Jacobs New Coach at New Jersey

[Sonny]

Peter Jacobs Promoted to New Jersey Pride Head Coach

CLIFTON – The New Jersey Pride, the Garden State's only professional lacrosse team, announced today that Peter Jacobs has been promoted to head coach, after serving as the team's offensive coordinator for the final five games of the 2005 season.

Jacobs replaces Brian Silcott, who was hired after game seven of the 2005 season. Silcott left the team for personal reasons and plans to move to Portland, Oregon.

"We thank Brian for the effort that he gave us at the end of last season, and we wish him continued success in his future endeavors,'' said Pride General Manager Trey Reeder. "We felt that with Brian deciding to move out west, it would be best for the team to have a head coach who is a local guy.

"Peter is a guy who played for our organization, has ties to this area and who now knows our personnel very well after his stint with us last season. He was the logical choice and we're very happy having him as the head coach.''

Silcott was hired by the Pride on July 13 and coached five games, going 1-4. The team's win under Silcott came in the season finale, a nationally televised game on ESPN2 in which New Jersey topped Philadelphia and eliminated the Barrage from playoff contention.

Jacobs is the third head coach in team history, following Ted Georgalas, who was at the Pride helm for the first four-plus seasons of Major League Lacrosse, compiling a 24-37 record. Jacobs played for three seasons under Georgalas

"I am very excited for the opportunity,'' said Jacobs. "We have a tremendous amount of talent and we're going to build on the successes we had at the end of last year and the way we played toward the end of the season. I am excited about the talent level in the guys we protected and we're going to be a better team in 2006.''

Jacobs ranks fourth all-time in face-off winning percentage in Major League Lacrosse for all players with at least 450 attempts (52%). Only Paul Cantabene, Andy Towers and Peter Inge have better percentages (55%, 54% and 53% respectively).

He scored four goals (one 2-pointer) and added four assists in his professional career of 40 games. He won 524 of 1,016 draws in his Pride tenure and picked up 228 ground balls. Jacobs is a 1995 graduate of Johns Hopkins University, and played on three Final Four NCAA tournament teams - 1992, 1994 and 1995. Jacobs served as the Blue Jays team captain in 1995 and was named first-team All-American in 1995 and second-team All-American in 1994.

Jacobs also played for the 1998 World Team and is currently a member of the Philadelphia Wings of the National Lacrosse League. He currently resides in Philadelphia, Pa. and is in equity sales at Merrill Lynch.

[PigPen]

and the merry-o-round continues