But my money is on Southern California (MCLA not active this year), Boston University, Richmond, or Georgia Tech.
I have detailed my reasons for these four schools on Lacrosse Iowa, but I’ll give a quick rundown of why. Administrators at USC, BU, and Richmond have all made public remarks in the last year or two about potentially moving to D1. USC’s president was very vocal about it when he announced the women’s team. Richmond has a detailed plan for the transition that includes monitoring progress and acceptance at various levels; they moved from the NCLL to MCLA this year under this plan. Georgia Tech recently signed a huge deal with Warrior/Brine and had D1 lax in the past. There are high levels of interest at all four schools, significant funding, and all have plenty of Title IX space.
Of course we could see another Marquette-type shocker, maybe San Diego State. You can’t discount the potential of Florida, Northwestern or Stanford either. Don’t forget about the highly sponsored Nike schools Like Oregon and Florida State. As lax continues to boom in participation, attendance, and ratings, we will see more teams come out.
A lot seems to rest on Michigan’s success on the field, at the gate, and on the TV.