The blueprint for establishing an NCAA Division II program in the western part of the country is established: find a private school in a metropolitan area, provide a little seed money and hope for the best. Notre Dame de Namur, Dominican (Calif.) and Grand Canyon on the men’s side and Regis (Colo.) on the women’s have followed this model.
The results have been predictable.
Facing the challenge of enticing high-end recruits to non-traditional locales with schedules that often lean on games against D-III and club programs, the ‘Westies’ have been bit players in the division. The lone exception was during NDNU’s brief appearance in the poll a couple of years back after a decent showing against a respectable schedule. Since then, however, there has been a backslide.
Starting in 2011, we’ll have a new paradigm.
At first glance, the decision by Mesa State, located in Grand Junction, Colo., to add both men’s and women’s programs seems curious. It bucks just about every trend set for western states varsity lacrosse.
The mid-point of the eight-hour drive from Denver to Salt Lake City, Mesa State isn’t within smelling distance of any kind of metroplex. While Grand Junction is the 15th-largest city in Colorado (pop. 53,662), it is nothing like the Bay Area, Phoenix or Denver. On the bright side, there are very few traffic jams in cattle country.
Second, it’s a public school.
With most states implementing hiring freezes, if not trying to avert outright bankruptcy, rare are the public institutions adding sports these days when Title IX doesn’t mandate it (assumably Mesa State is in compliance since they are adding both genders of lacrosse). And even if things are solvent at this point, the prospect of affixing a large-budget sport (travel costs will be a bear at Mesa State) heading into the teeth of an inflationary market would strike many as unwise.
But here we have the Mavericks, blissfully entering the world of Division II lacrosse. It begs the question: what exactly are they growing out behind the barn?
Believe it or not, they might be sowing the seeds of burgeoning powerhouse.
While the aforementioned disadvantages for Mesa State are self-evident, you have to dig a little deeper to find the keys for a potential success story. There are three big pluses in the Mavs’ favor.
