Meet the Coaches

Matt Combs 2022

Matt has been playing/coaching lacrosse for about 12 years with the majority of his time spent with the Janesville Lacrosse Club. He fell in love with the sport after scoring his first goal which led to him participating in clinics and tournaments, both indoor and outdoor, all over the midwest through high school. Matt was a 4 year varsity player for Janesville, but due to an unfortunate injury was unable to play college lacrosse. That did not stop Matt from sharing his love for lacrosse, and he began coaching right away after high school bringing his upbeat coaching style to Janesville's U14 team for two years. He then moved up to head coach of Sun Prairie's JV team and also spent time on the varsity sideline soaking in as much knowledge as he could. An opportunity arose, and Matt jumped on it to become the varsity head coach at the high school where he previously spent 4 years playing. Matt has also spent 3 summers coaching for the Dane County Coyotes, and he looks forward to bringing the same passion and fire he had as a player to the sidelines of the 2022 team.

Theo Lucas 2022

Theo grew up in Northfield, Minnesota, and began playing lacrosse in 7th grade. As a sophomore, he became a member of the first varsity lacrosse team is his school's history playing midfield and taking faceoffs. Theo then went on to attend UW-Madison and played for their club team. His coaching experience includes working with U11 and U14 teams in the past, and he was just recently brought on as the new varsity head coach for Stoughton High School. Not only is Theo excited about the new journey as a varisty head coach, but he's also looking forward to coaching the Phoenix 2022 team with Matt and share his faceoff knowledge during our skill clinics. (If you look really close, you'll find another one of our coaches in Theo's photos)

Tim Francis 2023

Tim began playing lacrosse at the age of 13 and played high school lacrosse in Southern California. He went on to play college ball at Carthage College, and Tim was a 3 year starter and 2-time captain. During his time at Carthage, Tim climbed to 6th on the all-time goals list, and he also played in the 2015 NCAA tournament. Tim has been coaching for 6 years, and 4 of those years have been with the Dane County Coyotes. In the spring you'll find Tim on the sidelines of the Oregon High School lacrosse team coaching the offense, and year round you'll find Tim keeping the streets of Middleton safe working as a Middleton police officer.

Dan Zia 2023

Dan began playing lacrosse as a sophomore at Schaumburg High School in Illinois and played in the IHSLA state championship game as a junior. He went to college at UW-Madison and played on the Badger club team during his time at UW serving as captain his last two years and earning defensive player of the year honors in 2012 and 2013. Dan's first introduction to coaching was as the varsity defensive coordinator for Waunakee in 2014, and helped lead them to the state championship game while also earning the Madison Area Lacrosse Association assistant coach of the year award. He then stepped away from high school lacrosse as he returned to school, but was still able to help out with the Oregon youth program and began coaching the Dane County Coyotes in 2015 and remained with the program until its end in the winter of 2019-2020. Dan is now the program director for the Phoenix Lacrosse Club as well as the defensive coordinator for the Westside High School varsity team. When Dan isn't coaching lacrosse, you'll find him coaching patients through exercises as a physical therapist assistant for UW Health.

Austin Lynch U14

Austin grew up playing lacrosse in Minnesota at Minnetonka High School as an attackman. He then went on to play in college at UW-Madison. Austin began coaching lacrosse in 2012 starting with Madison Memorial High School and is now the offensive coordinator for the Westside Co-op team. He has also coached 4 years with the Dane County Coyotes working mostly with U14 teams, and Austin will again be looking forward to working with the U14 team this summer. (Apologies for the lack of photo quality, cameras weren't very good when Austin played.)

Kolton Urso U14

Kolton grew up in the Madison area and started playing lacrosse as a freshman at Oregon High School under the coaching of Hal Rosenberg. In college, he played attack at UW-Eau Claire before transferring to UW-Madison where he was again coached by Hal Rosenberg and played alongside Dan Zia and Austin Lynch (claiming to have scored more goals than both combined, but could have scored even more if he had not dropped so many would be assists from Dan). Kolton began coaching in 2012 with Madison Memorial High School before moving to Chicago where he has spent the last 5 years. He recently moved back to Madison and accepted a position as Varsity assistant for the Westside high school program. Kolton is excited to bring his talents back to South-Central Wisconsin and will be working with the U14 this summer. When Kolton is not coaching lacrosse, he works as a nuclear engineer for Exelon.

Brett Krueger U12

Brett began playing lacrosse at the age of 12 for the Janesville Lacrosse Club. He then went on to play for the Janesville high school team and became a varsity starter as a sophomore. Brett played both attack and defense for Janesville, and spent his winters playing box lacrosse and summers playing in tournaments. After high school, Brett was recruited to the recently formed D3 team at Concordia University Chicago where he started for 3 years (this would've been his 4th year, but the season has been canceled due to the unfortunate current events). Brett took a break from college during his sophomore year to join the Army reserves. He is currently the all-time goals and points leader for Concordia. Throughout his college career, Brett has helped out with many youth clincs and camps, and he is excited to bring his talents and knowledge to Phoenix.