IU lacrosse to stay in MCLA, not join D-I

Peter Tumbas doesn’t plan to change his club lacrosse program anytime soon.

The IU men’s club lacrosse coach understands there isn’t enough money to support IU upgrading to a Division I program and joining the new Big Ten lacrosse conference that was announced Monday.

He’s fine with staying in the Men’s Collegiate Lacrosse Association (MCLA). In fact, he doesn’t want the program to move up to NCAA D-I yet.

“I don’t reach out to (Athletic Director Fred Glass) everyday and say, ‘Can you help us? Can we go D-I?’” Tumbas said. “I’m very aware of how Title IX works. I’m very aware that it’s going to cost millions of dollars to get a guys and a girls program onboard. Then you’re going to have to have the right people to do it. And I don’t think we’re there yet.”

Monday, the Big Ten announced the addition of men’s and women’s lacrosse, with Maryland, Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State competing in both men’s and women’s. Northwestern will be the sixth team on the women’s side, and Johns Hopkins will be the sixth team on the men’s side as a sport affiliate member of lacrosse only in the Big Ten.

“I don’t necessarily wake up everyday and say, ‘We’ve got to find a way to get IU D-I lacrosse’ because it’s a money thing,” Tumbas said. “You either have it or you don’t. It’s not in the budget.”

Johns Hopkins had previously been independent. Tumbas said he knew the Blue Jays would make a move to a conference after they failed to make the NCAA Tournament this year after finishing 9-5. By joining the Big Ten, Tumbas said the school, which has nine NCAA national championships in men’s lacrosse, will have a safety net of winning the conference tournament to make the NCAA Tournament.

“It’d be like Notre Dame football joining the SEC,” he said. “You’re taking the most storied lacrosse team and joining one of the brand name conferences. And they got to keep their ESPNU TV deal. For them, they might’ve wished they had done it sooner. It makes things a little bit easier for them and they didn’t have to give up anything.”

IU currently competes in the Division-I level of the MCLA, which Tumbas said is about equal to an upper-level NCAA Division-III program.

The team still recruits and players are expected to lift on their own.
But lacrosse doesn’t consume the players’ lives.

Tumbas purposely doesn’t schedule games on Saturdays in the fall so that his players can go enjoy the football games — or at least the tailgate.

And he knows better than to schedule games during Little 500 weekend.

“We want to go out and win every game and recruit players that we think are better than what we have now so we can take that next step next year and move forward,” Tumbas said, “but we also understand there’s more to college than just playing sports.”

Tumbas’ team finished this past season with its best record during his time at IU, finishing 11-4. That’s the first winning record he has experienced since taking the helm for the Hoosiers in 2010.

“Our expectations are very high,” he said. “and we’ve gotten better because of those expectations.”

Tumbas said he has never had a direct interation with Glass, only speaking to his assistant once when Glass had requested lacrosse gear for a friend’s son.

After hearing from the athletic department, Tumbas said he sprinted there immediately with as much gear as he had.

There have been no discussions between the two parties about joining the Big Ten.

“As an AD I can understand why I can’t add lacrosse unless that money comes from somewhere,” Tumbas said. “My feeling is at this school, we’d rather give money to the basketball team and the football team to try and boost those revenue generating sports to stay afloat.”

Despite not looking to join the Big Ten lacrosse conference, Tumbas still said it has been a good week for the sport as a whole. He said maybe in 15-20 years he could see IU elevating to that level.

“Being able to say there’s Big Ten lacrosse, now lacrosse might be more on my radar as someone growing up in Michigan or Ohio or Indiana,” he said. “It kind of legitimizes the sport a little bit more for the casual fan in the middle of the country.

“It’s only a good thing for lacrosse. A week ago there wasn’t a Big Ten lacrosse conference, and now there is. It’s good for the sport.”