Camillus — When the West Genesee girls lacrosse team gathers next spring in pursuit of even more championship glory, it will do so without the head coach that led them to most of it.
Bob Elmer has submitted his resignation to the school district, which is set to be approved at Wednesday night’s Board of Education meeting, according to school superintendent Chris Brown.
He leaves a Wildcats program that remains among the best in the nation, having reached yet another state Class A final four in 2015 after earning its eighth Section III title in the last nine years.
By far, Elmer’s biggest accomplishment was helping WG win seven New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships.
When he took over as the Wildcats’ head coach in 2000, the program lagged behind the accomplishments of Cicero-North Syracuse and Baldwinsville, who already had earned three state titles between them.
All of that started to change in 2001. Elmer’s second team broke through and the Wildcats earned the state title, and then repeated in 2002 and followed that up with a third consecutive state crown in 2003.
A four-year break followed, but in 2007 and 2008 Elmer and the Wildcats added two more state championships. A series of close calls followed before WG won it all again in 2012 and tacked on a seventh state title in 2014.
All the while, Elmer and his main assistant coach, Dan Hallinan, helped send dozens of players into the college ranks, teaching a style of play that emphasized aggression all over the field, where attackers would sprint back and play defense and goals were the result of precise passes and cuts.
Besides the titles, Elmer owns the most victories of any Section III girls lacrosse coach, having surpassed the mark held by his long-time rival, Baldwinsville’s Doug Rowe.
Elmer said he wanted to devote more time to his family, which includes his daughters, all of whom starred at West Genesee. His youngest daughter, Hannah, just helped Cortland State win the NCAA Division III championship last spring.
