Big Ten Lacrosse

With Michigan’s promotion to a varsity lacrosse program, there has been a lot of talk about the Big Ten forming a lacrosse conference. Of course, this is going to be a lot farther into the distant hypothetical future than my idea for a rebirth of the GWLL.

As the hockey talk has taught us (funny enough, I composed this post long before the Big Ten Hockey Conference had been announced), the Big Ten requires six Big Ten squads in order to sanction conference play in any given sport. Conveniently, that’s also the required number of teams for a conference to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. (There’s been lots of talk about “well the ACC doesn’t need an autobid,” but the Big Ten can start showing that level of hubris once they have enough cachet the get at-large bids for every team in their league).

Michigan makes it three Big Ten squads playing Big Boy lacrosse. As you math majors may note, three is less than six. This means we need to come up with three more teams. First, let’s familiarize ourselves with the world of club lacrosse, and what varsity conferences look like.

Club Lacrosse and the MCLA

Every Big Ten school outside of Northwestern (which only has a recreational-level club team) fields a lacrosse team that competes on the MCLA level. For those who are unaware of the level of competition in the MCLA outside of Michigan’s highly successful team, I’ll let the official Michigan Lacrosse website fill you in:

All of the programs in the MCLA are club teams that operate as “virtual varsities.” They are coached, highly structured teams, many with large budgets, that compete on a national scale.

So, all of these teams have coaching staffs and infrastructure in place that could help make a leap to a varsity level, though most teams outside of the Wolverines would need many, many infrastructure upgrades to actually make the leap.

In fact, Michigan’s varsity move, essentially a promotion of their club squad in the first year, is virtually unprecedented at the Division-1 level. Most Big Ten teams (Michigan State may be an exception under Dwayne Hicks) will go a different route, starting from scratch instead of trying to build from their club program.

Current Team: MCLA. Back-to-back MCLA Tournament bids.

Why?: The Spartans played Division-1 lacrosse until the mid-90s, when Title IX compliance forced them to drop some men’s sports. Without their top rival playing in the MCLA, the Spartans’s interest in re-promoting the program could ramp up. This is also one of the few Big Ten schools, under the leadership of Dwayne Hicks, that I could see promoting a club program, rather than starting from scratch.

Northwestern

Current Team: NCLL.

Why?: The Wildcats are the only Big Ten school without an MCLA team. While this may seem like a negative, it actually means that they wouldn’t have to discontinue the club program when they start a varsity team (per MCLA rules). Also, the Wildcats are one of the few Big Ten schools sponsoring women’s lacrosse, so the transition to men’s would be logical. Also, NU has an academic profile that is very appealing to the lacrosse demographic.

Wisconsin

Current Team: MCLA

Why?: Though the Badgers aren’t one of the most successful teams in the MCLA, geography works to their advantage. They have a natural rival built-in with Marquette, and Notre Dame isn’t a long trip from Madison either. A couple nearby Division-1 teams, in addition to the Big Ten squads, could help push the Badgers toward forming a varsity team.

Minnesota

Current Team: MCLA

Why?: Similar to Michigan State’s relationship with Michigan, the Badgers stepping it up could convince the Golden Gophers to take the next step as well. A Minnesota varsity team would likely be contingent on Wisconsin taking the plunge first. There is some good talent in the twin cities for the Gophers to have a homegrown talent base.

Illinois, Indiana, Purdue

Current Teams: MCLA, GRLC

Why?: These teams are further down the totem pole in terms of likelihood. None of these schools have hockey, and I’d guess that they’re more likely to add that sport first, as a Big Ten Hockey Conference already exists. They are also traditionally-mediocre MCLA squads, so they don’t have the “break through the ceiling” motivation that a team like Michigan did. Still, lacrosse is a much cheaper sport to add than hockey (oh hey, building an ice rink), so these are a possibility, though much further down the road.

Iowa, Nebraska

Current Teams: MCLA, GRLC 1-AA

Why?: These teams strike me as the least likely to make the promotion. Like the schools in the tier above, they don’t have hockey yet (even though Iowa is weirdly a recruiting hotbed for puckheads). They also compete in a lesser tier of the MCLA, the 1-AA distinction of the Great Rivers Lacrosse Conference. They’re a long way from even thinking about making the jump.

Conclusion

I’ve laid out what the conference would need in order to exist (six Big Ten schools playing lacrosse), and who is the most likely to fill the remaining required slots. If I had to guess, it will be a little while before any more Big Ten schools add the game. Michigan State, Northwestern, and Wisconsin seem to be the schools most-poised for making a jump.

Should my GWLL-rises-from-the-ashes scenario arise, it could ease the transition for some of these teams, as would continued growth of the game in the West (USC, anybody?). Michigan has been considered the first domino to fall in a new wave of westward expansion, but the second domino likely won’t come from the Big Ten. Of course, Big Ten Network money could be the first factor in changing all of that…