2014 Men's Lacrosse Thread

[SMULaxer]

http://mcla.us/team/southern_methodist/2014/schedule.html

Cal Poly is a perennial top five team. Excellent that SMU gets a crack at these guys.

9-4 should be the record going I to the conference tournament. Can't wait to support these guys this season. Pony up boys.

[gostangs]

looking forward to some LAX. wish we could move up to D-1.

[PonyKai]

Funny that LAX, Hockey, and Baseball are the only worthwhile Spring sports SMU has and none of them are Varsity.

[SMULaxer]

I'm really interested to see what the new AD does at UT. I feel like if they make the jump we could piggie back to ease the impact. I coach with several guys that played D1 lacrosse. They all say they would have considered Texas schools for the weather alone.

[Boston Pony]

Looking forward to Nor Cal swing...hope to get out to one or two games. My guess is that women's lax will get added by one or two of the Texas colleges (probably UT and A&M) within the next few years. Women's lacrosse has more national exposure (teams in the deep south and out west) and it fulfills Title IX at a low cost (12.5 scholarships and around 25 players that play on a football/soccer field). Men's lacrosse while growing hasn't made the move in the South at a DI level like the Women's game.

[alyssa]

I like lacrosse ok, like this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9FLHfMprDM

but I like stickball better. We grew up playing stickball like this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7NoDil-c0E

[bubba pony]

are all the teams on SMU lacrosse schedule club teams?
How competitive would SMU's club team be against a division II lacrosse team?

[StallionsModelT]

We need to be a D1A lacrosse program full w/ scholarships and funding. SMU is a perfect fit for this sport.

[Boston Pony]

SMU schedule is against clubs. Most compare the club programs to DIII, however in lacrosse the divisions are closer than say football or basketball. A good DIII team can compete against a mid level DI program. The top clubs are virtual varsity programs with fully funded coaches and trips, although the players pay a tremendous amount towards the costs.

[SMULaxer]

SMU schedule is against clubs. Most compare the club programs to DIII, however in lacrosse the divisions are closer than say football or basketball. A good DIII team can compete against a mid level DI program. The top clubs are virtual varsity programs with fully funded coaches and trips, although the players pay a tremendous amount towards the costs.

SMUwould run with a mid level d3 but would get wrecked by a top 20 d3.

The top five in club can compete in close games with the bottom ten of d1. So when you see the score of SMU vs cal poly, you'll get an idea of what the SMU team would do against a bottom d1 team.

UT will play D1 Mercer this season, which should be interesting.

Also, Jacksonville has had some recent success, located in the south.

I would LOVE to see SMU add women's lacrosse. Mr. Crum had a daughter play for SMU and I'm sure he would be willing to help the cause. He's done a lot for both club teams at SMU.

[Boston Pony]

Women's lacrosse could be added but only if there is some extra $ sitting around. The 25+ players and 12.5 scholarships would help Title IX compliance but I'm not sure there is any money in the department. A varsity women's program could be competitive if properly funded (like soccer was for so many years). Stanford, U of Florida and Northwestern are examples of 'new' programs that succeeded - Northwestern won the title in 3-4 years after establishing the program, however full funding is required...I would think both UT and A&M will add programs within the next few years as their Title IX compliance levels receive more pressure and they have so much $ to spend.

[fifty]

Adding lax would be nice but after the big east fell apart I don't know how we can afford it. I still choose to live during the days of the initial big east announcement when we were talking about 10mil+ and adding sports.

[stc9]

Responding to numerous posts at once.

1) The Catholic Seven were the lacrosse schools in the old BE. Of those schools St. John's, Villanova & Georgetown were the best three (I didn't include Syracuse because they announced their move to the ACC a year earlier than the destruction of the BE - the BE sponsoring lacrosse was another reason their AD hated the BE).

2) Most FBS Football Schools cannot go with a D1 lacrosse team because the football team throws them off from a Title IX perspective.

3) I spoke to the old club coach at Florida State several years ago. He told me that he needed to raise $10m to endow both a men's and women's program if they wanted to leave club and go to the Division 1 level. Even after he raised the pledges, the Athletic Department still balks. Given the budget issues, I imagine that a similar number would be needed for SMU to move forward. Maybe more, because this would create an extra burden on the student athlete support center.

4) There are three D1 programs in FLA today (Two Women's programs and one men's program). Jacksonville University has both a men's and women's program. UF has only a women's team (and some of the best lacrosse only facilities I have ever seen). JU men started out fairly well. Then their coach left to become the HC in waiting at Georgetown. He is now the interim HC at Cornell. The new coach plays an entirely different style and it will take time to get his type of players into the school. February games in Jacksonville are the best recruiting tool in the entire world - shorts and T-shirts compared to shoveling snow. They got a lot of Canadian, Central NY and Baltimore players.

5) I don't think UT or A&M will be the first to break into D1 from Texas. Let me rephrase. What I can see happening is UT or A&M partnering with another school in Texas (probably not each other) and both schools starting the same year. This way schools that come down to play Texas can also play the partner school the same weekend. If this happens then there is a very interesting problem regarding conference. Those schools could reach out to the ACC, BE (which now includes Denver), or the MAAC. Interesting thought... Reach out a cut a deal with the Big Ten. There are currently two D1 teams in the Big Ten (Michigan & Ohio State - Maryland & Rutgers soon to follow). Why not make a small conference between the Texas Schools and the Big Ten Schools?

[Boston Pony]

Good thoughts on DI. My guess is that UT and A&M will go Women's DI before everyone else. SEC schools are beginning to add and will need Title IX relief. UT may go as their club is quite good and they have all the money that isn't in Rome. SMU Women's club has been good as a DII Club and I'm not sure why they haven't moved to the top level of clubs.

[stc9]

Good thoughts on DI. My guess is that UT and A&M will go Women's DI before everyone else. SEC schools are beginning to add and will need Title IX relief. UT may go as their club is quite good and they have all the money that isn't in Rome. SMU Women's club has been good as a DII Club and I'm not sure why they haven't moved to the top level of clubs.

Both schools have the money from TV contracts to start a women's program. Even with DeLoss gone, I don't see A&M and Texas working together. In order to make Texas programs viable in the short term, the first two schools would need to work in concert with each other. Can that happen with UT and A&M?