When you think of division one college lacrosse you think Syracuse, Johns Hopkins, Princeton, Duke, and Virginia. With the growth of the sport you also now think of teams like University of Michigan, Boston University, High Point, could you soon be thinking University of Texas? According to Chip Brown of orangebloods.com a University of Texas blog site then this is very possible in the near future. University of Texas has had success in the MCLA in recent seasons giving good games to top teams like Colorado State, University of Colorado, BYU, and Oregon.
Having Texas joining the D1 ranks of lacrosse programs will be amazing for the sport. The growth of the sport in the south is just exploding, currently the fastest growing sport in Florida. For such a big school like Texas, who has their own television station to add lacrosse would just continue to add to the exposure of the sport in that region. Not only will Texas adding the sport of lacrosse help the youth lacrosse leagues grow in the south, it will also make other big schools have to consider adding the sport for recruitment and retention purposes. Other big southern schools such as U of F FSU and Tennessee will have to look if they want to join the ranks of successful other large size schools who have lacrosse teams such as Duke, UNC, and Ohio State.
The next step we will look at in this scenario is if they could be competitive right out of the gate? The answer, YES, will they be a Duke caliber team that is right away in the running for a championship, no but they will also not be a University of Michigan team who only won one game last year. The simple answer as to why they will be successful is because they are Texas. They are one of the biggest schools in the country with some of the most prolific sports teams in all of the NCAA. Besides Ohio State, Michigan, and arguably Syracuse what other schools can you think of that have a lacrosse team but are also very successful in football, and basketball. Texas could be that other team that has the power in those other big sports which will help draw recruits from different areas other then Texas.
All in all Texas adding a competitive D1 lacrosse team will only be good for the growth and exposure of the sport in the south and all over. The only question this upcoming decision leaves me with is when are Oregon, Colorado and other successful MCLA schools going to follow?
