Taylor Wray
{{Short description|American lacrosse coach}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2025}}
{{Infobox college coach
| name = Taylor Wray
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| current_title = Head coach
| current_team = Saint Joseph's
| current_conference =
| current_record = 120–69
| contract =
| birth_date = June 27, 1981
| birth_place = Edmonton, Alberta
| death_date =
| death_place =
| alma_mater =
| player_years1 = 2000–2003
| player_team1 = Duke
| player_years2 = 2004–2006
| player_team2 = Calgary Roughnecks
| player_years3 = 2007–2012
| player_team3 = Philadelphia Wings
| coach_years1 = 2003–2006
| coach_team1 = Queens University of Charlotte (asst.)
| coach_years2 = 2007
| coach_team2 = National Sports Academy
| coach_years3 = 2008–2011
| coach_team3 = Lehigh (asst.)
| coach_years4 = 2012–present
| coach_team4 = Saint Joseph's
| overall_record =
| bowl_record =
| tournament_record =
| championships = As a Player:
- 2-time ACC Tournament Champion
- 2004 NLL Champion
As a Coach:
- 2022 NEC Tournament Champion
- 2024 A10 Tournament Champion
| awards = As a Player:
- 2003 Eric Tyler Hardy Defensive Player of the Year
- 2004 NLL Rookie of the Year
- 2004 NLL Defensive Player of the Year
- 2004 First-Team All Pro
As a Coach:
- 6-time NEC Coach of the Year
- 2-time A10 Coach of the Year
| coaching_records = * Saint Joseph's All-Time Winningest Coach
}}
Taylor Wray (born June 27, 1981) is a Canadian lacrosse coach and former player. Wray is the current Head Coach of the Saint Joseph's University men's lacrosse team. Wray played for the Calgary Roughnecks and Philadelphia Wings of the National Lacrosse League. Taylor's older brother Devan Wray is a former NLL player and former assistant coach for the Edmonton Rush.{{cite web|url=http://nll.com/article.php?id=5211|title=Devan Wray hired as assistant coach|work=NLL.com|date=November 4, 2011|accessdate=2011-11-04}}
Professional career
Born in Edmonton, Alberta, Wray began his career with the Calgary Roughnecks in 2004, and won the NLL Championship with the Roughnecks that year. Wray was named both Rookie of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year in 2004.
In July 2007, Wray was traded to the Philadelphia Wings in a three-team blockbuster trade.{{cite web|url=http://www.nll.com/article.php?id=3021|title=Three Team Blockbuster Trade Announced|work=NLL.com|date=July 24, 2007|accessdate=2007-07-24}}
Coaching career
Prior to the 2008 NCAA season, Wray was named Assistant Coach of the Lehigh University lacrosse team, under Head Coach Kevin Cassese. Prior to this, He had served as Assistant Coach for Queens University of Charlotte.{{cite web |url=http://www.lehighsports.com/sports/mlacrosse/coach/bio.asp?COACH_ID=336|title=Taylor Wray's Lehigh University Coaches Bio |accessdate=2008-03-04 |format= |work=LehighSports.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080320120643/http://www.lehighsports.com/sports/mlacrosse/coach/bio.asp?COACH_ID=336 |archive-date=2008-03-20 }}
During the summer of 2011, Wray was named Head Coach of the Saint Joseph's University men's lacrosse team. Prior to the start of the 2013 season, Philadelphia head coach Johnny Mouradian announced that Wray has told the team he will not be returning to Wings.
Wray improved the St. Joseph Hawks' win total by six in 2012. In his third season as coach, Wray led the Hawks to the NEC Regular Season Championship, after going undefeated in conference play. The Hawks were regular season champions four out of the next five seasons and appeared in three NEC Title Games.{{cite web | url=https://sjuhawks.com/sports/mens-lacrosse/roster/coaches/taylor-wray/881 | title=Taylor Wray - Head Coach - Men's Lacrosse Coaches }}
Wray won his first conference tournament in 2022 while once again leading the Hawks through NEC play undefeated. The Hawks made their first ever NCAA Tournament that year, losing to Yale in the first round 18–16.{{cite web |title=Saint Joseph's Lacrosse Team Page |url=https://www.insidelacrosse.com/team/stjoseph/2024 |access-date=May 4, 2024}}{{cite web|title= 2022 Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship Official|url=https://www.ncaa.com/brackets/lacrosse-men/d1/2022|access-date=May 4, 2024}}
Wray is the winningest coach in Saint Joseph's lacrosse history with a record of 120–69 in 13 seasons. Over that time, Wray has won eight conference coach of the years, coached four All-Americans, and two PLL draft picks.
Personal life
Statistics
=NLL=
| BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="3" CELLSPACING="0" | |||||||||||||
| ALIGN="center" bgcolor="#e0e0e0"
! colspan="2" bgcolor="#ffffff" | ! rowspan="99" bgcolor="#ffffff" | ! colspan="6" | Regular Season ! rowspan="99" bgcolor="#ffffff" | ! colspan="6" | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
| ALIGN="center" bgcolor="#e0e0e0"
! Season !! Team !! GP !! G !! A !! Pts !! LB !! PIM !! GP !! G !! A !! Pts !! LB !! PIM | |||||||||||||
| ALIGN="center" bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 2004 | Calgary | 14 | 8 | 8 | 16 | 82 | 44 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 24 | 4 |
| ALIGN="center"
| 2005 | Calgary | 11 | 2 | 13 | 15 | 90 | 26 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 4 |
| ALIGN="center" bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 2006 | Calgary | 14 | 6 | 16 | 22 | 102 | 33 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| ALIGN="center"
| 2007 | Calgary | 16 | 5 | 9 | 14 | 119 | 45 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 0 |
| ALIGN="center" bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 2008 | Philadelphia | 12 | 3 | 8 | 11 | 86 | 31 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 0 |
| ALIGN="center"
| 2009 | Philadelphia | 12 | 2 | 9 | 11 | 60 | 24 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| ALIGN="center" bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 2010 | Philadelphia | 13 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 51 | 29 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| ALIGN="center"
| 2011 | Philadelphia | 12 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 44 | 18 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| ALIGN="center" bgcolor="#e0e0e0"
! colspan="2" | NLL Totals !! 104 !! 26 !! 67 !! 93 !! 634 !! 250!! 7 !! 4 !! 5 !! 9 !! 60 !! 8 |
Awards
{{s-start}}
{{succession box | before = Brian Langtry | title = NLL Rookie of the Year | years = 2004 | after = Ryan Boyle}}
{{succession box | before = Jim Moss | title = NLL Defensive Player of the Year
(tie with Cam Woods) | years = 2004 | after = Andrew Turner}}
{{s-end}}
References
{{reflist}}{{NLL Rookie of the Year Award}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wray, Taylor}}
Category:Sportspeople from Edmonton
Category:Canadian lacrosse players
Category:Calgary Roughnecks players
Category:Duke Blue Devils men's lacrosse players
Category:Lehigh Mountain Hawks men's lacrosse coaches
Category:National Lacrosse League All-Stars
Category:National Lacrosse League major award winners
Category:Philadelphia Wings players