SCHENECTADY, NY – Union men's lacrosse coach Tucker Kear has been promoted to associate head coach, the program announced today. The Dutchmen are coming off their most successful season in program history.

“Coach Kear has been the key to our outstanding recruiting classes,” Union head coach Paul Wehrum said. “He is a tireless worker and his defensive game plan against teams like Tufts and Nazareth in the NCAA Tournament last season has been critical to the overall success of our program.”

Union featured one of the Liberty League's top defensive units last season, as the team gave up just 6.66 goals per contest. The Dutchmen finished the season with a program-best 13 wins en route to the school's first Liberty League Lacrosse title. Union earned its first-ever bid to the Division III NCAA Men's Lacrosse Tournament and advanced to the second round before falling, 6-5, to defending national champion Tufts on May 14. In that contest, Kear's game plan helped the Union defense hold the defending national champions to their lowest goal total of the season.

Under Kear's guidance, senior defenseman Derek Witheford was named USILA All-America Honorable Mention, becoming the first Union defenseman to earn All-American recognition since Brian Harris (Honorable Mention) in 1993.

Kear returns for his sixth year with the Dutchmen, and his fifth as a full-time coach. Union has recorded three double-digit win campaigns in his four previous seasons as a full-time assistant coach.

Kear enjoyed a decorated lacrosse career at both the high school and Division I collegiate levels. He was the MVP of the John Jay High School team in 2001 was a midfielder at the University of Massachusetts, where he helped the Minutemen earn a NCAA quarterfinal bid in 2002. Kear then joined Butler University, where he played from 2003-2005.