Greg Paradine

  • B.A., Geography, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Greg Paradine is the inaugural head coach of men's lacrosse at Lenoir-Rhyne since 2009. Under his tenure, he has led the Bears to national runner-up in 2021 and an NCAA semifinal in 2018. Additionally, he led the Bears to the NCAA tournament in 2017, 2018 and 2021 and hosted the NCAA national semifinal game in 2018 and 2021. At the 2021 national championship game, the team achieved the highest ranking in program history as the No. 2 team in the nation.

Under his leadership, the Bears earned back-to-back wins against top-five opponents in 2019 in seven days. They defeated No. 3 Adelphi 17-16 and No. 1 Limestone 18-16. In addition, the team twice defeated Limestone, with the Saints ranked No. 1 in the nation each time. The Bears also had a stretch of 24 straight regular-season wins against South Atlantic Conference opponents.

Paradine has coached a pair of first team all-Americans, Collin Lett and Eric Dickinson, and has had 13 players selected as all-Americans. In addition, 51 players have been honored as all-conference performers. He also led Mike Hanlon (2017), Lett (2018) and Dickinson (2021) to earn SAC Player of the Year honors. Academically, Paradine has had three players win SAC Scholar-Athlete of the Year awards, with two named the SAC Elite 20 Award Winner and one NCAA Elite 90 Award winner.

In 2018, Paradine was named the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association NCAA Division II National Coach of the Year. He is also a three-time SAC Coach of the Year (2014, 2017, 2018). In addition, his record includes five SAC regular-season championships and two SAC tournament titles.

Paradine joined Lenoir-Rhyne after serving as an assistant coach for seven years at his alma mater, the University of North Carolina. As a student-athlete, he played four years on the men's lacrosse team and was part of the 1991 NCAA national championship team, 1993 national finalists and 1990 and 1992 semifinalists. He was also named first team All-American in 1993 and received honorable mention All-American in 1992.