Thursday, August 15, 2013
Add up the below variables that apply to your university. If your number adds up to at least 100 congratulations
you are going varsity in 2015!
Donor willing to supply lead gift of $3-$6 million +40
Board of trustees supports adding lacrosse +30
President supports adding lacrosse +25
Athletic Director supports adding lacrosse +15
Facilities in place +10
Successful MCLA team +5
Strong lacrosse interest in local community +5
Current conference sponsors lacrosse +5
Small private university +5
FBS Football School –20
FCS Football School –15
Board of trustees supports adding lacrosse +30
President supports adding lacrosse +25
Athletic Director supports adding lacrosse +15
Facilities in place +10
Successful MCLA team +5
Strong lacrosse interest in local community +5
Current conference sponsors lacrosse +5
Small private university +5
FBS Football School –20
FCS Football School –15
Obviously this is not a scientific survey so don’t take it for
face value. We are more or less simply trying to make the point that at
the highest level of college lacrosse, at the end of the day, money and power
talks. It should be noted that there are
other variables and unique situations that cannot be accounted for in a ‘survey’
such as this (i.e. UMass Lowell adding lacrosse most likely to help them gain
admittance to the America East Conference). We also left Title IX specifics out of the 'formula' because quite frankly every schools Title IX situation is different and
with the exception of the obvious (football’s influence) it’s hard to predict.
With that being said clearly we have weighted the first four
variables the most because we feel those are the most significant. I.e. without a large influx of money, and
without a very supportive executive administration, lax ain’t happening, simple
as that…all the other variables it can be argued are just window dressing.
And that my friends is why these ‘Who Will Go D1 Next’
articles, while fun, are pretty much conjecture. Because if those top four variables we have
listed are indeed the most important, as outsiders we have no way of knowing if
they are in play at a given university. Most
of us don’t really know how an AD, or President, or Trustee feels about
lacrosse unless they speak publicly about it.
Sure there are situations where some may make public comments that give
us a hint here or there, but at the end of the day we are not in their executive
meetings, so we have no idea if lacrosse is part of a master plan or not for a specific
school.
The same goes for fundraising. Many university development offices go through ‘quiet
phases’ of fundraising where steps are taken to keep a specific fundraising initiative confidential. If a fundraising initiative is not made
public or is not part of a larger university campaign, unless we have some sort
of inside information we have no way of knowing if there is a lead donor(s) out
there for lacrosse, or if the university is even interested in soliciting a
potential lead donor.
So if at the end of the day we don’t have any knowledge specific to the most
important variables needed to determine if a school will go Division I, then the
reality is we can’t predict with accuracy if a school will make the
jump. We must rely on inside info,
research, informants, leaks, etc. There’s
nothing wrong with that of course, that’s the foundation of investigative
journalism, and a little bit of that would go a long way in adding some substance
to all the ‘Going D1 Next’ articles that are out there.
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