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Chris Kolon
A leader of men on and off the field and a pioneer of the game helping it flourish in the state of Michigan, Chris Kolon just ended his 15th season on the sidelines – and ninth as a head coach - for Detroit Mercy in 2023
He guided the program in a change of conferences from the MAAC to the ASUN last season. This past season, he saw senior Ryan Birney named All-ASUN Second Team and Drew Kessenich selected to the All-Freshman Team. In addition, sophomore goalie Jakob Hemme led the conference and was 19th in the nation with 12.45 saves per game, fifth in school history, and was 18th in the ASUN with 2.55 ground balls per game
In 2022, his team earned USILA Team All-Academic honors and saw a pair of players rank in the top 10 in the nation as graduate senior Paul Manuszak was third in the Atlantic Sun and sixth in the nation with a career-best 2.00 caused turnovers per game, while the rookie Hemme was first in the league and eighth in the country with 13.40 saves per game. As a team, the Titans topped the ASUN and were eighth in the country with 14.18 saves per game, which marked the fifth time the Titans have been in the top 10 in that category and the first since 2015.
Manuszak and Erskine were named to the Manuszak garnered USILA All-American Scholar Honors and played in the prestigious North-South All-Star game. He was the fifth Titan to earn the USILA academic laurel and just the third to play in the All-Star game.
On June 2, 2014, he was tabbed the program's interim head coach and then was named the permanent head coach on July 14.
During his time with Detroit Mercy, Coach Kolon has overseen all aspects of the Titans’ defense and served as the team's recruiting coordinator, while helping establish the program as one of the best in the MAAC registering Detroit Mercy's first three winning seasons and leading the team to a school record in overall and conference victories. His teams have also always been at the top of the MAAC in academic accolades in both Academic All-League selections and honor roll recipients.
He has tutored 15 players that have gone on to get drafted in the MLL, NLL and PLL and 19 that have played in all three professional lacrosse leagues. In 2019, he was named an assistant coach with the Atlas Lacrosse Club in the brand-new Premier Lacrosse League.
In his first seven years as a head coach, Detroit Mercy made the MAAC Championships five times, reaching the title game in 2018, and posted the first three winning seasons in school history, setting a school record for victories twice. His first-ever win was a memorable one as Detroit Mercy upended Ohio State, 9-8, on March 7, 2015. The win was the first by the Titans over Ohio State - who were receiving votes in both the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll and the USILA Coaches Poll and would go on to play in the NCAA Tournament later that season.
The last two seasons, he has had to deal with the pandemic, but in 2021, the Titans were picked to finish second in the MAAC and ended up at 3-2 in the conference - with two games canceled - and ended up as the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament. It also saw graduate senior Alex Akins tabbed Third Team CoSIDA At-Large Academic All-America®, just the second Titan to earn the academic distinction following former teammate Matthew Vangalen in 2019 - also third team - and just the 19th Titan in school history to earn Academic All-America from CoSIDA. The three-time team captain had a tremendous career, putting his name into the Detroit Mercy record books in his five years. The 2021 Detroit Mercy President's Award winner, he was a four-time All-MAAC defenseman who finished his career sixth in school history with 52 caused turnovers and collected 79 ground balls, while playing in 59 career games - tied for seventh in school history - with 54 starts - fifth in the record book. Off the field, he was a finalist for the Senior CLASS Award and was named a Senior CLASS Second Team All-American in 2021. He was a USILA Scholar All-American in 2020 and was a three-time member of the MAAC All-Academic Team.
In 2019, the Titans recorded their second-straight winning campaign at 8-7 and tied their MAAC wins mark at 5-2. One of their triumphs was a come-from-behind win at eventual MAAC champions Marist. The year also saw Vangalen break the school record for points in a season for the second year in a row and he was named the MAAC Offensive Player of the Year, the first Titan to ever receive that honor. Sophomore Logan Shamblin was named the MAAC Defensive Player of the Year - the second Titan to earn that honor - while sophomore Paul Manuszak became the second Titan to win the conference's LSM of the Year.
Academically, the Titans fought through the start of the 2020 pandemic to post a 3.4 GPA and also had 30 student-athletes named to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Academic Honor Roll. Detroit Mercy also topped the MAAC with 21 student-athletes named to the All-Academic Team, the ninth-straight year that the Titans either led or tied for the most in the league, and had Akins earn one of the highest academic awards in lacrosse as he was named to the USILA/Warrior and New Balance Division I Scholar All-American Team, just the fourth Titan to ever earn the academic distinction and third in his head coaching tenure after Jordan Houtby (2013), Paul Bitetti (2016) and Vangalen (2019). In 2019, Vangalen became the first men's lacrosse player in school history to earn Google Cloud Academic All-District® 5 For Men's At-Large sports as he was one of only five men's lacrosse student-athletes selected over the eight districts in Division I.
The 2018 season proved to be a record-breaking one for Detroit Mercy as the Titans registered new standards in a number of categories with the highest on the list totaling nine victories on the year, breaking the school mark of eight in 2015. The red, white and blue also registered a school-record five conference wins and posted a record five-game winning streak during the season.
As a team, the 2018 squad broke the school record in total points (261), goals (165), assists (96), shots (565), shots on goal (346), least turnovers per game (14.38) and goals-against average (9.36). Senior Charlie Hayes helped lead that defense as the All-MAAC First Team Short Stick Midfielder saw the team post 8.56 caused turnovers per game to not only lead the MAAC, but also rank eighth in the country. He recorded 34 total caused turnovers, tied for the most ever by a short stick midfielder with Loyola Maryland's Pat Laconi in 2014.
The Titans also were among the highest academic squads in the MAAC leading the league in honor roll and All-Academic selections. The squad also posted a 3.3 team GPA.
In 2017, he led the Titans back to the MAAC Championship semifinals after the program was picked to miss the conference tournament in the preseason polls. 19 Titans made the grade for the All-Academic Team to lead the league and 27 were tabbed to the honor roll, the most by a lacrosse team in the conference.
In 2016, men's lacrosse team had a banner year in the classroom as 29 student-athletes earned a spot on the MAAC Academic Honor Roll - tops in the league - while Detroit Mercy led the MAAC for the fifth-straight year with 20 members on the All-Academic Team. In addition, Paul Bitetti was selected a USILA Scholar All-American, just the second player in program history to earn that honor.
In the fall of 2016, former standouts Mike Birney and Paul Bitetti were both chosen in Major League Lacrosse's Supplemental Draft by the Ohio Machine and Atlanta Blaze, respectively.
In his first season as the head coach of a young Detroit Mercy squad that featured 10 seniors and 16 upperclassmen on its 46-man roster, he guided the Titans to their first-ever winning record with a program-best eight wins at 8-6 in 2015. Detroit Mercy also tied a school record with four conference victories and recorded wins over Ohio State, Bellarmine and Robert Morris for the first time in the program’s seven years. Detroit Mercy received votes in the USILA Coach’s Poll for the first time during the regular season.
The Titans were also 6-0 at home and advanced to the MAAC Championship semifinals for the fifth-straight year. He also saw sophomore goalie Jason Weber lead the nation in saves per game for the second-straight season (14.43) as well as finishing third in the nation and second in the MAAC with a .589 save percentage.
As a team in 2015, Detroit Mercy was number one in saves per game (15.14), marking the fifth time in the program’s seven-year history that it has led the country in a stat, as well as 11th in clearing percentage (.883) and 13th in man-up offense (.451). In the MAAC, the Titans were number one in clearing percentage and caused turnovers (7.29), second in man-up offense, scoring offense (9.93), shot percentage (.286) and scoring margin (-0.29), while placing third in points per game (15.14) and scoring defense (10.21).
Off the field, 35 Titans earned a place on the Detroit Athletic Director’s Honor Roll, while Detroit Mercy led the MAAC with 16 All-Academic selections.
Kolon’s defensive mind and aggressiveness can be seen right among the nation’s leaders as Detroit Mercy led the nation in caused turnovers per game in 2012 (10.47) and 2011 (11.63), while finishing tied for second in 2013 (10.0) and third in 2010 (10.47).
One of the best defensive minds in the game, he coached two of the top caused turnover leaders in NCAA history as three-time MAAC LSM of the Year Jordan Houtby finished his career number one in the NCAA record book with 158, while 2013 graduate and All-MAAC honoree defenseman Jamie Hebden was second at 123 when they graduated.
In 2014, Kolon saw freshman Jason Weber earn the MAAC’s Rookie and Defensive Player of the Year as he topped the nation with a pair of school records, finishing with 16.27 saves per game and a .642 save percentage. The netminder made 179 total saves – tying a Detroit Mercy record – and was 16th in the country and first in the MAAC with a 9.07 goals against average.
As a team in 2014, Detroit Mercy was also tops in the NCAA in saves per game (16.07), while ending 19th in caused turnovers per game (7.79) and 20th in man-down defense (.673). Sophomore Paul Bitetti was the latest defenseman to shine in Coach Kolon’s scheme as he was 12th in DI and led the conference with 1.85 caused turnovers per game.
In MAAC play, Detroit Mercy was the top man-down unit at 67.3%, while ranking second in the league in caused turnovers. The defense also set a school record in allowing just 9.61 goals per game – second in the MAAC – and a number that has dramatically decreased in the Titans' first six seasons going from 16.00 in 2009 and 12.00 in 2010 to under 10 in 2013 and 2014.
In 2013, the Titan defense gave up just 9.93 goals per game, second in the MAAC and 25th in the nation. His defense held the top scoring team in the MAAC, Marist, to just six goals in the conference semifinals and then allowed just nine goals to No. 2 Notre Dame in the NCAA Tournament – the least amount of goals ever allowed by a MAAC squad in NCAA Tournament history.
The Titan defense was also second in the MAAC and 14th in the nation in man-down defense (.708). Hebden finished second (2.53) and Houtby sixth (2.33) in caused turnovers per game, while goalie A.J. Levell was 15th in saves per game (11.83) and 17th in save percentage (.557). Houtby was tabbed Co-MAAC LSM of the Year, while Hebden was First Team All-MAAC on defense and Levell was a Second Team selection inbetween the pipes.
In 2012, Detroit Mercy was also top 10 in saves per game (11.73), 12th in ground balls (32.27) and 13th in man-down defense (.738), and that was after finishing 15th in ground balls (32.94) in 2011.
Three of his defensive players ranked in the top 50 in caused turnovers in 2011 in Houtby (2nd - 3.25), Hebden (5th - 2.5) and Jason McDonald (48th - 1.31). Houtby and Hebden would come back to post another strong junior campaign in 2012 as Houtby was again second tallying 2.53 per game, while Hebden was 35th at 1.2. Houtby has also earned Second Team All-Conference, while Hebden was a second team pick as a sophomore and junior.
In 2010 in just the Titans second season as a varsity program, Detroit Mercy was third in the nation in caused turnovers at 10.47 per game. That number trailed only Maryland (11.38) and Syracuse (10.67). A pair of rookie long sticks were among the nation’s best as well as Houtby was sixth in the country in caused turnovers at 2.13 turnovers per game, a number that also led the MAAC. Hebden’s name could be seen just under Houtby’s as he was 25th in the NCAA with 1.6 caused turnovers per game.
No stranger to lacrosse in the Metro Detroit area, Kolon has long been dedicated to the growth of lacrosse in Michigan. He began his coaching career with former Titan head coach Matt Holtz at Michigan State (2000-2001). Kolon then spent the next few years as a high school coach at Detroit Country Day (2003-2004) and Birmingham Seaholm (2006-2007), serving as an assistant coach and defensive coordinator at all three stops, while maintaining a collegiate lacrosse officiating schedule.
Kolon, a 1999 Rutgers University graduate, lettered for four years as a defenseman for the Scarlet Knights. He is a local graduate of Seaholm, where he quickly picked up the game as a sophomore and parlayed his love of the game into a collegiate scholarship, earning him the distinction of the first player from Seaholm history to play and earn a scholarship at the Division I level.
Kolon earned his MBA from Detroit Mercy in 2009. He is also on the Advisory Board of All-American Lacrosse Leagues.
Kolon, and his wife Elizabeth, are the proud parents of 12-year old twins, John and Thomas.
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