I haven’t preached about my hopes for a future Big Ten Lacrosse Conference in quite some time, so with a (tiny) snippet of (potentially) relevant news coming out yesterday, it’s time to get back on that soapbox.
Illinois Athletic Director Mike Thomas - potential lacrosse visionary?
Mike Thomas, the Director of Athletics at the University of Cincinnati, has been hired to the same position at the University of Illinois. Now, you may be asking yourself, “what in the world does this have to do with lacrosse?” That’s a fair question, I’ll admit. Even to the most optimistic, it takes a little bit of projection to see how it relates.
You see, while Thomas was the Athletic Director at Cincinnati, the Bearcats added women’s lacrosse (their inaugural season was in 2008). While it’s possible, or even likely, that Thomas was not the driving force behind the addition of a varsity lacrosse program, it certainly shows that he’s an AD willing to consider the sport. Though there are a couple lax-friendly examples out there – Florida’s Jeremy Foley played himself as an undergraduate at Hobart, and Georgia AD Greg McGarity added women’s lacrosse when he was at Florida (and is now making noise about doing the same at Georgia) – such ADs seem to be a rarity nowadays. It’s a positive sign, at the very least, to see a lacrosse-friendly administrator move to a school without the game (in a state that recently sanctioned the game at the high school level). That his new school happens to play most sports in a conference that recently added a fourth women’s program certainly doesn’t hurt.
In order for there to eventually be a Big Ten Lacrosse Conference, growth will have to start on the women’s side. With Title IX compliance an issue at all but the wealthiest athletic departments in America, it’s easiest to build on the women’s side, and hopefully that growth can lead to more men’s programs down the road. Having an Athletic Director that’s shown willingness to add lacrosse – in a state where external factors are building momentum for the game – can only help down the road.
I would love to share your optimism but I don’t know if having Women’s lacrosse added helps make the Men’s side more likely. It’s quite likely that these schools needed more women athletes to become compliant with Title IX. It’s much easier if, as in Michigan’s case, they can add the women at the same time to help them remain compliant when they add the men. Already having Women’s lacrosse takes away a sport that is an extremely popular one to add when adding Men’s lacrosse.