For Dick Abood, coaching high-school lacrosse has become a habit with no firm end in sight. He’s been doing so for 38 years.
Turning 69 this month, the grandfather likes the work so much, he continues in his current position for a third year as an assistant junior-varsity boys coach at Bishop O’Connell High School in Arlington.
That’s after stints years back as a head and assistant coach of prominent boys programs at O’Connell and Robinson Secondary School. He served as O’Connell’s head coach twice and has coached lacrosse overall at the private school for 21 years.
“I love it,” Abood, a 1974 O’Connell graduate, told ARLnow. “I’m telling you, I don’t know what I would do in the spring if I can’t coach high-school lacrosse. I love the challenge every year. I love the competition and love the kids and their energy and helping them learn how to play. It’s rewarding to see them have success.”
Some of the players Abood coaches now are sons of those he coached years before.
Abood did not play lacrosse when he attended O’Connell, because the sport was not offered back then. He ran on the cross-country and track-and-field teams and played football.
His introduction to lacrosse came during his involvement with club teams at George Mason University then as a student at Virginia Tech.
Abood’s first coaching gig in high school came in 1987 as an assistant at W.T. Woodson in Fairfax under renowned Jon FitzGerald.
After two years at that program, he then spent the next 13 as O’Connell’s head coach after being hired to start the lacrosse program by then-athletic director Darrell Snyder.
“He trusted a young guy like me to do that — what an awesome guy — and he mentored me,” Abood said of the late Snyder.
From O’Connell, Abood became a boys assistant at district, region and state champion Robinson Secondary for eight years, returned to O’Connell as an assistant for two, then the head coach again for two more.
After that, Abood worked as an assistant varsity girls coach for seven years at Flint Hill School, then returned again to O’Connell as an assistant, starting in 2022.
“They keep calling me home,” Abood said about O’Connell. “It has all been a good time.”
Overall, Abood has coached some 70 players in high school who have played at different levels in college, including 28 in Division I.
Abood’s O’Connell teams won 123 times when he was the head coach. He was chosen Washington Catholic Athletic Conference Coach of the Year three times.
