Carl Haas paced on the sideline Thursday afternoon at the intramural fields observing his team practice transitions from defense through the midfield.
During one sequence, the ball sailed over a player's head, and during another, the ball was passed far out of reach.
Instead of berating the mistakes, the first ever DePauw men's lacrosse head coach said, "Let's do it again."
This is to be expected in the team's first year in existence at DePauw. In the fourth week of practice, Haas said Tuesday's scrimmage at the end of practice was as close to a finished product he has seen thus far.
On Thursday however, it was notably bumpier. Learning what sort of players they have is the case for both the men's and women's lacrosse teams as they embark on their inaugural seasons.
Haas was hired in February and was able to see some of his players then, unlike head women's lacrosse coach, Susana Wilcox, who was hired in March.
Wilcox, in her team's third week of practice, is still, like Haas, assessing what her team's strengths are. To find that out, both coaches are identifying players' skills and attributes, but are pleasantly surprised at the amount of talent already at DePauw.
Haas and Wilcox both accepted their positions last spring fully knowing that filling a team roster would be the first struggle. Their jobs were made easier as there were already well-established club teams at DePauw eager to take their skills to the next level.
"We have about 16 or 17 girls who were on the club team," Wilcox said. "They're used to really having much more freedom and flexibility with their schedule. I had no idea what I was getting and no idea what to expect. But I've been pleasantly surprised by the level of stick skills and athleticism."
Wilcox was helped by previous club president, Katie Sherrill, to make necessary contacts during the summer and build a roster. Sherrill, now a junior, will be a key component on Wilcox's team.
"The coaches brought so many new aspects to the team we never would have thought of last year," Sherrill said. "A lot of us were wondering what to expect, and it's definitely kicked our butts in the best way possible."
In contrast to the women, the men were able to get to know Haas on a basic level in the spring, and were ready for his well-organized practices and structured program.
But for Haas, his main concern was fielding a full team. During the spring and summer, Haas recruited in places as far as Florida, trying to build the program for the future. But the core of what he has now is coming from what was already here.
Much of the club team from previous years has stuck on in the varsity program. With a group of freshmen in the mix, Hass got to work on teaching the players what it meant to be a collegiate lacrosse team.
"One of the challenges was changing the mentality and the culture that really wasn't here yet," Haas said. "There's a higher expectation for being in a varsity program. A lot of the guys on the team come from very successful high school programs, and for whatever reason didn't want to play in college. Trying to make that shift to a varsity program, that has been a challenge, and it has been a fun challenge."
One of those players who excelled in high school is senior Jack Glerum. Glerum played lacrosse since 2003, and played for DePauw's club team in each of his three years. He's finding Haas to be a catalyst for finding his skills he built in high school.
"I went from four years in Chicago at that intense level to totally relaxed stuff," Glerum said. "Now I'm back at it, and I'm picking up where I left off."
Along with Sherrill on the women's side, freshman Elizabeth McCracken brings her nine years of lacrosse experience to a team mixed with completely new players and some veterans.
"I've noticed there are a lot of new girls to the game, and they've picked it up so fast you can barely tell," McCracken said.
"All of these girls are so athletic. I was surprised with the upperclassmen and how talented they are," added Wilcox, "We have a very broad spectrum of experience. We have girls who were high school All-Americans, and players who literally haven't played until two and half weeks ago."
Despite the mix of players, Wilcox, Sherrill and McCracken all agree their team has athletes - and they are fast.
Speed is critical in lacrosse for beating opponents down field and creating good scoring opportunities with a numbers advantage. Wilcox is hesitant to make predictions on how her offense will look like, but thinks the speed may result in some surprise success for her team.
"We have a couple of freshmen in particular who can [assist] really well," Wilcox said. "I'm really pleased with that because that's one of those things that's somewhat intangible. If you don't get the timing of it, it's pretty hard to teach someone how to do it well.
"A few of the girls who have never played before are just relentless athletes. If you have people who are willing to go through any sort of scrum to come away with the ball, that's really big as well."
While the women's team might have a number of good athletes who are learning the game of lacrosse well, Haas said his 21-man team may have an issue with depth come next spring.
Haas added they will look to use their speed and sprint the ball down into an opponent's half on each offensive possession. This "run-and-gun" style of offense will wear-down his starters, forcing the need for substitutes.
"We have to be able to put other players in the game," Haas said. "Down the road, we want to get the roster size to 45 so we can have an increased competition, and we have a deeper bench.
"There's going to be at some positions an extremely steep drop-off. That's where we have to coach the guys up and the players have to push each other. There's no one else walking through the door to help us out."
They do have a few walk-on players who are impressing Haas. Clayton Miller, a senior who was convinced by some friends to join the team, brings with him two years of DePauw football experience - but no lacrosse skills at all.
Despite his inexperience, Haas calls Miller one of the more complete athletes on the team.
"One of my childhood friends played, and we threw the ball around twice," Miller said. "I knew of the game, but I didn't know who played offense, defense, how to score, I didn't know there was offside, I didn't know rules, nothing."
Neither team will say whether they foresee a successful first season next spring.
But there isn't a player thinking their team will lose every game.
Freshman Cameron Combs, from Grand Rapids Mich., thinks his team has a positive future because of the talent already acquired in its first year.
"With the guys who will be on the team next year, we're still going to know how each other plays, that's the base for next year," Combs said. "We just have to keep building. In the next five years, DePauw will be a very good lacrosse team."