University of Michigan to play Division I men's lacrosse beginning next season

[Texas Otto]

Marquette, now Michigan, and rumor has it a bunch of schools have exploritory comittees on the issue. Personally I think the frogs should jump on the band wagon h34r:

http://blog.syracuse.com/sports/2011/05/university_of_michigan_to_play.html

 

[Delmonico]

Marquette doesn't have baseball. Or swimming and diving.




I hear those sports might make it......... :tongue:

 

[Texas Otto]

Marquette doesn't have baseball. Or swimming and diving.




I hear those sports might make it......... :tongue:

Sarcasim noted RSF but the fact is with the NCAA Lacrosse Tournament being as big as it is fan interest wise around the country allot of big name schools are taking a serious look at Lax as a sport on the rise that can at least break even and not be a revenue drain. You have a pretty large fan base in the metroplex and the resources it would be a good add for TCU IMHO.

Oh and right back at ya :tongue:

 

[ftwfrog]

Walked around the University of Michigan campus this fall, I was amazed at all of the sports they have. Not only do they have one of the nicest golf courses that I've ever been on, they also play gymnastics, wrestling, rowing, ice hockey, womens field hockey(No they don't play field hockey on an intramural field, they have their own artificial turf field). I know TCU has money but it seemed as if there is a sport, Michigan has it. Why would TCU waste money on lacrosse?? Let's put all of our money into football, and keep winning championships that matter.



...and by the way, who gives a darn about lacrosse?? It's not popular in this area. Let's stop kidding ourselves. There's like 3 schools in the country who are good at lacrosse. Virginia, Syracuse, Duke, ???

 

[Ballard]

Walked around the University of Michigan campus this fall, I was amazed at all of the sports they have. Not only do they have one of the nicest golf courses that I've ever been on, they also play gymnastics, wrestling, rowing, ice hockey, womens field hockey(No they don't play field hockey on an intramural field, they have their own artificial turf field). I know TCU has money but it seemed as if there is a sport, Michigan has it. Why would TCU waste money on lacrosse?? Let's put all of our money into football, and keep winning championships that matter.



...and by the way, who gives a darn about lacrosse?? It's not popular in this area. Let's stop kidding ourselves. There's like 3 schools in the country who are good at lacrosse. Virginia, Syracuse, Duke, ???

It's actually exploding in Texas. Many players from Texas are earning scholarships to solid D1 programs every year. In fact, I heard that Highland Park recently had more kids try out for lacrosse than football. Try watching a full D1/professional game before saying that lacrosse championships don't matter.

And a lot of people give a darn about lacrosse. Watch the Final Four this weekend. The Ravens' stadium will be packed.

 

[illini_frog]

Rugby is faster growing in the country than Lacrosse FWIW.

 

[Texas Otto]

Walked around the University of Michigan campus this fall, I was amazed at all of the sports they have. Not only do they have one of the nicest golf courses that I've ever been on, they also play gymnastics, wrestling, rowing, ice hockey, womens field hockey(No they don't play field hockey on an intramural field, they have their own artificial turf field). I know TCU has money but it seemed as if there is a sport, Michigan has it. Why would TCU waste money on lacrosse?? Let's put all of our money into football, and keep winning championships that matter.



...and by the way, who gives a darn about lacrosse?? It's not popular in this area. Let's stop kidding ourselves. There's like 3 schools in the country who are good at lacrosse. Virginia, Syracuse, Duke, ???

Denver is in the final four this weekend after taking down Hopkins and is in for nice little payday this weekend for their efforts. Oh and its not like they have had a lacrosse program forever either. Dumb comments :tongue:

 

[Delmonico]

Sarcasim noted RSF but the fact is with the NCAA Lacrosse Tournament being as big as it is fan interest wise around the country allot of big name schools are taking a serious look at Lax as a sport on the rise that can at least break even and not be a revenue drain. You have a pretty large fan base in the metroplex and the resources it would be a good add for TCU IMHO.

Oh and right back at ya :tongue:

Point being that you have to take into account the financial limitations of being a private school. Michigan, once they add lacrosse, will be sponsoring 27 sports. Can't compete with that. Marquette is a better comparison - and they've chosen to add lacrosse rather than something like baseball. TCU also sponsors equestrian, swimming, and rifle teams, but does not sponsor men's soccer (marq does). Baseball draws about 4000+ a game at TCU, so its safe to say its at worst its a modest revenue producer these days (wasn't always so). The same cannot be said for Lacrosse (available facilities hold about 1500). 13 scholarships at 40K per is a big number to cover. it's great for Syracuse that they can lead the nation in attendance, but they benefit from a long-standing lacrosse culture, and even then the numbers aren't I'd call staggering revenue producers (and half of SU's attendance was in 2 games against UVa and ND).

 

[ATXFrog]

Rugby is faster growing in the country than Lacrosse FWIW.

What is your source? I see grade school kids playing lacrosse in my neighborhood now, not Rugby. A professional outdoor and indoor lacrosse league exists, where is the rugby in the US? Is there a final 4 NCCA Rugby that will pack a football stadium like lacrosse will do this weekend?

I appreciate Texas Otto thinking so much of TCU. Perhaps some of you should do the same.
Instead of excuses of "it costs too much", "it's too hard to start", or "invest in Football only" we should think big and bold.

By being the 1st team in Texas to go to Division 1 Lacrosse we can improve the reputation of our University.
Associating with Notre Dame, Syracuse, John Hopkins, Duke, etc.. will be a good thing. And we can have something that UT,A&M,Tech,Baylor don't have..
It's time we embrace joining the Big East and leave the Big 12 dreams in the dust...

 

[Texas Otto]

Point being that you have to take into account the financial limitations of being a private school. Michigan, once they add lacrosse, will be sponsoring 27 sports. Can't compete with that. Marquette is a better comparison - and they've chosen to add lacrosse rather than something like baseball. TCU also sponsors equestrian, swimming, and rifle teams, but does not sponsor men's soccer (marq does). Baseball draws about 4000+ a game at TCU, so its safe to say its at worst its a modest revenue producer these days (wasn't always so). The same cannot be said for Lacrosse (available facilities hold about 1500). 13 scholarships at 40K per is a big number to cover. it's great for Syracuse that they can lead the nation in attendance, but they benefit from a long-standing lacrosse culture, and even then the numbers aren't I'd call staggering revenue producers (and half of SU's attendance was in 2 games against UVa and ND).

Okay valid point however I would compare TCU more with SU than Marquette. That being said SU does not sponsor equestrian, rifle or baseball, but does sponsor mens and womens soccer, mens and womens lacrosse, field hockey, softball, womens hockey (the ice kind) on what I beleive is a far less endowmwment and not as wealthy an alumni base as TCU. Now SU does average probably around 8-10,000 per lacrosse game for attendence, but TCU could do that by having home games at ACS.

 

[Metropolis777]

Bring in men's soccer before we bring in the yuppie sport.

 

[froginaustin]

Okay valid point however I would compare TCU more with SU than Marquette. That being said SU does not sponsor equestrian, rifle or baseball, but does sponsor mens and womens soccer, mens and womens lacrosse, field hockey, softball, womens hockey (the ice kind) on what I beleive is a far less endowmwment and not as wealthy an alumni base as TCU. Now SU does average probably around 8-10,000 per lacrosse game for attendence, but TCU could do that by having home games at ACS.

The powers-that-be at TCU (Patterson probably among them) won't tolerate high school football teams tearing up the natural grass field at ACS. Maybe they'd welcome TCU lacrosse playing on that field. Maybe. :laugh:

 

[leofrog]

I am a big proponent of lacrosse, and have mentioned it several times to CDC. However, it doesn't seem like there are many new sports on the horizon. If there is a new sport or two, I think they would need to be women sports, too.

 

[smredd]

Won't happen because of Title IX. The next sport to be added will be either softball or NCAA women's bowling (which is actually one the fastest growing sport for NCAA in the country, http://www.examiner.com/bowling-in-national/fast-growing-collegiate-bowling-still-has-plenty-of-room-to-expand ). It will most likely be softball due to the move to the Big East.

A lot of my fraternity brothers from undergrad played Lacrosse and it was intense and fun. I enjoyed watching it but it wouldn't make money here. It does fine as a club.

 

[leofrog]

Won't happen because of Title IX. The next sport to be added will be either softball or NCAA women's bowling (which is actually one the fastest growing sport for NCAA in the country, http://www.examiner.com/bowling-in-national/fast-growing-collegiate-bowling-still-has-plenty-of-room-to-expand ). It will most likely be softball due to the move to the Big East.

A lot of my fraternity brothers from undergrad played Lacrosse and it was intense and fun. I enjoyed watching it but it wouldn't make money here. It does fine as a club.

One sport CDC said he is fond of is gymnastics, especially since there is no D1 school in the state that sponsors it.

 

[Texas Otto]

What is your source? I see grade school kids playing lacrosse in my neighborhood now, not Rugby. A professional outdoor and indoor lacrosse league exists, where is the rugby in the US? Is there a final 4 NCCA Rugby that will pack a football stadium like lacrosse will do this weekend?

I appreciate Texas Otto thinking so much of TCU. Perhaps some of you should do the same.
Instead of excuses of "it costs too much", "it's too hard to start", or "invest in Football only" we should think big and bold.

By being the 1st team in Texas to go to Division 1 Lacrosse we can improve the reputation of our University.
Associating with Notre Dame, Syracuse, John Hopkins, Duke, etc.. will be a good thing. And we can have something that UT,A&M,Tech,Baylor don't have..
It's time we embrace joining the Big East and leave the Big 12 dreams in the dust...

ATX thanks for the kind words I really am a frog fan have been since I moved here as I hate UT. Really I just want to impress that TCU should spend money where the wave of the future is going cause if the rumors are correct that the SEC is about to try and take the lacrosse world by storm so they can try and dominate another sport I don't want the frogs left behind. There was a time when the NCAA hoops tourney was only 16 teams and an afterthought now l;ook at it, and I can tell you that the NCAA and USILA are working hard to get the SEC Big 10 and PAC10 to join in.

 

[Texas Otto]

Bring in men's soccer before we bring in the yuppie sport.

Yuppie sport okay another TCU asshat! :tongue:

 

[Armadillo]

Denver is in the final four this weekend after taking down Hopkins and is in for nice little payday this weekend for their efforts. Oh and its not like they have had a lacrosse program forever either. Dumb comments

I think that when Denver and Johns Hopkins are the marquee names in said sport, then it may be best to avoid joining this exclusive fraternity of competitors.

 

[Texas Otto]

I think that when Denver and Johns Hopkins are the marquee names in said sport, then it may be best to avoid joining this exclusive fraternity of competitors.

One asshat after another you must start exporting them because the rest of the world is in an [Craig James] hat deficit :angry:

 

[Virginia Frog]

What is your source? I see grade school kids playing lacrosse in my neighborhood now, not Rugby.

By being the 1st team in Texas to go to Division 1 Lacrosse we can improve the reputation of our University.
Associating with Notre Dame, Syracuse, John Hopkins, Duke, etc.. will be a good thing. And we can have something that UT,A&M,Tech,Baylor don't have..
It's time we embrace joining the Big East and leave the Big 12 dreams in the dust...

In a perfect world, LAX (men's) would be a winner for TCU..a revenue sport but very expensive travel due to the lack of "weekday" opponents in our region of the country (baseball mitigates travel expenses due to bus-trip games vs. Baylor, OU, UT-Arl, A&M, D-Baptist, etc..)

And Title 9 would require a female addition to the TCU sports lineup (Ladies LAX?) adding more expenses...scholarships, venues, salaries and travel.

LAX is everywhere now...really...the kids in N VA traditionally the areas where HS's offered LAX were from Baltimore north into eastern PA, NJ, Long Island and CT in the East in in parts of the upper Midwest. This is a foreign sport to us here...really!...and to see it explode in popularity in youth sports is incredible.

But what TCU NEEDS is to return MEN'S Soccer to campus...what, we'll be the ONLY BE school w/o MEN'S Soccer. E Hyman made a big error IMO when he canned the MS program. We had room to grow the sport there.

And with the growth of Hispanic America - [particularly in TX and the SW USA] - the talent pool and interest in MS is THERE for it's return at TCU. Successfully so, IMO!

But, of course, T9 would require a reciprocal ladies sport for opportunity balance.