Former gold-medal defenseman Shawn Nadelen was named as the U.S. Men’s U20 National Team head coach in April 2024 and led the 2025 team to a silver medal in Jeju Island, Korea after Canada held off a furious late USA rally in the gold medal game.

Nadelen, the head men’s lacrosse coach at Towson University, played on the 2010 U.S. men’s team that beat Canada 12-10 for the gold medal in Manchester, England.

Nadelen took over as Towson’s head coach for the 2012 season and has led the Tigers to seven CAA championships and NCAA tournament berths. He was the USILA National Coach of the Year in 2017 when he guided Towson to the NCAA Division I semifinal round for just the second time in school history. His 2016 team won a school record 16 games and his 2019 squad was ranked as the No. 1 team in the country for a portion of the season, the first time in school history at the Division I level.

Through the 2025 season, Nadelen has amassed 126 career victories to rank second all-time in Towson history, surpassing his former boss Tony Seaman during the 2023 season. Nadelen worked with Seaman, a former U.S. national team head coach, as an assistant coach at Towson from the 2004 season through 2011.

His coaching career began under another former U.S. men’s team coach, Bill Tierney. Nadelen was an assistant coach at Princeton for three seasons, helping the Tigers win three consecutive Ivy League championships from 2002 through 2004.

As a player, Nadelen was a four-year starter at Johns Hopkins playing as both a midfielder and close defenseman. He helped the Blue Jays reach the NCAA semifinals twice and earned All-America honors in 2001. He went on to play professionally in both Major League Lacrosse (11 seasons) and the National Lacrosse League (10 seasons), winning three championships with the MLL’s Chesapeake Bayhawks.

Men's U20 Coaching Staff

Head Coach

Shawn Nadelen

Staff