AJ Stevens

Directing camp this summer is AJ Stevens. Coach Stevens is in his third year as head men's coach with the Ottawa University lacrosse program. He spent the 2014-15 season recruiting for both the men's and women's teams.

In the program's first season, 2015-16, of play the Braves finished with an overall record of 9-5 and a KCAC record of 3-2. OU finished third in the KCAC regular season and competed in the KCAC Tournament Championship where they fell to Missouri Valley College. OU finished the year with the national ranking of ninth in the NAIA Men's Lacrosse Coaches Postseason Poll. Under Stevens' leadership, eight Braves were named to the All-KCAC teams. OU also had their first All-Americans was Pierce Willis and Alex Linder being named Second Team All-American.

Stevens has a career record of 74-45 and has been named conference coach of the year three times in eight seasons as a head lacrosse coach. Before coming to OU, he was the assistant athletic director of emerging sports at NCAA Division II Colorado Mesa University (CMU) in Grand Junction, Colo. Previously, Stevens was the first men’s lacrosse coach in CMU history.

As head coach of the CMU Mavericks, Stevens guided the team to the 2012 Western Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association conference title in just the program’s second year of existence. The Mavericks were crowned WILA champions following a 9-4 overall record and 6-2 league finish.

Stevens was named WILA Coach of the Year and placed 13 players on the All-WILA Teams, including three first-team selections. Under his leadership, CMU made WILA history, landing a league-high 10 student-athletes on the WILA All-Academic Team. In 2011, CMU’s inaugural season, the Mavericks finished 6-8 overall and posted a 4-4 WILA conference record, finishing in third place. He had three players from CMU play for the Australian National Team.

In four seasons at CMU, Stevens built the Mavericks men’s lacrosse team from the ground up to a ranking of 15th in the nation during season four. CMU won a conference title and two second place finishes in four seasons. Under his leadership, CMU had 48 all-conference and 33 academic all-conference honorees. Stevens coached two conference defensive players of the year, a conference freshman of the year, a preseason All-American and an Academic All-American. He also earned the District 9 U.S. Lacrosse sportsmanship award.

Prior to his arrival at CMU, he spent two years as the head coach at the University of Illinois. During his time at Illinois, Stevens also served as director of lacrosse operations and assistant coach for Chicago’s Major League Lacrosse franchise, the Chicago Machine.

Stevens was named the head coach at Illinois during the summer of 2005 and quickly established the Illini as one of the premier lacrosse programs in the Midwest. In two years, he compiled a 23-13 overall record and a 15-5 Great Rivers Lacrosse Conference mark, having reached the conference championship game each season. Additionally, Stevens was twice named GRLC coach of the year, producing 21 all-conference players, 9 Academic All-American honorees, 4 All-American team members, and one Offensive Player of the Year. The Illini also completed each season under Stevens ranked in the MCLA top 25 poll. Prior to his arrival, Illinois had not been nationally ranked in nearly a decade.

Before arriving at Illinois, Stevens served as an assistant coach at Dartmouth College, a NCAA Division I school in Hanover, N.H.; head coach at Roger Williams University, a Division III school in Bristol, R.I.; and head coach at Indiana University, leading the Hoosiers to a 13-3 record. Stevens played three years of varsity lacrosse for the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth.