SMU to add new sports

[SMULaxer]

2014 at the earliest is my guess. We couldn't start until the facilities finish being built.

[fifty]

What facilities do you need? Being serious. Is it an IPF thing?

[PonyKai]

Thank God, finally we will have something interesting and worth following after February...no six months of of absolutely nothing worth following or cheering for. For the last ten years, after hoops decides not to be in a position for a post-season run, it's actually more like January - Labor Day with nothing.

[Boston Pony]

SMU Laxer...please give us an idea where that is coming from in terms of new sports being added. Is there a time for the announcement? As a part of the original team, it would be great to hear lacrosse being added, however I will believe it when it is announced.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

Thank God, finally we will have something interesting and worth following after February...no six months of of absolutely nothing worth following or cheering for.

That is a good point. I hadn't really visualized it that way, but cheering for team sports is different than the individual sports.

Plus, other than swimming and tennis, all of the other spring sports (equestrian, rowing, track and field, golf) are off-campus activities so they aren't exactly conducive to having a large fan presence.

I'm fine with lacrosse. I watch a lot of it and it obviously fits in with the culture of the school and the new conference.

I just hope we get the right kind of athletes at SMU. For some reason, lacrosse seems to have a penchant for attracting a bunch of [deleted]. Some teams seem to be full of them.

I would be absolutely horrified if athletes representing SMU danced around like a bunch of raging nancy boys every time they scored a goal like Maryland does.

[gostangs]

if they want to compete by 2014 then they need to be recruiting right now...the fall of 2013 guys are getting focused and down to a few. If they are sure then they should at least announce just to make them all pause.

there is HUGE talent in Texas that would really prefer not to go as far to play - but end up doing just that every year. If you got a big chunk of the top texas talent - which in that sport might be possible - you would have a very strong team in very short order.

[PonyKai]

I mean baseball, lacrosse, shoot even softball or ice hockey or even track just to be able to root for SOMETHING. It's hoops ducking out way early, and then literally the only thing to do until Labor Day is go super micro-analyst on football. Don't even have the occasional baseball game, etc. to distract you.

[Corso]

Lacrosse would be cool however it will be rough as the big east generally has ~5 of the top 25 teams (men at least). Will be tough sledding but sounds like fun.

What is the timeline on this? Next season?

As opposed to men's and women's basketball, men's and women's soccer, volleyball, tennis, etc.?

It's going to be tough sledding in a lot of sports.

If SMU builds a lacrosse field before building better facilities for soccer, track and swimming, some folks should be fired.

[Digetydog]

Lacrosse would be cool however it will be rough as the big east generally has ~5 of the top 25 teams (men at least). Will be tough sledding but sounds like fun.

What is the timeline on this? Next season?

As opposed to men's and women's basketball, men's and women's soccer, volleyball, tennis, etc.?

It's going to be tough sledding in a lot of sports.

If SMU builds a lacrosse field before building better facilities for soccer, track and swimming, some folks should be fired.

Good point. Before we expand our sports footprint by adding teams and facilities in non-revenue sports (and Lax is not going to be a profit center), SMU needs to get all of it existing sports facilities in order.

1) With a decent pool, our swim team would be WORLD class. Heck, it is very good with a crappy pool.
2) Soccer: if Wescott Field has to go, they need a good facility because they are consistently one of the school's best programs. Women's soccer needs to improve.

If we are going to add a spring sport, Baseball/softball (to comply with Title IX - we would need both) have become a big deal in college sports. All of our peers (TCU, Baylor, UT, A&M) play baseball. All of them are on TV playing baseball. SMU is not.

[Boston Pony]

If it's lacrosse and I would hope so, the field is the same as soccer or football - only added lines. In women's lacrosse, more growth nationwide has occurred with teams nearly everywhere at this point. For the men there are some teams adding, however it will be expensive travel to Colorado & to the East for games.

[AusTxPony]

Could LAX be played at the IPF when built or does LAX have to be on real grass? That facility would often be unused. And where is the IPF going to be built? Across Central on the old theater site would be my suggestion. If it's anything like the one at UT, it would be architecturally unacceptable on the main campus.

[SMULaxer]

Right now both the mens and women's clubs team practice in Ford Stadium (Thanks Mr. Crum). The Men's team has played games in Ford as well as in the soccer stadium. The teams will need practice space which from most of the sketches of the Bush Library would be on the far south part of the property. My guess is the lacrosse teams would play in the soccer stadium and practice on the Bush field space. Possibly have a lacrosse game immediately following the whatever spring game/practice June decides to do.

I hate to give out time frames because until everything announced its still a rumor, but I'm hearing an announcement would come this summer at which point a coaching search and recruitment would begun immediately.

SMU Lacrosse could not survive on Texas talent alone. But, the club team only has a handful of players from Texas on the team. Players from the East Coast would come here to play Big East lacrosse. I would expect SMU to compete within five years as long as they can draw in a coach with some name power.

[AusTxPony]

I hope it's LAX. How many Texas Univs have scholarship NCAA LAX? Nearby states?

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

I would think lacrosse and soccer would each want their own field for obvious reasons.

I did a quick survey of BIG EAST and ACC schools a while back and it looked like most of them had separate facilities - although there were a few notable exceptions who did appear to share a field (surprisingly including North Carolina).

[Boston Pony]

For Women's Lax - DI programs at all or nearly all Big East Teams plus Vandy, Northwestern, Florida, Colorado, and a bunch of teams in California. Hits me that it would be an easy addition and would be competitive in a few years (if we really wanted to like Northwestern did).

For men, the closest teams are AFA, Denver, & Michigan...it would be expensive (travel) and would be difficult to be successful as few teams outside of the east even play let alone been successful. Denver is a good model of having success in the past few years (NCAA's in past couple of seasons).