Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus Men's Lacrosse

Jeff Tambroni returns for his 16th season as the head coach of Penn State men's lacrosse in 2026. One of the sport’s most decorated coaches enters the season seventh among all active Division I coaches in career wins with 239. During Tambroni's time in Happy Valley, Penn State players have earned 60 All-America awards, 16 USILA Scholar All-America honors, and 57 all-conference accolades. He coached three back-to-back Big Ten Offensive Players of the Year, Matt Traynor (2025) and TJ Malone (2023 and 2024). In his most recent season, he mentored the program’s first Big Ten Freshman of the Year in Hunter Aquino, who also set a new program record for most Big Ten Freshman of the Week accolades in a single season with six. Tambroni coached Jack Fracyon, the 2024 and 2023 Big Ten Specialist of the Year, 2019 NCAA Attackman of the Year and Big Ten Offensive Player of the year (Grant Ament), the 2018 Big Ten Specialist of the Year (Gerard Arceri), the 2019 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year (Chris Sabia), the 2013 CAA Player of the Year and 2013 and 2014 CAA Defensive Player of the Year (Austin Kaut). Additionally, Mac O'Keefe's 221 goals from 2017-2021 set the NCAA Division I career scoring record. He has led the Lions to two regular season conference championships and one conference tournament title. The veteran head coach guided the Nittany Lions to another historic campaign in 2025, reaching their second Final Four in the last three years and third in the last six seasons. The

Joe Bucci is set to begin his fourth season on the Penn State men's lacrosse staff in 2026, after being promoted to associate head coach in September 2025. He joined the Nittany Lions in June of 2022 after spending the past six seasons at UMBC, where he helped the Retrievers' defensive unit establish itself as one of the best in the country. In his role as the defensive coordinator, Bucci has developed the Nittany Lions defense over the last three seasons, elevating the unit into the national rankings in several statistical categories. Penn State finished first in the Big Ten and fifth in the nation in caused turnovers per game (10.47) in 2025 and first in the conference and 21st in the country in ground balls per game (32.65). Bucci helped guide the team to a second Final Four appearance in his three seasons in Happy Valley, guiding the defense to hold Notre Dame scoreless for the final 20 minutes of the NCAA Quarterfinal enroute to an offensive comeback to punch their ticket to the national semifinal. He also mentored a 2025 fourth round PLL Draft pick Kevin Parnham as well as second team All-Big Ten and USILA All-American defenseman Alex Ross. Bucci joined the UMBC coaching staff as a volunteer assistant in 2017 and spent two seasons in that role. He was elevated to assistant coach in 2019 and then took over the defense for the 2021 and 2022 seasons. The Retrievers had the sixth-ranked scoring defense in the nation and were the America East regular season co-champions in 2

Nick Cardile, class of 2021, enters his first season with the Nittany Lions in 2026. Cardile played for coach Tambroni and the Penn State lacrosse program for five years, utilizing his extra season of eligibility that was granted due to the pandemic in 2020. He brings a wealth of not just Penn State knowledge, but PSU lacrosse program expertise. Throughout his time in Happy Valley, Cardile was a two-time All-American as a defenseman, earning second team honors in 2020 and honorable mention in 2019. The Pennsylvania native was a part of a historical season for the Nittany Lions in 2019, helping them secure Big Ten regular season and tournament titles and advance to the NCAA Final Four. The squad finished with 16 wins during that campaign which marked a program record. Cardile had significant individual success that year as well, starting in all 16 games while finishing with 40 ground balls and 22 caused turnovers. Cardile, who was named to the Big Ten All-Tournament Team in 2019 and was a four-time Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week, finished his career with 101 ground balls and 53 caused turnovers in 63 games. He served as a team captain in his final two seasons in Happy Valley. In 2021, he was hired as an assistant coach at Gettysburg College where he has served for the last four seasons. In his first season with the Bullets he helped guide the team to a 14-8 record while advancing to the division III NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals. Gettysburg made appearances in the NCAA T