April 28, 2008

by Matt DaSilva, Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff

Lacrosse's old boys network was dealt another blow Saturday, when Hobart announced it would reclassify from Division I to Division III in men's lacrosse, effectively ending its centuries-old rivalries with Syracuse, Cornell and some of the sport's preeminent institutions.

Change can be an unpopular reality, but to think the Statesmen could continue to remain competitive in the Division I meat market without the benefit of scholarships is naïve.

(That's what Hobart's administration wants you to believe, anyhow.)

Who's to say that in a few years, when the long-rumored Big East men's lacrosse conference comes into fruition, Syracuse - or even Georgetown, for that matter - would not have dropped Hobart from its schedule to keep its more fortified nonconference rivals, anyway?

(That's a question Hobart's board of trustees wants you to consider, anyhow.)

But B.J. O'Hara, for one, can't imagine that much has changed in 14 years. Anger, hurt and frustration are as evident in his voice as they are in the mounting Internet scuttlebutt over the matter.

O'Hara was my first call Monday morning.

"The public reaction and outcry certainly speaks to the unique and prominent position that Hobart has always had in the world of college lacrosse," O'Hara said. "It's a sad day."

O'Hara, a 1975 graduate of Hobart whose 163 goals rank second all-time at the school, helped spearhead the Statesmen's transition from Division III to Division I in 1995. He was the head coach there from 1990-2001. He had won three Division III national championships, tacking onto the 10 titles Dave Urick won there before him, when the NCAA began stipulating that Division I schools limit their schedules to other Division I programs.

To keep longstanding rivalries with schools like Cornell (since 1898), Harvard (since 1904), Syracuse (since 1908) and Penn State (since 1915) intact, Hobart enlisted for multidivisional reclassification to become a Division I lacrosse program in 1995.

Since then, the Statesmen are 89-98 (.473), posting four winning seasons. Hobart earned four NCAA Division I Tournament bids, twice winning the Patriot League championship and its accompanying automatic bid and twice earning at-large berths.

After Saturday's vote of the college's board of trustees, however, the refrain from Hobart's camp cited competitive unbalance - that the Statesmen could no longer realistically compete for recruits and championships without the availability of scholarships when more and more Division I programs can extend the maximum allowable 12.6 scholarships to the sport's elite players.

"The resources required in Division I lacrosse are moving toward what is required in Division I football and basketball," Hobart athletic director Mike Hanna stated in a press release Saturday. "Division III, which is far more competitive today than when we moved to Division I in 1995, offers us better opportunities for the future."

Some, like O'Hara, however, contend that Hobart's generous and flexible financial aid packages, upstanding lacrosse reputation and geographic proximity to recruits in upstate New York and Canada put the Statesmen in a better position to succeed than many of their Division I brethren.

Hanna and current Hobart men's lacrosse coach Matt Kerwick did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment Monday morning.

"Yeah, the landscape has changed," said O'Hara, now the head coach of the MLL's Rochester Rattlers, "but it has changed for everybody - not just Hobart. A lot of arguments made and the reasons for moving to Division I really haven't changed. Hobart lost its nerve."

In 2004-05, the same year it moved from the Patriot League to the ECAC, Hobart commissioned a study on the continued feasibility of its lone Division I program, and reassured recruits there that Division III lacrosse was a thing of the past.

Which begs O'Hara's question: what has changed?

"They did a study three years ago and did a thorough investigation of the landscape of Division I lacrosse versus Division III, and unequivocally said that there was no turning back," O'Hara said. "To reverse engines like that and then the timing, to do it during the final days of recruiting and the final days of the season, that to me is the most inexplicable part."

Hobart's current players were told of the decision following a 10-6 upset Saturday of ECAC champion and No. 14-ranked Loyola. Like incoming recruits, those with eligibility remaining can be released of their commitment to Hobart.

"It's one of the biggest victories in many years on your home field, and 10 minutes later, you're still in your jock and told the world as you know it is going to change," O'Hara said. "The way it was done and the timing of it has to give you pause."

The Statesmen, who are 8-5 this season, close the regular season Saturday at home against No. 8-ranked Cornell.

"I haven't been to a Hobart game since I left Geneva, but I'd love nothing but to see Hobart win their last Division I game, partly to stick it in their face," O'Hara said. "Part of me wants to see it, but then again, part of me doesn't want to be around it."

It's that last dynamic that may ultimately define the legacy of this landmark decision in Hobart's long lacrosse lore.