It's Time For BC To Bring Back Lacrosse

I am Not sure if any of you have been paying attention to the Boston College baseball team, but after spending nearly a month on the road, Birdball finally had a chance to play a home game this week.  Unfortunately the weather won't allow them to play on Pellagrini Diamond at Shea Field, as their game yesterday against Holy Cross was postponed and their games this weekend against Wake Forest have been moved to Northeastern and Bryant University respectively. Add in some really sub-par years recently for baseball, and I think it is now the perfect time for Athletic Director Brad Bates to finally start to think about dropping baseball and replacing it with lacrosse.

In my mind this is really a no brainer decision.  BC is in arguably the toughest conference in college baseball, and yet they have to play at such a disadvantage compared to most their fellow conference members.  The team is not only forced to practice in a bubble on a football field during the winter months, but they also have to play their first 15-20 games on the road.  Also, from a talent perspective BC clearly doesn't have the players compared to many of the other teams in the ACC.

Lacrosse on the other hand is a sport that has become very popular among kids both at the lower level and  high school ranks, and has become one of the top sports in Massachusetts over the last decade.  If BC were to add lacrosse, they would have a plethora of talent to recruit from right in their own backyard.  Also, a lot of kids that come to BC whether it be in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Maryland or the Washington DC area, went to schools with strong lacrosse traditions.  I'm sure who is ever hired to lead the program would use those relationships with the schools to help entice potential players to BC. While there may be some growing pains to start off, I think the allure of playing in the ACC would make the Eagles an exciting option for recruits, and would help BC become the premier school in New England for division 1 collegiate lacrosse.  

Another reason why it would be smart for BC to switch to lacrosse is because of costs.  Travel expenses in particular would be significantly less than baseball.  Currently in the ACC only Duke, UNC, UVA, Syracuse and Notre Dame (this will be Maryland's final year) have division 1 lacrosse teams.  Also, BC could play the majority of their non-conference games in New England playing teams like Holy Cross, Harvard, UMass, Providence, Fairfield, BU and Bryant.  All these games would require a short bus ride and BC could play their home games on the all weather turf field on Newton Campus that the girl's lacrosse and both soccer teams currently play on.  Barring a blizzard, there should really be no reason why the lacrosse team would have to postpone or move a home game to a different venue like the baseball team has had to do this week.

I have no idea whether Brad Bates has even considered  switching out baseball for lacrosse, but I hope having seen the baseball team have to both postpone and switch venues for their home games this week, that the thought has at least crossed his mind.  The club team has had great success in recent years and is currently ranked 5th nationally in the club rankings and I am confident, as long as Bates hires the right coach, that the transition could be a smooth one.

Finally I couldn't post a BC lacrosse related Rant without paying homage to one of the great BC alums and former lacrosse player Welles Crowther (pictured above), who sacrificed his life to help save others on September 11th.  If you haven't seen the piece ESPN did on him it is posted below.