Coaches

Rachael Bragg

Head Coach Rachael Bragg enters her second season with the Transylvania women’s lacrosse team for the 2023 season.


In her first year at Transylvania, Bragg inherited a strong program and quickly led the Pioneers even further. Going into 2023, Transylvania is coming off their fourth straight Heartland Collegiate Lacrosse Conference regular season and tournament championships, as well as their first ever tournament win in the 2022 NCAA Division III Women’s Lacrosse Tournament, after appearing in the dance for the fourth time since 2018.


In the 2022 season Bragg helped develop 6 All-HCLC First Team athletes, including the Offensive Player of the Year (Abbey Peterson) and the Newcomer of the Year (Diana Bruder). Bragg herself was named the HCLC’s Coach of the Year for women’s lacrosse, after leading the Pioneers to a 5-0 conference record where they outscored conference foes 97-13 in the five regular season games. The team went on to claim the HCLC Tournament Championship on home turf with a 16-7 victory.


Upon clinching her first conference title at Transylvania, Bragg guided the Pioneers to the 2022 NCAA Division III Women’s Lacrosse Tournament where they defeated Washington & Jefferson in a 16-15 thriller for the first NCAA Tournament win in program history. With such accomplishments in just her season at the helm, and having assembled a highly talented young roster, Bragg has set quite the standard at Transylvania since her arrival.


A veteran of the Division III head coaching ranks, Bragg came to Transylvania after spending the last four seasons as head coach of the Bridgewater (Va.) College women’s lacrosse team of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference.


In her tenure at Bridgewater, Bragg rebuilt an Eagle program competing in the premier ODAC conference, crafting a formidable team on the field and in the classroom. In her final season at Bridgewater, Bragg developed 11 student-athletes onto the Dean’s List and an All-ODAC Second Team selection.


During her tenure as Bridgewater’s head coach, Bragg steered the program to its first national top 25 ranking in team history and an ODAC Tournament berth in her first season with the Eagles. Bragg piloted the Eagles to a collection of on the field and academic milestones, including landmark wins against Roanoke College for the first time in 34 years, the program’s first win over nationally-ranked Christopher Newport, and fielded 10 All-ODAC awardees over a three-year period.


Prior to her arrival at Bridgewater, Bragg was instrumental in the progression of two Division III championship programs, serving as an assistant coach at Division III Muhlenberg (Pa.) College and Catholic University of America (Washington, D.C.). During her stint at Muhlenberg from 2015 through 2017, the Mules reached the IWLCA top 20 and defeated No. 1 nationally-ranked Gettysburg College. While at Catholic in the 2015 season, Bragg helped the Cardinals win the Landmark Conference Championship and eventually reach the NCAA Elite 8 and a final national ranking of No. 6.


Beyond her coaching duties, Bragg has been a member of the IWLCA Senior All-Star Committee since 2019 and served this year with the Clinic Planning Committee. She attended the NCAA Emerging Leaders Conference in 2017.


Bragg obtained her Master of Sports Leadership from Northeastern University in Boston in 2017. Prior to her coaching career, Bragg was a four-year student-athlete in women’s lacrosse at Division III Birmingham-Southern College in Alabama, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology in 2013.

Nicole Blair

Logan Otto

Logan Otto begins his first year as head coach of the Transylvania men’s lacrosse team for the 2022 season and his ninth overall with the program.


A fixture of the lacrosse coaching community in Kentucky, Otto is the second head coach in the history of the Transylvania men’s lacrosse program.


After serving the last eight years on the Transylvania men’s lacrosse staff as the top assistant, the last two as the Associate Head Coach, Otto takes the reins of the Pioneer men’s lacrosse program in his newest role as head coach, replacing his mentor and original coach of the program, Kentucky Lacrosse Hall-of-Famer Terry Justice.


The meteoric rise of Transylvania men’s lacrosse over the last five years has been directly intertwined with Otto’s imprint upon the program during that span.


In his past seven seasons as a full-time coach with the Pioneer men’s lacrosse team, Transylvania has won six consecutive conference tournament championships in the ORLC and the HCLC, highlighted by the program’s first trip to the NCAA Tournament in 2017. Otto has been instrumental in piloting the Pioneers to four consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances beginning with their 2017 breakthrough.


As the coordinator of recruiting for the Pioneers, Otto’s imprint upon the program has been felt through the expanding funnel of talent to Lexington over the past half-decade. In the 2021 season, the Pioneers for the first time furnished two IWLCA All-Region winners in one season, midfielder Trenten Toivonen and attackman Trenton Sneed. On the way to achieving their sixth straight conference tournament championship, Transylvania produced the conference’s 2021 offensive player of the year, defensive player of the year, and newcomer of the year, along with nine other All-Conference players.


During Otto’s tenure with the program, the Pioneers have continued to set new standards on an annual basis. In his final season as Associate Head Coach, Otto and the Pioneers delivered a 13-3 overall record, their highest single-season winning percentage in program history as they went 6-0 against conference opponents and clinched their fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament berth. In the 2019 season, Otto helped guide the Pioneers to their most wins in a single season with the Pioneers winning 14 matches.


Along with his dedicated stewardship of the Transylvania men’s lacrosse program, Otto has been active in growing the sport of lacrosse across the Bluegrass, establishing his pedigree for developing talent of all ages.


Since 2011, Otto has served as the co-Director of Commonwealth Kings Lacrosse, a travel lacrosse program based in Central Kentucky where he has coached and developed over 50 All-State and All-American student-athletes originating from Louisville, Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky, and Central Kentucky. Otto is also a certified trainer in the US Lacrosse Coaches Education Program as a Level 1 and 2 certified coach.


Off the field, Otto and his student-athletes have furthered their positive impact on the community through partnering with the Vs. Cancer Foundation; Otto serves as a Lacrosse Ambassador for the foundation, helping raise funds that go to the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation and the Kentucky Children’s Hospital.


Prior to joining Transylvania, Otto chiseled his coaching acumen at Scott County High School in nearby Georgetown, Kentucky and was an assistant coach under Justice at his high school alma mater, Lexington Catholic High School. While at Lexington Catholic, Otto guided the Knights to their first KLA championship in 2014.


In his playing days, Otto attended Columbia Hickman (Mo.) High School where he was a First Team All-State performer in boys’ lacrosse before to transferring to Lexington Catholic High School for his sophomore season. At Lexington Catholic, Otto played under Justice, becoming an three year All-State performer and was named a US Lacrosse High School All-American while holding multiple career point scoring records. Otto obtained a master’s degree from Morehead State University and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Kentucky.