John O'Neill's Storied Past with Lacrosse

SEATTLE- John O’Neill, commonly known as ‘Johnny O’, has not only been a teacher in the classrooms of O’Dea for the past few years, but on the Lacrosse field as well, and can be credited for establishing one of Washington state's top high school lacrosse programs.

However, his story with Lacrosse does not begin at O’Dea.

It all began in a little town called Massapequa, New York.

“I started in seventh grade, back on Long Island in a town called Massapequa. There was an art teacher, who was kind of a freak, and he rounded up the usual suspects and put together a lacrosse team.”

His interest in Lacrosse would only grow from that point on.

“I played all throughout ninth and twelfth grade at Massapequa High School, and then I went on to play in college at Cornell.”

Cornell is a part of the Ivy League, which is not only highly regarded for its academic excellence, but it also happens to be the most competitive and well-regarded division in all of college lacrosse. Just this year, Cornell was ranked the number eight lacrosse program in the nation… just saying.

With college lacrosse being the pinnacle of the sport, after graduating from Cornell, coach O’Neill had no choice but to move on from playing the sport he had grown to love so much.

But when one door closes, another one opens.

“When I graduated from college in 1976, I wanted to be a college coach, so I wound up working at a couple different colleges. I coached at Dartmouth College for two years, and then from there I got offered to come back to Cornell, and I coached there for two years. And then, one of my assistant coaches got the head job at Yale, and he asked me to go with him, so I coached at Yale for two or three years.”

Despite coaching at the highest level of lacrosse, college lacrosse is not like American football where coaches are raking in substantial amounts of money

“I just couldn’t make any money, so I was forced off of the sidelines.”

Fast forward to 2016, Coach O’Neill’s path with lacrosse eventually led him to 802 Terry Avenue.

“I got hired as a lacrosse coach here probably six years ago.”

The lacrosse program has only been around since 2014, and was in need of someone with experience to build a solid foundation for the Fighting Irish lacrosse program.

Coach O’Neill’s knowledge for lacrosse was felt almost immediately, as the Fighting Irish have maintained winning records every year since the 2017 season, produced numerous division 1 talents to schools like Rutgers and Navy, and even won the state championship title in 2018.

“We have set a standard now at O’Dea, and our expectations are to win...”

And win they have. The O’Dea Fighting Irish continue to dominate the 3-A Metro-Mountain District, starting off the season 6-0 in all league play, and currently sit at first place ahead of Eastside Catholic and Bishop Blanchet.

The high standard, winning mentality that has been established on the lacrosse field at O’Dea has to be attributed to John O’Neil, and his storied past with lacrosse.