Robert Hull The Rockbridge Renaissance Man

By Matt Gallagher

Rockbridge County and go to what he thought were bigger and better places.

But he fell in love with W&L when he visited campus as a football and lacrosse recruit. The top-notch education, small class sizes, and opportunity to play sports provided the perfect combination for him.

“The Division I schools that were interested in me coming out of high school wanted to add 50 pounds to my frame,” Hull said. “Once you are on scholarship at those big schools, you pretty much work for them. You are just a slab of meat.”

At W&L, he played football all four years, from 1992 to 1996, earning All-American honors three times as a defensive tackle and being awarded National Defensive Player of the year as a senior. And he played lacrosse during his first two years, wrestled his junior year, and competed in track his senior year.

Hull excelled in the classroom, too. After he graduated, he headed north to attend Case Western

Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, to go to dental school, following in the footsteps of his father who worked as a dentist in Lexington.

He spent four years in Cleveland in dental school. But he realized he didn’t want to live and work in a city. He moved back to Lexington and opened a dental practice. Hull has practiced dentistry for over 20 years, and he loves utilizing the latest technological instruments and techniques.

“I don’t know how he juggles so many tasks, but he does a great job doing it,” said Dina Farris, Hull’s office manager, who has worked for him for nearly 10 years. “He is the backbone of this office, and he solves every problem that comes up … His positivity and drive make this office prosper. We are always packed with patients, and he fits them into his busy schedule.”

Four years ago, Hull decided to return to one of his first loves— lacrosse. He became the head coach of the local high school boys’ team because he saw a void in the quality of coaching in the sport locally. He inherited a program that had had little success and drew little interest from students.

“COVID has really put a damper in the growth of our program,” Hull said. “Last spring, I had to force kids to come to practice after they already graduated high school. It has been a real challenge maintaining numbers and talent.”

This year, Hull is working with a roster of younger, inexperienced players. He’s emphasizing the basics with them: catching and throwing, picking up ground balls, running simple offensive sets, and working on team chemistry.

“This is a learning process,” he said. “This season will have its growing pains, but as these guys continue to improve individually on their skill sets, this program will only continue to improve.” we are both deeply passionate about.”

The varsity and JV team are small; the 36-man team has only two seniors and three juniors. Hull blames the pandemic for the team’s inability to attract older boys. As frustrating as it can be to rebuild a program, he preaches positivity.

Senior midfielder Smith Hall said his coach has helped players like him grow up. “He has helped turn me into a man and really made this team special to me,” Hall said.

Most area high school sports receive funding from the school districts or city government. Lynchburg’s lacrosse powerhouse E.C. Glass gets about $20,000 a year from the city, plus donations from alums and parents.

Rockbridge County High School receives no funding, Hull said. But he was undeterred and raised about $30,000 last year for the program.

“When I took over, the team had outdated helmets and old pads,” he said. “The school giving us zero financial support puts a real burden on the team. I have to go out every year and find donors ... that is just another difficulty we face.”

Hull coached his oldest son, Pierson, who graduated last year. His younger son, River, is a junior midfielder on the team.

“My dad has done a great job building this program back,” River Hull said. “He treats me like any other player on the field but treats me like his son off the field. I really enjoy bonding with him over a sport

A big part of lacrosse is building chemistry and keeping field balance so players can run certain sets without becoming too clustered.

As in basketball, players need to spread out to make it harder for opponents to defend against scoring attempts.

Spacing is also a key to offensive success. “We are trying to teach the basics,” Hull said. “We run a simple two-three on offense and have a mixture of man-to-man on defense with some iterations of a threethree zone.” it’s theoretically easier for them to deter dodges. Players in a zone defense guard specific areas on the field rather than individual players.

A two-three offense starts with a dodge to the goal from a midfielder at around the 30-yard line on a football field, which is about 20 to 25 yards from the cage, or the goal.

Hull’s team may be young and inexperienced. But they make up for it with confidence. “Coach Hull speaks a lot towards how team chemistry builds success,” Hall said.

“Being a senior on the team has made me more of a vocal leader,” he said. “Many of the young guys are new to the program, so leading by example and being loud has helped this team mesh in the preseason so far.”

“The way to build a consistent winner,” he said, “is by having kids who are fully bought in and who want it as bad as you do as a coach.”

The midfielder can either shoot, pass to a teammate positioned in the area behind the net. Or, the midfielder can throw back to another teammate, who is positioned about 15 yards in front of the net.

It’s a simple offensive play that requires ball movement and chemistry among all six offensive players.

Most teams play man-to-man defense, and when a player gets beat, another defender slides over to help.

When players are in a zone defense,

Lacrosse is a game of momentum, and it can be tough to withstand opponents’ runs, especially for a young team.

Hull challenges his players to be leaders: Who on the team is going to step up and make a big play, or speak up when things are not going well?

“These kids have been playing lacrosse for me since they were around nine years old,” he said. “They have been around me, and I hope I have instilled good leadership into them and made them better men.”

Hull wants to turn the high school team into contenders at the regional and state levels.