Why No UConn Lacrosse ? (Merged: or wrestling)

[John]

You forgot to add for any kid whose parent drives a Range Rover and Tesla. I live in Fairfield County and the top Lacrosse athletes also star in soccer and football in the fall. Those same kids can’t scratch the surface in D1 for soccer and football, yet get recruited by Virginia and Duke for lacrosse. That says it all.

College soccer is dominated by internationals, US kids have an uphill climb.

 

[Huskyforlife]

It was noted in post #11 above:

-> “It comes down to this,” Brameier said, “money and managing Title IX numbers.”

Truth. That’s why lacrosse is a club sport for men at UConn and the women are Division I.

“If you add a men’s sport, you have to have something to offset that,” Benedict said. “A lot of these men’s lacrosse teams have 40 athletes (average D-I roster: 44). That’s a big number. What would be the complementary sport to add for women? Or do you reduce a men’s sport? You’re not canceling soccer or baseball at our place.”<-

This makes me wonder what they were thinking at the time not adding both since they’d offset.

 

[Magic32]

This makes me wonder what they were thinking at the time not adding both since they’d offset.

They would never have offset because of football. It's not having equal number of sports, it's having equal number of scholarship possibilities and that is hard with football so we have more women's sports than we have men's to offset football.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I think the money issue is pretty easy to resolve, and might get fixed on its own with some of the rumors. Not sure how to fix the scholarship issue though, since you'd have to add another 13 scholarships/sport on the women's side

I think the total participation number would be more difficult than the scholarship number. We do have capacity in existing women's sports to add scholarships. If we were to add men's lacrosse we'd have a roster of forty players in a matter of seconds. Matching that with non-scholarhip women's athletes would likely require a decent increase in recruiting dollars as we would need to add a good number (at least 25, and always maintain that number) of non scholarship participants in track & field, rowing and wherever else there is room for larger rosters.

 

[Zissou]

But the B12 doesn’t sponsor lacrosse.

 

[husky429]

It was noted in post #11 above:

-> “It comes down to this,” Brameier said, “money and managing Title IX numbers.”

Truth. That’s why lacrosse is a club sport for men at UConn and the women are Division I.

“If you add a men’s sport, you have to have something to offset that,” Benedict said. “A lot of these men’s lacrosse teams have 40 athletes (average D-I roster: 44). That’s a big number. What would be the complementary sport to add for women? Or do you reduce a men’s sport? You’re not canceling soccer or baseball at our place.”<-

I believe lacrosse is 13 scholarships just like basketball, so they wouldn't need to off-set 44 scholarships--only the 13. UConn has already dropped men's swimming, XC and tennis schollies (right?), so I'm not sure where else it would come from. Definitely not coming from basketball, football, baseball, soccer or hockey. Track?

 

[Sick Puppy]

No justification for lacrosse in the UConn mission statement. In fact, no mention of supporting the Connecticut scholastic population. Seems to me it needs a good rewrite. Besides basketball, how are we doing on the “…national and international recognition?”

Mission and Purposes of the
University of Connecticut​

(Adopted by the Board of Trustees on April 11, 2006 and amended on June 20, 2006)
The University of Connecticut is dedicated to excellence demonstrated through national and international recognition. As Connecticut’s public research university, through freedom of academic inquiry and expression, we create and disseminate knowledge by means of scholarly and creative achievements, graduate and professional education, and outreach. Through our focus on teaching and learning, the University helps every student grow intellectually and become a contributing member of the state, national, and world communities. Through research, teaching, service, and outreach, we embrace diversity and cultivate leadership, integrity, and engaged citizenship in our students, faculty, staff, and alumni. As our state’s flagship public university, and as a land and sea grant institution, we promote the health and well-being of Connecticut’s citizens through enhancing the social, economic, cultural, and natural environments of the state and beyond.

 

[husky429]

Besides basketball, how are we doing on the “…national and international recognition?”

This is the mission statement of the university. Athletics is only a small part of that. UConn's budget is 1.7 billion. We're much more than athletics--and should be.

Other than basketball? I can tell you we're doing pretty well considering our overall rankings, endowment, etc. My wife moved here specifically to attend a PhD program at UConn because of a faculty member on staff. She turned down offers from NYU, Duke, BU and UF to come here.

We're not throwing around the same kind of weight as Michigan, but UConn is a legitimately great school with a reputation that is improving.

The mission could use an update, but not for the reasons you're thinking.

 

[bfs3]

As someone who wrestled and coached wrestling I think it’s a real shame it’s not an option for so many schools. You don’t need large numbers for rosters or much investment beyond the mat. I’ve met a lot of people who found their tribe wrestling or found something they were good at that helped improve their confidence at an important age. The stories about kids with handicaps being successful are too long to list. This is something I know bothers anyone who ever competed in the sport.

I know title 9 is the main culprit but multiple schools who offer wrestling offer it as a multi gender option with girls on several varsity teams including some from CT that have gone on to be successful nationally. The CT wrestling forum used to be just as active as this board. Maybe someone can help explain why wrestling would still be cut due to title 9 even with girls participating.

 

[bfs3]

And Danbury high is a major pipeline to a major top 5 program at Nc state.

CT has a strong wrestling community despite the state size and lack of support. It was even bigger 10-15 years ago. Very few CT wrestlers go div 1 which just shows how popular it is many other states. Ohio, Penn, New Jersey are all incredibly competitive with about 15-20 other states ahead of New England that have major high school programs. It’s a sport that’s seemed to thrive despite all the closures of programs. The people who love it are very devoted to keeping it alive

 

[Scoe]

As someone who wrestled and coached wrestling I think it’s a real shame it’s not an option for so many schools. You don’t need large numbers for rosters or much investment beyond the mat. I’ve met a lot of people who found their tribe wrestling or found something they were good at that helped improve their confidence at an important age. The stories about kids with handicaps being successful are too long to list. This is something I know bothers anyone who ever competed in the sport.

I know title 9 is the main culprit but multiple schools who offer wrestling offer it as a multi gender option with girls on several varsity teams including some from CT that have gone on to be successful nationally. The CT wrestling forum used to be just as active as this board. Maybe someone can help explain why wrestling would still be cut due to title 9 even with girls participating.

It very much is an under appreciated sport. I have never under stood why football players who never participated in a winter sport wouldn’t wrestle especially lineman as the 215-275 weight class tended to have less skilled wrestlers thus the success for lineman was pretty high. No amount of winter weight training can duplicate a wrestling practice. I wrestled to get in shape for football not liking the sport at first then I ended up liking it better then football.

If UConn can get a mens lacrosse team no question we could get a wrestling team.

 

[Sick Puppy]

This is the mission statement of the university. Athletics is only a small part of that. UConn's budget is 1.7 billion. We're much more than athletics--and should be.

Other than basketball? I can tell you we're doing pretty well considering our overall rankings, endowment, etc. My wife moved here specifically to attend a PhD program at UConn because of a faculty member on staff. She turned down offers from NYU, Duke, BU and UF to come here.

We're not throwing around the same kind of weight as Michigan, but UConn is a legitimately great school with a reputation that is improving.

The mission could use an update, but not for the reasons you're thinking.

Congrats to your wife. Sounds like she's doing great.

https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/top-public

WADR, UConn is tied at 26 in this particular annual ranking. We used to crack the top 20 occasionally. Take into account private colleges, doubtful we're in the top 50. Not so sure we are improving relative to the competition.

 

[JohnFSilver]

A move to big 12 would help this. For a state like CT, no reason to not have men’s lacrosse.

 

[XLCenterFan]

It’s especially ironic that they play big time college lax games at the Rent. The final 4 I believe?

 

[husky8273]

It’s especially ironic that they play big time college lax games at the Rent. The final 4 I believe?

twice, 2021 & 2022, but unlikely to return

 

[bfs3]

How is Penn State so dominant in wrestling do we consider western PA the Midwest or does Cael Sanderson recruit in the Midwest.

Penn is a huge wrestling state. They have some of the best kids in the country. I know of a few kids that moved there from New England just to compete and see if they had what it takes to wrestle d1

Wrestling isn’t just a big sport in the mid west. New Jersey might be one of the toughest states in the country to win a state title. California, Oregon and others as well. Cornell has a top team every year.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

The University of Connecticut not having lacrosse is almost as weird as the university of Canada not having hockey (Cuse)

 

[freescooter]

A move to big 12 would help this. For a state like CT, no reason to not have men’s lacrosse.

John,
People keep saying it but we haven’t had varsity lacrosse since the 70s. And with all the New England schools who have lacrosse, there are how many powers? Location isn’t really meaningful. Facilities and recruiting are meaningful. Just because a bunch of Fairfield County barons and earls like to watch their kids play, it is neither big enough nor popular enough that it is a must have.

 

[HuskyDogArt]

I doubt we'll be adding any sports while still in the Big East

I wonder if we could if we were in the Big 12! Darien CT is one of the best LAX area in the USA.

 

[Samoo]

A different but related issue is that having a quasi-public entity which owns two of our major venues means that we are paying above the going rate for the use of those facilities, plus, as you pointed out, we don't realize concession and parking revenues at those venues. The end result of that is that a portion of the CDRA's annual losses are being shifted from being reported on their balance sheet to the athletic department. On an accounting basis it makes them look less inept and generates a significant portion of the accounting loss that some people confuse with debt.

How about we say that the Athletic Department spends crap loads more money than the revenues it generates so we need to rely on other sources that are not likely to grow. The actual issue here is that there is no way we will see any additional subsidies to cover another sport unless they come from a private source.

 

[CL82]

The actual issue here is that there is no way we will see any additional subsidies to cover another sport unless they come from a private source.

Agree that we are unlikely to add another sport for male athletes given our current circumstances and current charges. Note that accounting charges and actual expenses are two different things.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

twice, 2021 & 2022, but unlikely to return

Any reason why? I went to the 2022 final and it was fun and had a godo crowd. Just hot as heck that day.

 

[husky8273]

Any reason why? I went to the 2022 final and it was fun and had a godo crowd. Just hot as heck that day.

the NCAA has moved the future championships back to NFL stadiums - Philly in '23, '24, Foxboro - '25, '26. The Rent was the only non-NFL site since 2002

 

[DarthGrumpy]

the NCAA has moved the future championships back to NFL stadiums - Philly in '23, '24, Foxboro - '25, '26. The Rent was the only non-NFL site since 2002

That I knew, thanks. Was it due to attendance? Looked like a solid 20 to 25K for the title game in the heat at the end of Covid, so not a bad number.

 

[Vowelguy]

Fortunately the NCAA has not yet sponsored curling as a varsity sport.

If there ever was a sport that Syracuse would dominate due to inherent advantages from their location this is the one.

You mean like the way they dominate M & W hockey?