ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich. -- The Oakland University men's lacrosse team will be piloted this spring by veteran coach Greg Normand, who had two previous MCLA stops, according to team president Nick Carlson.

Normand was recently hired to direct the Grizzlies and will begin the task in early January, when the team reconvenes to begin play in the Upper Midwest Lacrosse Conference (UMLC).

Oakland’s new coach previously held MCLA head coaching positions at Eastern and Central Michigan universities and recently stepped down after eight years as the Michigan State women lacrosse coach.

He was also a staff writer for the MCLA: The Magazine several years ago when the publication existed. Normand is the current president of the Women’s Collegiate Lacrosse League (WCLL) and a ranking member of the Women’s Collegiate Lacrosse Associates (WCLA) -- a league governed by US Lacrosse and unaffiliated with the MCLA.

“We are happy to land Greg Normand as our new coach and I think he’ll do a good job picking up where [former coach] Eric Guy left off and we look forward to a solid spring,” Carlson said.

Normand has coached high school lacrosse for more than 25 years and is the current secretary of the Michigan High School Lacrosse Coaches Association. The veteran coach is sixth in wins all-time in Michigan prep lacrosse history and said he’s happy to be a Grizzly.

“I appreciate the young men at Oakland giving me a chance to get back to the MCLA and I think we’ll dispense with all the prognostication and simply say, we look forward to the spring and see what develops,” he said.

Oakland was 7-5 in 2018 and opens 2019 camp Jan. 14.