SUNY Cortland Athletics

Lelan Rogers enters his eighth year overall as SUNY Cortland's men's lacrosse head coach in 2026. He served as the Red Dragons' head coach from 2001-05 and returned to the position for the 2024 season. Rogers has a combined 106-25 (.809) record in seven seasons at Cortland.

Cortland returned to the top of the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) in 2025, winning the regular-season title and securing the top seed in the conference tournament with a dominant 7-0 record in league play. The Red Dragons defeated Potsdam, 21-8 in the semifinals, and Oneonta, 19-9 in the finals, to claim the program's 29th SUNYAC title. Cortland advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Div. III playoffs with victories over Illinois Wesleyan and York (PA) in the national tournament, and finished tied for fifth nationally with a 19-3 record. Eight Red Dragons were honored as United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) All-Americans, and Alex Thrasher was named the Div. III Short-Stick Defensive Midfielder of the Year. Cortland shattered the program's single-season scoring record by scoring 379 goals, and also led the nation with 14.23 caused turnovers per game.

Rogers has more than 30 years of coaching experience, most recently as head coach of the Utica University men's lacrosse program during the 2022-23 school year. He spent 14 years as the defensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator at Division I Syracuse University from 2007-21. During his tenure at Syracuse, the Orange won back-to-back national championships in 2008 and 2009 and made a total of 14 NCAA tournament appearances. Rogers led the SU defense to a top-five national ranking in goals-against average for three straight years from 2008-10, and during his time there 79 players earned All-America honors. 
 
During his first five seasons as Cortland's head coach, Rogers led the Red Dragons to a combined 76-17 record, including a 32-0 mark in SUNYAC regular-season games. Cortland won four SUNYAC titles and made five NCAA Division III tournament appearances under Rogers, advancing to the national semifinals in 2003 and quarterfinals in 2002, 2004 and 2005. He was named SUNYAC Coach of the Year in 2003, and he coached 23 All-Americans. 
 
Prior to Cortland, Rogers coached for nine seasons at Ohio Wesleyan University from 1991-99. He led the Battling Bishops to a combined 109-33 record and seven NCAA tournament showings. The program advanced to the national championship game in 1993 and five other national semifinals and won six North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) crowns. He was named NCAC Coach of the Year four times and was inducted into the Ohio Wesleyan Athletics Hall of Fame in 2018. Rogers also coached the Chicago Machine of Major League Lacrosse in 2007 and at the SPIRE Academy in Ohio in 2022.

Rogers' overall collegiate head coaching record is 203-65 (.757) over 16 seasons, including nine at Ohio Wesleyan and one at Utica.
 
A native of Fulton, N.Y., Rogers is a 1982 alumnus of G. Ray Bodley High School. He graduated from Syracuse University in 1987 with a bachelor’s degree in speech communications and earned a master’s degree in higher education administration/athletic administration from Syracuse in 1990. He was a member of Syracuse’s NCAA Division I Final Four lacrosse team in 1987 and was a graduate assistant coach on three straight Orangemen national championship squads from 1988-90. Rogers also was a team captain on Syracuse’s wrestling squad. He was an NCAA qualifier and New York State Collegiate champion and a two-time Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) finalist. 
 
Before enrolling at Syracuse, Rogers attended St. Lawrence University, where he played lacrosse and football and served as captain of the wrestling team. He was the Division III national wrestling champion at 190 pounds in 1985 and the national runner-up at 177 pounds in 1983, and he was inducted into the St. Lawrence Athletics Hall of Fame in 2015. 
 
Rogers' daughter, Paige, is a 2017 Syracuse alumna and former women's lacrosse player currently residing in Boston. His son, Casey, graduated in 2022 from the University of Nebraska, where he played football, and was a starting defensive tackle at the University of Oregon for two seasons as a graduate student in 2022 and 2023. He was signed as a free agent by the New York Giants in April 2024.

(updated 6/18/2025)