lax4ct.com: In Pursuit of Division 1 Men’s Lacrosse at our Flagship Institution

The Case For Lacrosse

“Athletic directors look at what sports are growing, and lacrosse is growing at the high school level in large numbers. There is some responsibility to address those interests.“ Dr. Chris Hill, Director of Athletics, University of Utah

“Real strong players continued to leave our state and go to Duke, Virginia, Stanford, Indiana, and we tried to push the issue of at a state school shouldn’t we do a better job of representing, within our own athletic department, what’s really happening out there in the trenches.” Steve Burns, Head Coach, University of Michigan Men’s Soccer

“A mere 7,488 Connecticut kids (youth) played lacrosse in 2002.  Last year (2009) that number was at 18,054, a roughly 140 percent increase.” The Republican American

“Connecticut has one of the strongest youth programs in the country and the sport is continuing to explode.” US Lacrosse 2007 Participation Survey

GROWTH IN CONNECTICUT

The state of Connecticut is a ‘lacrosse state’, and the University of Connecticut should represent that. As a state institution, UConn has a responsibility to address the interests of the Connecticut public. Thus, the athletic department should represent the athletic interests that reside within the state. UConn should have men’s lacrosse for the same reason Iowa has Wrestling, Cal has Waterpolo, and Alaska has Rifle…because UConn is embedded in a hotbed for the sport.

The below map, which shows the location of every high school in the nation that sponsors boys lacrosse, gives you an idea of just how much of a hotbed Connecticut is for the sport.

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Lacrosse in Connecticut has long broken from it’s Fairfield County roots, and is spreading like wildfire across the state as the following map shows.

Location of every high school which sponsors lacrosse in the state:

Below is a list of the top 10 states when it comes to youth lacrosse participation:

1. Maryland……………………. 50,856
2. New York…………………… 38,645
3. Massachusetts…………… 18,242
4. Pennsylvania……………… 16,810
5. New Jersey……………….. 16,192
6. Connecticut……………….. 13,346
7. California…………………… 10,366
8. Virginia……………………… 10,232
9. Ohio……………………………. 5,865
10. New Hampshire………….. 5,433

The difference between Connecticut, and the five states above it on this list, is that the flagship institutions of those states sponsor D1 Men’s Lacrosse.

Connecticut is arguably the only ‘lacrosse state’ that does not have it’s flagship institution sponsoring NCAA D1 Men’s Lacrosse. The chart below is a list of all the states with flagship institutions that sponsor the sport. Also included is the percentage of high schools in each state that sponsor boy’s lacrosse:

^= New York recognizes it’s four ‘University Center’ SUNY’s as their flagship institutions, 3 of which sponsor D1 M Lacrosse
*=The District of Columbia does not have a formal flagship institution

Note that Connecticut is actually 4th in the nation when it comes to percentage of high schools to sponsor boy’s lacrosse. If the state institutions below Connecticut on this chart feel that the lacrosse interest in their state is enough to warrant Division 1 sponsorship, shouldn’t UConn feel the same way?

NATIONAL GROWTH

The sport of lacrosse is far and away the fastest growing sport in America today. US Lacrosse, the national governing body of the sport, has increased it’s membership by nearly 450% in the last 10 years.

Just in the last year, at the national level, youth participation saw a 9.4% growth and high school a 18.6% growth. Since 2000, on average, about 190 high school boy’s lacrosse programs have been added each year across the nation.

HIGH SCHOOL AND YOUTH LACROSSE PARTICIPATION IN 2009

GROWTH SINCE 2001

The following numbers represent the total number of lacrosse players nationally since US Lacrosse began tracking data in 2001

8 Year Growth:

Youth – 137..08%
High School – 125.5%
College - 55.8%

GROWTH RATE VS OTHER SPORTS

Growth Rates of National Federation of High School (NFHS) Boys Sports - 10 years

1. Bowling…………………… 206.0%
2. Lacrosse…………………….. 181.8%
3. Indoor Track………………… 60.4%
4. Ice Hockey…………………. 44.8%
5. Water Polo……………………….. 27.1%

Growth Rates of NCAA Men’s Sports - 10 years

1. Lacrosse…………………….. 28.5%
2. Cross Country…………………. 15.4%
3. Golf……………………….. 14.2%
4. Soccer………………………. 13.6%
5. Indoor Track……………………………. 12.3%

The college game has also grown steadily:

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This year’s NCAA Division 1 Men’s Lacrosse National Championship game was the most attended NCAA Championship, ahead of the Men’s Basketball National Championship:

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The sport of lacrosse has also gained significant ground when it comes to television coverage. More then 60 collegiate games will be broadcast on the ESPN family of networks as well as CSTV (now CBS College Sports) this year. This number doesn’t even include the many broadcasts on local and regional television stations.

With the creation of a Big East Lacrosse conference, the Big East is on the cusp of not only being potentially the strongest lacrosse conference in the NCAA, but also the most marketable. Sponsors will jump at the opportunity to be associated with America’s fastest growing sport and the Big East brand. CSTV and ESPN have already shown interest in broadcasting Big East Lacrosse, imagine a ‘Big East Lacrosse game of the week’. UConn’s lacrosse team could be on national television several times a spring, not including potential CPTV broadcasts as well as post season play.  The Big East recently revealed their first lacrosse television schedule as a sponsoring conference.

THE BIG EAST SPONSORS MEN’S LACROSSE

In 2008 it was announced that the Big East will form a Men’s Lacrosse league. Set to participate will be Syracuse, Georgetown, Notre Dame, St. Johns, Villanova, Providence, and Rutgers. As stated above, this new conference has the potential to be the strongest conference in the NCAA, rivaling even the ACC. The conference will have an automatic bid, and looks deep enough to potentially have multiple at large bids.

THE BEST LACROSSE PLAYERS IN THE NATION ARE IN OUR BACKYARD…

The state of Connecticut, year after year, produces some of the best collegiate lacrosse players in the nation. Darien is currently the #2 lacrosse high school team in the northeast, including New York. Players from Connecticut dot every list of top recruits in the nation. Just 2008 alone:

Top 50 Seniors - 3 players from CT
Top 25 Juniors - 1 player from CT
Top 100 Freshman - 8 players from CT

Without a doubt, the majority of Division 1 lacrosse teams have at least one player that hales from Connecticut. National powers such as Virginia and Georgetown currently have four players on their roster from Connecticut, while recent powerhouse Duke has six and the west’s best team, Notre Dame, has seven. Imagine if even half of these players decided to stay in Connecticut to play for a UConn Men’s Lacrosse team.

Connecticut players have also excelled at the professional level in both the MLL and NLL. Athletes from the Nutmeg State have had a continued presence on professional lacrosse rosters for the last 20 years, and Connecticut was the home to the Bridgeport Barrage, an inaugural Major League Lacrosse team in 2001.

Jack Reid - Glastonbury

THE FACILITIES ARE THERE:

UConn already has the facilities to support Division 1 Lacrosse. Morrone Stadium would be a perfect venue for Men’s Lacrosse, and is already the preferred venue of the Women’s Lacrosse team. It is common in Division 1 Lacrosse for a university’s primary soccer facility to double as the lacrosse team’s home in the spring. Sherman Field could also double as an inclement weather site for a lacrosse program. The Shenkman Center could do for lacrosse recruiting what it has done for UConn football and help seal the deal with recruits. With most lacrosse team’s taking spring break trips in Feb. and March, UConn would have an advantage with it’s ability to practice indoors in the pre-season.

ALUMNI FOUNDATION:

How many athletic departments can say they can add a new sport that already has a significant alumni foundation. A new Men’s Lacrosse program would benefit from the hundreds of alumni that played Division 1 Lacrosse at UConn before the program was cut in 1983. Just by reading some of the comments on this website it is obvious these alumni are hungry to see a return to Division 1 Lacrosse, and they would show their support for athletics in many ways, including financially. After graduation lacrosse alumni tend to be some of the most financially successful of all NCAA sports, many of whom land on wall street with well paying jobs.

UConn’s lacrosse alumni are no different and many have touched base with our website with an interest in pledging donations to athletics if the creation of a team were to go forward. One also shouldn’t forget the successful club team on campus, which for the last 10 year has maintained a significant alumni network which also could be tapped into for support.  You can read some of their comments here.

LACROSSE STUDENT ATHLETES…EMPHASIS ON THE ‘STUDENT’:

Athletic Departments and Admissions Offices nationwide are starting to take note of the many benefits in bringing some of the brightest students in the nation to participate in the fastest growing sport in America. Men’s Lacrosse currently has the highest graduation rate in the nation among all NCAA Men’s Sports. Athletic Directors are starting to take note of these types of benefits:

“We believe it (men’s lacrosse) is a great fit because of the strong academic profile that lacrosse players traditionally bring, and it fulfills a well established demand in our own service area.” -Karen Weaver, Director of Athletics, Penn State Abington

“The admissions office tells me that they believe having a men’s lacrosse program would be beneficial in the recruitment of academically strong male students to the campus.” -Jim Miller, Director of Athletics, University of Richmond


THE TEAM COULD COMPETE FOR A NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP FROM DAY 1:

Falls at UConn are all about Soccer and Football, and in the Winter the focus turns to the Huskies successful basketball programs. But what about the spring? Once spring rolls around and March Madness is over the UConn athletics buzz becomes seemingly non-existent, with students looking forward to spring weekend and summer more than anything else. Of course there is baseball and softball, with their great traditions, multiple Big East Championships, and players going pro. Unfortunately though, the realities of collegiate baseball and softball are tough on team’s with national aspirations north of the mason dixon line. There is little parity in either of these sports at the collegiate level, with warm weather teams dominating in every way. The map below shows the locations of the last 40 College World Series champions in baseball, and all-time in softball.

Now compare that to this map, which shows the locations of NCAA Lacrosse national champions for both Men and Women:

The difference is striking. The reality is, UConn along with just about every northern university has little chance of winning a national championship in baseball and softball. Even if the first map was expanded to include College World series ‘final four’ participants, the data would be no more encouraging. The advantage of warm weather has tilted the landscape of baseball and softball overwhelmingly in favor of deep south and west coast teams.

Lacrosse on the other hand, with it’s east coast roots, is a very different story. With national champion teams from North Carolina to Syracuse, UConn fits the mold perfectly from a geographic perspective. Having a nationally competitive spring sport would continue interest and excitement in UConn athletics through late May, keeping students involved and exposing the university to new demographics through T.V. coverage and potential post season play.

REFERENCES:

http://blog.fortiusone.com
www.laxpower.com
www.schooltree.org
www.uslacrosse.org
http://www.laxpower.com/common/NCAA-Attendance.php
http://www.uslacrosse.org/pdf/07participationsurvey.pdf
http://www.uslacrosse.org/pdf/08participation.pdf
http://nacda.cstv.com/directorscup/nacda-directorscup-current-scoring.html
http://www.laxpower.com/laxnews/news.php?story=11673
http://www.nfhs.org/web/2008/09/high_school_sports_participation.aspx
http://www.uslacrosse.org/pdf/09participation.pdf