Source: UConn lacrosse to DI in 2018 | Page 7 | The Boneyard

Source: UConn lacrosse to DI in 2018

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Men's Club Team

Shane ‏@Shane_Russo22
Congrats to @uconnlacrosse on their PCLL championship win and auto bid to the National Tournament in Southern California!

UConn Men's Lacrosse ‏@uconnlacrosse
Champions!
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First time they'll go to nationals as a club. I remember we lost to UNH in the league finals my freshman year, and it was such a huge bummer. Thus hasn't been the strongest year, so it's a little surprising that this team made it through, but whatever, congratulations to them, and hopefully there are bigger things to come in the future.
 
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Go Blue Knights. Coach Cap would love to have Klepacki.
Coach Klepacki is a great ambassador of the game & very successful at the DIII level. An off the wall candidate would be his protégé & assistant Jim Warnock, a college All American & former Blue Knights Head Coach. (Really needs seasoning as a head coach at the college level.)
Question: (Don't know if it's been discussed previously) Should UConn elevate to D-I from club level, would it take the plunge all at once, OR would the team compete at the D-III level for a season, step up to D-II for a season, then step up to D-I a la Villanova Football when it was reinstated in the '80s?
 
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Coach Klepacki is a great ambassador of the game & very successful at the DIII level. An off the wall candidate would be his protégé & assistant Jim Warnock, a college All American & former Blue Knights Head Coach. (Really needs seasoning as a head coach at the college level.)
Question: (Don't know if it's been discussed previously) Should UConn elevate to D-I from club level, would it take the plunge all at once, OR would the team compete at the D-III level for a season, step up to D-II for a season, then step up to D-I a la Villanova Football when it was reinstated in the '80s?
They would have to go directly to D1. A D1 school can not play down. A D2 or D3 (St Lawrence/Union in Hockey) can play up.
 
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Coach Klepacki is a great ambassador of the game & very successful at the DIII level. An off the wall candidate would be his protégé & assistant Jim Warnock, a college All American & former Blue Knights Head Coach. (Really needs seasoning as a head coach at the college level.)
Question: (Don't know if it's been discussed previously) Should UConn elevate to D-I from club level, would it take the plunge all at once, OR would the team compete at the D-III level for a season, step up to D-II for a season, then step up to D-I a la Villanova Football when it was reinstated in the '80s?

Jimmy Warnock is an awesome guy and a local, too - from Somers. I've known him for a long time. He had some issues when he was the HC at Southington, though. Could have just been a cultural thing with the Southington kids, but I'd like to see him spend some time as a D-I assistant before he took over what's likely to be a major program.

In addition to the aforementioned fact I'm pretty sure it's not allowed, I don't think there's much value in going up gradually. There have been a few teams who have moved from MCLA to D-I recently, and they've all been competitive by like year 3. BU is only in their second year at D-I (they used to play in UConn's league in MCLA) and they're already competitive. 6-8 this year, including a win over Colgate. Marquette is 10-6 in their third year at D-I.
 
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Jimmy Warnock is an awesome guy and a local, too - from Somers. I've known him for a long time. He had some issues when he was the HC at Southington, though. Could have just been a cultural thing with the Southington kids, but I'd like to see him spend some time as a D-I assistant before he took over what's likely to be a major program.

In addition to the aforementioned fact I'm pretty sure it's not allowed, I don't think there's much value in going up gradually. There have been a few teams who have moved from MCLA to D-I recently, and they've all been competitive by like year 3. BU is only in their second year at D-I (they used to play in UConn's league in MCLA) and they're already competitive. 6-8 this year, including a win over Colgate. Marquette is 10-6 in their third year at D-I.

My older son played for Coach Warnock. The issues that you alluded to were with parents, not the kids. His task was to take a team with a short history that was a perennial loser & get it qualified for the CIAC playoffs. As a result he played the best players regardless of whether they started playing at age 5 or first took up the sport as a freshman. That rankled some of the parents of longtime players who felt that their kids had paid their dues going through the youth ranks.
 
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My older son played for Coach Warnock. The issues that you alluded to were with parents, not the kids. His task was to take a team with a short history that was a perennial loser & get it qualified for the CIAC playoffs. As a result he played the best players regardless of whether they started playing at age 5 or first took up the sport as a freshman. That rankled some of the parents of longtime players who felt that their kids had paid their dues going through the youth ranks.

Given my own experiences with Southington parents (and my personal experiences interacting with Jimmy), that all sounds very plausible. I wasn't working there at the same time as him, but my understanding the coach who followed him cleaned out a significant portion of the veteran players who had been causing the most trouble.
 
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Given my own experiences with Southington parents (and my personal experiences interacting with Jimmy), that all sounds very plausible. I wasn't working there at the same time as him, but my understanding the coach who followed him cleaned out a significant portion of the veteran players who had been causing the most trouble.

High schools sports across the country as usually fun until the parents get invoked and try to re-live their own varsity careers through Junior. The parents in my town managed to run our boy's lax coach out-of-town because while the high school team was successful, but, they could not beat any of the power teams from Fairfield County (back then no one could). He was a good coach both on the field and off. So the parents were rewarded with several sub .500 seasons after because everyone quit. Idiots.
 
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Just came across this for the Men's Lacrosse team. for the MCLA national Championship Tourney

 
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First game against #2 ASU on Monday

The Tournament Field for Division I is:
  1. Grand Canyon University (SLC)
  2. Arizona State University (SLC)*
  3. University of Colorado (RMLC)
  4. Chapman University (SLC)*
  5. Brigham Young University (RMLC)*
  6. Westminster College (RMLC) *
  7. Virginia Tech University (SELC)
  8. Oregon State University (PNCLL)
  9. California Polytechnic Institute-San Luis Obispo (WCLL) *
  10. San Diego State University (SLC) *
  11. Georgia Tech (SELC) *
  12. Stanford University (WCLL)
  13. Michigan State University (CCLA)
  14. Texas State University (LSA)
  15. University of Connecticut (PCLL)
  16. Purdue University (GRLC)
Full Bracket: http://mcla.us/national_tournament/2015/1/
 
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So Maryland and Hopkins knock off UNC and Syracuse to get to the final 4. Denver beat Ohio State and ND beat Albany. Has the balance of power already shifted to the B1G? Let's get that LAX program ready.
 
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So Maryland and Hopkins knock off UNC and Syracuse to get to the final 4. Denver beat Ohio State and ND beat Albany. Has the balance of power already shifted to the B1G? Let's get that LAX program ready.

And the finals will be held at the Linc. With Maryland and Hopkins a relatively easy drive from Philly (2/3 hours) plus an ND that travels well, I expect it to be very well attended - maybe 50K (max capacity 68K). I wonder how its TV ratings will be.

As a FYI, the women's lax final will be held down the river at PPL Park and its Maryland (B1G) taking on the ACC by itself - Duke, UNC and Syracuse.
 
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Speaking of women's lax, Florida defeated UCONN in the Big East finals. Let's go B1G!
 
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Maybe no one wants to see Notre Dame.

The game is not going to fade. Major League Lacrosse is still alive. And the most well-attended franchise is in Denver. 8 out of the last 9 seasons.

Hope UD beats ND.
 
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It's a niche sport and always going to draw <1000. Probably closer to 2-300. You can only support so many of those in an athletic department.
 
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It's a niche sport and always going to draw <1000. Probably closer to 2-300. You can only support so many of those in an athletic department.

Disagree. I have been to some Boston Cannon games at Harvard stadium and I think they average close to 10k per game. It seems like 30% to 50% of the fans are kids, many in lacrosse jerseys. If marketed the right way, UConn could average 1k to 2k per game. Heck, UMass, Harvard, Yale, Rutgers, Stony Brook, and Albany average over 1k per game and Univ. of Hartford is close.
 
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Disagree. I have been to some Boston Cannon games at Harvard stadium and I think they average close to 10k per game. It seems like 30% to 50% of the fans are kids, many in lacrosse jerseys. If marketed the right way, UConn could average 1k to 2k per game. Heck, UMass, Harvard, Yale, Rutgers, Stony Brook, and Albany average over 1k per game and Univ. of Hartford is close.
The future is in Lax and the BTN knows it...it seems to drain young talent that used to concentrate on FB. I don't like it but it is what it is!! Were gonna have to get used to it.
 
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I would bet that the NCAA getting greedy and charging $115 per ticket for 50 yard line tickets and the 'cheap' seats are $55 has a lot to do with it. Plus, college sports attendance is down across the board, not just Lax. Didn't the NCAA have the same issue with soccer back in the late '90's right after the World Cup? I Believe UConn beat Creighton for the NCAA title in 2000 at Ericsson Stadium (NFL Carolina Panthers) in Charlotte in front of maybe 15K fans.
 
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Just had a conversation with the coach/director of my kid's club lacrosse program over lunch. He is also head coach at one of the high school team's in the state. We were talking about opportunities for playing after high school and I mentioned it would be good if UConn went up to DI to keep some of the in-state talent here. He said " oh yeah, they're moving up in 2018."
That's the first I have heard it stated as definitely happening from someone who would know. There's been speculation in lacrosse magazine, but until now that's all its been. I realize this is not confirmed from the school, but it's credible.
Anyway, if true, this is great news for the sport in our state and it's possible impact on conference realignment. The BIG has a fledgling lax league and needs to fill it out. The ACC, of course, rules college lacrosse and the top players from Connecticut regularly end up there.
I know: football drives the CR bus. But this may be the UConn athletic department ramping up ahead of an invite. Let's hope so.
Seems like 2018 is the right year for a lot of things to happen. Hopefully, it's also the year that UConn playsit's first year in a P5 conference. LaCrosse, soccer and hockey are important for media deals going forward. They are growth sports that could be revenue generating within 30 years
 

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Delaney is on ESPN2 right now talking about B1G Lacrosse's future....looking to expand the sport, quote on quote "east."

UCONN needs to get with the times (the state is a lax hotbed), and start building a program like we are with hockey. Give it 5 years and we will be competitive as anyone.
 
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Delaney is on ESPN2 right now talking about B1G Lacrosse's future....looking to expand the sport, quote on quote "east."

UCONN needs to get with the times (the state is a lax hotbed), and start building a program like we are with hockey. Give it 5 years and we will be competitive as anyone.

Delaney is our dude! How do we get the replay?
 
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Delaney is on ESPN2 right now talking about B1G Lacrosse's future....looking to expand the sport, quote on quote "east."

UCONN needs to get with the times (the state is a lax hotbed), and start building a program like we are with hockey. Give it 5 years and we will be competitive as anyone.

With proper investment, there's no reason that UConn couldn't be a national title contender in lacrosse. Fairfield County has always produced a ton of lacrosse talent, but there's more and more of it coming from the shoreline schools, as well as central CT (particularly Cheshire, Simsbury, Glastonbury) and even some D1 caliber players in the northeast (Somers, Granby, Suffield).
 
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