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After Allan Law collected a pass along the right sideline, just behind the 20-yard line, he darted past four Clydesdale defenders. The former Dundee Wanderers’ defender and midfielder crossed over to the left side of the circle and drove a shot over the goalie’s head that rippled the back of the net. Ciarán Crawford, then a Clydesdale player, said Law was one of the most “elegant” players he’d ever seen.

Years later, after an illustrious playing career in Scotland, Law stands on the sidelines of Syracuse field hockey games as an assistant coach. Sometimes, he grabs a stick and jumps in, helping the players during practice. 

He makes sure his players are physical. The drills can get intense — the players slash at Law, who’s almost 10 years removed from his playing career — but he brings out the competitiveness of SU’s players when he joins on the field. 

Law grew up in Scotland and played for three different club teams and the national team over his 15-year career. He started coaching club hockey there, too, before coming to the U.S. to coach at SU in 2013. Law was one of the best Scottish players of his generation, his former Dundee and national team coach Iain Strachan said. Now, he’s passing those skills down to the players he coaches. 

“His technical ability is great, and he took that into his coaching because he was very good at breaking down skill,” former teammate Ben Gibson said. 

When he was 14, Law moved back to Scotland from England and started playing field hockey for the first time after watching his uncle play for Dundee. Law began playing for the club’s youth team while playing for his high school team as a midfielder and defender. 

Despite starting a few years later than most, Law developed quickly. He’d rush home after school to practice in his driveway, analyzing aspects of other players’ styles to build his own skill set. He was tall for his age, too, eventually growing into his 6-foot-3 frame. His long arms gave him better control of his stick and the ball, Strachan said. He was one of few players who could beat multiple defenders and go end-to-end. Law was known for his aggression, admitting that he sometimes was too intense. He was an excellent defender, Strachan said, but was “no stranger to the yellow card.”

His talent landed him a spot on the U16 and U18 Scottish national teams, as well as the senior national team for both indoor and outdoor. But he found more success with indoor because many of his Dundee teammates were on that roster. 

Those attributes translated directly to coaching, something Law knew he wanted to do early on in his playing career. Strachan and Gibson encouraged him to pursue coaching as well, so Law began to volunteer coaching kids, youth teams and camps. 

“It turned out I was fairly good at it, and it was like — why fight the inevitable?” Law said.

He progressed into a head coaching job for the Scottish boys junior U16 national team, a team he once played on. Law knew others who were moving to the U.S. to coach, but he didn’t think it was realistic for him. 

SU head coach Ange Bradley contacted him in the summer of 2013. Initially, he thought he’d be helping out with summer camps, but after multiple interviews, he realized he was being offered a full-time position. Law took it. 

“He’d done a lot here (in Scotland) and needed a new challenge,” Gibson said.

Syracuse assistant coach Allan Law helped coach SU to a national championship in 2015 . Courtesy of SU Athletics

Now, he specializes in video analysis and technical development, a job Strachan describes as teaching the “how” of field hockey. If a player shoots and misses, Law — who spent years honing his own skills in his driveway and on the field — is the first to explain why, as well as the ways to fix it. 

His coaching style is honest and direct. If a player is struggling, Law tells them. If they are doing well, Law tells them, too. He has helped establish SU as one of the Atlantic Coast Conference’s best teams since it joined the league in 2013, highlighted by its 2015 national title.

One of Law’s most memorable coaching experiences was watching the sophomore class from when he was first hired develop into national champions. Carrying his stick onto the field and pushing SU players such as Alyssa Manley and Emma Russell allowed him to continue competing, even as a coach.

“I love working with all the players, but specifically those who really have aspirations of doing what I did, but doing what I did as a player even better,” Law said.

Published on April 14, 2021 at 9:06 pm

Contact Adam: amccaffe@syr.edu