the foundation from which his coaching skills have grown over the past few years.
“What makes him a great coach is that he is passionate, competitive and caring,” said Hillier, who manages the team’s travel and other behind-the-scenes tasks.
ASU men’s club lacrosse players and coaches celebrate with smiles after a 12-11 win over Virginia Tech in the first round of the 2024 MCLA National Championship. (Photo courtesy of Jodi Vosika)
In fact, Straker’s job extends far beyond on-the-field coaching. He also spends a lot of time recruiting players, convincing them to play at ASU and supporting them during their time as a Sun Devil. Straker has firmly established himself in the lacrosse coaching community, using his friendships with other coaches to plan his team’s annual schedule.
As Straker has gained experience as a coach, so too has his core group of players, propelling ASU men’s lacrosse forward after some challenging seasons.
“That freshman group are all now seniors, so it’s been really fun to watch them develop,” Straker said. “And, you know, we’ve had some success here over a year and it’s just brought on new, different types of challenges. But we’re a top 10 team right now and it’s truly just a testament to the group and how committed they’ve been to being better.”
Two of those seniors, twin brothers Matt and Kyle Decker, have been with Straker since the beginning. Their journeys have gone from that initial tryout to their current status as co-captains of the much-improved team, which takes a four-game winning streak and a 7-4 record into Saturday’s away game at USC.
Both brothers have greatly appreciated all that their coach has and continues to do for them and their teammates.
“He has us running, which most people hate, but I love as it just keeps me in shape and makes me better at the game,” Kyle said.
While Kyle touched on how his lacrosse development has benefited from Straker’s guidance, his brother spotlighted what makes their coach unique from the one they had growing up.
“He not only cares about us as players on the field, but he wants to help us off the field,” Matt Decker said. “So he makes an effort to care for all the players’ well-being. Everyone knows that if you’re having an off day and you need someone to reach out to, he’s always there, he’s one phone call away all the time, and he makes sure that we’re very aware of that.”
Connell, ASU’s defensive coordinator, highlighted Straker’s significant influence on the young players, noting how he works diligently to build relationships and networks with them. For instance, he recently helped Kyle Decker secure a job. Connell also praised Straker for holding his fellow coaches to the same standards as the players.
“I think we got a great staff here,” Connell said. “I think Staker’s put together a good group of guys who are most importantly highly motivated. Anyone who’s gonna play for or work under Straker is gonna be someone who has to be highly motivated, because he is incredibly highly motivated.”
If Straker can lead this competitive, driven, passionate lacrosse team to its first MCLA National Championship in early May, it would be a storybook ending, one that began more than a decade ago when he held the stick for the Sun Devils as a player.