Saturday Rundown: Huggins, Lacrosse, Sanni

After an entire season of waiting with baited breath, Bob Huggins has finally signed a long-term contract with the Mountaineers. As far as contracts go, Huggins’ deal seems to sew him up in Morgantown for the next decade-plus. Huggins’ deal goes for 11 years (through 2020? Wow.) at $1.5 million per year, with a $4 million buyout. No coincidence that Huggins’ buyout matches the contentious amount of Rich Rodiguez’s buyout. I’m glad to see Huggs get some handsome compensation, but I am not surprised at all about the length of the contract. I have always had a feeling that Huggs is here for good, and this just solidifies that the administration feels the same.

In looking around the blogosphere and the spring sports atmosphere, one thing that’s always bothered me is the lack of a varsity lacrosse team at WVU. A few years back, WVU cut many sports and I realize they are now running a minimum number of sports, and funneling money into football and mens basketball. However, I think WVU is in the perfect spot to run a successful lacrosse program. On many campuses, lacrosse is a successful spring sport that are nearly as popular as football and basketball, and certainly on par with soccer and baseball in popularity. Lacrosse at WVU would fill a void of popular spring sports. Let’s face it, WVU will never be a baseball power, but WVU is a perfect fit geographically to become a lacrosse power.

Lacrosse is most popular in areas that traditionally draw a lot of students to WVU–Maryland, New Jersey, upstate New York, Virginia, and eastern Pennsylvania. Schools with traditional sports rivalries with WVU are lacrosse powers–Syracuse, Maryland, Notre Dame, Georgetown, Penn State, etc. In fact, the Big East is closing in on forming a men’s lacrosse league. Syracuse has long played as an independent but now seem to be behind forming this conference. Read more on this here and here.

WVU could make an even eight Big East squads in lacrosse. WVU has long had a successful club team, so integrating into varsity would be fairly easy. Facilities-wise, lacrosse could use Mountaineer Field for most of the lacrosse season. Spring football drills would probably take a priority, but I think that could be scheduled easily. I’m not exactly sure of the dimensions of a lacrosse field, but I figure Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium could also be a possible venue. WVU has plenty of practice area near Mountaineer Field, beside the Coliseum and in the Caperton Indoor Center.

I suppose the biggest barriers would be Title IX and finance. Title IX could be offset by adding both mens and womens teams. Is it unrealistic to think that lacrosse could raise enough money to sustain itself? Probably. Most people in West Virginia have little notion of the sport. But I continue to hold on to the dream, because I think it makes sense and could eventually be successful.

Switching gears again, the Big East has announced the home-and-away matchups for womens basketball next season, and that is available here. The mens basketball opponents will be announced in June, after it is ascertained which players will stay in the draft. So basically the mens schedule is hinging on three players — Joe Alexander, Donte Greene of Syracuse and Marquette’s Jerel McNeal. These are the only three players who have entered the draft early from the Big East, and none have signed with agents, leaving the door open to come back. A littany of great athletes will return next season, and thinking about the conference next season is absolutely sickening.

Finally, it appears that Yinka Sanni is impressing the coaching staff of the Detroit Shock–including head coach Bill Laimbeer. Could this be the year I actually try to watch a WNBA game? Stay tuned.

Tags: Big East, Olayinka Sanni, Bob Huggins, Title IX, lacrosse