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Jon Torpey
Jon Torpey has led the High Point University men’s lacrosse program since its inception, having been named the program’s first head coach in 2010. It took just three seasons of NCAA competition for Torpey to lead the Panthers to their first NCAA Tournament berth when the team defeated Richmond in the 2015 Southern Conference Championship game. He led the Panthers to their second NCAA tournament appearance in 2022 after defeating Richmond in the SoCon final, 11-8.
Over the team’s first decade as a program they have posted a 71-73 record with a 33-16 mark in league play (Atlantic Sun 2014 and Southern Conference 2015-2022). Along with the NCAA Tournament berth and 2015 SoCon tournament title, Torpey led the Panthers to a regular season conference championship in 2014, a 12-11 overtime victory over then-No. 10 Virginia in February 2015 and another regular season title in 2018. He won his second-straight SoCon Regular Season Championship with a program-best 13 wins in the 2019 season. Torpey picked up wins at No. 2 Duke, 13-9, and No. 9 Virginia, 14-13, in the historic 2019 season. Torpey led the Panthers to another victory in the SoCon Championship against Richmond.
Under Torpey tutelage, 17 student-athletes have earned the opportunity to play lacrosse at the professional level while also coaching five conference players of the year, 25 all-conference first or second teamers. Leading the way collecting those honors, Dan Lomas was a three-time USILA All-American, two-time conference offensive player of the year and was drafted in both the Major League Lacrosse and National Lacrosse League drafts. In 2018, Asher Nolting became the first SoCon player to be named Offensive Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year. Nolting repeated as SoCon Offensive Player of the Year and was only the second player in conference history to win the award twice. Nolting was drafted to the PLL Cannons with the 10th overall pick in 2022. Coach Torpey was named 2019 SoCon Coach of the Year for the first time in his career.
In the 2022 season, Torpey earned five All SoCon honors with Asher Nolting named SoCon Offensive Player of the Year. Hunter Vines, Trey Smith and PJ Peters were named to the All SoCon Second Team and Nolting was named to First Team All SoCon. Torpey picked up wins over Navy and VMI throughout the season.
During the 2021 season, Torpey's team was crowned SoCon champions for the second time ever with a 11-8 win against the Richmond Spiders. Brayden Mayea, Asher Nolting, and Kevin Rogers were all named to the All-SoCon First Team.
The 2019 campaign was historic for High Point Lacrosse. Torpey led the Panthers to a program-record 13 wins and wins over two ranked opponents. The Purple & White recorded a win over the highest ranked team in High Point history across all teams when they toppled then-No. 2 Duke, 13-9. Torpey led the Panthers to a second win over a ranked team when HPU beat then-No. 9 Virginia, 14-13. High Point reached as high as No. 8 in the national rankings and were ranked from week one through the rest of the season. Torpey led the Panthers to a 6-1 SoCon record and a second-straight regular season championship. HPU set a SoCon Tournament record with 17 goals in the 17-3 win over Jacksonville in the semifinal, before falling to Richmond in the SoCon Championship.
In 2018, the Panthers faced a brutal schedule to start the season, falling in their first six contests that included matchups with No. 1 Duke, No. 2 Maryland and No. 6 Virginia. The games against the Terps, a two-goal contest, and the Hoos, which was tied at halftime, prepared HPU for the rest of the season, in which they went 6-2 the rest of the way and shared the SoCon regular season championship.
Similarly, Torpey has coached three Senior Class Award nominees in Austin Geisler, Lomas and Michael LeClair. Geisler was a nominee in 2015 while Lomas was one of 10 finalists for the award in 2016 and LeClair was a Senior CLASS First Team selection in 2017.
Off the HPU sideline, Torpey was published in the Business Journal and also appeared on ESPN during the networks coverage of the first round of the NCAA Tournament. He also served as the head coach of the South in the 2016 USILA/Nike North-South game.
After losing the program’s first class to compete at the NCAA level their whole careers, the Panthers went 4-10 in 2017. The squad was led offensively by Senior CLASS First Team selection Michael LeClair who tallied 18 goals and 13 assists. Meanwhile, on the defensive end Tim Troutner Jr. ranked fifth in the nation in saves per game with 12.50 per outing.
In 2016, the Purple & White became one of 12 teams nationally to win at least nine games in each of the 2014, 2015 and 2016 campaigns going 9-6 behind the offensive trio of Lomas, Thistle and LeClair. The three attackmen combined for 154 points on the year while Troutner went 8-4 in goal as a freshman. The team came close to a breakthrough win on Feb. 20 leading No. 4 Maryland late in the third quarter before falling 15-10. But the next time out, the Panthers claimed a 12-11 overtime victory over No. 10 Virginia. High Point finished the 2016 regular season on a five-game winning streak – the second-longest in program history – before falling to Richmond in the SoCon semifinals.
During the 2015 campaign, Pat Farrell and Geisler became the program’s first two MLL draftees before Lomas and Matt Thistle followed suit the next season. Tanner Landstra made it three years in a row with an MLL draftee while Dallas Bridle joined Lomas by being drafted into the NLL. Tim Troutner Jr. became the highest drafted player in the HPU history when he went No. 2 overall in the 2019 MLL draft. Troutner Jr. was also the only goalie taken in the inaugural Premier Lacrosse League College Draft. Chris Young was also taken in the 2019 MLL draft, while Connor Robinson and Adam Dickson were chosen in the 2018 NLL draft.
Lomas and Tyler Cook were named USILA Scholar All-Americans while Cook earned CoSIDA Academic All-America First Team accolades. Similarly, Lomas, Thistle and Zack Price were first-team all-conference selections as LeClair and Bridle made the second team.
Torpey’s best season prior to 2019 came in 2015 when he led the Panthers to a 10-7 record, SoCon Tournament title and the program’s first NCAA Tournament berth – the first of any HPU men’s program in Division I competition. The team opened the lacrosse season with a 15-10 victory over Delaware on Feb. 1, then nearly knocked off the defending national champion Duke at home the following week. The team lost three one-goal games early in the year before rattling off five wins over the final six games to qualify for the SoCon Tournament. Once there, HPU avenged their two regular season conference losses with one-goal wins over Mercer and Richmond. Geisler earned Tournament MVP honors in the crease. The team went on to play Towson in the NCAA Tournament and despite jumping out to a 5-0 lead, fell 10-8 in Baltimore.
Lomas led the SoCon with 38 goals earning offensive player of the year honors while Jamie Piluso joined him on the league’s first team. Thistle, LeClair, Farrell and Harris Levine were named to the league’s second team. Geisler, meanwhile, became the program’s first Senior CLASS Award finalist as Farrell was HPU’s first USILA Scholar All-American.
After dropping the first two contests of the 2014 season, High Point rattled off six straight wins, which is still the longest winning streak in program history with all the wins coming by two goals or fewer. The team ended up sharing the regular season Atlantic Sun crown with Mercer before dropping its first chance to advance to the NCAA Tournament in a 8-7 loss to Richmond in the A-Sun title game.
Lomas (offensive) and Geisler (defensive) were the league’s players of the year as Piluso, Thistle and Farrell also made the A-Sun First Team. Likewise, Brad James, Garrett Swaim and Bucky Smith were second team selections while Cook was the league’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Torpey’s first NCAA contest as the head coach of the Panthers came in a 12-10 setback to Delaware on Feb. 2, 2013. The next time out, the Purple & White notched their first win, a 9-7 defeat of Towson. From there, the squad finished 3-12.
Torpey came to HPU after two seasons as associate head coach at Dartmouth and five seasons at the University of Denver.
Torpey has quickly built a reputation as one of the best young lacrosse coaches in the nation. He was still playing professional lacrosse when he was named assistant coach at Denver in July 2004. In 2006 when he was 28 years old, Torpey was named associate head coach at Denver, becoming the youngest Div. I coach in that position. At 32 years old, Torpey became one of the youngest head coaches in NCAA Div. I when he joined High Point University.
At Dartmouth, Torpey assisted in all aspects of the program, including recruiting all over the United States and Canada. He was responsible for monitoring educational progress and organizing successful fundraising efforts. As defensive coordinator, he coached the 2010 Big Green to the third-lowest goals against in the Ivy League and led the team to the second-best penalty-killing percentage in the league. The highlight of the season was holding No. 6 Cornell to six goals in an 8-6 win at Gillette Stadium. The Big Red eventually made it to the NCAA Final Four.
Torpey was a member of the University of Denver lacrosse staff from 2004-09, helping build the Pioneers’ program into a national contender in an area of the country that wasn’t typically known for lacrosse. In Torpey’s second season of 2006, he was instrumental in helping Denver to a 12-5 overall record and 5-0 league record, its first outright Great Western Lacrosse League title and its first-ever NCAA Tournament berth. Torpey was elevated to associate head coach following that season.
Denver made its second NCAA Tournament appearance in 2008 and earned a No. 11 postseason national ranking, the best in team history. While Torpey was on staff, Denver posted a 47-32 overall record and a 17-8 Great Western Lacrosse League record.
Prior to Denver, Torpey coached three seasons at Goucher College and one at Denison University, both members of NCAA Div. III. He coached Goucher’s scoring defense from being unranked to No. 13 in the country in three seasons. He helped coach the 2001 Denison squad to the NCAA Div. III Final Four.
Torpey played collegiate lacrosse at Ohio State under head coach Joe Breschi, who is now the head coach at North Carolina. A defenseman, Torpey was a three-year captain and was named Street and Smith All-American as a senior. In his junior year, Torpey helped lead the Buckeyes to a 10-3 record, the team’s highest win total in over a decade, and its first-ever Great Western Lacrosse League title. He was a three-time Big Ten All-Academic selection, a four-year Scholar-Athlete Award winner and a finalist for the Big Ten Medal of Honor and the Corwin A. Fergus Award for athletic and academic achievement.
“I think High Point University has made an outstanding choice in hiring Jon Torpey,” said Breschi. “He is the first and only player I have coached who was a captain as a sophomore. It shows his leadership and ability to rally guys around him as well as his tenacity as a player. As a coach, he has gained the respect of the lacrosse community. He will do an amazing job to bring High Point University to the national level with his ability to coach and recruit and his knowledge of the game. I’m thrilled about this hire.”
As a professional player, Torpey was part of championship teams in both the National Lacrosse League and Major League Lacrosse. He played with the NLL’s Philadelphia Wings, Colorado Mammoth and Columbus Landsharks, winning a world title with the Mammoth in 2006. In the MLL, Torpey played for the Philadelphia Barrage team that won the championship in 2004 as well as the Denver Outlaws.
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Torpey earned his bachelor's degree in education from Ohio State in 2000 and earned a master's degree in education and sports administration from Goucher in 2003.
Torpey is originally from Baltimore, Md. but resides in Jamestown, N.C. with his wife, Tegan and their son, Tommy, and two daughters, Maggie and Bridget.
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