Ed Stephenson was hired as the Castleton men's lacrosse coach in August 2023.
In his second season as head coach of the Men’s Lacrosse team, Stephenson led the Spartans to a 3-12 record, posting a 2-6 record in the LEC. The Spartans just missed the playoffs after losing a competitive battle with Eastern Connecticut State University to end the season. The Spartans secured a notable win vs Russell Sage College, beating them 17-7 for the first time in program history.
Cam Frankenhoff and Zac Smith finished their careers with strong senior seasons. Both players were named to the LEC All-Conference Second Team while Frankenhoff secured a Player of the Week award for the week of April 7.
In his first season at the helm of the VTSU Castleton men's lacrosse program, Stephenson led the team to an overall record of 3-14 and a conference record of 2-6. Stephenson also led the team to their 2nd tournament appearance since joining the Little East.
Stephenson is a lifelong student of the game, coaching and playing at the highest levels of NCAA Lacrosse. He spent 17 seasons as a Division I head coach between Binghamton and UMass Lowell and another four seasons as an Associate Head Coach at Division I UMBC. During his time at Division I, Stephenson's teams appeared in five NCAA Tournaments and 10 America East Tournaments with a trip to the America East Championship in 2004.
In addition to his coaching duties, Stephenson has served on a number of high-level committees, including the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Rules Committee, the USILA Rankings Committee, the NCAA Men's Lacrosse All-America Committee, the NCAA Regional Advisory Committee and was the America East's Lacrosse Coaches Representative.
Stephenson has been a program builder throughout his career, getting a fledgling program off the ground at Binghamton in 2002 and leading it to a 10-win season and the America East Championship game just two years later. At UMass Lowell, Stephenson again built a program from the ground up and brought it to an eight-win season and America East Semifinal appearance in just a few short seasons.
Stephenson places a heavy emphasis on academic success for his student-athletes, as his programs historically thrived in the classroom by earning top academic team accolades a total of 10 times across two different America East institutions.
On top of his lengthy coaching career, Stephenson was a highly-regarded collegiate player at Towson, earning All-America honors before playing professional indoor lacrosse following his graduation. In 1991, Stephenson represented Team USA at the Summer International Exhibition Tournament where the team went unbeaten to claim the tournament championship.
