Inside Lacrosse NCAA tourney 2025

[EvanFSU]

Look for the announcement of budget cuts from FSU's athletic department. Whether the new AD supports lax or not, I believe lax going D1 at FSU is now officially off the table for at least 5 years. I don't know how close lax ever really came to becoming D1 at FSU, but I do know several conversations did take place and it was on the administrations radar. I ran into President Wetherell at an alumni fundraiser in NYC a few months ago and he was very complimentary about Coach Harkins and knew more than I thought he would about the program. When I pushed him a bit on the likelihood of varsity status, the conversation seemed to deteriorate.

Hopefully now the team/coaches can put any varsity talk behind them and focus on the growth of what can be a consistently top-tier, national championship contending MCLA team.

[TCUCoach]

I completely agree with EvanFSU's final thoughts. I think that some programs have to much thought about becoming varsity. The program should be about making a competitive team and getting that MCLA championship.

The overall growth of our student athletes that we coach and getting them to the playoffs is the most important. I must say after watching all the teams here in Dallas this past tournament, I really hope to get my players to feel the emotions the teams experienced.

It was a great week of Lacrosse and it also was a showcase of great talent and teams. Being an NCAA sponsored institution that has lacrosse is not the peak of Lacrosse. Turning your team into a winner and helping the players experience the journey is. I have been on both sidelines of NCAA and MCLA. I was one who had their eyes opened and I have so much respect for the administrators, coaches, officials and especially players of the MCLA.

[gobblerlax05]

throw htem in here o help the big 10 in mens lax! have i seen thr article? nope!

[Adam G]

throw htem in here o help the big 10 in mens lax! have i seen thr article? nope!

I hope you post more during summer vacation because sometimes I miss these posts in season.

[StickSideHigh]

That I feel is the biggest problem is making these kids believe that they would be on the team if it went D1. There are only a select few if any that would be on a D1 team.
The goal for these teams should just be to consistently be dominant.

[swampthing]

They had the final four on Denver and the four teams were FSU, BC, Harvard and Syracuse.

They didn't pick winner in those games.

Harvard? What a bizarre pick. Did they draw straws? The first major public university outside of the northeast to pick up D1 lacrosse is going to compete at a major level almost immediately. Can you imagine how many California recruits who are leaving the state or playing D2/D3/MCLA ball would go to USC or UCLA if they were NCAA D1? Replay the same scenario in Florida or Texas with a major university and I think you could be top 25 in three years. Plus I think they could even generate decent revenue, especially if they were ranked.

That's why I could maybe see the FSU pick, but as the sport grows to other schools and, almost as importantly, if the major league scene explodes, teams like Harvard and any other small schools (and especially those with strict requirements - ivy, academies) will lose athletes much like the football trend over the past 50 years.

[cgarrigues]

I agree that BCS football is the toll booth blocking Div I expansion under Title IX, and I don't know what will change that without Athletic departments recommitting to serve students as well as the bottom-line. But there's another dynamic in play here as well.
Coach Paul has mentioned that when Johns Hopkins and Army visited Ann Arbor last fall, they were very impressed by the Wolverine's facilities. Other Michigan coaches have mentioned the same to me in passing. I imagine that Notre Dame, Ohio State, and Penn State, traditional football powers, entered NCAA competition with similarly extensive facilities, even compared to traditional powers such as Hopkins, Duke, etc. The only school that might be in the same league is Syracuse with the Carrier Dome. I doubt that Hopkins and Duke, without competitive BCS football programs have the depth of weight training and related facilities, beyond their admittedly top-notch lacrosse fields. While none of these new schools have made the final four, I have to believe that their football-driven facilities are a major attraction for recruits. In the recent furor at Hobart, the Board recognized that lacrosse support is likely to increase rapidly, and the addition of more football-driven schools will accelerate that. Folks who have been at both the Oosterbaan in Ann Arbor and Hobart's indoor practice facility say that there's no question that the MCLA team has a nicer facility than the storied program in Geneva.
All I'm trying to say is that NCAA D1 expansion through these larger schools is very likely to have some unintended consequences. It will create some advantages and disadvantages. I guess that's what makes things interesting.

[gobblerlax05]

now Michigan i think should should go to the big 10 ebcuaswe well that might help that conference out!