Post coach Jez knows victories don't always have a score
CW Post's head coach John Jez barks out
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Boys lacrosse playoffs 2009
The biggest game of his career does not compare to the most critical moment in the life of John Jez, the 39-year-old men's lacrosse coach at C.W. Post.
His Pioneers play upstate Le Moyne in the NCAA Division II championship game Sundayin Foxborough, Mass.
Four years ago, Jez suffered a stroke. He is still recovering, though the 6-1, 200-pound coach appeared to be the picture of health this season as he roamed the sideline. But residual effects remain.
"I don't have a lot of feeling in my right side,'' he said. "My vision is sometimes blurry. I lose my balance sometimes.''
But he said it could have been worse. "If the ambulance didn't get there soon enough, I probably wouldn't be here; that's what they told me,'' he said. "I had two more strokes in the hospital.''
Although the title game certainly is at the forefront of his mind, Jez will keep it in perspective - as he does all things. "You can't sweat the little stuff,'' he said. "Take every day as a positive day.''
Jez's career had been on an upswing when the stroke occurred. He had just been hired at Post as an assistant after a successful two-year tenure as head coach at Pace that ended after what Jez termed a personality conflict.
Jez was just looking to volunteer at Post, but then-head coach Tom Postel made him a paid assistant. A month into the job, Jez suffered the stroke.
"He was a [typical] stroke victim,'' said assistant lacrosse coach Frank Vitolo, who was at Jez's bedside. "He was drooling and paralyzed on the [right] side. We were alarmed, but we weren't devastated because Johnny was very athletic. The stroke kind of took part of that away, but he has not lost his enthusiasm for the game.''
It took six weeks for Jez to return to work. "Getting the opportunity at Post was great, but I was down in the dumps from the stroke,'' he said.
It helped to be around the sport in which he excelled as a two-time All-American at Pfeiffer University (N.C), but he missed playing it at the club level, saying, "I haven't played since the stroke. At first, it was tough to walk. I would [bend] over to one side. It's been four years now and I've adapted to some of the issues. I was a lot more active before. I was still playing right up until the day before the stroke.''
When Postel retired after the 2006 season, Jez was promoted to head coach. He is so respected in the sport that he was named chairman of the NCAA Division II committee for lacrosse this year. "Obviously, things worked out real well,'' Jez said.
He asked Vitolo, a former head coach at Pace who had hired Jez as his assistant in the late 1990s, to join him in Greenvale. Vitolo, an athletic director in Westchester, said his fondness for Jez brought him to Long Island.
"Johnny is very loyal and very conscientious in everything he does,'' Vitolo said. "His values never changed. It wasn't taking a chance to work with Johnny.''
Although Jez regrets no longer being able to play, even for fun, he has immersed himself in coaching.
"I've changed from the player side of saying 'Well, I can do that' to trying to help these players do what they need to win,'' he said.
And no matter what happens today, Jez will look forward to tomorrow.
