Kate “Foss” Facciola, an assistant girls’ lacrosse coach at Reading (Mass.), is a knowledgeable content creator about the game of college lacrosse, and posts on multiple platforms as Foss Lacrosse.
In the last 24 hours, she made a post which outlined the current and fluid state of collegiate women’s lacrosse coaching. Of the current 500 or so NCAA lacrosse programs, there are about 35 openings, of which only two are known to have been filled.
But the number that hit me in the social media post is the fact that, out of about 115 teams in Division II women’s lacrosse, there are 12 vacancies — a 10 percent rate.
That’s a lot, considering the fact that Division II offers very limited scholarship money and does not have the same kind of market for name, likeness, and image that exists for Division I athletes. Many Division I coaches who have resigned from their programs in recent years have cited the existence of big NLI money as a reason to depart the profession.
And yet, Division II is seeing a flood of coaches departing their teams.
Only history will be able to tell us the true reason why Division II has become such a fluid landscape. I recognize that you’re seeing some interdivisional movement of both players and coaches this year, even though there are usually well-defined silos between the three divisions, as well as between varsity and club lacrosse in the U.S.
I wonder what things are going to look like by the start of fall-ball.