Syracuse lacrosse promotes Drew Bezek to defensive coordinator

Syracuse has promoted Drew Bezek to defensive coordinator, handing a key job to a Central New York native who already spent the 2026 season inside Gary Gait’s staff. The move keeps the Orange from starting over in a season when the program is trying to protect a championship window built on defense and repeat trips to Championship Weekend.

Syracuse University announced the promotion June 30, and the timing followed John Odierna’s departure to Fairfield University, where he was named head coach on June 9. Odierna left after helping Syracuse reach back-to-back Final Fours, a run that included the Orange’s second straight Championship Weekend appearance, their first since 2009.

Bezek was Syracuse’s director of operations during the 2026 season and helped support Odierna’s defensive work as the Orange advanced to the national semifinals before falling to Notre Dame on May 23. Gary Gait’s program had already settled into a defensive identity under Odierna, so Bezek’s elevation signals continuity more than a wholesale reset.

That matters in Onondaga County, where Syracuse men’s lacrosse remains one of the region’s most visible programs and where coaching decisions are judged against national title expectations. Bezek’s background gives the hire a strong local footprint. Syracuse identified him as a Central New York native who joined the program ahead of the 2026 season after head-coaching stops at SUNY Geneseo, SUNY Oswego and Vassar College, along with a previous defensive coordinator role at Hamilton College.

His résumé also ties him closely to the local lacrosse network. Bezek spent five years as head coach at Geneseo, where the Knights reached the NCAA championship game in 2025. He coached seven seasons at Oswego, served as interim head coach at Vassar, and is a Le Moyne College graduate who helped the Dolphins reach multiple national championship appearances and win a title in 2007.

Bezek said in Syracuse’s release that he was “incredibly grateful and excited” for the opportunity and thanked Gait and the staff for the chance to work with what he called a premier program in collegiate lacrosse. For Syracuse, the hire is less about replacing a voice than preserving a system after a successful season and another deep postseason run.

The first real measure will come next season, when the Orange must show that a defense built for 2026 can hold its standard under a new coordinator while Syracuse keeps chasing the same postseason ceiling.