University of Denver Athletics

University of Denver men's lacrosse assistant coach John Gallant will begin his eighth season with the program in 2027. Gallant filled the defensive coordinator position following the departure of John Orsen after the 2019 season, and was retained when head coach Matt Brown took over after Bill Tierney's retirement in 2023. 

In the last three years, Denver has had one of the most prolific defenses and penalty kills in the country, ranking in the top-2 in man-down defense over the last three years in both percentage and man-down goals allowed. Denver's has ranked in the top-10 in the country in three of the last four seasons under Gallant and Brown's leadership.

2026:
Denver opened the season 3-0 and 4-1 with wins over Air Force and at Utah to go perfect against its regional rivals once more. Denver's best win of the year came against Michigan on February 28, a 15-9 victory over the team receiving votes entering Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium. 

The Pioneers played one of its most difficult schedules in the program's history, dropping a lot of tight games against the nation's best. DU fell at No. 8 Ohio State 6-4, to No. 8 Sryacuse 13-12 and at No. 6 Duke 8-7. The Pioneers tight losses continued in BIG EAST play, falling on the road to Villanova 9-7 and at Providence 8-7 in overtime. 

Denver earned key wins against St. John's (15-9) and against Marquette in the regular season finale to punch its ticket to the 2026 BIG EAST Men's Lacrosse Championship. 

2025:
Following a season opening loss to No. 8 Johns Hopkins, the Pioneers won four of their next five heading into the meet of its non-conference schedule, highlighted by wins over regional rivals Air Force and Utah. 

Denver picked up its first signature win of the season on March 22, a 13-6 win over No. 7 Duke at a high school in the Dallas area. Noah Manning had the 26th sock trick in program history and Denver's defense blanked Duke in the middle quarters to lead Denver to the blowout win. Denver's win was its third over a top-7 opponent when being ranked outside the top-20 themselves. 

The Pioneers picked up a statement win in the BIG EAST, holding Georgetown to just three goals in a four-goal win over the Hoyas in the nation's capital. DU's win ended a five game losing streak in the series. It marked the first time Denver held a ranked opponent to three goals or less since holding No. 20 Providence on April 22, 2017. Denver's win also marked the first time it held a ranked opponent to three goals or less away from hom in program history. 

2024:
In Brown's first season in charge, and Gallant's fifth with the program overall, the Pios got back to Championship Weekend for the first time since 2017, defeating Michigan and Syracuse en-route to punching its ticket to Philadelphia. Denver rode its defense to the third-highest winning percentage in the country in 2024, a defense that held opponents to a 9.41 goals against average, good for fourth in the country. In the NCAA Quarterfinals at Towson, the Pios held Syracuse to just eight in their two-goal win, the first time the Orange finished in single digits in 2024. DU was efficient on both sides of the ball in power play situations, scoring on 46.5% of its offensive chances to finish 10^th in the country in the category, while leading the nation man-down, holding opponents to just a 15.2% success rate. Gallant and the Pios won their first BIG EAST regular season title since 2021, going 5-0 in the conference slate. 

2023:
Denver's defense ranked eighth in the country and first in the BIG EAST in scoring defense en-route to a 10-5 season. The Pioneers allowed just over 10 goals per game, and in its four wins over top-15 programs, held the opposition to 8, 12, 6 and 9 (8.75/game). Denver finished second in the BIG EAST regular season and reached the BIG EAST Final once again, avenging last season's BIG EAST Semifinal loss to Villanova with a 16-9 victory over the Wildcats on May 4. Starting LSM AJ Mercurio earned a spot on the BIG EAST First Team for his performances in his senior season. 

2022: 
Denver opened the season with wins over Utah and Duke before dropping four of the next five, with all four losses coming against nationally ranked opposition. The Pios then picked up a win at No. 7 Ohio State to kickoff the second half of the season, earning their first top-10 road win since the pandemic. Gallant helped lead the Pios to a 6-1 record in the last seven, including another ranked road win at Villanova to kick-start a four-game winning streak to end BIG EAST play. 

2021:
Gallant coached the 11th-ranked scoring defense in the country in the 12-5 campaign, a record that included a 9-1 mark in the BIG EAST and another regular season title for the Pioneers. 

2020: 
COVID-19 shortened the 2020 season. The Pioneers were young and starting to turn the corner when the season was cut short after just six games. Denver ended the season with a win at No. 10 Notre Dame, a 14-11 victory that included a 7-0 run in the middle of the game. 

Pro Career:
Gallant was a two-time captain for the Colorado Mammoth, and wore the 'A' on his chest in two other campaigns during his 14-year National Lacrosse League career. A member of the Mammoth's All-Decade Team in 2012, Gallant moved with the franchise from Washington to Colorado in 2002, completing his career with a single franchise. In his career, the Mammoth defenseman played in 209 games, scored 14 goals and added 86 assists for 100 points. Gallant also picked up 953 loose balls and caused 54 turnovers.

Prior to Denver:
Gallant was a science teacher and lacrosse coach at Rock Canyon High School before joining the Pioneers staff. In his three seasons in charge at Rock Canyon, the Jaguars went 12-4 in 2017, 12-4 in 2018 and 14-3 in 2019 (38-11 overall). The Jaguars reached the 5A CHSAA Quarterfinal in 2019.
 
The 2001 Lake Superior State graduate directed the Colorado Collegiate Box Lacrosse League player combine each of the last two years and served as a guest coach for multiple franchises. Prior to his time at Rock Canyon, Gallant was an assistant at Valor Christian, under former teammate and current Air Force assistant John Grant Jr. Gallant has also served as a Jr. Mammoth instructor.