MCLA Changes For Upcoming Year

[PNWLaxer]

I do believe the WCLL will lose their AQ next year, the PCLL gets theirs back..that leaves the 8 conf winners. Next Q is does the MCLA make it an 8 or 10 team tourney.

[culax]

Rather than just scrapping Division B and the existing 9 conferences should we consider creating three Divisions similar to the NCAA.

Division 1 - The elites/independents like Michigan, BYU, etc. This Division would be open to any of the virtual varsity teams that want to participate in a national showcase televised tournament and can afford yearly dues of approx. $10,000 to $15,000. Every team is free to schedule as they see fit and every team makes the national tournament.

Division 2 - Schools with an undergraduate enrollment exceeding the magic cutoff number, hypothetically 8,000 students (or 5,000 or 10,000 or whatever number the BOD deems appropriate. Yearly dues of $1,000 to $2,000. Small national tournament involving conference winners.

Division 3 - Schools with undergraduate enrollments less than the cutoff number. Yearly dues of $1,000 or $2,000 with a national tournament similar to Division 2.

[CATLAX MAN]

I do believe the WCLL will lose their AQ next year, the PCLL gets theirs back..that leaves the 8 conf winners. Next Q is does the MCLA make it an 8 or 10 team tourney.

Why would the WCLL lose their AQ?

[oaklandlax]

I heard the same about cutting B teams out and only having like top 20 teams in the league, almost like NCAA D4. These teams would be teams that get some support from there athletic departments, major sponsors like Nike, things of that sort. That is just what I heard, but those can just be rumors.
If they did cut out teams, then we are going back from what this great league was suppose to be about and that is the growth of lacrosse and play after high school for players that don’t play D1,D2, or D3.
JP and the rest of the board have worked so hard at growing this. I don’t think someone like JP who is all about growth would dump teams and start a D4 type of league, but maybe I am wrong. Maybe they see a different direction with some of the teams and league.

[LaxTV_Admin]

Right now in Denver I think

Yes right now, and yes in Denver. Given the topics of conversation this year, I would love to be a fly on the wall

[PNWLaxer]

UC Irvine leaving in the middle of the tournament. I meant the B AQ not the A division.

[CATLAX MAN]

OK, but by that line of thinking, then the CCLA should lose their AQ also.

[LaxTV_Admin]

Rather than just scrapping Division B and the existing 9 conferences should we consider creating three Divisions similar to the NCAA.

Division 1 - The elites/independents like Michigan, BYU, etc. This Division would be open to any of the virtual varsity teams that want to participate in a national showcase televised tournament and can afford yearly dues of approx. $10,000 to $15,000. Every team is free to schedule as they see fit and every team makes the national tournament.

Division 2 - Schools with an undergraduate enrollment exceeding the magic cutoff number, hypothetically 8,000 students (or 5,000 or 10,000 or whatever number the BOD deems appropriate. Yearly dues of $1,000 to $2,000. Small national tournament involving conference winners.

Division 3 - Schools with undergraduate enrollments less than the cutoff number. Yearly dues of $1,000 or $2,000 with a national tournament similar to Division 2.

Would we propose the same conference structure that is in place for division 2 and 3? This will affect travel costs for teams a lot.

Would teams be able to move in and out of Division 1/2/3 at will? This would be a major contributing factor to whether or not I would support a structure like this.

What advantages does the MCLA gain from having this structure?

[LaxTV_Admin]

OK, but by that line of thinking, then the CCLA should lose their AQ also.

All the information I heard said the CCLA would lose their AQ. Obviously, that was unofficially, but either way....

[PNWLaxer]

You are correct, I forgot about that. There goes my tourney solution.

Tourney Solution Ver 1.2

7 AQ plus the top 3 ranked non AQ's for this year only.

The UMLL, PNCLL and RMLL all had multiple teams in the top 10. It would be a shame not to have say the #5 (example only it could be the #3) team not at the tournament.

[Andy Sharp]

OK, but by that line of thinking, then the CCLA should lose their AQ also.

Dayton was the CCLA's AQ, our conference sent it's representative. Calvin declined the bid with sufficient time to give the tournament time to find a replacement, no harm done, other than the t-shirts.

[culax]

What advantages does the MCLA gain from having this structure?

Ideally, I believe that there should be some separation of divisions based upon level of competition. With a group of 200 teams, setting divisions can be difficult. The present A/B split doesn't make any sense to me so why not consider the size of an institution's undergraduate enrollment.

Division I could help meet the needs of the top tier or "virtual varsity" teams.

Division II and III could allow similarly situated schools to compete against one another. The current Division B is regarded as a developmental league by many current Division A teams. Last year, certain conferences were interested in demoting problem Division A teams to the B Division or sticking new/probationary teams into the B Division.

[LaxTV_Admin]

The current Division B is regarded as a developmental league by many current Division A teams. Last year, certain conferences were interested in demoting problem Division A teams to the B Division or sticking new/probationary teams into the B Division.

Perhaps this is our problem. The UMLL conference does not view Division B teams as developmental. We had 2 teams in the Top 5 in the B division in 2007. (edited because I cannot write proper english)

I am not arguing that some realignment doesn't/can't make sense. I am just wondering how it will work with Division I and II.

I see Division III as the current B division. That is, it is its own entity geared for smaller schools and is NOT developmental.

Either way, I am sure the meeting is hashing this very topic out. Perhaps they should have just posted it and let everyone go buck wild like we are as we hash out the hypothetical what if. Who wants to bet they come back and say "no changes" after we all wasted hours trying to give a solution best for everyone

[scooter]

9 conferences correct? I Propose a 10 team tourney for the B division this year.

WCLL- loses theirs because Irvine left early?
CCLA- loses theirs because of the Calvin incident?
LSA- Do they even have an AQ?

If this is all true, that gives the remaining 6 conferences AQs, and there can then be 4 AQs....

Also, I like the idea of a split due to size of enrollment, but certain teams have succeeded even with smaller pool of students (sonoma), while other larger D1 schools have had trouble in the past making the grade (nebraska). Would the league allow for exceptions to a rule defining conferences by school size?

[KnoxVegas]

Rather than just scrapping Division B and the existing 9 conferences should we consider creating three Divisions similar to the NCAA.

Division 1 - The elites/independents like Michigan, BYU, etc. This Division would be open to any of the virtual varsity teams that want to participate in a national showcase televised tournament and can afford yearly dues of approx. $10,000 to $15,000. Every team is free to schedule as they see fit and every team makes the national tournament.

Division 2 - Schools with an undergraduate enrollment exceeding the magic cutoff number, hypothetically 8,000 students (or 5,000 or 10,000 or whatever number the BOD deems appropriate. Yearly dues of $1,000 to $2,000. Small national tournament involving conference winners.

Division 3 - Schools with undergraduate enrollments less than the cutoff number. Yearly dues of $1,000 or $2,000 with a national tournament similar to Division 2.

Did I not just propose this here:

What about this talk of taking the top 60 (or so teams) and leaving in the rest of the MCLA on the outside looking in? Will there finally become a structure of three division akin to the NCAA, with top tier made up of the Top 60 teams, the rest filling out the second tier and the B Division composing the new third tier.

Any thoughts?