Cleveland State Considering a Division I Lacrosse Program

Corey McLaughlin of Lacrosse Magazine has the scoop.

When you started your Friday -- a Friday in the heart of fall with college football on the horizon -- did you expect to read about potentially mind-blowing college lacrosse news? If not, blame Lacrosse Magazine's Corey McLaughlin for Friday becoming a launch pad rather than an interminable countdown.

As he writes, Cleveland State -- that's a real place with buildings and students and everything -- is considering adding a Division I men's lacrosse program as early as the 2016 season:

Cleveland State athletic director John Parry told Lacrosse Magazine on Friday that adding Division I men's and women's lacrosse for the spring 2016 season is under consideration as part of an enrollment strategy to attract more students to the school.

"It's not a done deal," Parry said, adding that the possibility has been talked about by the CSU administration for the past two years. But he is hopeful the additions will make it into the university's enrollment task force recommendations to the CSU Board of Trustees in November.

"It's one of those things that would have to be resolved in the next month and a half if we want to field a team in '16," Parry said. "If we miss that window, I refuse to try to hire somebody in April and have them recruit, it's too late. If we miss this November, it will be next November that it's back under consideration."

There are obviously a lot of variables covered in those three paragraphs, but if the Vikings were to make lacrosse a thing at the urban campus, Cleveland State would stand with Ohio State as the state's only Division I men's programs.

The potential birth of Cleveland State as a viable lacrosse concern isn't quite as sexy as a Power Five school moving toward a Division I program, but it is good to see a school in a non-hotbed location seriously consider the benefits of sponsoring a men's team at the college game's highest level while seeking to do so with the right kind of support to generate success. Now we wait.

In This Article

Teams
  • Cleveland State Vikings

Team Shop

  • Oklahoma Sooners vs. Texas Longhorns Ash 2015 Red River Showdown T-Shirt
    $24.95 Buy Now navigateright
  • Under Armour No. 8 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Kelly Green 2015 Shamrock Series Premier Football Jersey
    $99.95 Buy Now navigateright
  • Nike No. 15 Ohio State Buckeyes Scaret Replica Game Football Jersey
    $89.95 Buy Now navigateright

Trending Discussions

X
Log In Sign Up

If you currently have a username with "@" in it, please email support@voxmedia.com.

forgot?
forgot?
Log In Sign Up

Forgot password?

We'll email you a reset link.

If you signed up using a 3rd party account like Facebook or Twitter, please login with it instead.

Forgot username?

We'll email it to you.

If you signed up using a 3rd party account like Facebook or Twitter, please login with it instead.

Forgot password?

If you signed up using a 3rd party account like Facebook or Twitter, please login with it instead.

Try another email?

Forgot username?

If you signed up using a 3rd party account like Facebook or Twitter, please login with it instead.

Try another email?

Almost done,

By becoming a registered user, you are also agreeing to our Terms and confirming that you have read our Privacy Policy.

Join College Crosse

You must be a member of College Crosse to participate.

We have our own Community Guidelines at College Crosse. You should read them.

Join College Crosse

You must be a member of College Crosse to participate.

We have our own Community Guidelines at College Crosse. You should read them.

Authenticating

Great!

Choose an available username to complete sign up.

In order to provide our users with a better overall experience, we ask for more information from Facebook when using it to login so that we can learn more about our audience and provide you with the best possible experience. We do not store specific user data and the sharing of it is not required to login with Facebook.