NASHUA – James Delanoy had one key question when interviewing a couple of years ago for the men’s lacrosse head coaching job at Rivier University.

“You have the turf, “ he said. “Do you plow it in the winter?”

When told absolutely, Delanoy was convinced he had all the resources he needed to take the young Rivier lacrosse program from relative infancy to a more competitive level.

Thus, in late January, you could see the lights on at the Raiders’ facility on top of the hill overlooking the Muldoon Fitness Center.

“We’ve never missed a practice due to snow,” he said. “We have team issued hoodies and sweatpants, and we go.”

And the Raiders have taken off, somewhat. Delanoy has recruited mainly close by, knowing there’s talent in the southern part of the state as well as just across the border in Tewksbury and Dracut, Mass. Just about everyone he’s brought on campus, parents and players alike, were stunned at the school’s resources, including the lacrosse facility.

“I think Rivier’s been too good of a secret,” Delanoy said. “We kept the secret too well.”

Not for long, as the current Raider players know the deal and will spread the word to anyone who wants to listen. They suffered a recent losing streak, sinking back to .500 after a 6-2 start, but they listened intently to Delanoy as he explained exactly what he felt their problems have been during a recent losing streak that ended last week with a resounding 14-5 win over city rival Daniel Webster.

They all understood though, that things could be worse – and they had been for Rivier University men’s lacrosse. Delanoy’s team just won four games last season but made the Great Northeast Athletic Conference tourney for the first time.

“It’s been great just to see how much it’s grown from where it was to where it is now,” Rivier senior Chris Benoit said. “There’s still always plenty of room to grow and we’re definitely working on it.

“Every game when we’ve stepped on the field, against every team we’ve played this year, we’ve had a chance. It makes it so much more fun just to play knowing when you walk on the field it’s not a definite loss. We have lacrosse players. We have kids who want to play lacrosse, want to work, they come to practice

The problem in the past was that the Raiders, in their infancy, had players who had never played the game. McCaffrey left after two tough seasons to pursue his administrative goals and took over the athletic director’s job at nearby Groton-Dunstable Regional High School.

Enter Delanoy, a former Pinkerton Academy standout/assistant coach who had taken time away from his job as an associate coach at Southern New Hampshire University. When he was ready to get back into coaching,the Rivier job was ripe for the taking. He grabbed it and went after players, bringing in 11 freshman in the past year, all who have played the game.

“He’s real active going out and recruiting,” Rivier sophomore defenseman Andy Wells, who transferred in from LaSell College, said.

“He came from a good program at Southern New Hampshire, and he knows how a top level D-II (Division II) school should be built. He’s taken that mentality and put it toward a (Division) III school. He’s building it from the bottom right up, the way it should be.”

Delanoy saw a great opportunity.

“The school definitely wanted to support something in a positive way,” Delanoy said. “They’ve got the turf here, they’ve got the lights here. They put all the pieces in place to have a program.”

When Delanoy arrived he had eight players on the roster with experience, as he knew McCaffrey didn’t have enough to work with. He recruited eight others out of the cafeteria – mainly athletes from other sports – and went to work.

He feels he has players who want to be held accountable, “and be a better lacrosse player at the end of a two-hour practice than two hours earlier when you showed up. That’s kind of the approach, a day at a time, an hour at a time.”

His freshman recruiting class yielded a starting goaltender, Clark Plummer of Londonderry, and several others. Plummer is already considred one of the top players in the GNAC.

Delanoy is old school and knows what it’s like to work in the trenches. After all, he was tough, scrappy lineman blocking for Pinkerton stars Ryan Mihalko (Notre Dame) and Joe Segreti (Holy Cross) back in one of that football program’s many glory day stretches in the mid 1980s. “I put both of those kids in college,” he said, laughing.

His philosophy is simple. “Work harder than the other guy,” he said. “We’re right there. We’re three goals away from hosting a GNAC playoff game instead of traveling (two goal loss to Emmanuel and one to Becker).

The foundation is here because the school is here. I set up overnight visits for recruits because kids don’t see what this school is. Once they do, 90 percent of the kids find a home.”

Thus, the future looks bright.

“From where we were three years ago,” Rivier junior attackman Danny Hooper, “we can only go up from here.”

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