From insidelacrosse.com
Here is the article from last monthThe University of Michigan Athletics Department issued a press advisory to members of the lacrosse media Tuesday afternoon, announcing a press conference Wednesday during which athletic director Dave Brandon will be issuing a major announcement.
Last month, Inside Lacrosse first reported that department officials had approved the elevation of the men's club team for play in 2012. However, there were still details to be finalized in advance of a public announcement. It's widely believed tomorrow's announcement is official confirmation of earlier reports.
As an updated to the enlarged portion of the article: Michigan lost a 6-7 stunner to Arizona St in the MCLA semi-finals. They finished the year 18-1. That means since 2008 they are 75-2 with 3 titles and 4 semi-final appearances.Sources are telling Inside Lacrosse that the University of Michigan athletics department is preparing to announce the addition of men's and women's lacrosse programs, with the men's team to begin NCAA Division I play in time for the spring 2012 season, and the women's team in 2013.
Because of the advanced schedule on the men's side, officials within the department will begin preparing for next season as early as next week, though a formal announcement may be as much as a month away, sources say.
This confirmation brings to an end years of speculation that the MCLA powerhouse would join the DI ranks, as well as culminating a decade-long quest for coach John Paul. A key turning point was the arrival of new athletic director Dave Brandon, who took over on January 25, 2010, and has made several public comments about the prospect of DI lacrosse at Michigan, speaking to IL about it last December.
The shift in Michigan's departmental outlook created an opportunity that just four years ago, Paul was speaking about in the abstract. In a 2007 Inside Lacrosse magazine feature on the growth of lacrosse at the DI men's level Paul told Geoff Shannon: “We knew the realities were that this would be a remote possibility. But now with the way the sport has grown, and the way our program has evolved, there’s some momentum. Not that there is a formal proposal or a plan in place, but the athletic administration knows lacrosse and sees the potential.
In September 2010, however, Paul spoke more specifically about the hurdles his program faced in trying to make a jump to DI, saying, “At the major [FBS] football schools, it’s a completely different business model than everything else in college athletics. For a big school, it doesn’t make as much sense, from a business perspective, to add $2, 3 or 4 million to the budget to add a men’s and women’s program if they’re not going to get a return on that.”
This announcement comes after a major accelerated fundraising effort, which represented the final hurdle for the Wolverines, sources say.
In recent years, Michigan has emerged as a powerful force in the lacrosse world. Since 2008, the Wolverines are 70-1 with three straight MCLA championships, and are off to a 13-0 start this season. Four Wolverines were named MCLA All-Americans in ’09, and eight were named in ’10. Former Michigan face-off specialist Brekan Kohlitz was the first MCLA player drafted to the MLL in 2008. More recently, they've utilized their rising profile and proximity to Warrior (headquartered in nearby Warren, Mich.) to furnish the program with cutting-edge gear.
The team's final regular season contest is Saturday versus Toledo, and they'll be a heavy favorite entering the MCLA tournament.
The announcement comes after High Point's September 2010 and Marquette's December 2010 announcements that they'd be sponsoring NCAA DI men's lacrosse in 2013, the previously rumored start date for Michigan. With Presbyterian recently shuttering their men's lacrosse team, the Wolverines will be the 61st NCAA program next year, with the total bumping to 63 the following season.
Michigan is the first FBS school to add men's lacrosse since Notre Dame did it in 1981.
Questions still remain over how the coaching staff will take shape, though it's expected Paul will remain head coach and retain assistant Ken Broschart. As a public university, however, Michigan will have to publicly list the job.
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I'm not quite sure what the conference affiliation will be for Michigan. Only Northwestern doesn't have lacrosse in the B10, but only PSU, OSU, and now Michigan are NCAA level, the rest are still MCLA level. If I had to bet it would be ECAC or CAA (doubtful, but how crazy would it be to see Michigan and UD on the same field with the uniforms).
