CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – On June 6, 2006, Kevin Cassese stepped in as Duke’s interim lacrosse coach, taking over as his alma mater was embroiled in a scandal that made national headlines.

With players accused – wrongly, it would later be proven – of a sexual assault, the program appeared on the brink of being disbanded.

Cassese, a three-time All-American for the Blue Devils, was just 25 when he was tasked with shepherding Duke.

Wednesday, a week shy of 20 years later, Cassese stood at another podium, his wife and children in the front row, this time taking the reins of the Virginia program. He said he was more nervous on this day, perhaps because at Duke, he didn’t fully grasp what he was taking on.

“A lot of lessons learned,” Cassese said. “I felt like I got a crash course in how to be a head coach, how to be a leader, and maybe a little bit of crisis control manager at a young age.”

He successfully helped keep the Duke program going then.

Now, facing a crisis of less gravitas, that experience should serve Cassese well as he navigates the Virginia’s transition to his stewardship after 10 years under Lars Tiffany.

“I think a lot of it’s going to be, just, there’s a lot of noise around it,” Cassese said. “One of my duties is going to be a stabilizer through the noise and some turbulent times. I feel like I’ve had practice doing that.”

UVA announced a “change in leadership” on May 18, parting ways with Tiffany, who revived the Cavaliers program, leading it to national titles in 2019 and 2021. The team won an ACC tournament championship this year before bowing out in the first round of the NCAA tournament against Georgetown.

Wednesday, Virginia athletic director Carla Williams declined to answer whether Tiffany had been fired or resigned. She would not confirm nor deny reports that Tiffany agreed to a contract extension with the school in March, or say whether the school owes Tiffany any money.

“I would say that I am grateful to Coach Tiffany and everything he did for the program,” Williams said. “It was a rough few years his first years and he did a great job of getting that going and the results were amazing. And we’re very thankful for him.”

Cassese, who spent 16 seasons at Lehigh before joining Tiffany’s staff in 2024, said he has talked with Tiffany twice since UVA announced the coaching change, but not since Cassese accepted the head position.

“I spoke to him after the decision was made to not renew him,” Cassese said. “I spoke to him a couple of times. Since the decision was made to hire me, which was made (Tuesday) morning, I have not had the chance to talk to him, but I look forward to that opportunity. I would like to. I have a lot of respect of Lars and 22 years of a relationship. I would very much like to continue that.”

Awkward coaching transitions is becoming a big of a tradition for UVA lacrosse. Tiffany’s predecessor, Dom Starsia, didn’t leave on his own terms. Yet when Tiffany, who played for Starsia at Brown, was interviewing for the Virginia job in 2016, he stayed at Starsia’s house.

Wednesday, Starsia was on hand for Cassese’s elevation to the top job. He said he’s become close friends with Cassese since he became UVA’s offensive coordinator three years ago.

Starsia said he had a beer with Tiffany after the season ended with a first-round NCAA tournament loss to Georgetown. Then, after UVA announced that Tiffany would not be back for an 11th year, Starsia visited Tiffany on Saturday morning, where the men had coffee and “talked through some things.”

And, while Starsia didn’t anticipate Virginia having a coaching chance this offseason, he’s pleased the Cassese was the choice to succeed Tiffany.

“I don’t know the ins and outs of all of that. Surprised. Yes. How things have turned here in the past couple of weeks,” Starsia said. “There are a lot of people out there in the world who think they know all the answers. I’m a little closer to it than most of them. I don’t know all the answers. It was a surprise. But Virginia needed to hire somebody to lead the program and be able to begin to move on. I think they made a good choice.”