Coaches

Dave Huntley

Head Coach

Dave Huntley is a well-decorated Canadian lacrosse player, head coach and general manager. In 2013, he rejoins the Nationals as their head coach for the first time since the 2010 season. Huntley had a 12-14 record in two seasons as head coach of the Nationals. In 2009, the Toronto native led the team to the Major League Lacrosse Championship in their inaugural season. Toronto was 7-5 during the 2009 regular season before defeating Long Island and Denver at the MLL’s Championship Weekend.

During his playing career (1976-79), he won two NCAA Division I National Championships at Johns Hopkins University. In 1979, he won the McLaughlin Award as the nation's most outstanding college midfielder. At Hopkins, he was a two-time First Team All-American and was eventually enshrined in the Johns Hopkins Sports Hall of Fame. In 1978, Huntley also suited up for Team Canada and was on the inaugural gold medal winning World Lacrosse Championship team.

Huntley broke into coaching in 1987 with Philadelphia Wings, serving as the team’s general manager and coach. He has also held various positions with the Baltimore Thunder, Pittsburgh Crossefire, Washington Power and Colorado Mammoth. Additionally, he has worked as an assistant coach at Loyola College and with the Baltimore Bayhawks, where he won his first MLL title in 2005.

On the international scene, he has held assistant coaching positions with Team Canada at four World Lacrosse Championships, which included the 2006 gold medal winning Canadian team. He has the distinction of winning both field lacrosse gold medals with Team Canada (1978, 2006). Both teams earned induction into the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame. In 2011, Huntley earned the sole distinction as he was named to the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame.

Huntley returned to the professional head coaching ranks in 2008 with the National Lacrosse League’s Philadelphia Wings. He served as the team’s head coach for three seasons and led the Wings to a playoff berth in his first season back in Philadelphia. Now he returns to the Nationals, where he hopes to recapture the success he experienced with the team in 2009.

Jason Johnson

Assistant Coach

Jason Johnson is in his fifth season with the Nationals organization and is fresh off a National Lacrosse League title with the Rochester Knighthawks.

The Six Nations native had a busy summer in 2011 both on and off the field. At the professional level, he helped the Knighthawks return to the Champion’s Cup Playoffs in May and then moved on to begin his role as an assistant coach with the Hamilton Nationals.

The Nats, like the Knighthawks, finished near the top of their league and advanced to the postseason. The Nationals went all the way to the MLL Finals. Johnson has been with the team since its inaugural season in 2009, when he served as an assistant coach with the Major League Lacrosse championship team.

Johnson also packed up the family and flew to Germany for the 2011 FIL Lacrosse Under-19 Women’s World Championships. His daughter Tawnie scored 10 goals and added four assists in her international debut with Team Canada. She netted a hat trick to help Canada defeat England in the bronze medal game.

If that wasn’t enough, Johnson served as the offensive coordinator coach for U-19 Team Ontario at the 2011 Field Lacrosse National Championships. While working under Head Coach Clancy Almas, the team captured the gold in Burnaby, BC.

Additionally, he was the head coach for the Six Nations U-16 and U-19 men’s field teams. The U-16 team won gold this summer as well. He also was the assistant coach for the Senior “A” Six Nations Chiefs (MSL) from 2008-09. In 2009, he was the head coach for the Six Nations U-19 women’s field teams as well. Johnson also assists with minor box teams throughout his community. In addition, he was a player/coach on the Six Nations Senior Men’s Field Team in 2008 that won Ontario Championship and the 2009 team that won the Canadian Field Nationals.

He was the offensive coach for the Six Nations Arrows from 2004 to 2006 and helped the team win three consecutive Ontario Championships and advance to three Minto Cup Finals. He was also the offensive coach at the Indoor World Games for the silver medalists: the Iroquois Nationals. Further, Johnson was an assistant coach for the Six Nations Arrows In 2009 and 2010. In 2012, Johnson will serve as one of the assistant coaches for the Iroquois Nationals U19 team at the 2012 World Championships in Turku, Finland.

As a player, Johnson spent his entire career in the Six Nations lacrosse system, working his way through minor, Junior “B”, Junior “A”, Senior “A” and the Cam-Am ranks. He was a teammate of Cam Bomberry on the 1992 Minto and 1994 Mann Cup championship teams.

In his junior career, he notched 53 goals and 70 assists in 59 games. In his senior career, he recorded 27 goals and 36 assists in 68 games. He also collected 27 goals and 30 assists in 36 postseason contests. Johnson was drafted in the third round of the National Lacrosse League Entry Draft by the Syracuse Smash.

Brian Hobart

Assistant Coach

Brian Hobart is in second season with the Nationals organization. The Penn Yan, NY, native has worked as a professional scout for the past three seasons with the Rochester Knighthawks of the National Lacrosse League. In 2012, he was a member of the National Lacrosse League Championship team.

Hobart also serves as the head lacrosse coach at Penn Yan Academy, a position he has held since 2004. In 2012, he won his eighth Section V title as a head coach and 16th overall. He was an assistant at Penn Yan from 1992 to 2003 and coached Nationals star goalie Brett Queener in high school. Hobart has coached 17 High School All-Americans and five professional players during his tenure.

His coaching accomplishments also include serving as the head coach of the Western Region Empire State Games from 2005-06. Hobart also was a featured speaker at U.S. lacrosse national convention in 2010 with Queener on goalie play.

Hobart played lacrosse for the Onondaga Redhawks of the Iroquois Lacrosse Association from 1998-2003. He spent his college playing career on the gridiron with the Canisius College football team. He played college ball for four seasons and was the team captain his senior season.

Brian currently lives in Penn Yan with son, Bowen. He works as a Youth Counselor at Penn Yan Elementary and will become Dean of Students at Penn Yan Middle School in September 2011.

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