Niemi, a four-year letterwinner for the Maryland Lacrosse team and a 1997 graduate, begins his fourth season at Yale as the defensive coordinator.

He was recently named the head coach of the Finnish National Team for the 2008 European Championships.

Each of his Terrapin squads reached the NCAA playoffs and his 1995 team fell to Syracuse in the title contest. Niemi, the 1996 William P. Cole Award winner as Maryland's best midfielder, was a two-year starter who became an undergraduate assistant coach for the 1997 Terrapin team that made it to the NCAA final.

He went on to coach the defense for a National Junior College championship team at Anne Arundel Community College and then serve as graduate assistant at Washington College (24-7, 2 NCAA tournaments).

In 2001 he was an assistant for a Loyola (Md.) College squad that reached the NCAA quarterfinals before returning to his alma mater in 2002 as an assistant. Niemi, who has played or coached in nine different NCAA tournaments, was the defensive coordinator for Washington College and coached in the 2002 NCAA tournament.