Semi-OT: Will A10 be the next conference to sponsor

Semi-OT: Will A10 be the next conference to sponsor
by tf86 (2017-05-23 08:57:36)

Men's lacrosse?

Strictly speculation on my part, as I haven't heard anything to that effect. What is not speculation, however, is that St. Bonaventure plans to add men's lacrosse in 2019. That will bring the number of full A10 members playing men's lacrosse to four: UMass (currently plays lacrosse in CAA), Richmond (SoCon), and St. Joe's (NEC). Seems to me that with those numbers, it makes sense for the A10 at least to explore the possibility of adding men's lacrosse. Of course, they'll need an AQ bid to make it worth their while, but Cleveland State (independent, just completed first year as D1 program) and Detroit (currently playing lacrosse in the MAAC) might make sense as affiliate members.

Thoughts?

I could see adding Cleveland St. as an affiliate, but I ...

don't think Detroit would do it because there's no real advantage mileage-wise between the A10 and MAAC for them. The A-10 needs to get their members who don't play football to start thinking about adding lacrosse.

In that scenario

Detroit would have two A10 opponents for whom bus trips were available (Cleveland State and St. Bonaventure) and only one in the MAAC (Canisius).

On top of that, there is the fact that Cleveland State and Detroit both play in the same conference (Horizon) in most other sports, so there's a possibility that both may consider it advisable to play in the same conference for lacrosse as well.

Meanwhile, lacrosse conferences seem to go in the opposite direction from football conferences. Most want to stay as small as possible without jeopardizing AQ status. In that regard, 6-7 seems to be the ideal number of members for most of them. I think that might be a disincentive to the MAAC adding Cleveland State, even though Cleveland State's coach has said that he considers conference membership crucial to the program's long-term success.