Rounding up most of what’s been put into print (er… pixels?) since yesterday’s Michigan Varsity lacrosse Announcement. If I’ve missed anything, let me know in the comments or via e-mail.
The Michigan Daily covers yesterday’s press conference. The Daily’s Tim Rohan features Anthony and Joey Hrusovsky. AnnArbor.com and the Ann Arbor Journal have features from the press conference – though I strongly recommend against clicking that (or any) A2 Journal article, because they’re seemingly on a mission to have the most annoying advertising scheme in America. Mike Rothstein’s opinion column, in which he states this is a good move for Michigan (remember to follow Rothstein to stay informed about the women’s coaching search).
Coach Paul took to collegelax.us to thank the MCLA and many of the people involved for helping Michigan reach this point:
The MCLA has given me so much. Of course it gave our program the platform it needed to evolve into what we became as a club team, and now what we will be as a varsity team. It gave me a place to learn to build and run a program, to coach, and to mature at everything it takes to achieve. It gave me a place to succeed and to fail. It gave me a way into a world that I would not have had access to otherwise. But to me, most importantly, it gave me lifelong friendships with many of the people I served on the board with and coached with and against.
Real class act, and I don’t think anyone around the Michigan program thinks for an instant that JP won’t be the varsity coach next year.
MCLA Fan wonders what this means for the MCLA (and the CCLA, particularly). Danielle Bernstein of Inside Lacrosse catches up with several MCLA coaches to answer the same question:
The buzz surrounding Michigan over the last few months has certainly drawn more attention to the MCLA, but the majority of the coaches don’t think losing Michigan will have a huge impact on the league’s fan base or its growing popularity.
They also talk about the East Coast being more open for other MCLA teams now in recruiting – which speaks to the dominance of the Michigan brand over the past four years. Per always, the talk naturally migrates to the next team to make the jump.
Corey McLaughlin of Lacrosse Magazine caught up with JP after yesterday’s press conference:
The long-term plans are exciting. We plan to build dedicated lacrosse facilities, potentially both indoor and outdoor, that will be among the best in the country. Those will come as quickly as we can plan for them and fundraise for them. I’m confident that we’ll be at or near the top of Division I lacrosse facilities in a few years. In the meantime, Michigan athletics has some of the best facilities in the country… The issue is going to be is we won’t have a dedicated home right away, but that will come.
There’s a lot more in there, but mostly stuff from the presser.
Inside Lacrosse’s Ryan Rabidou breaks down some of the changes that Michigan can expect going from club to varsity:
The most obvious change when switching from MCLA to DI is competition level. Thanks to the financial and admissions support, DI teams are able to recruit top-tier lacrosse players from all over. When offering them scholarships and aid, the caliber of athlete steps up a level…
In three or four years when Michigan’s first few recruiting classes grow up and the program takes their share of lumps, the roster will have turned over with blue-chip lacrosse players from around the country that can roll with the speed and physicality of the Division I game.
Obviously.
Also from IL, Ryan Demorest interviews Virginia goalie Conor McGee, who spent his first year of college in Ann Arbor. Awkwardly enough, Demo was McGee’s position coach at Michigan. Conor says that Michigan’s club team could hang with the likes of VMI and Mount St. Mary’s as currently constituted, and at least 6-10 of Michigan’s club players could easily play at the D-1 level.
Michigan Associate Athletic Director Bruce Madej talks about the game’s heritage, and bringing that history to the Wolverine Athletic Department. David Brandon blogs about lacrosse on MGoBlue, but it’s mostly a re-hash of his opening remarks from yesterday’s press conference. The official site put together a video report on the promotion. Brandon appeared on 1050 WTKA’s morning show today.
The Growth Blog chronicles – you guessed it – the growth of lacrosse, so yesterday’s news was obviously of note (though they merely posted the press release).
Lacrosse Magazine’s Jac Coyne assumes the Wolverines won’t be in the ECAC when crafting the perfect schedule for Michigan this year:
Feb. 25 at Johns Hopkins
Feb. 28 Detroit Mercy (neutral)
March 3 at Providence
March 7 at Wagner
March 10 at Rutgers
March 17 Michigan State (scrimmage)
March 21 Bellarmine
March 24 at VMI
March 25 at Washington & Lee (scrimmage)
April 7 Siena
April 14 Mt. St. Mary’s
April 20 at Air Force
April 22 at Denver
April 28 at Ohio State
It seems to me erring very much on the side of caution. Talking with JP at yesterday’s press conference, he expects Michigan to play against the very best from the start (maybe also some of the worst). I’ll take my first crack at a 2012 schedule for Michigan in the coming days.