Head Coach & General Manager

Thorpe will lead the Riptide on the bench while also making player personnel decisions and shaping the roster through its inaugural season. Thorpe’s vast experience as a player, coach and general manager spans professional, collegiate, junior level and international box and field lacrosse. Since 2010, he has coached the women’s lacrosse team at Syracuse alongside Head Coach Gary Gait, helping the Orange to reach the NCAA semifinal round six times, including two championship game appearances. In 2017, US Lacrosse named Thorpe the head coach of the U.S. Men’s Indoor team that will compete at the 2019 Federation of Lacrosse Men’s Indoor World Championships in British Columbia. Throughout his career as a Head Coach, he has led the Hamilton Nationals to the MLL championship game (2011), the Six Nations Arrows of the Ontario Junior A league to the Minto Cup title (2007) and the Long Island Sound to the UWLX championship (2017) following an undefeated season. As an Assistant Coach, he helped the Rochester Rattlers win a Major League Lacrosse (MLL) championship (2008) and the Six Nations Arrows win the Minto Cup (2014).

Thorpe is a Syracuse graduate who was a captain and All-American for the 1993 national championship team and went on to a successful professional playing career. Thorpe played for 15 seasons (1995 – 2010) in the NLL, all for the Rochester Knighthawks, where he served as team captain for the team’s NLL championships in 1997 and 2007. He eventually became the league’s first general manager/player as he simultaneously held duties on and off the floor from 2008 to 2009. To this day he holds the record for the most NLL games played by an American. In addition to his professional indoor experience, Thorpe spent six seasons (2001 – 2006) competing for the Rochester Rattlers of MLL, serving as a team captain and helping lead the team to the league semifinals in three seasons. Thorpe served as a captain for the 2007 U.S. team at the FIL World Championship that won a bronze medal and has represented the country at the Heritage Cup and Bowhunter Cup over the years. He helped the U.S. defeat Canada to win the Heritage Cup in 2002 and beat the Iroquois Nationals to win the Bowhunter Cup in 2010.