Joe Amplo is in his 13th season as a collegiate head coach and his sixth year as the head coach at Navy after being introduced as the program’s ninth head coach on June 5, 2019.
An assistant coach for Team USA who won gold at the 2018 and 2023 World Championships, Amplo has established himself as one of the sport’s premier head coaches after building the Marquette program from the ground up. He led the Golden Eagles to consecutive BIG EAST Tournament titles and NCAA Tournament appearances in 2016 and ‘17, while also guiding MU to at least the BIG EAST semifinals in five of its six seasons competing as a member of the conference.
Taking the Reins at Navy
In his five seasons at the helm of the Navy program, 12 players have garnered All-Patriot League honors, accounting for 18 citations. Among them, Jackson Bonitz became only the second Navy player (Brady Dove 2014-15-16-17) to garner All-Patriot League recognition all four years. Additionally, he is one of only eight Navy players to earn first-team recognition three times. Under his guidance two Mids have earned Patriot League major awards with Spencer Rees named the Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Year in 2021, his first year as the Mids’ starting netminder. Meanwhile, Navy heads into the 2025 campaign with the reigning Patriot League Rookie of the Year. Faceoff specialist Zach Hayashi, Navy’s only player to earn rookie of the year honors, set numerous records for the Midshipmen in his freshman season, including the most wins in a single season. Navy has also been recognized nationally, as five players have earned USILA All-America honors under Amplo’s watch. Bonitz graduated as a three-time All-American, just one of 35 players in school history to achieve that feat and the first since Chris Fennell who did it in 2015, ‘16 and ‘17.
2020
Amplo was well on his way to creating a culture for which the program would thrive upon when the nation was dealt with an unfortunate set of circumstances. The 2020 season, Amplo’s first in Annapolis, would be shortened in mid-March due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. Never to be materialized were long-time rivalry games against Maryland, Johns Hopkins and Army, nor would potential Patriot League or NCAA Tournament appearances. Instead, Navy would finish 2020 with a 3-2 record that included a 1-1 mark in Patriot League action.
Navy ushered in the Joe Amplo era on Feb. 7 with a 9-4 victory over Manhattan at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. It followed with a 19-3 thrashing of Furman in which Navy scored 19-consecutive goals and held the Paladins scoreless for the first 51 minutes of the contest. It marked the Mids’ largest margin of victory since 2004 (Holy Cross, 23-5), saw 58 players earn playing time and 18 players provided either a goal or an assist in the win.
The Mids’ first road trip of the year not only resulted in their first loss of the season (12-9 vs. #18 Richmond), it would cost the team the opportunity to play Maryland in the coming days. Upon arrival back to Annapolis, roughly 30 players, coaches and staff contracted the symptoms consistent with the Norovirus and the game against the Terps was postponed. Back on its feet 11 days later, Navy opened the Patriot League season at #19 Lehigh with a 14-6 loss, but answered the challenge of its head coach a week later (March 7) when it posted a 16-14 victory over Colgate at home in what would be the team’s final game of 2020.
Despite a shortened season, there were a number of positives to build upon including being ranked among the nation’s top 20 in eight statistical categories. Navy’s extra-man (#3) and man-down (#11) units were ranked among the nation’s top 11. Navy was one of four teams nationally to be ranked among the top 11 in BOTH categories, joining Providence, Marist and Georgetown. The extra-man unit was 10 for 15 (66.7) on the year and 7 for 7 over its final two games (4-4 vs. Lehigh, 3 for 3 vs. Colgate). It was the first time Navy had scored double-digit extra-man goals since 2016 (12 for 33) and the first time since 2011 that it finished inside the top 20. Navy had never finished among the top five in the category until 2020. Meanwhile, the man-down unit squelched 11 of its opponent’s 14 opportunities for a 78.6 mark. It was the best average by the Mids since 2002 when they owned an 80.0 mark, allowing just 11 goals on 55 opportunities.
2021
Still coping with the ramifications of the pandemic in 2021, Amplo led the Mids to a 6-3 record that featured a 4-2 mark in league play. Navy opened the season with back-to-back wins over Mount St. Mary’s and Jacksonville before the Academy endured a 21-day Restriction of Movement (ROM) due to an uptick in COVID-19 cases with the Brigade. Twenty-eight days after defeating Jacksonville 13-6, Navy returned to action on March 28, defeating Bucknell 13-10 in the Mids’ Patriot League opener. The Mids went on to capture the program’s first win on Loyola soil on April 17 and followed up with a dominating 9-4 victory over 10th-ranked Army a week later. At 4-2, the Mids qualified for the Patriot League Tournament for the first time since 2018, but would be tripped up by NCAA Tournament-bound Loyola in what would be the third meeting between the two programs in a month’s span.
Co-captain Nick Franchuk (Sr/D), Spencer Rees (Sr/GK) and Patrick Skalniak (So/M) garnered First-Team All-Patriot League honors, while co-captain Christian Daniel (Sr/A), Jackson Bonitz (Fr/D) and Tim Griffin (Sr/SSDM) were named to the second team. Additionally, Spencer Rees became the fourth different Navy player and first since 2016 to be named the Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Year. Rees went on to earn Honorable Mention All-America honors, while Daniel was named an Academic All-American for a second-consecutive year. Daniel, who graduated with distinction was ranked among the top 14 percent in academic order of merit in his class (1,107 students). He stood No. 1 among the Class of 2021 in military order of merit, while finishing in the top 3 percent in overall order or merit. On the field, he closed out his career ranked 20th on the Mids’ all-time scoring leader board with 122 points after becoming just the 36th player in school history to reach the 100-point milestone.
As a team, Navy finished among the top 20 in eight NCAA statistics including saves per game (#8), extra-man offense (#10) and clearing percentage (#10). Meanwhile, Rees stood among the nation’s top five in both save percentage (#3, 58.9) and saves per game (#5, 14.00), while closing out the year 16th in goals-against average (9.88).
2022
In 2022, Amplo guided the Mids to a 9-6 record that included a 5-3 Patriot League mark in what would be his first uninterrupted season in Annapolis. Among Navy’s wins were a pair of thrilling one-goal victories on the road over longtime rivals Johns Hopkins (11-10) and Army (12-11 OT). For the first time since 1974, Navy defeated both Johns Hopkins (13-12, Annapolis) and Army (12-9) in the same season. It was also the first time since 1965 that Navy has beaten both teams on their respective home fields (Johns Hopkins 15-6 / Army 18-7). Amplo also became the first Navy coach to defeat Johns Hopkins on its home field since the legendary Willis Bilderback guided the Mids to a 9-6 win over the Blue Jays at Homewood Field in 1969. Meanwhile, Navy co-captain Jack Sweeney cashed in on his only appearance of the game, as the extra-man sniper scored the game-winning goal 58 seconds into overtime to lead the Mids to a 12-11 victory over Army at Michie Stadium.
Patrick Skalniak (Jr/M) and Jackson Bonitz (So/D) earned First-Team All-Patriot League honors, while both received All-America recognition from the USILA, Inside Lacrosse and USA Lacrosse Magazine. Skalniak was named an Honorable Mention All-American by the USILA and is the first Navy offensive midfielder to garner All-America recognition since Greyson Torain in 2017. It is believed Patrick Skalniak and Philip Skalniak (‘83) are Navy lacrosse’s first father-son combination to earn All-America accolades. Philip Skalniak was a third-team midfielder in 1983. Meanwhile, Bonitz became Navy’s first close defenseman to receive All-America honors since Chris Fennell was named to the third team in 2017.
Navy had five players score 30 or more points (48 by Skalniak, 38 by Dane Swanson, 38 by Nick Cole, 34 by Henry Tolker, 32 by Hewitt) for the first time in program history. Skalniak, Swanson and Hewitt became the first trio of midfielders in program history to reach the 30-point milestone this season. Only two previous occasions (Ryan Wade and Greyson Torain in 2018 and ’19) has Navy had two midfielders score 30 points in the same season. Meanwhile, Skalniak’s team-high 48 points (28G, 20A) tied as the third most in school history by a midfielder and the most since Ryan Wade scored 48 points in 2019.
Attackman Henry Tolker finished the season ranked among the top 10 in points (38), goals (23) and assists (11) by a Navy freshman.
Tolker was the first Navy freshman to record five hat tricks in a season since 1987 when Mike Herger, Navy’s third all-time leading scorer and record holder for points and goals by a freshman, pitched seven hat tricks. Tolker also became the first Navy freshman to record hat tricks in three-consecutive games (Hofstra, Manhattan, High Point) since 2003 when All-American Ian Dingman did it.
2023
The Mids fought through an injury-riddled to finish the 2023 campaign with an 8-8 record, including a 5-3 mark in conference play. Navy used 10 different starting lineups over the course of its 16 contests.
Jackson Bonitz (Jr/D) garnered Honorable Mention All-America honors by the USILA, Inside Lacrosse and USA Lacrosse Magazine, while Max Hewitt (Jr/M) also earned Honorable Mention All-America recognition from the USILA and USA Lacrosse Magazine. Meanwhile Bonitz and Hewitt earned First-Team All-Patriot League honors, while Jackson Peters (Jr/DM) and Pat Ryan (Sr/GK) were named to the second team. Bonitz is the 14th player in program history to earn all-league honors at least three times and the first since Greyson Torain in 2017, ’18 and ‘19.
Hewitt became only the eighth different midfielder in program history to score 30 points multiple times in a career (36 points in 2023, 32 points in 2022).
Anthony Ghobriel (So/FO) shattered the school record for single-season faceoff wins. He won 185 of the 306 draws (.605) he took, breaking the previous record of 173 wins (173-256, .676) set by Chris Pieczonka in 2004.
Ryan finished 11th nationally in goals-against average (10.29) and 13th in save percentage (.537), while Ghobriel was 12th in faceoff winning percentage (.605). It’s the first time a Navy goalkeeper has finished among the top 15 multiple times in their career in GAA average since Matt Russell did it three times from 2004-06. Ghobriel is the first Navy player to finish inside the top 15 nationally in faceoff winning percentage since Brady Dove closed out 2017 ranked third.
2024
Anchored by a veteran senior squash, the 2024 campaign proved to be one of Navy’s best under Amplo. Navy put together a 9-7 record that featured a 5-3 mark in the Patriot League and included a No. 3 seed in the Patriot League Tournament. After opening the year 3-3, Navy went on to win four of its next five contests, including a spectacular 10-9 overtime victory at #8 Johns Hopkins. Joe Amplo became one of just four coaches (Dinty Moore, Willis Bilderback, George Finlayson) in Navy history to defeat the Blue Jays multiple times regardless of the venue. He is one of only three Navy coaches (Dinty Moore, Willis Bilderback) to defeat Johns Hopkins at Homewood Field.
Navy went on to win its regular-season finale against Bucknell in overtime 13-12. The Mids played host to sixth-seeded Loyola in the quarterfinals of the Patriot League Tournament, avenging their regular-season loss to the Greyhounds by winning 12-10. It marked Navy’s first Patriot League Tournament victory since 2010.
Jackson Bonitz (Sr/D) and Jackson Peters (Sr/DM) garnered First-Team All-Patriot League honors, while Max Hewitt (Sr/M), Zach Hayashi (Fr/FO), AJ Marsh (Fr/D) and Dan Daly (So/GK) were named to the second team. Bonitz is only the second Navy player (Brady Dove, 2014-17) and 15th among any school to earn All-Patriot League honors four times. He is also one of just eight players in program history to earn first-team honors three times. Hayashi and Marsh are just the fourth and fifth freshmen in program history to garner All-Patriot League accolades, joining Basil Daratsos (2007), Brady Dove (2014) and Jackson Bonitz (2021). Additionally, Hayashi was named the Patriot League Rookie of the Year. He is the third Navy player to earn the award, joining Billy Looney (2004) and Tucker Hull (2011) and is just the fourth faceoff specialist in Patriot League history (1991) to earn the award, joining Colgate’s Peter Strid (1993), Lehigh’s Craig Brown (1995) and Colgate’s Parker Gibson (1998).
Bonitz and Peters both garnered All-America recognition from the USILA, Inside Lacrosse and USA Lacrosse. Bonitz is only the 35th player in the program’s 117-year history to garner USILA All-America honors three times and the first since Chris Fennell, who earned the honor in 2015, ‘16 and ‘17.
Bonitz was awarded the NAAA Sword for Men, which is presented to that man of the graduating class who is considered by the Association’s Athletic Council to have personally excelled in men’s athletics during his years of varsity competition. He was also voted by the team captains from Navy’s other 35 sports to serve as the Captain of the Captains for the 2023-24 academic year.
Bonitz closed out his career ranked #2 on Navy’s all-time caused turnovers leader board with 79, just five behind record holder Matt Rees (84 / 2014-17). Bonitz is one of only three players in school history to reach 70-career caused turnovers. Bonitz joins Matt Rees as the only two players in school history to rank among the program’s single-season top-20 caused turnovers list three times. Bonitz tied for third (29, 2024), ninth (22, 2023) and 12th (18, 2022).
Hewitt and Henry Tolker (Jr/A) became just the 37th and 38th players, respectively, to reach the 100-point milestone in program history. Hewitt, only the 11th midfielder in program history to achieve the feat, scored his 100th point on April 26 against Bucknell which was also Senior Night, while Tolker scored his 100th in the Mids’ final game of the season, May 3 vs. Lehigh in the Patriot League Semifinals.
Hayashi shattered Navy’s single-season faceoff wins record and became the first Navy player to reach 200 wins. He won 214 of the 372 draws (.575) he took, breaking the previous record of 185 wins (185-306, .605) set by Anthony Ghobriel in 2023. Both Hayashi and Ghobriel saw action in 16 games in their respective record-setting years. Hayashi also broke the school record for single-season ground balls with 105. He joins Brady Dove (100, 2017) as the only two players to record 100 ground balls in a single season.
Daly closed out the year with 191 saves, the sixth most in program history and the most since 1999 when Mickey Jarboe had 215 saves.
Marquette: Built From the Ground Up
Fifteen Golden Eagles accounted for 30 All-BIG EAST citations under his leadership, while seven players earned USILA All-America recognition. Among those honorees was Liam Byrnes who was a three-time All-BIG EAST defenseman and was named the 2016 BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year and a Second-Team All-American. Additionally, Noah Richard, a unanimous two-time All-BIG EAST long-stick midfielder, was named the 2019 BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year and an Honorable Mention All-American after helping Marquette to a No. 5 ranking in man-down defense in 2019.
Four of his Marquette players were named USILA Scholar All-Americans, while better than 120 of his student-athletes garnered BIG EAST All-Academic honors for their classroom success which requires a minimum grade-point average of 3.00 for the preceding academic year. In 2016, B.J. Grill, a three-time All-BIG EAST defenseman, was named to the 2016 Senior CLASS Award First Team, an award that highlights achievement in community, classroom, character and competition.
Eight of his former Golden Eagles players are currently playing professionally in the Premier Lacrosse League (B.J. Grill, Jacob Richard, Noah Richard) and Major League Lacrosse (Zachary Melillo, Ryan McNamara, Conor Gately, Andy DeMichiei, Liam Byrnes).
Amplo, who was named the first head coach in Marquette history on Feb. 4, 2011, garnered 2014 BIG EAST Coach of the Year honors in just his second season at the helm. He led the Golden Eagles to a second-place regular-season finish in what was their first year as a member of the conference, as well as their first of five consecutive semifinal appearances in the BIG EAST Championship. The Golden Eagles played the nation’s 14th-toughest schedule according to Inside Lacrosse that season.
In 2015, he guided the Golden Eagles to a 10-win campaign in just their third season of competition and in 2016, led Marquette to the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance on the heels of a victory over No. 1 Denver in the BIG EAST Tournament Championship Game. Marquette earned the sixth seed in the NCAA Tournament and fell to eventual NCAA Champion North Carolina by a single goal in what was the first NCAA Tournament game ever played in the state of Wisconsin.
Amplo was the 2016 recipient of the USILA Howdy Myers Man of the Year Award, presented in honor of one of the sport’s most outstanding coaches. The award is presented annually to an individual who has contributed to the game of lacrosse in a capacity over and above the normal efforts and in so doing, has shown unselfish and untiring devotion to the game.
After stringing together seven consecutive wins to open the 2015 campaign, the Golden Eagles were ranked ninth in the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll and closed out the year just two spots outside the top 20. Marquette’s hot start was highlighted by four one-goal wins, including a pair over ranked opponents, and thrilling come-from-behind wins at Richmond in overtime and Ohio State, an NCAA Tournament team, in early March. MU began the 2015 season with a 10-9 win at then-No. 18/16 Lehigh on Feb. 7 and picked up a second win against Amplo’s alma mater in as many tries by topping then-No. 17/19 Hofstra on Feb. 14.
Marquette’s victory over Denver to claim the BIG EAST’s 2016 automatic NCAA bid snapped an NCAA-high 22-game home winning streak at Peter Barton Stadium for the Pioneers, while handing them their first loss to a BIG EAST team since joining the league in 2014 (spanned 21 games). The victory also set a new program benchmark with MU’s 11th win of the season after the Golden Eagles produced a 4-1 mark in BIG EAST regular-season action.
The Marquette defense ranked among the nation’s leaders in 2016, leading to recognition for MU’s three MLL draft picks in graduate students Liam Byrnes and B.J. Grill and senior Jacob Richard. Byrnes was named the 2016 BIG EAST Conference Defensive Player of the Year, a first-team all-league performer, the most outstanding player at the BIG EAST tournament and a USILA Second-Team All-American. Grill and Richard were both named third-team USILA All-Americans and were second-team all-conference performers, though Richard was the only short stick defensive midfielder selected to any All-BIG EAST team.
Amplo engineered a spectacular run by Marquette in the 2017 BIG EAST Championship that led to the program’s second NCAA Tournament bid in as many years. The Golden Eagles became the first No. 4 seed to win the BIG EAST Championship after upsetting top-seeded and second-ranked Denver, 11-8, in the semifinals before downing tournament-host Providence in the final behind the play of goalkeeper Cole Blazer who was named the tournament’s most outstanding player. MU earned the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Championship where it fell to fourth-seeded and seventh-ranked Notre Dame, 15-9, in the opening round.
In 2017, attackman Ryan McNamara became the first player in Marquette history to reach 100 career goals and became MU’s all-time point leader, while becoming the only player in program history to earn two USILA All-America nods.
In seven seasons of building the Golden Eagles from inception and as head coach, he has amassed an 18-13 record in the BIG EAST and a 52-53 overall mark.
Coaching Roots
Amplo came to Marquette with 11 years of collegiate coaching experience, 10 of which came at his alma mater, Hofstra University. He served as associate head coach with the Pride for three years and was the team’s defensive coordinator.
During his time at Hofstra, Amplo participated in 11 NCAA Championships, three as a student-athlete and eight as a coach, the most recent of which was in 2011. That year, Hofstra had the nation’s No. 1 defense, boasting the lowest goals-against average in the country.
He joined the Hofstra coaching staff as a graduate assistant in 1999 and remained there until 2001 when he took an assistant coaching position at Penn. After one season with the Quakers, Amplo returned to Long Island where he remained through the 2011 season.
In his first stint with Hofstra, Amplo worked under then-head coach John Danowski, now the coach of three-time NCAA Champion Duke University.
Following his return to Hofstra in 2003, the Pride posted a 76-49 record and advanced to five NCAA Championships. He coached 53 all-conference players at Hofstra, including five conference players of the year, four rookies of the year and 21 All-Americans. One of those players, Doug Shannahan, earned the Tewaaraton Award in 2001, honoring the top player in college lacrosse. Amplo also coached Tewaaraton Award finalist Chris Unterstein, 13 North-South All-Stars and six USILA Scholar All-Americans at Hofstra.
The Man Behind the Whistle
The Farmingville, New York, native attended Sachem High School in Lake Ronkonkoma, New York, where he earned four letters in both lacrosse and football and was an all-conference performer in both sports.
As a student-athlete at Hofstra, he was an All-America East performer as a senior in 1999 when he started all 16 games and led the school to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championship. He played in 58 games in his career and notched 91 ground balls, 40 of which came during his senior season. Amplo graduated from Hofstra in 2000 with a bachelor’s degree in geography and earned a master’s degree in college student counseling.
Amplo is active on the lecture circuit and is the founder of the Team Amplify, which operates clinics, camps and competitive club teams for the Milwaukee-area lacrosse community. He has also been involved with the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation and the Milwaukee Eagles wheelchair lacrosse team, which he partners with the Milwaukee VA Hospital to help coach disabled and able-bodied United States veterans.
In March of 2020, he joined forces with his fellow Team USA coaches - John Danowski (Duke), Charley Toomey (Loyola), Seth Tierney (Hofstra) - to create a GoFundMe page in answering a call to help provide meals to hospital staff working countless hours to keep their communities safe. Additionally, they provided Easter baskets for the children of our caregivers. Collectively, they raised over $20,000.
Amplo and his wife, Jennifer, have three daughters, Sophia, Charlotte and Lily. Sophia is a sophomore at the Naval Academy.
