The 2025 season will be the 20th as head coach at Loyola for Charley Toomey, a school where he has put his stamp on the Loyola men’s lacrosse program as a disciplined, tough, athletic and skillful unit. The Greyhounds ascended to the top of college lacrosse in 2012, winning Loyola’s first NCAA Division I Championship.
Toomey enters 2025 with a 184-101 career record in his first 19 years at Loyola. Early in the 2016 season, Toomey became the second coach in program history to reach and cross the 100-win plateau, and he became the program's all-time leader in wins as a coach during the 2024 season, passing his college coach Dave Cottle (181-70, 1983-2001).
As a head coach, Toomey has coached 53 USILA All-Americans, 100 all-conference selections, 21 conference positional or players or rookies of the year, a Tewaaraton Award winner and five finalists and 38 USILA Scholar All-Americans.
Of the award winners, Pat Spencer became the most decorated player in program history during his 2019 senior season when he set the NCAA career record for assists and finished second all-time in points. He was the school’s first winner of the Tewaaraton and the USILA Player of the Year Awards and became the school’s first four-time All-American.
In 2019, Toomey was named to the coaching staff of the U.S. Men’s National Team as an assistant coach. He served with Team USA in preparation for, and competition in, the 2023 World Championships in San Diego, and he will again be on the staff for Team USA in 2027 in Tokyo. He was also enshrined in the USLacrosse Chesapeake Chapter Hall of Fame in January 2019 for his accomplishments as a player and a coach.
Under his direction, the Greyhounds won at least a share of three of the last six ECAC Championships when the Greyhounds were in that conference, and Loyola has won four Patriot League. Loyola has reached four of the last six NCAA Quarterfinals as of 2022 with three-straight from 2018-21.
Loyola spent time as the No. 1 team in all national polls during the 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2019 seasons.
Toomey was also a member of the NCAA Division I Men’s Lacrosse Committee, a group responsible for selection of the NCAA Championships field and administration of the tournament. He also has served as part of the U.S. Men’s National Team selection group as a coach and evaluator of the goalies during the initial tryout process.
Toomey’s dedication to the program stems from his long ties to the Loyola community, dating back to the day he stepped onto campus as a freshman student-athlete in 1986.
He has been involved in 19 of the 27 NCAA D-I Tournament appearances in program history - three as a player, five as an assistant coach and 11 as a head coach.
The 2025 season will be Toomey’s 29th year as a coach for the Greyhounds and his 35th overall in the coaching profession. Including his four years as a standout goalkeeper for the Greyhounds from 1987-1990, 2025 will be his 33rd year on the Loyola campus.
With Toomey at the helm, Loyola reached the NCAA Tournament for the 10th time in his years as a head coach in 2021 and the eighth time in nine opportunities. The quarterfinal bid was the third-straight for the program..
Toomey was named the 2012 recipient of the Morris Touchstone as the Division I Coach of the Year, and he earned his third ECAC Coach of the Year honor, an honor he also won in 2006 and 2008.
He led the Greyhounds to the 2021 NCAA Quarterfinals for the fourth time in five seasons after they were 5-5 through 10 games through the COVID-impacted season. In 2019, he was named the Patriot League Coach of the Year as the Greyhounds won their fourth conference regular-season title.
In 2018, the Greyhounds captured the Patriot League Championship for the fourth time in five years since joining the conference, winning both the regular-season and tournament crowns.
Toomey's Greyhounds continued to be one of the most up-tempo offenses in the nation, finishing sixth in the country in goals per game, while the defense also remained one of the best around in 2018. Loyola wrapped up the year with a 13-4 record and its third trip to the NCAA Quarterfinals in seven seasons.
The 2017 Greyhounds were one of the most balanced teams in the nation, finishing 10th in NCAA Division I in scoring defense, allowing just 8.38 goals per game while scoring 12.38 to rank 11th in scoring offense en route to a 10-6 record.
Loyola completed one of the finest years in school history in 2016, bouncing back from a 4-3 start to the regular-season to win 10-straight games. During that stretch, Loyola won the Patriot League Championship, coasting to a 14-6 victory over the U.S. Military Academy in the title game.
The Greyhounds then won two NCAA Tournament games in rematches of games they lost to teams during the regular-season. Loyola logged 16-11 win over Duke University when it hosted the Blue Devils in the NCAA First Round, and it then traveled to Columbus, Ohio, for the NCAA Quarterfinals. There, the Greyhounds downed Towson University, 10-8, to advance to Championship Weekend.
Loyola finished the season with a 14-4 record, the third-most wins in program history, and it was ranked No. 4 nationally in the final media poll of the season by Inside Lacrosse.
The 2012 Loyola squad set several program records and tied the NCAA Division I record for wins in a season with 18. The Greyhounds lost just a single game during the year, winning the ECAC regular-season and tournament championships en route to the national title.
Toomey was named the 2012 recipient of the Morris Touchstone as the Division I Coach of the Year, and he earned his third ECAC Coach of the Year honor.
During the year, the Greyhounds featured one of the most balanced teams in the nation, finishing fifth in scoring defense (7.51 goals allowed per game) and eighth in scoring offense (12.05). Loyola's transition game was also vaunted during the year, and the Greyhounds unit has been heralded as one of the nation's best for several seasons.
The 2010 season saw Toomey and Loyola return to the NCAA Championships for the third time in four years, playing in what would become an 'instant-classic' three-overtime game at Cornell. Loyola put together a 9-5 record for the second year in a row and reached as high as sixth in the national rankings during the season.
In 2009 Toomey guided the Greyhounds to a 9-5 record, their best since 2002. Loyola finished 6-1 in the ECAC and finished as the league's co-champion, the second year in a row Loyola has won at least a share of the crown.
According to the computer rankings, the 2009 Greyhounds played the third-toughest schedule in the nation, and they finished with an RPI of nine. Four of the Greyhounds' five losses came against teams ranked in the Top-10 nationally, and the five losses were by a combined seven goals.
The team was not short of highlights, as P.T. Ricci and Shane Koppens were named USILA All-Americans, and six Greyhounds earned All-ECAC honors. Ricci was the league Defensive Player of the Year, and Mike Sawyer was Rookie of the Year.
In 2008, Toomey was recognized by his peers as ECAC Co-Coach of the Year for the second time in three years. He led the Greyhounds to the ECAC title with a 6-1 record in conference play. The title marked the program's first since joining the ECAC in 2005. In addition to his 22-6 ECAC record, Toomey's teams have lost just one ECAC home game and have never finished lower than tied for second in the final league standings.
After weathering a challenging out-of-conference slate at the beginning of 2008, the Greyhounds hit their stride at the end of March. In a five-week span, the Greyhounds ripped off four wins, and they culminated the season by earning their 16th NCAA Tournament berth.
The 2008 squad ranked among the top three in nearly every statistical category in the ECAC. Boasting an up-tempo offense, the Greyhounds were third in the conference in goals (9.29) and points per game (13.43).
But true to Toomey's goalkeeper roots, the defense has also been a key ingredient to Loyola's success. In 2008, the Greyhounds allowed a league-low 39 goals in seven conference matchups (5.57 a game), an astonishing 18 goals lower than Hobart, which ranked second with 57.
In his first season as head coach in 2006, Toomey was selected as ECAC Coach of the Year after guiding the Greyhounds to a 6-6 overall record and a 5-2 conference mark. The Greyhounds finished 4-1 at home that year, defeating No. 2 Georgetown (14-10), as well as conference foes Penn State and Rutgers.
During his second year at the helm in 2007, Loyola accomplished its goal of returning to the NCAA Tournament. The storied program assembled an eye-raising tournament resume with marquee wins over then-ranked No. 1 Duke and Syracuse.
Toomey served as defensive coordinator for the Greyhounds prior to his appointment as head coach. His contributions to the unit and to the program, along with his coaching style and work ethic, earned him recognition in Lacrosse Magazine, which featured him as one of the nation's top assistants in 2005.
Beginning his coaching career at his alma mater following his graduation, Toomey helped lead the 1991 and 1992 Greyhounds to the NCAA Tournament. He then moved on to the Naval Academy Prep School, where he worked as a head coach in 1993.
Moving on to Navy, he was an assistant coach for the Midshipmen, working specifically with the goalies and defensive midfielders, helping guide the squad to the 1994 NCAA Tournament. Toomey served as the head coach at Severn School from 1996-98, leading the team to three successful seasons before returning to his alma mater in 1999.
As a student-athlete at Loyola from 1987-90, Toomey was a two-time All-America selection at goalie, garnering honorable mention honors in 1989 and third-team accolades in 1990. He owns two of Loyola's top six single-game save performances in the cage, and ranks among the Greyhounds' all-time save leaders.
His 22 saves against Rutgers in the 1990 NCAA Tournament also tie him for the top postseason mark in school history. He finished his career with an astonishing 25-5 overall record, and was the last Loyola goalkeeper to start an NCAA Championship Game, starting the 1990 NCAA Final against Syracuse.
In the early 1990s, Toomey played professionally for the Baltimore Thunder and the Boston Blazers. He has also guided several professional goalies like Mark Bloomquist, Tim McGeeney and Michael Fretwell, Jack Runkel and Jacob Stover as a coach.
Toomey and his wife, Sara, live in Anne Arundel County and have three daughters, Emma, Sophie and Lyla.
