As the Syracuse Orange prepare to face North Carolina in this weekend’s NCAA quarterfinal, another ACC school is thinking about adding men’s lacrosse.
SMU’s AD Damon Evans told On3 that the Mustangs could make the move from a club sport to Division One.
“There’s chatter about lacrosse. People always ask me about baseball. Baseball’s a little bit of a challenge because of needing land and softball. … Lacrosse, we have a facility over there already. There would need to be some things done. So you just
keep your eyes open and look at things, but there’s some chatter out there.”
The facility Evans mentioned is the Crum Lacrosse and Sports Field which the SMU club programs use and while the facility would need upgrades, it would give SMU a leg up on other schools. With the Dallas area one of the spots where lacrosse is growing, and with a school with a strong donor base, it’s a move that certainly could make sense.
If SMU makes the step up, then the ACC has six teams which gives them an automatic NCAA bid and would also trigger an expansion to the men’s tournament. Syracuse HC Gary Gait spoke in favor of adding an additional ACC program and the public chatter would seem to indicate that SMU has been working on this possibility.
I’m sure Gait and others would also be excited about getting the 1st program in Texas as part of the ACC and gaining a foothold in the area. Maybe we end up with a Final Four in Jerry World in a decade?
