OT: Congrats to the now ranked MU Men's LAX team.

[The Reptile]

After beating two ranked teams in the road the Marquette Men's lacrosse team is being ranked today in a number of unofficial polls. The expectation is that they will be ranked in the top 20 of the polls that count. Congrats to the team and coaching staff for the first LAX ranking in school history. And for those here who said we had no business starting a lacrosse program I hear that crow tastes best cold.

http://www.insidelacrosse.com/polls/DI

[MUMac]

After beating two ranked teams in the road the Marquette Men's lacrosse team is being ranked today in a number of unofficial polls. The expectation is that they will be ranked in the top 20 of the polls that count. Congrats to the team and coaching staff for the first LAX ranking in school history. And for those here who said we had no business starting a lacrosse program I hear that crow tastes best cold.

Larry is gone.

[The Reptile]

Larry wasn't alone in the sentiment.

[MU Viking]

Joe Amplo is a fantastic coach and evaluator of talent. The fact that he got a fledgling program that didn't exist a handful of years ago ranked this quickly, in a sport that is so heavily dominated by the East Coast, is absolutely remarkable. Marquette is fortunate to have him.

[MUBasketball]

Joe Amplo is a fantastic coach and evaluator of talent. The fact that he got a fledgling program that didn't exist a handful of years ago ranked this quickly, in a sport that is so heavily dominated by the East Coast, is absolutely remarkable. Marquette is fortunate to have him.

Can Marquette keep him? Not sure what the level of commitment is to lacrosse compared to other schools.

[DCwarrior]

Larry wasn't alone in the sentiment.

Even if they win the National Championship, I'll have to agree with Larry on this one. Unless and until the sport can break even (which will be never), the athletic department simply can't afford this expensive sport that will never generate any media exposure/PR. Even here in the DC area, I've never once read or heard anything about Maryland's team and they have one of the best programs in the country. The money could be better spent on the hoops program or improving the sports/facilities that existed before LAX was added.

[TheSultan]

Even if they win the National Championship, I'll have to agree with Larry on this one. Unless and until the sport can break even (which will be never), the athletic department simply can't afford this expensive sport that will never generate any media exposure/PR. Even here in the DC area, I've never once read or heard anything about Maryland's team and they have one of the best programs in the country. The money could be better spent on the hoops program or improving the sports/facilities that existed before LAX was added.

So two administrations, overseen by the Board of Trustees, are intentionally keeping a sport around that they "simply can't afford?"

Of course they can afford it.

[Gato78]

Let's review: Lacrosse was started in order to prevent us from being separated from the BIG EAST powers like Syracuse and Notre Dame and to differentiate us from DePaul and Seton Hall in the old BIG EAST. It was really a good idea because it was done knowing there would be upheaval in conferences and we wanted to be closer to the East Coast schools who formed the heart of the conference. There were two other motives: 1) We wanted to be in the forefront of lacrosse growth across the country and in the Midwest in particular; and 2) lacrosse recruiting got us into the schools where we had been traditionally strong both in Illinois and on the east coast--a visibility factor. We started it and then, unfortunately, our Athletic Director was fired by our president--who hadn't even started his job. Cottingham, Broeker, Kliebhan and Fr. Wild all thought lacrosse was a wise move for a variety of reasons. Larry Williams didn't embrace it, for sure. He thought it was ill conceived, and it may seem that way now after the BIG EAST morphed into its current state. At the time it was a good move. I know Joe Amplo is very well thought of at MU and he has done an excellent job. It looks likes we are building a field house for lacrosse and soccer. I don't think it will be leaving MU any time soon.

[The Reptile]

Let's review: Lacrosse was started in order to prevent us from being separated from the BIG EAST powers like Syracuse and Notre Dame and to differentiate us from DePaul and Seton Hall in the old BIG EAST. It was really a good idea because it was done knowing there would be upheaval in conferences and we wanted to be closer to the East Coast schools who formed the heart of the conference. There were two other motives: 1) We wanted to be in the forefront of lacrosse growth across the country and in the Midwest in particular; and 2) lacrosse recruiting got us into the schools where we had been traditionally strong both in Illinois and on the east coast--a visibility factor. We started it and then, unfortunately, our Athletic Director was fired by our president--who hadn't even started his job. Cottingham, Broeker, Kliebhan and Fr. Wild all thought lacrosse was a wise move for a variety of reasons. Larry Williams didn't embrace it, for sure. He thought it was ill conceived, and it may seem that way now after the BIG EAST morphed into its current state. At the time it was a good move. I know Joe Amplo is very well thought of at MU and he has done an excellent job. It looks likes we are building a field house for lacrosse and soccer. I don't think it will be leaving MU any time soon.

Separation was not really the primary issue. At the time, we only had 12 sports competing in the BE and that was among the fewest in D1. Adding 2 teams put us to 14 and closer to parity among the Catholic schools in the BE. Lacrosse made sense given our conference affiliation and the growth in the sport nationally. An added benefit was that at the time there were fewer than 60 schools in D1 giving us a decent chance to compete early on.

Well, the logic paid off. We're still with the Catholic schools. The BE has an AQ to the NCAA tournament (even though we had to add Denver as an associate member). And now, at the start of year 3 we are ranked and are beating other ranked teams.

[IWB]

Gato is right, and in regards to the rankings.... When the decision was made Mike Broeker had said that they really wanted to cement Marquette in the Big East by bringing in another sport that was solid in the Big East. They analyzed all of the sports and felt that in LAX, there were and handful of perennial powers, about 25 strong programs, and then the rest. Out of all of the sports they looked at, they felt that Lacrosse was the one where they could quickly gain traction into the top of that "next 25" category.

Mission accomplished.