(Photo Courtesy of Holy Cross Athletics)

Holy Cross Director of Athletics Marcus Blossom has announced a change in the leadership of the men’s lacrosse program, effective immediately. Assistant coach Shayne Lynch will serve as the Crusaders’ interim head coach until a replacement has been selected, the university announced in a press release on Friday.

Inside Lacrosse’s Terry Foy initially reported the news prior to the university making the official announcement.

Burke arrived in Worcester as an assistant ahead of the 2016 season and helped lead them to back-to-back patriot League Tournament appearances in his first two seasons. He was named the Crusader’s interim head coach for the 2019 season in June of 2018 and led them to a 7-7 (4-4 Patriot League) record, which is Holy Cross’ best since 1987, and a Patriot League Tournament appearance. That 2019 team also featured the most All-Patriot League selections in program history (four) and the program’s first-ever All-Patriot League first team selection (Matt Farrell).

During the shortened 2020 season, Burke led the Crusaders to a 4-3 record (0-2 Patriot League), which included their best start (4-1) since 1981. The Crusaders had three MLL draftees (Sean New, Connor Waldron, Kevin Kodizs) and one PLL draftee (Sean New) following the 2020 season.

Holy Cross has yet to release their 2021 schedule, however the Patriot League announced their format for spring sports scheduling earlier today. Men’s lacrosse will be broken in to two divisions: North and South. Holy Cross will be in the North alongside Army West Point, Boston University, and Colgate. Teams will play a minimum of seven conference games with, at least, one game against each divisional opponent and limited contest against non-divisional opponents.