LSA 2008 - Year in Review

[CP18]

Another year in the books. Great job to all of the teams, coaches, and LSA League Admins for a solid year. That said, September will be here before you know it, which means league meeting for 2009.

Let's use this thread for constructive thoughts on how to continue to grow the league in the future. Some topics to discuss:

-Playoff system (location of neutral sites and championship venue)
-North vs. South
-Out of conference travel
-Hosting teams from other conferences
-Coaching
-Officials
-Field standards for home teams

Discuss, keep it civil and enjoy.

[NYBuilt]

isnt it about time the playoffs were back in the 'south' ... maybe texas state could host

[RevDamon]

I can imagine it was pretty cool for the players to play "on the star" at Texas Stadium, and I would certainly defer to their ultimate preference with regard to a playoff venue. However, as a fan, I felt very disconnected from the field and the players in such a large venue. I would prefer a smaller, more intimate setting until such time that we can draw at least a few thousand fans.

[TCUCoach]

Let me preface my posting by saying TCU's first year in Division One has been one of growth and learning for players and staff. The jump was incredible and the level of competition across the league was a great surprise for both myself and my players.

Well If I understand correctly we will be losing Tulane next year due to their forfeits and poor league showing. While we travelled out there (and survived) Tulane still has a fighting chance if they can get some good leadership, the players are there to make something good happen. Their loss may change the structure of the league. Leaving 7 teams in the North and only 5 in the south.

Hosting OOC teams is a great opportunity here in Texas. The Warm Weather and proximity of the LSA teams should have more teams coming down to the Lonestar State! This year I was fortunate enough to work with Coach Greene to schedule an OOC opponent. I believe if the coaches can communicate that a team wants to come down here we should be able to schedule them. If TCU has an OOC team that wants to come down and play but there is a scheduling conflict I would recommend them to contact another team in the area to play.

I would hope the same would be true of the other teams in the LSA. Overall I would also like to hear from the LSA's Coaches and players their thoughts on all their OOC away games this year. TCU will be doing more next year and I would just like to hear as much as I can from another perspective. (don't mean to threadjack here CP!)

Looking forward to good games and good times in 09!

[CP18]

Regarding the final four weekend venue a couple of points about Texas Stadium, my opinion:

-Very expensive to rent
-Even if 5,000 people show up it is still an empty facility
-Players get a great experience to play in an NFL facility
-Fans are far from the action
-Texas Stadium, being a multi use facility had to bump us to a Friday/Saturday weekend, which makes travel, especially during finals difficult for travelling teams
---------------------

In my opinion we need a venue that is:

-Neutral (not a campus site)
-Affordable
-All weather playing surface
-Ability to handle tickets, concessions, and game operations
-Smaller venue, preferabbly a Varsity Soccer faciity or DIII Football Facility

I think looking into a nice DIII facility at say Trinity, Southwestern, St. Ed's etc. might be the ticket?

[tech311cs]

im sorry, maybe its just me, but who would rather play in san marcos than Texas Stadium "No offense Park"? everyone always talks about how great it would be if lacrosse started becoming more noticed and getting more recognition, and it finally has and now you want a smaller venue. having the LSA finals in Texas Stadium is a huge step not just for the LSA but the MCLA also. if i had the choice to play in Texas Stadium or some mediocre grass field, ill choose texas stadium 100% of the time, because playing in Texas Stadium is one of the best things to happen to the LSA. its simple quality vs. quanity. sure texas stadium may be a little more expensive, but the quality is worth it.

[RevDamon]

im sorry, maybe its just me, but who would rather play in san marcos than Texas Stadium "No offense Park"? everyone always talks about how great it would be if lacrosse started becoming more noticed and getting more recognition, and it finally has and now you want a smaller venue. having the LSA finals in Texas Stadium is a huge step not just for the LSA but the MCLA also. if i had the choice to play in Texas Stadium or some mediocre grass field, ill choose texas stadium 100% of the time, because playing in Texas Stadium is one of the best things to happen to the LSA. its simple quality vs. quanity. sure texas stadium may be a little more expensive, but the quality is worth it.

First of all, Clayton, congratulations on a great year. I'm sorry I didn't actually get to see you play, but obviously many who did were impressed by your excellence on the field.

Secondly, as I said before, I think the opinions of the players should carry a lot of weight in this discussion, so I totally respect, and give due consideration to your comments.

However, I still don't see how playing at Texas Stadium serves the best interests of the LSA. You mentioned getting "noticed and recognized." By whom are we wanting to be noticed? If it is the rest of the lax community around the country, then I would suggest that they will notice as we continue to improve our performances in OOC games and the national playoffs, and they don't really care where we play. If we are talking about getting noticed as an attractive and viable sport option by aspiring young players and their families, then I think playing in a more accessible venue serves us better. We could actually promote the games to middle school and high school players and familes, and they would be more likely to come than if the games were at Texas Stadium.

You also said you would pick Texas Stadium over "some mediocre grass field," and so would I. But I think there are plenty of quality fields available with smaller, more accesible stadiums, as coach Park suggested.

[NYBuilt]

Park-

I don't think CS has been to the Texas State soccer stadium. Tell him how incredible it is & when the games are done he can go float the river after...

[tech311cs]

i agree, there are more fields we could use. i was making my statement based on the comparison between texas states field and Texas Stadium. as for the recognition, youre right about trying to get middle school and highschool kids to come out. youth lacrosse is exploding in texas and so is highschool. also, there are older men in texas that played lacrosse in highschool or college on the east coast and have no idea there is lacrosse in texas, they just wanna come out to watch games not play. lacrosse is getting huge, players wise which is great, now we need to get more fans and exposure. eventhough it was not that exciting of a game, having the mcla national championship colorado/csu game televised and re-ran on cstv a couple of years ago, was a great step for mcla lacrosse. i dont know if it will be televised again or not, but it gave the mcla some exposure. its the same reason i love seeing lacrosse plays on sportscenter and espn alot. its always good to see lacrosse get the national recognition it desrves.

[CP18]

Just to set the record straight, no where in this forum or post have I mentioned hosting the Final Four at Texas State or any other campus venue, meaning D1 schools. See post below, I make that very clear.

In my opinion we need a venue that is:

-Neutral (not a campus site)
-Affordable
-All weather playing surface
-Ability to handle tickets, concessions, and game operations
-Smaller venue, preferabbly a Varsity Soccer faciity or DIII Football Facility

I think looking into a nice DIII facility at say Trinity, Southwestern, St. Ed's etc. might be the ticket?

I am for a neutral site, in a location that can attract fans, i.e. Dallas/FW, Austin, Houston areas at a facility that is cost efficent for the league.

Keep up the good discussion.

[tech311cs]

Just to set the record straight, no where in this forum or post have I mentioned hosting the Final Four at Texas State or any other campus venue, meaning D1 schools. See post below, I make that very clear.

In my opinion we need a venue that is:

-Neutral (not a campus site)
-Affordable
-All weather playing surface
-Ability to handle tickets, concessions, and game operations
-Smaller venue, preferabbly a Varsity Soccer faciity or DIII Football Facility

I think looking into a nice DIII facility at say Trinity, Southwestern, St. Ed's etc. might be the ticket?

I am for a neutral site, in a location that can attract fans, i.e. Dallas/FW, Austin, Houston areas at a facility that is cost efficent for the league.

Keep up the good discussion.

agreed my friend, also, are you in charge of the hotter than hell tourney again this year?

[Bronson Parker]

Chris and I actually talked about this while in Dallas. We agree on all of it. Texas Stadium was great, don't get me wrong, but to only see a handful of fans for the championship game was a bit disappointing. $15 to get in (parking and ticket) was pretty steep. Plus, I would like to see the location rotate each year, like in the past. Keeps things fresh and allows others to see what we have.

There are plenty of neutral sites that could fit our needs. Jesuit, ESD and I believe St. Mark's all have turf fields. Several of the Austin area stadiums are going to turf this summer. House Park and Westlake are in the process right now. A smaller venue would allow the fans to be closer to the action, making things a lot more intimate (and louder), and hopefully bringing in more fans.

Great work this year. Other than having to play on a Friday night (the Aggies didn't finish their game until close to midnight), I thought things went very smooth. Just my thoughts.

[Karl Lynch]

Sounds like we just formed a playoff committee of Park and Parker with Zantjer. Nice work guys.

By my best guess, I think we just voted on the championships being in at a neutral site in Austin.

I have in favor without confirmation or conversation, just feeling:

TSU
UT
A&M
North Texas
Baylor
SMU
SU
St. Ed's
Trinity

Bubble, but persuadable: Rice, LSU, TCU, OU, OSU, Tech.

[RevDamon]

Austin is good.

[seulax10]

Several of the Austin area stadiums are going to turf this summer. House Park and Westlake are in the process right now.

Westlake's field is very nice, also has a "jumbotron" that could be put into action. However, don't forget about Burger Stadium. It's not in the downtown area so there's less worry about traffic, and the parking lots are massive. House Park is alright, but it's a bit smaller than Westlake and Tony Burger, who are both already turf (not to mention, I've always had a hell of a time parking at House Park...but I'm not from Austin High, so I'm biased ).