Aaron Leeds enters his first season as an assistant coach for the VMI men's lacrosse program in 2026-27, reuniting with head coach Mike Daly after previously serving on his coaching staff at Brown University.
Leeds comes to the Institute after serving as an assistant coach and defensive coordinator at Sacred Heart University, a position he held beginning in September 2024. Prior to joining the Pioneers, Leeds spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Brown University under Daly, where he helped develop five All-Ivy League selections and two United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) Scholar All-Americans.
Before arriving at Brown, Leeds served as a graduate assistant coach at Salisbury University, helping guide the Sea Gulls to consecutive Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference championships. During his tenure, Salisbury advanced to the 2021 NCAA Division III National Championship game.
Leeds previously spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), where he served as the defensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator. He helped the Engineers qualify for the Liberty League postseason tournament in 2019, while the team's defense ranked second in the conference in goals allowed before the 2020 season was suspended.
Leeds began his collegiate coaching career at Ferrum College in 2018, serving as an assistant coach and defensive coordinator. During his lone season with the Panthers, Ferrum ranked fourth nationally in NCAA Division III in man-down defense at 85 percent and seventh in clearing percentage at 89 percent.
A former standout defenseman at Salisbury, Leeds was a four-year member of the Sea Gulls' lacrosse program and helped lead the team to back-to-back NCAA Division III National Championships in 2016 and 2017. As a senior captain in 2017, he earned honorable mention All-America honors and First Team All-Capital Athletic Conference recognition.
Leeds earned his bachelor's degree in exercise science from Salisbury University in 2017 and later completed his master's degree in post-secondary education from Salisbury in 2022.
“I couldn’t be more excited to have these two join our staff and work with our team. Having worked with and competing against Coach Leeds, it is great to be reunited with him. I have admired Coach Dolan from afar for many years and he is a great representative for our sport and profession. I am excited to have him running our offense and we are lucky to have him as part of our program,” said VMI head men's lacrosse coach Mike Daly.
