𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

A big teddy bear. A big goofy kid. A giant in the lacrosse community whose impact was as big as his 6-foot-5 frame. That’s how some remembered Siena College men’s lacrosse coach Liam Gleason, who died Wednesday, three days after suffering traumatic brain injury in a fall.

Gleason had the accident at his home in Halfmoon, N.Y., on Sunday, and died at Albany Medical Center.

Gleason led Siena to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship earlier this year in his seventh season as head coach. The Saints earned a berth into the NCAA Tournament, where they lost to Albany in their first match.

As a player, Gleason spent two seasons with Siena rival Albany before being selected 33rd by the New Jersey Pride in the 2007 Major League Lacrosse supplemental draft.

Pratt Reynolds, former Siena star and the 2025 MAAC player of the year, called Gleason “one of the best coaches I ever had my life,” at a news conference Wednesday. Reynolds played four years under Gleason and now is an assistant coach at Siena.

“He’s touched so many different people, from when I started here to even now,” Reynolds said. “You could tell he loved every player he’s ever coached. From when he’d call me on a bad day to sending me a photo of his daughter wearing a No. 20 jersey when she was playing Little League. He truly was a teddy bear that was a fighter at the same time, and it was an honor to be coached by him and to see what he had to say every single day and see him from both sides as a player and a coach on the staff.”

As an organ donor, Gleason’s body was wheeled down the hallway from the room where he died to an operating room for surgical organ removal. The ceremony is known as an “honor walk,” and dozens of people lined the Albany Medical Center hallway to pay tribute to Gleason. His wife, Jaclyn, and their three children were joined by Siena lacrosse players, school officials, University of Albany athletic community members and others for the honor walk.

“It was very emotionally driven by just the amount of support and presence, seeing everybody come together on his final descent,” Siena associate head coach Tim Cox said at the news conference. “The scene will last with me forever. It will overshadow the dark times and dark thoughts over the last couple of days, to see that light, to see his family walk behind him, to see the green and gold flag on him and the Albany Great Dane flag is a memory that will last in my eyes.”

Cox called Gleason’s legacy on the Siena program “unmeasurable. Even if Liam just met you with a handshake, you would remember who he was. He was such a big presence in my life. His impact on the lacrosse world is going to be felt forever.”

We are heartbroken to share the tragic news of the passing of men’s lacrosse head coach Liam Gleason

All are welcome to join us for a funeral service Saturday at 11 AM at the UHY Center

We love you, Coach 💚💛

📰 https://t.co/DhbOheitOo#FAMILY pic.twitter.com/9Eu0CRVRpi

— Siena Saints (@SienaSaints) December 3, 2025

Albany lacrosse coach Scott Marr, Gleason’s mentor and friend for over two decades, said, “I can’t say enough about what Liam was as a person, what he meant to me and my program, and all the players and friends involved with him over the years. He was a tremendous person, great heart, just a wonderful person to be around.

“He was big goofy kid. He was a lot of fun, smiling all the time, an extremely positive person. We spent so much time together over the years, the fireside chats and whatnot. This is a tough time for our community. I’ve had 400 or 500 different text messages from people across the lacrosse community. You’ve seen the GoFundMe page and the support that we’re getting from the lacrosse world in general, just again shows you what kind of person he was and what kind of impact he had on people’s lives.”

Reynolds said he and other Siena players and former players are coping with the tragedy by being together as much as possible this week.

“We’re making sure we’re together every single day,” Reynolds said. “We had a pizza party on Monday, played hoops together for a few hours today and yesterday. We have activities planned for the rest of the week to make sure that no matter what, we are together and showing the love that he (Gleason) made sure that our team had, to love each other as family.”

Reynold said his former coach had a huge personality.

“His smile was huge. He had a very infectious smile. When we won the (MAAC) championship and the horn went off, and his hands just went up. He told us every single day how proud he was of us. There wasn’t a single day that I was wearing the green and gold that I didn’t think he was proud to be our coach.”

A funeral open to the public will be held at 11 a.m. ET Saturday on the Siena campus, in the UHY Center.

A GoFundMe was set up to help Gleason’s family.