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Riffel made tough job look easy
MATT KRUEGER Sports Reporter
Pointing to Bill Riffel's three Monsignor Martin Association titles in four years or his undefeated league season this year is usually where people stop in measuring the coach.

They see his impressive résumé and think "he must be a fantastic coach." Well, he is, but for more reasons than can be found on the score sheet or in the record book. Riffel made as many changes to himself as he did in his coaching style.

Riffel led the Mount St. Mary girls lacrosse team to its third MMA championship in a row Saturday with a 13-4 victory over Mount Mercy. That's not bad for team that didn't exist until Riffel went to Mount St. Mary in 2004.

After 22 years of building the Grand Island boys team into a strong program, Riffel retired, because the incentive package the school district gave him was "too good to pass up." But Riffel said he wasn't ready to make golf his full-time thing and took a job teaching and coaching at Mount St. Mary.

He built up the girls lacrosse program from scratch, spending the first day of practice in 2004 showing the girls how to hold the stick. The learning curve was as sharp as a razor, as the girls picked up the nuances of the game quickly. Mount St. Mary advanced to the MMA championship game that first year, losing to Nardin. But the Thunder put itself on cloud nine following that game, becoming the best team in the league.

To mold Mount St. Mary into a winner, Riffel had to learn just as quickly as his players. He knew all about the boys game, but girls lacrosse is a different matter. He taught himself those new factors as he was imparting his new-found wisdom to a bunch of freshmen and sophomores.

He didn't know the rules. He didn't know how to coach girls. He didn't know if this experiment would work. But Riffel earned straight As on his report card. And because he was such a quick learner, he put himself in position to improve his team much faster than anyone thought possible.

Riffel will walk away from Mount St. Mary at the end of the school year, holding on to more than just three championship plaques. He'll carry with him the respect of all his players and those sweet memories from the past four years.

"I'm dealing with a lot of mixed feelings," Riffel said after Saturday's game. "But I feel good. The kids really came through for each other, and that's what it's all about, helping kids reach their dreams."

If you ask Riffel what his favorite memory will be from his time at Mount St. Mary, he won't say it was the three championships or the non-league victory over Grand Island earlier this season. He'll say it was the relationships he had with his players.

"I had a number of girls who came up to me after every practice and every game to say 'thank you' to me," Riffel said. "I never got that before. I think that's a tribute to their parents and themselves. I got that Saturday afternoon, and I got that when I started the program four years ago. Looking back at it, I got back 150 percent of what I put into it."

Riffel sounded like a man who was saying goodbye to a family, which is ironic, since he retired to spend more time with his children in Delaware. While his girls lacrosse career lasted only four years, he had an impact on the lacrosse community. MMA is a better league now thanks largely to his efforts.

e-mail: mkrueger@beenews.com