The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
JEFF JACOBS
UConn lacrosse makes sense, but don’t hold your breath
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Yale is playing in its first lacrosse Final Four in 28 years. Wesleyan is playing for its first national championship in school history.
There are 25 players from Connecticut competing among the eight teams in three divisions at NCAA Championship Weekend at Gillette Stadium. There were 20 Connecticut players among the Division I quarterfinalists last weekend.
The No. 1 player on the No. 1 team in the nation, Connor Kelly of Maryland, is from Easton.
The 2019 NCAA quarterfinals will be held at Rentschler Field, home of the UConn football team. The NCAA national championships will be held at Rentschler in 2021 and ’22.
And you know who has zero part in any of this? The state’s flagship university. UConn, for reasons that can be rationalized, justified and re-justified, does not have a Division I program for its citizens and has no plans for one any time soon.
The argument isn’t a new one, but during the biggest lacrosse weekend in Connecticut history we need to have it again. Loudly.
“It’s frustrating,” said Darien coach Jeff Brameier, whose Blue Wave extended their winning streak to 73 games following a 13-12 win over rival New Canaan in the FCIAC championship Friday night and were named the No. 1 high school team in the nation last year. “I’ve had this conversation multiple times over the years. I’m a UConn grad, yeah, it’s very frustrating.”
And a shame. Yeah, a shame.
And embarrassing. Yeah, kind of embarrassing.
“It’s not a priority at this time from the standpoint that we’ve got a lot other things we’re dealing with,” UConn athletic director David Benedict said. “Obviously, whether it’s sports sponsorship or budget, we’ve got to get our situation in order before we start thinking about adding sports.
“I do think if you were ever going to consider adding a sport at UConn, that one is at the top of the list.”
A hotbed of lacrosse that is only getting hotter got the cold shoulder from State U. for too long. Now, with an athletic program facing steep financial concerns, frankly, it will take a sugar lax daddy to make it happen any time in the foreseeable future.
When Peter Werth, who is as good a friend as UConn has, made a $22.5
million donation in December to support student innovation and entrepreneurship, he had a hefty message for Benedict.
“For our AD, I think somebody ought to go down to Fairfield County and get some of these very rich people and have them come up with about $10 or $15 million to get a men’s lacrosse program in here,” Werth said. “I guarantee you if you get that going, within three years you’ll have a national championship.”
Werth’s timeline for a national title is a little unrealistic, but the assertion that UConn could be very good in a short time absolutely is valid.
“Lacrosse might be the most fertile sport we have relative to recruiting within the state alone,” Benedict said. “That is significant.”
Five years ago when Hearst Connecticut Media looked at this issue, 22 Connecticut players were in that season’s NCAA quarterfinal. Darien’s Case Matheis from Duke, New Milford’s Phil Dobson from Loyola, Ridgefield’s Matt White from Virginia and New Fairfield’s C.J. Costabile all played pivotal roles in national championships spanning 2010 to 2013.
“Listen, we can’t go back and play revisionist history here,” said Benedict, hired in 2016. “But why that sport wasn’t on the list and isn’t already sponsored at our place, I can’t tell you. This isn’t just something that’s becoming relevant right now. This is a sport we could have been dominating the last decade.”
“If (UConn) could do it, I think it would be incredible,” Yale coach Andy Shay said. “It’s hard at the D-I level with gender equity. But it’s a natural with the number of high school kids playing in Connecticut.”
Werth’s point about a Fairfield County donor is particularly cogent. New Canaan’s David Neeleman, the founder of JetBlue among four airlines, spearheaded a $15.6 endowment to start Utah’s jump to Division I. His son plays on the team.
Five of the seven D-I schools in Connecticut have lacrosse. Eight in D-III, including Wesleyan do. So does Post in D-II. The number of high schools in Connecticut with lacrosse has risen to 98. Still, the Fairfield County high schools rule the sport. And yes, Fairfield County has some of the richest, smartest people in America.
“If someone came forward who wanted to support lacrosse financially, it certainly would increase the likelihood of it happening,” Benedict said. “That hasn’t happened. We really haven’t gone out and solicited people for it. It is something we’ll have on the list, but there are more pressing things we’ve got to address first.”
There’s the messy fight with Kevin Ollie over more than $10 million. There’s the matter of turning football from a sinkhole to a winner, or face difficult questions about whether it’s worth sustaining. There’s the matter of funding and completing facilities for soccer, baseball (which has been screwed worse than any sport, for all Jim Penders has accomplished) and softball.
The last time USA Today released its study in 2017 UConn had the largest athletic budget outside the Power Five at $79.2 million and, at $35.3 million, also had one of the largest subsidized by student fees and institutional support.
If you’re a UConn supporter, you want to feel sick? The ACC just released its 2016-17 tax returns and revenue was up 12 percent to $418 million. Average distribution to its 14 full members was $26.6 million. In the American, UConn gets exhaust fumes.
“It comes down to this,” Brameier said, “money and managing Title IX numbers.”
Truth. That’s why lacrosse is a club sport for men at UConn and the women are Division I.
Benedict said the expectation is to break ground on a new soccer stadium at the end of autumn and men’s lacrosse could be played there. He estimates it would cost between $750,000 a million a year. Lacrosse allows 12.6 scholarships.
“If you add a men’s sport, you have to have something to offset that,” Benedict said. “A lot of these men’s lacrosse teams have 40 athletes (average D-I roster: 44). That’s a big number. What would be the complementary sport to add for women? Or do you reduce a men’s sport? You’re not canceling soccer or baseball at our place.”
There also was a time when Fairfield County seemed removed from UConn On The Farm. As basketball won national championships and the school gained immense popularity, admission standards rose, academics blossomed, costs rose and Fairfield County became a vital part of UConn’s profile. When UConn’s Susan Herbst leaves as president next year, she’ll resume teaching at UConn’s Stamford campus.
Few things would win over Fairfield County better than adding lacrosse. Evidently it will take some gold from the Gold Cost to make it happen.
“Anybody interested,” Benedict said, “should look me up.”