Great Lax State

From the Big Ten:

Park Ridge, Ill. – The Big Ten Conference announced today that men’s and women’s lacrosse will become the conference’s 27th and 28th official sports and that Johns Hopkins University has been accepted as a sport affiliate member for men’s lacrosse only beginning with the 2014-15 academic year.

“We are excited to announce the launch of Big Ten men’s and women’s lacrosse and the addition of Johns Hopkins as a sport affiliate member,” said Big Ten Commissioner James E. Delany. “Johns Hopkins is an outstanding institution with a legacy of success in men’s lacrosse that is simply unmatched in intercollegiate athletics. Lacrosse is an emerging sport among our current schools and is a long-held passion among our East Coast institutions. With the addition of Maryland and Rutgers in all sports and Johns Hopkins for men’s lacrosse, we will have the requisite number of institutions to make men’s and women’s lacrosse official conference sports, building upon our tradition of broad-based sports competition. We look forward to the start of the first Big Ten men’s and women’s lacrosse seasons in 2015.”

Big Ten competition in both sports will feature Maryland, Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State and Rutgers, with Johns Hopkins participating in men’s lacrosse and Northwestern competing in women’s lacrosse. Big Ten rules allow for a conference championship when six institutions sponsor a program in any given sport.

The six programs that will comprise Big Ten men’s lacrosse boast 56 national championships, with schools that have competed for more than a century. Johns Hopkins has been an independent since 1883 and leads all schools with 44 national championships. Maryland has claimed 11 national titles, while Rutgers has also won a national championship. The Scarlet Knights launched men’s lacrosse in 1887, followed by programs starting in 1913 for Penn State, 1924 for Maryland and 1953 for Ohio State. Michigan instituted a men’s lacrosse program in 2012. Maryland, Ohio State and Penn State each qualified for the NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Championship this season, with the Buckeyes advancing to the quarterfinals.

Big Ten women’s lacrosse will feature teams that have won 23 national championships and 19 of the 32 NCAA championships, including eight of the last nine. Maryland has won 11 national championships, with 10 NCAA crowns, including seven straight from 1995 to 2001 and most recently in 2010. Northwestern has claimed seven NCAA titles, highlighted by five consecutive from 2005 to 2009 and most recently in 2012. Penn State has earned five national championships, including NCAA titles in 1987 and 1989. The Terrapins, Wildcats and Nittany Lions earned berths in the NCAA Women’s Lacrosse Championship this season. Penn State advanced to the quarterfinals, Northwestern reached the national semifinals and Maryland was edged in triple overtime in the national championship game.

With the addition of Maryland and Rutgers in 2014, the broad-based athletic programs of the 14 Big Ten institutions will sponsor nearly 350 teams in 42 different sports with almost 9,500 student-athletes, more than any other conference. The Big Ten currently features 25 official conference sports, 12 for men and 13 for women, but is set to add men’s ice hockey as the 26th conference sport in the fall.  The last official women’s conference sport established by the Big Ten was women’s rowing in the 1999-2000 academic year.

From Hopkins:

BALTIMORE, MD – Johns Hopkins University President Ronald J. Daniels announced today that the Blue Jay men’s lacrosse team has been accepted by the Big Ten Conference as a sport affiliate member. The announcement comes on the same day that the Big Ten announced the addition of men’s lacrosse as an official conference sport. Big Ten play is scheduled to begin during the 2015 season.

Johns Hopkins will join current Big Ten schools Penn State, Ohio State and Michigan as well as future members Maryland and Rutgers in competing for the Big Ten Championship in men’s lacrosse. Hopkins will officially become a Big Ten sport affiliate member on July 1, 2014.

“This decision may represent the single greatest change in Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse in more than a century,” Daniels said. “I am grateful for the thoughtful process that has led us to this historic place, and I am confident in the success of our shared endeavor in the years to come. ”

Johns Hopkins has competed as an independent in men’s lacrosse since the program began play in 1883. Since then, the program has produced 44 national championships, nine NCAA titles, 183 First Team All-Americans and 65 members of the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame. The Blue Jays rank first nationally in overall national titles, First Team All-Americans and Hall of Fame inductees, while JHU’s nine NCAA titles rank second all time. Johns Hopkins has also appeared in 41 of the 43 all-time NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Championships since the NCAA began sponsoring the national tournament in 1971.

“We are pleased to announce that the Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse program will become the Big Ten’s first sport affiliate member,” said Big Ten Commissioner James E. Delany. “Johns Hopkins University is one of the top academic institutions in the country and their men’s lacrosse program has been one of the nation’s best since it was first founded in 1883. Lacrosse is a unique part of the culture on the East Coast, and is an emerging sport both among our current schools and across the country. The addition of Johns Hopkins will give us the opportunity to launch Big Ten men’s lacrosse in 2015, and we look forward to working with their administrators, coaches, student-athletes and fans in preparation for their first conference season.”

The ever-changing landscape of college lacrosse led Johns Hopkins Director of Athletics Tom Calder and men’s lacrosse coach Dave Pietramala to begin discussing conference affiliation in the spring of 2012. While fully aware of the storied history of the Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse program as an independent, both realized that national conference realignment was making the challenges of scheduling even more difficult and the opportunity most other teams had to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Championship through a conference was something that needed to be explored.

With six men’s lacrosse teams, the Big Ten will receive one of the automatic bids to the NCAA Championship. Currently, 16 teams are selected to compete each year in the tournament. NCAA rules allow for up to 50-percent of the tournament field to be comprised of teams receiving an automatic bid.

“The goal each season for our men’s lacrosse team always has been and always will be to compete for the national championship,” Calder noted. “Our administration is fully committed to providing Dave Pietramala and our men’s lacrosse program the resources and opportunities necessary for us to compete at that level. We are proud of the history and accomplishments we enjoyed while competing as an independent, but we feel the opportunity to align with members of the Big Ten as the conference adds men’s lacrosse best positions the Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse program to maintain the standards that have been established here.”

Johns Hopkins and Maryland have competed in men’s lacrosse since 1895 and the Blue Jays also added Michigan to the schedule during the 2013 season. In addition, Ohio State and Penn State are currently slotted as the team’s two preseason opponents, while Johns Hopkins and Rutgers have met 34 times dating back to 1920. The familiarity with those programs was a key element in the decision-making process.

“This is a very exciting day for Johns Hopkins University as we combine two traditions of excellence – the Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse program and the Big Ten, which are both committed to excellence in the classroom and on the field” Pietramala stated. “As the head coach and a former player here, one of the things that is truly exciting is the challenging schedule we have been able to maintain. This move allows us to maintain the greatest rivalry in college lacrosse with the University of Maryland, add several nationally-recognized programs to our schedule and maintain a number of national and local rivalries we have in place. All of those things were important considerations and I am thankful to our administration for the time and effort they have put into this process and the unwavering support we have received in making this decision.”

More to come.

When Dave Pietramala took in Michigan’s game against Penn State this February – and spent more time schmoozing with U-M Athletic Director David Brandon than scouting the Wolverines’ lacrosse team – this move looked inevitable.

The first bird-based mascot in the Big Ten.

Today, Johns Hopkins will announce a move to the Big Ten lacrosse conference. The details have yet to be hammered out (publicly), so hopefully a lot of questions will be answered at the 11 a.m. presser. You can watch it here.

My guess is that it plays out like this:

• The B1GLAX will start competition during the 2015 season, and will earn an immediate automatic bid (no waiting period) to the NCAA Tournament.
• Maryland and Rutgers will move the same season, giving them another year each with the ACC and Big Whatever, respectively.
• The ECAC is toast. Losing Loyola, Denver, Michigan, and Ohio State in a two-year period will cripple the league to the point of dissolution.
• The Blue Jays are actually willing to give up their ESPN deal, with an agreement in place that the Big Ten Network might actually show a live lacrosse game or two (though I know all the subscribers will be really disappointed to lose reruns of Purdue Campus Programming).

The only bold prediction in there regards TV rights – and it’s possible or even likely that I’m wrong on that. Hopkins is the traditional lacrosse power, and the Big Ten needs them for a sixth team and a high-profile anchor member of the league. Still, given the way the league operates, I have a hard time seeing that special an agreement. If anything, the league would divide Hopkins’ ESPN money six ways (at which point the deal isn’t worth it to Hopkins, and they may as well just go on the Big Ten Network for their TV coverage).

We’ll see in 45 minutes.