Hobart Lacrosse Going Back to Divison III

 

http://web.hws.edu/athletics/hobart/showrelease.asp?id=4626

The big news in the lacrosse world is Hobart leaving Division I after 17 years to make the gradual move back to Division III by the start of the 2011 season. The reported reason is that the administration at Hobart feels that the costs of playing Division I lacrosse are too great.  However, I believe its because they aren’t very competitive at the Division I level. While they have managed to win a few big games, it is nothing compared to their success in the 1980s and early 90s when they won 12 straight national championships. Seeing as Hobart is located in the lacrosse hotbed of upstate New York, its hard for me to buy that it costs a lot of money to play Syracuse, Cornell, Binghampton, Albany, or Army in the non-conference part of the season, or find a way to play their ECAC opponents. The furthest are located in Maryland, (Georgetown and Loyola) and most of the others are in either in metro New York, Massachusetts or New Jersey. One of the reported problems is Hobart’s inability to offer lacrosse scholarships because the rest of their athletic department plays in Division III, unlike Johns Hopkins, which is able offer lacrosse scholarships despite having Division III teams in all other sports. This is likely because JHU has had a marquee lacrosse team for over a century.