Dan Witmer Assistant Coach / Community Service Coordinator
Dan Witmer returns to the Lakers’ coaching staff after working with the Oswego High School boys’ lacrosse program for the past 12 years. His responsibilities include the Lakers’ defense and man-down unit, alumni relations, and community service.
In the past 12 years, Witmer has also become a certified lacrosse official; started writing his weekly Road Trip Dad blogs, newsletters, and books; volunteered at the FIL/World Lacrosse championships in Denver, Syracuse, Netanya (Israel), and Limerick (Ireland); and, as general manager of the Oswego LC River Hawks, helped bring an NABLL box lacrosse team to Oswego this past summer.
From 1982 – 2010, Witmer served as Oswego State’s part-time head men’s lacrosse coach. Highlights include three league championships, an ECAC championship, and USILA Coaches Poll Top 20 status in both 1994 and 1996; he also received conference Coach of the Year honors three times. In 2002, he co-coached the North team to victory at iconic Homewood Field at Johns Hopkins, and in 2010, he received the USILA’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
Witmer is in his 13th year as community service coordinator for the Oswego State athletic department. Primary responsibilities include tracking the 24 Laker teams’ various projects and events as well as helping them plan activities supporting organizations like the Special Olympics, the United Way of Oswego County, and the St. Baldrick’s Foundation.
Under Witmer’s guidance, the Oswego State athletic department has received numerous state and national awards for its commitment to community service. Since 2010, Laker teams have received the NADIIIAA/Josten’s Award for Community Service, sponsored by the National Association of Division III Athletic Administrators (NADIIIAA), with eight first-place trophies, two runner-up commendations, and three Honorable Mention awards.
Witmer is a two-time graduate of Oswego State, with a BA in secondary education (1982) and an MS in curriculum and instruction (1987). He lives in Minetto with his wife, Sue, who works in SUNY Oswego’s Advisement Center. They have two grown sons – Brian, who lives in Prague with his wife Jane; and Eric, who lives in Denver, C
