Love for the Little Guys
by Jac Coyne, Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff
It's not always easy for me to fit in at the US Lacrosse edifice in Baltimore. In every fabric-lined cubicle and glassed-in corner office sits men and women with framed diplomas from various Division I institutions proudly hanging on the walls -- or half-walls, as the case may be.
At the water cooler, they breathlessly speak of the big games going on in the scholarship world of lacrosse. Which school signed the best kids? For which professional franchise will the Tewaaraton Trophy winner play? Will Northwestern make it three?
The Division I influence is so pervasive that staff members who went to small schools have adopted large ones as their own -- we have one staff member who went to Salisbury, but you'd think he was a Terp. Even our offices are on land owned by Johns Hopkins, a Division III school that has adopted Division I scholarship lacrosse.
As our world revolves around the big dogs, I stand there with a pleasant look on my face, smiling and nodding.
See, I'm a small-school, Division-III type of guy. I have a working knowledge of most aspects of lacrosse and can hold my own in a DI discussion, but it doesn't "move" me. I'm more interested to know why the committee took Wesleyan over Ithaca on the men's side, or why the TCNJ women were stuck in the toughest bracket.
This is not terribly surprising, considering my background. I spent my undergrad days at a small, liberal arts college (Colby), and worked for seven years at similar institutions (Washington & Lee, Bowdoin). I enjoy the intimacy of the lower divisions -- that ability to breezily chat with a coach prior to a game -- and the fact there are no "casual fans." Half the people who wear a Yankees cap don't know whether a baseball is blown up or stuffed, but if you see someone wearing a Hampden-Sydney lacrosse tee shirt, he'll know what the score of the Roanoke game was.
Division I has its charms. I worked for a Big Ten (albeit non-lacrosse sponsoring) sports marketing department and I have no complaints. It just wasn't my thing.
As a result, with the launching of a new format for this Web site, I'll be the one keeping a closer eye on the Divisions II and III, as well as other aspects of lacrosse, both large and small. With so many programs sponsoring lacrosse, it's tough to keep up with all of them, so I invite readers to email me story ideas and notes, so that those who deserve recognition can receive it.
A lot of the stories and information may not make their way to the water cooler around here, but for those who love the "small time," like me, this will be the place.
Contact Jac Coyne at jcoyne@uslacrosse.org.
