New Paltz, NY — After six years and five total seasons, with the last three as the head coach of the State University of New York New Paltz men's lacrosse program, Dylan Neisler has stepped down from the Hawks and accepted the head coach position at Division III Guilford College in Greensboro, NC.
 
Neisler, who was on the original staff as the lead assistant to inaugural coach Dwyane Stewart, leaves with an overall record of 19-28 and 8-13 in the SUNYAC including the program's first ever SUNYAC postseason berth in his first season at the helm in 2023.

"I had a moment the other day when I was talking to [Senior Associate Director] Brian Williams about this decision. It kind of dawned on me that outside [of] two years, I spent my entire adult career essentially here. It's definitely shaped and molded me and taught me a lot of lessons… I know it will be bittersweet leaving here, but I am forever grateful."
 
After playing four seasons under Stewart at Lincoln Memorial University, Neisler spent his first stint in the coaching ranks as a graduate assistant at Concordia Ann Arbor before Stewart brought the up-and-comer over to start a new men's lacrosse program for the Hawks. The two were at the helm for the first inaugural season in 2020, which was cut short due to COVID-19, along with a shortened 2021 season. Neisler then went on to become the offensive coordinator at the College of Wooster, before taking over as interim head coach in 2022, where he led the Fighting Scots to six wins including a 4-5 conference record in the highly competitive North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC).  
Following Stewart's departure in the fall of 2022, Neisler accepted the head coaching position with the Hawks just three months ahead of the 2023 season with the bulk of the players he helped recruit still on the roster. His first season saw a myriad of program firsts, including wins over several conference foes including SUNY Plattsburgh, SUNY Potsdam, Brockport and Oneonta. They established a program-high five-game winning streak midway through the year to gather momentum before ending the regular season with three-straight wins to get into the postseason, the latter two being win or go home scenarios.
 
First, SUNY New Paltz went on the road to win a 14-13 thriller over Oneonta to claim their second-straight win over the Red Dragons before playing in what essentially was a play-in game against the Golden Eagles. The Hawks went on the road in their regular season finale with the winner of the matchup securing the final spot in the SUNYAC Tournament. The magic continued, as Anthony Senecal's overtime crease roll went down in infamy as he secured his team the 8-7 victory — the first win over Brockport and the team's first ever playoff bid in just their second full season.
 
That season, Neisler guided his team to program bests in overall (8) and conference wins (4), while securing their first winning season in program history.
 
"When I came back originally it was unfinished business, finishing what Dwyane and I originally started," Neisler said. "Being able to make the conference tournament in year 1 with the guys that started the program and put their blood, sweat and tears into it was huge."
 
After most of the veteran class graduated, the last two years were a rebuild for the program, with Neisler bringing in a deep first-year class in his inaugural recruiting cycle. The result was a multitude of freshmen players inserted into the lineup who ended up as major contributors this past season, laying the foundation for the future of the program who will spend one last season in the SUNYAC before entering the New Jersey Athletic Conference ahead of the 2027 season.
 
"I very much knew we would have a re-building kind of second and third year as we became very young and those guys moved on. I think for us, [assistant coach Jeff Struzzieri] and I, we accomplished the goals we wanted to. We put the program on stable footing to move forward. There's never a good time to ever leave a place that you've spent the better part of six years over two stints at, but I do believe whoever takes this program next will have all the tools necessary to build upon and continue to grow it going into the NJAC."
 
Additionally, Neisler coached the only three players to ever be named to the All-SUNYAC list with Matt Brignati (2023), Ryan Steinhart (2023) and most recently Anthony Senecal (2025), each earning second team honors. Neisler also coached five different players who set single season program records in a multitude of categories including goals, assists, points, ground balls, caused turnovers, face-off wins and saves.
 
After guiding SUNY New Paltz this past season to a 6-11 overall mark and 3-4 in the SUNYAC — its second-best finish since its inception — Neisler moves on to Guilford, where the Quakers finished 5-13 overall and 3-7 in a tough Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC), as well as making a postseason appearance last season.
 

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