Virginia men's lacrosse has named Kevin Cassese the program's new head coach, the school announced Tuesday.
Cassese replaces Lars Tiffany, who was out after 10 years and two national championships.
Cassese has been Virginia's associate head coach and offensive coordinator under Tiffany since 2023. He began his coaching career when Tiffany made Cassese his first hire at Stony Brook in 2004.
A member of the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame, the 45-year-old Cassese was a three-time All-American at Duke and was briefly the team's interim head coach in 2006, following Mike Pressler's resignation amid a criminal investigation into the program. Cassese stayed on at Duke for two years under coach John Danowski before leaving to be head coach at Lehigh.
Cassese went 136-104 over 16 seasons at Lehigh, leading the Mountain Hawks to three NCAA tournament appearances, before reuniting with Tiffany in Charlottesville.
Virginia is tied with Princeton for the third-most national titles with seven, but has not played in a final since winning the 2021 championship. The Cavs missed the NCAA tournament last year for the first time since 2017.
After a slow start this season, Virginia (10-7) beat No. 1 and eventual national championship runner-up Notre Dame, and fifth-ranked North Carolina to win the ACC tournament title. But the Cavaliers followed that up with a home loss to Georgetown in the first round of the NCAA tournament.