Directors/Coaches Bios
Tad George
Tad George is the former head coach of Mariemont High School, where from 2002-2011 he lead the Warriors to 4 state final fours, 3 state finals appearances, and a state championship in 2007. Selected as the Ohio High School Coach of the Year in 2003, he amassed a record of 116-62 (.652) and had multiple players selected as All-Americans during his tenure at Mariemont. As a player, Coach George played 10 years of post-high school men’s club lacrosse for the Cincinnati men’s team. He was an integral part of the men’s post-collegiate squad that won the Midwest league title in 2004, notable for the fact it was the first time a non-Columbus or non-Chicago-area team has ever won the championship (before or since). Coach George was a stand-out player at Moeller High for Hall of Fame coach Tom Kennedy, playing in three state title games. Selected captain his senior year, he helped lead his team to a state title and a Midwest tournament championship in 1992. Since moving to Loveland, Coach George came to the program assisting at the youth level and now has been leading the middle school Tiger program since 2019.
Wally Petry
Loveland Middle School Boys Lacrosse is excited to announce Wally Petry (Nyak/Salisbury) will be joining the middle school boy’s lacrosse team as an assistant coach on Tad George’s staff for the spring 2020 season. Coach Petry brings a wealth of lacrosse knowledge to the program that includes high-level playing, coaching and officiating in both box and field lacrosse.
As an official, Wally has been a long-time leader in the Ohio/Midwest lacrosse community at multiple levels including youth, high school and college for both field and box lacrosse. A US Lacrosse/OHSAA-certified high school field lacrosse official for the last 17 years, and a NCAA college official since 2009, Petry served 3 yrs as the Head Official of the Southern Ohio Lacrosse Officials Association (SOLOA), and 4 yrs as Director of youth officials training for SOLOA. He is a US Lacrosse-certified Trainer/Observer and currently the US Lacrosse Director of Officials Development (Ohio). During his career as an official, Petry’s notables working a national championship game (MCLA - DI), multiple conference championship games (Ohio River Lacrosse Conference), and semi-final and early round playoff games (NAIA, NCAA DIII). Wally is also a certified Level I USBOXLA (youth box) referee and an IBLA (men’s senior box) official, and serves as Referee-in-Charge for Eastside Indoor Lacrosse League, Resolute Cincinnati box lacrosse league (USBOXLA), and the Cincinnati Outdoor Box Lacrosse League, the oldest and largest summer box league in the Midwest.
As a coach, Coach Petry spent time as head freshman coach at his alma mater Nyack (NY) High School where he lead the team to an undefeated 18-0 season.
Wally played his college ball at national power Salisbury College (NCAA DIII), and stayed active after college playing in men’s leagues for the New Orleans Lacrosse Club.
A veteran of the United States Air Force, Coach Petry recently retired after a long career as an air traffic controller.
Coach Petry lives in the Anderson area and in the off-season travels extensively to various parts of the United States to hike, run and bike.
Michael Cotsonas
Michael Cotsonas is the director of the Loveland (OH) youth & middle school boys lacrosse program, recognized in 2014 by Lacrosse Magazine as the “Gold Standard for Youth Lacrosse” in Southern Ohio. Coach Cotsonas launched the Loveland youth feeder program in 2005, a system based on small-school principals of “Teach Now, Win Later”, which helped drive player awards at the HS level to include All-Region/All-State/All-American, Regional Player of the Year, as well as multiple top 10 Div I Ohio HS lacrosse rankings for Loveland High. Since 2014, Loveland HS has been recognized with more All-American awards than any other public high school in Southern Ohio. In 2006, he founded the Cincinnati Outdoor Summer Box Lacrosse League, which now spans 20 teams, 225+ youth thru college/post-college players, and is the largest and oldest outdoor box lacrosse league in the Midwest. In 2008, Coach Cotsonas launched the FastStart Lacrosse program designed specifically for never played before players. In 2009, he founded the Southern Ohio Speaker Series, a program nationally recognized for bringing to Loveland high profile figures in the world of lacrosse to speak to players, parents and coaches, including Dom Starsia, John Danowski (Duke), Dave Pietramala (JHU), Joe Breschi (UNC), Lars Tiffany (Virginia), Brian Shanahan (NLL), and Chief Brad Powless (Onondaga Nation). He is an OHSAA-certified field lacrosse official, and a USBOXLA Level I & Level II box lacrosse referee. He is the founder/general manager of the Cincinnati Flying Pigs Men’s Senior-level Box Lacrosse team of the nationwide Interstate Box Lacrosse Association (IBLA). He has presented at Major League Lacrosse-sponsored coaching events in the Midwest. Coach Cotsonas played high school ball at national power Lafayette (NY) HS where he is co-founded the non-profit LaFayette HS Lacrosse Alumni Association, and played collegiately at Division III Oswego State (NY). Post-college, he stayed active playing in various national/international box and field leagues and tournaments in LaFayette, Syracuse, Minnesota, Cincinnati, Louisville, Indy, Columbus and the Onondaga Nation. Coach Cotsonas retired from competitive play in 2019 after 40 consecutive seasons, and resides in Loveland with his wife Kathryn and their 5 box & field lacrosse players.
