Siena men's lacrosse coach Liam Gleason has died, the school announced Wednesday, three days after he suffered a traumatic brain injury in a fall at his home. He was 41.
Gleason led the Saints to a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship and a berth in the NCAA Tournament last season, his seventh at the Loudonville, N.Y., school.
“A sudden, senseless loss carries with it a pain that defies understanding,” Siena President Chuck Seifert said. “It's hard to imagine anyone more loved and respected than Liam. Our community has been blessed by the life of Coach Gleason.”
Gleason is survived by his wife and three children and is currently raising funds for the family's needs.
Dozens of people, including Siena players in uniform, school officials and members of the University at Albany athletics community, lined a hospital hallway Wednesday afternoon to pay their respects to Gleason as he was wheeled into surgery to donate some of his organs, Siena officials said. The school announced his death a couple of hours later.
Gleason was a standout player at Albany, one of Siena's biggest rivals whose schools were only a few miles apart. He began his coaching career as an assistant at Siena, then returned to Albany as an assistant before returning to Siena as head coach in 2018.
His funeral will be held Saturday on the Siena campus, school officials said.
