Going Varsity?

[Zeuslax]

There seems to be a lot of chatter of universities potentially adding lacrosse as a varsity sport. Are their any real possibilities in the hopper? Besides Title 9, what are some limitations by schools entertaining this idea? Are there any current MDIA teams that have been asked to construct a foundation for a future varsity team? Is any of this talk by "varsity club" teams potentially legit?

[John Paul]

This a subject very close to my heart.

I've heard talk from a few programs, but the only D1 school that seems to have a legitimate shot is Florida State. Their coach makes no effort to hide his intentions to create a varsity program there. Whether or not they can overcome the financial obstacles is yet to be seen, but he has the ear of influential university administrators.

The coach at Dayton, a new MDIA team, also has the stated intention of forming a varsity program there.

Adrian College, a small D3 school here in Michigan that has a club team tht is not part of the MDIA, has a very good shot at a varsity program in the near future. Their new president told me this summer that he intends to add varsity lacrosse within a few years. If they do it, I wouldn't be surprised to see several of the other MIAA schools (like Albion, Calvin, Hope, Alma, etc.) follow suit and form a conference similar to the NCAC in Ohio.

It's much easier for D3 sized schools to add varsity sports - even men's sports. For them, adding a varsity sport is a very small hit to the budget (typical D3 lacrosse budget is well under $100K), and they use the sport to draw a more diverse student body and more tuition dollars (so they can actually make money in the long run when they add a sport). At the D3 level athletics often fits right in with the academic mission and the overall financial plan for the school.

D1 schools, especially the ones with major football programs, have a much tougher road to add sports. Depending on how they fund their athletic programs, adding a sport can be a major financial burden for departments that are often cash strapped already. Add in the necessity, in many cases, to add women's programs to offset the Title IX equation, and you're talking about potentially huge dollars. Adding a men's team here at Michigan, where I know the numbers the best, would cost upwards of $2 million a year if you consider the necessary women's team additions as well. That doesn't even factor in the initial outlay for required facilities upgrades (additional locker rooms, offices, etc.) that could easily be in the millions.

There are always rumors out there, and you'll see people post on boards that such and such a school is adding the sport soon. Knowing the financial factors involved, I'm always skeptical. Our sport is growing, but it's not at the point yet where there's any real pressure on schools to add it.

[Dan Wishengrad]

JP, can you or any other members of the Board address the Lindenwood issue now that the GRLC has made its own ruling regarding that team's status which has been publicly divulged now here on uslia.com?

I'm not sure I understand exactly what all the issues are, and what specific things L'Wood was in violation of besides being considered to be a "varsity" lacrosse team by their own school. Don't other MDIA schools (BYU maybe?) give scholarships to some of their players? Wouldn't excusing a player from paying his own students dues be considered, in essence, a "scholarship" of sorts? The GRLC press release spoke of MDIA By-Law violations, but are these by-laws now available for all to view?

[laxfan25]

I've heard talk from a few programs, but the only D1 school that seems to have a legitimate shot is Florida State. Their coach makes no effort to hide his intentions to create a varsity program there. Whether or not they can overcome the financial obstacles is yet to be seen, but he has the ear of influential university administrators.

Adrian College, a small D3 school here in Michigan that has a club team tht is not part of the MDIA, has a very good shot at a varsity program in the near future. Their new president told me this summer that he intends to add varsity lacrosse within a few years. If they do it, I wouldn't be surprised to see several of the other MIAA schools (like Albion, Calvin, Hope, Alma, etc.) follow suit and form a conference similar to the NCAC in Ohio.

Adding a men's team here at Michigan, where I know the numbers the best, would cost upwards of $2 million a year

And that $2M is just to cover the coach's salary! I know, you've put in a lot of long,hard years growing the program....

Do you think that the donation of a new artificial turf field by the lax coach at FSU helped get the ear of administrators?

Interesting thought about the MIAA forming a lacrosse conference. Given the schools involved it would likely be a very competitive league.

[SElaxalum]

Do you think that the donation of a new artificial turf field by the lax coach at FSU helped get the ear of administrators?

It did to some degree. But he definitly had their ear before the field. I believe it will be sooner rather than later for FSU to field a varsity team

[Danny Hogan]

Do you think that the donation of a new artificial turf field by the lax coach at FSU helped get the ear of administrators?

It did to some degree. But he definitly had their ear before the field. I believe it will be sooner rather than later for FSU to field a varsity team

i think the goal is 2010, no?

[CATLAX MAN]

JP, can you or any other members of the Board address the Lindenwood issue now that the GRLC has made its own ruling regarding that team's status which has been publicly divulged now here on uslia.com?

There is a long thread discussing this in the Premium Forum. Now maybe that might be the impetus for some more people to join up, no???

[OAKS]

Do you think that the donation of a new artificial turf field by the lax coach at FSU helped get the ear of administrators?

I believe he had been talking to the school officials and the athletic officials long before that.

[jessexy]

wait, is this the "new" coach at Florida State or the other new coach that only lasted a few months? i forgot the details about that whole situation.

[benji]

Our women's team will be D1 NCAA as of 2007 or 2008 I believe.

[Sonny]

wait, is this the "new" coach at Florida State or the other new coach that only lasted a few months? i forgot the details about that whole situation.

Same coach they have had for the past 3 - 4 years. Here is an article about the stadium/field donation from Coach Harkins:
http://www.uslia.com/news.php?action=fullnews&id=246

[Catlax]

If FSU goes varsity are they planning on playing in the ACC, or will they play as an independent? If they join the ACC as a varsity program they will be in for a very rough time for a long time.

[semilaxed]

If FSU does decide to go varsity they will most likely be in the ACC. But it won't be the club team going varsity when it happens. The addition of scholarships/low tuition of Fl schools will bring in great recruiting classes. + Weather is nice (when its not raining, but what does that matter they have a turf field) and girls wear shorts 9 months out of the year. At UNC and Duke they say weather is a big key to their recruiting FSU will build fast because of the wide eyes of 18 year olds.

[John Paul]

That's the one thing many people fail to realize about adding varsity teams at major D1 schools like FSU. The club team is not "elevated" to varsity. There will still be a club team. At a major school, if the team is fully supported, the varsity team will serve an entirely different level of athlete. They will attempt to recruit "blue chip" level players. They will have more leeway to admit marginal students, and the time demands will be greater. I always use the example of our men's soccer team here at Michigan, which is now five years old. When they added the varsity team, the club team was coming off two consecutive club national championships. They hired the club coach as the varsity coach. The first year of the varsity program he kept 6 club players on the team. The second year there were two still on the team. By the third year there was one. When I asked him the biggest difference a couple of years into his varsity program, he said it was the level of athlete he could now attract.

I really hope FSU can get it done. I hope a lot of us can add varsity teams eventually. But I appreciate the level of STUDENT-athlete we serve now. I feel badly that varsity growth will mean, in many cases, the loss of highly organized, well supported programs at schools like ours that serve our level of student-athlete.

[LaxRef]

That's the one thing many people fail to realize about adding varsity teams at major D1 schools like FSU. The club team is not "elevated" to varsity. There will still be a club team.

Someone told me that if you have a varsity team at a school you can't have a team playing in MDIA (for example, there's no Syracuse MDIA team AFAIK, even though they could probably get a pretty darn good MDIA team together there). Is that true? If it is, where would the FSU club team end up playing?