Source: UConn lacrosse to DI in 2018

[auggie22]

We have not seen an announcement that the university is in fact adding lacrosse. It is more accurate to say that we have a rumor of smoke with no sign of fire.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

The move to D1 lacrosse is a head scratcher. The AD is running a deficit, exit money is being consumed and will not last forever, yet we are expanding our athletic footprint. Jim wants to live in the east and we can bring content. I hope where there is smoke, there is also fire.

I will admit I was a little surprised when I heard the upgrade. I can understand the head scratching. However, if Lacrosse is the itch the B1G is trying to scratch and this makes us more appealing and puts us over the top then it will be money well spent. The additional revenue from the B1G will more than pay for a Lacrosse upgrade. Speaking hypothetically of course.

We have not seen an announcement that the university is in fact adding lacrosse. It is more accurate to say that we have a rumor of smoke with no sign of fire.

I need to be somewhat limited in what I say here (this is from a conversation ~ one month ago with a couple of senior personnel within the school's athletic department and foundation):

A) The lacrosse upgrade, if it does happen will be from private donations, not athletic department dollars.
B) There was quite a bit of momentum early on (in fund raising for this) but it has stalled and the upgrade is a non-starter until funding is in place.
C) Funding will not only need to cover the upgrade of men's lacrosse but also sufficient funds to increase scholarships and participation in women's sports to remain Title IX compliant (this is a bit of an issue as a donation earmarked for men's lacrosse, something many who have donated specified as a requirement, which is fully their right, cannot be used for adding scholarship dollars to women's rowing or track).

The upgrade of lacrosse is viewed as a targeted, strategic move to benefit the university on a few levels including making the school more attractive to a potential (P-5) suitor, increase the visibility of the school in the affluent NYC suburbs (which would be helpful on both an academic level and in terms of increasing our fan presence in a densely populated area) and on an overall prestige level, allowing us to move closer to schools who we want to be viewed with as peers.

 

[NickyNewark]

The move to D1 lacrosse is a head scratcher. The AD is running a deficit, exit money is being consumed and will not last forever, yet we are expanding our athletic footprint. Jim wants to live in the east and we can bring content. I hope where there is smoke, there is also fire.

My personal belief is the admin's are acting on knowledge that we don't have access too due to secrecy clause...otherwise why expand into expensive sports at this critical time? I hope i'm right and I sincerely sense this. Same thing's were going on at RU before the announcement. I don't think UConn would add more to the deficit willy nilly!! Smoke means their's fire somewhere. Ive had this sense for awhile

 

[huskymike]

I need to be somewhat limited in what I say here (this is from a conversation ~ one month ago with a couple of senior personnel within the school's athletic department and foundation):

A) The lacrosse upgrade, if it does happen will be from private donations, not athletic department dollars.
B) There was quite a bit of momentum early on (in fund raising for this) but it has stalled and the upgrade is a non-starter until funding is in place.
C) Funding will not only need to cover the upgrade of men's lacrosse but also sufficient funds to increase scholarships and participation in women's sports to remain Title IX compliant (this is a bit of an issue as a donation earmarked for men's lacrosse, something many who have donated specified as a requirement, which is fully their right, cannot be used for adding scholarship dollars to women's rowing or track).

The upgrade of lacrosse is viewed as a targeted, strategic move to benefit the university on a few levels including making the school more attractive to a potential (P-5) suitor, increase the visibility of the school in the affluent NYC suburbs (which would be helpful on both an academic level and in terms of increasing our fan presence in a densely populated area) and on an overall prestige level, allowing us to move closer to schools who we want to be viewed with as peers.

Thanks for the clarification, I just assumed that it would be funded by the athletic department without thinking about donations.

 

[junglehusky]

I need to be somewhat limited in what I say here (this is from a conversation ~ one month ago with a couple of senior personnel within the school's athletic department and foundation):

A) The lacrosse upgrade, if it does happen will be from private donations, not athletic department dollars.
B) There was quite a bit of momentum early on (in fund raising for this) but it has stalled and the upgrade is a non-starter until funding is in place.
C) Funding will not only need to cover the upgrade of men's lacrosse but also sufficient funds to increase scholarships and participation in women's sports to remain Title IX compliant (this is a bit of an issue as a donation earmarked for men's lacrosse, something many who have donated specified as a requirement, which is fully their right, cannot be used for adding scholarship dollars to women's rowing or track).

The upgrade of lacrosse is viewed as a targeted, strategic move to benefit the university on a few levels including making the school more attractive to a potential (P-5) suitor, increase the visibility of the school in the affluent NYC suburbs (which would be helpful on both an academic level and in terms of increasing our fan presence in a densely populated area) and on an overall prestige level, allowing us to move closer to schools who we want to be viewed with as peers.

That information makes sense / sounds plausible. Women's rowing is adding scholarships, up to 10 now according to this article in UConn magazine, and they compete in the American along with Temple, Tulsa, USF, UCF, SMU, plus affiliates Villanova, Sacramento State and San Diego State (!!!, although maybe not so much since I don't think they have that many meets with conference foes outside of the conference championship.... rowing is weird). Not sure what the max # of additional scholarships would be for rowing + women's track. I can see how despite improved fundraising efforts since Herbst took over, convincing someone to donate specifically to a relatively non-glamor sport in order for another person's donation to establish a men's team, instead of donating to a science building or what have you, could be a hard sell.

On the other hand, donuts argle bargle #firewarde.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

rowing is weird

WTF! You're weird. Just kidding.

I rowed at UConn on the men's club team (women were club at the time, too, before they got upgraded to varsity due to football). Crew meets come in two sizes - team v team competition where 2 to 4 schools meat and row against each other and regattas where a whole bunch of schools row against each other such Head of the Charles and Dad Vails. Typically, the fall races are long, head races, i.e. up river if applicable, in the 3,000 to 4,000 meter range (Head of the Charles is 3 miles or 4,800 meters). The spring races are usually sprints of about 2,000 meters (Olympics, Dad Vails, New England Championship, Big East Championship). Regattas often include a range of boats from single scull (1 rower) to the heavy 8's (8 rowers, for men typically +6' & 200 lbs minimum) and different classes - high school, college club, college varsity, private club, national teams (Head of the Charles usually has several Olympic teams), and seniors. Its a fund scene with folks from all over the world and different demographics all willing to kill themselves (hand blisters suck, catching a crab is brutal, most rowers, even elite, puke after finishing the Head of the Charles). At UConn, we got killed by the varsity teams; but, my lightweight 4 did win 1st place at the Big East Regatta on the Potomac one spring just clipping G-Town.

 

[junglehusky]

I guess my point there was... are conferences even necessary in a sport like rowing? Looking at UConn's schedule they didn't have home and away meets with all their other rowing conference mates, just a meet for the conference championship. Maybe it's an NCAA bylaw or something.

 

[SonsOfNutmeg]

Would the B1G try to add 2 schools though for Men's LAX? Right now they're at 6 (including non-FBS John Hopkins)... Given their strenght in LAX and history I doubt they will drop them to add in UConn.

 

[CallMeBruce]

Would the B1G try to add 2 schools though for Men's LAX? Right now they're at 6 (including non-FBS John Hopkins)... Given their strenght in LAX and history I doubt they will drop them to add in UConn.

If they're looking for television content, going from 6 to 8 schools means that you're going from 15 league games to 28. That's a reason to add teams. If UConn is going D1 in lax, and they bring in, say Virginia, that's a really terrific league that is going to steal eyeballs from ESPN's coverage.

 

[WestHartHusk]

Would the B1G try to add 2 schools though for Men's LAX? Right now they're at 6 (including non-FBS John Hopkins)... Given their strenght in LAX and history I doubt they will drop them to add in UConn.

Wait, what? Why does anyone need to be dropped to add a school that plays lax?

 

[whaler11]

I can find the money for lacrosse by the end of this post...

Drop baseball, it's an absolute waste of resources for schools in the Northeast.

 

[Adios]

I can find the money for lacrosse by the end of this post...

Drop baseball, it's an absolute waste of resources for schools in the Northeast.

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

 

[whaler11]

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Instead we should wait for enough donations to endow dozens of scholarships?

If they are going to lose money on athletics it may as well be on a sport that they can compete at the highest level while making themselves more attractive to FFLD Cty.

 

[billybud]

I wonder what it would be like if some of the black athletes down here in dixie picked up lacrosse?

Currently, the game seems not to draw much interest from our black population.

The big three have been football, basketball, and baseball....with black athletes at the high school/college level becoming fewer and fewer in baseball than the population percentage should indicate.

The black athletes have populated basketball and football pretty heavily at the elite levels....

 

[dbmill]

I can find the money for lacrosse by the end of this post...

Drop baseball, it's an absolute waste of resources for schools in the Northeast.

With players like George Springer, Matt Barnes and Nick Ahmed in the majors, that is simply not happening.

 

[whaler11]

With players like George Springer, Matt Barnes and Nick Ahmed in the majors, that is simply not happening.

Who said it was going to happen?

It's a way to move money from something mostly pointless to something that would be more productive for the university.

The number of guys who have come through recently only further highlight how pointless northeast college baseball is.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I'm not so sure that baseball is pointless (at least to UConn), all you need to do is take a look at the roster (we have quite a few players from other New England states). Among the aspirations of the university is to be viewed throughout New England as the local school most want to attend. The idea of dropping any sport will not make us more attractive to a power conference. If we do reach the point where dropping a sport is necessary, there are a few that would go before baseball would be considered.

 

[mets1090]

There is no reason to drop baseball. The 2011 team had 12 players who would eventually be drafted (plus one undrafted player that signed a pro contract afterwards). 12 of those 13 players were from the northeast including both first round picks. Next year Anthony Kay (also from the northeast) figures to be drafted in the first 2 rounds with a strong possibility that he goes in the first. We are the only program that matters in New England and it makes no sense to drop it in order to fund Lacrosse.

p.s. Hopefully when Springer signs a contract for $100+ million in a few years, he'll be generous enough to throw a million or two back to UConn.

 

[CL82]

There is no reason to drop baseball. The 2011 team had 12 players who would eventually be drafted (plus one undrafted player that signed a pro contract afterwards). 12 of those 13 players were from the northeast including both first round picks. Next year Anthony Kay (also from the northeast) figures to be drafted in the first 2 rounds with a strong possibility that he goes in the first. We are the only program that matters in New England and it makes no sense to drop it in order to fund Lacrosse.

p.s. Hopefully when Springer signs a contract for $100+ million in a few years, he'll be generous enough to throw a million or two back to UConn.

I hope so. The timing should be about right with the fundraising for the new on campus stadium.

 

[SonsOfNutmeg]

Wait, what? Why does anyone need to be dropped to add a school that plays lax?

Uneven number of schools. Or adding UConn and another school??

 

[CallMeBruce]

Uneven number of schools. Or adding UConn and another school??

Virginia would be nice.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

This is just a random thought and have nothing on it; but, any chance that U Delaware will upgrade to one of the P5 conferences in the future? The are not AAU; but, US News has them #76, which is just behind V Tech and tied with Indiana & UMass and ahead of Michigan St, U Colorado, Alabama, etc. I think the school is some odd public/private hybrid, like Rutgers used to be. They have 17,000 undergrads on a really nice campus in a fun college town. Looks like the only facility upgrade they would need is a larger football stadium (and maybe new uniforms as either they copied Michigan or vice versa). They even have good lax and are one of the top 'club' hockey teams like Penn St used to be. Throw in that they are smack in between Philly and Baltimore, which counters the fact that the are in the smallest state in then nation. I had work in Wilmington the other day and had dinner in Newark and then went for a walk though campus after. Thus, my query.

 

[History Geek]

This is just a random thought and have nothing on it; but, any chance that U Delaware will upgrade to one of the P5 conferences in the future? The are not AAU; but, US News has them #76, which is just behind V Tech and tied with Indiana & UMass and ahead of Michigan St, U Colorado, Alabama, etc. I think the school is some odd public/private hybrid, like Rutgers used to be. They have 17,000 undergrads on a really nice campus in a fun college town. Looks like the only facility upgrade they would need is a larger football stadium (and maybe new uniforms as either they copied Michigan or vice versa). They even have good lax and are one of the top 'club' hockey teams like Penn St used to be. Throw in that they are smack in between Philly and Baltimore, which counters the fact that the are in the smallest state in then nation. I had work in Wilmington the other day and had dinner in Newark and then went for a walk though campus after. Thus, my query.

I've been thinking the same thing. It has well-respected academics that is becoming more a more popular college destination for recent high school graduates in my southern CT community. If P5 is too big a jump, I could see them in the AAC one day (hopefully as a replacement for us )

Also, Coach David Nelson is responsible for Delaware's helmet design. He was inspired by 1930s Princeton. BTW, so was Michigan. From David M. Nelson's Wikipedia entry:

...Nelson also brought a unique football helmet design to Delaware. In the 1930s, Nelson's future college coach, (Fritz) Crisler, was the coach at Princeton University and was looking for a way to allow his quarterback to easily locate pass receivers running downfield. At the time, there were no rules requiring schools to wear jerseys of contrasting colors, and helmets were dark leather, so distinguishing teammates from opponents at a glance was difficult. Crisler hit upon the idea of a helmet with a winged pattern on it and had the leather dyed in Princeton's black and orange colors. When Crisler moved to Michigan in 1938—the same year Nelson arrived (as a player)—he used the same design with Michigan's school colors. Nelson brought the same design, in the appropriate school colors, to Hillsdale (1946-1947), Maine (1949-1950), and Delaware (starting in 1951). Delaware continues to use the "Michigan" helmet design to this day.[4][5]..

Fun fact: Princeton went back to the winged helmet design in 1998. If people tell you they are copying Michigan, tell them they are wrong. It is the other way around.

 

[NYUConn]

This is just a random thought and have nothing on it; but, any chance that U Delaware will upgrade to one of the P5 conferences in the future? The are not AAU; but, US News has them #76, which is just behind V Tech and tied with Indiana & UMass and ahead of Michigan St, U Colorado, Alabama, etc. I think the school is some odd public/private hybrid, like Rutgers used to be. They have 17,000 undergrads on a really nice campus in a fun college town. Looks like the only facility upgrade they would need is a larger football stadium (and maybe new uniforms as either they copied Michigan or vice versa). They even have good lax and are one of the top 'club' hockey teams like Penn St used to be. Throw in that they are smack in between Philly and Baltimore, which counters the fact that the are in the smallest state in then nation. I had work in Wilmington the other day and had dinner in Newark and then went for a walk though campus after. Thus, my query.

I spent a lot of time in the First State growing up and have family that went to UDel. I can tell you that this is something that comes up every every couple of year.

Simply put I don't think it's ever going to happen. The fans, alumni and state in general take a great amount of pride in being one of the premier 1AA programs in the nation year in and year out. It's weird it's like being a small state and having the biggest baddest 1AA program in the country makes them feel really good about themselves.

I don't think they would trade that to be a basement dweller in the American or even a P5 conference.

 

[FAIRTIDES]

Delaney is on ESPN2 right now talking about B1G Lacrosse's future....looking to expand the sport, quote on quote "east."

UCONN needs to get with the times (the state is a lax hotbed), and start building a program like we are with hockey. Give it 5 years and we will be competitive as anyone.

Just some numbers that show the importance of lacrosse in Fairfield County. First, a slight disclaimer.

(I'm not going back to find this stuff. It's from memory. Also from memory are the last national High School Polls I looked at, from last year and, week 11, this year. So, something might be slightly off, but not much)

What seems like a couple of weeks ago, there was a short article in a local paper that noted the number of Fairfield County kids whose names appeared on the rosters of the 16 Lacrosse teams in the NCAA Division I tournament. I lost count, close to the end, in the mid-thirties. By the way, there was a kid from Litchfield, County and one from New Haven, as well. Significant, I think.

In a late last season, all-inclusive (Public/Private schools), Under Armour poll, there were six (maybe seven) CT schools in the top-25. For sure, I remember Darien, Greenwich, New Canaan, Ridgefield, Brunswick and either, or maybe both, Avon Old Farms and/or Suffield. I normally don't give much credence to national HS polls, but many of the schools in the three recruiting hot beds, (Fairfield County, Long Island, Maryland/Virginia Beltway) play each other.

This year's week 11 poll showed Greenwich and New Canaan ranked in the top twenty. Both teams lost the following week, in the FCIAC semis; Greenwich to Ridgefield, New Canaan to Darien. As I remember, some CT Preps/Privates were ranked as well.

The point? We, us, little Connecticut is one of the recruiting hot spots for another "buzz" producing sport. We produce some of the best players in the nation for some of lacrosse's premier programs. While UCONN would still lose players to Duke, Virginia and the Ivies, there would still be good players available. If financially feasible, it's a no-brainer.

By the way, the other "buzz" producing sport CT equips with players is hockey. Five recent Olympians played youth hockey in Fairfield County.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Fairtides, you nailed a one significant factor (of a few) in the reasoning for this. The school sees quality students leaving the state to play lacrosse in college. Having a varsity program can help keep (at first some, in time most of) these kids in state and in the process make UConn a more attractive choice throughout the student bodies of the schools down here.

 

[whaler11]

There is no reason to drop baseball. The 2011 team had 12 players who would eventually be drafted (plus one undrafted player that signed a pro contract afterwards). 12 of those 13 players were from the northeast including both first round picks. Next year Anthony Kay (also from the northeast) figures to be drafted in the first 2 rounds with a strong possibility that he goes in the first. We are the only program that matters in New England and it makes no sense to drop it in order to fund Lacrosse.

p.s. Hopefully when Springer signs a contract for $100+ million in a few years, he'll be generous enough to throw a million or two back to UConn.

Well something has to give at some point. They don't have a printing press to cover infinite losses.

The number of players drafted is half the point of why baseball is the obvious sport to go first. Even the most talented team you could assemble here still wasn't really close to being good enough.

 

[hexlub]

I'm sure this is covered somewhere amongst the 7 pages in this thread, but how many scholarships is a DI Men's Lacrosse program allowed?

 

[UConn Dan]

I'm sure this is covered somewhere amongst the 7 pages in this thread, but how many scholarships is a DI Men's Lacrosse program allowed?

Not sure, but per the video @CallMeBruce posted it sounded like they only need 3 scholarships to upgrade to D1 - not sure if they would need more to be part of a conference though and not sure the max.

 

[CallMeBruce]

The max is, I believe, 13.9, though that may have changed in recent years. Not every team goes to the max, though. I remember a conversation I had with Jack McGetrick back in the day when he said that he only got a handful of scholarships at UHart.