Florida State

[spidey44]

I won’t say it can’t happen, but it is not likely any FSU club players will be invited to join the team. Hopefully this was not their thought when making the push to add D1 wlax at FSU.

The new coach, if hired soon, will probably try to get a few late 2025 recruits or get some 2025s who may flip. The coach will have the full 2026 recruiting cycle and will probably take about 15 players in that class. The coach will more likely fill the rest of the team from the transfer portal. And have slightly larger recruiting classes for several years.

With the timeline they have given themselves they will have to adopt a model more like Clemson. Get transfers. Remember, USF was originally slated to start play in Spring 2024 and pumped the breaks to build more from the ground up. Maybe FSU does the same and delays for another year. Will be interesting to see what happens with the program. And interesting to see what happens to ACC wlax if the football pieces start to unravel.

It does seem like an aggressive plan to shoot for Spring 2026 to start. The timing isn't great as you do miss out on what could have potentially (depending on coach choice, etc) been a very good 25 class if this had been announced early summer and gotten a coach in place. ACC is becoming a huge conference for women's lacrosse, but wouldn't surprise me at all to see Clemson and FSU bolt to the Big 10 or SEC before FSU takes the field.

[LaxDadMax]

Don't know how much FSU will invest in the program. Sounds like they were dragged kicking and screaming into funding the Wlax programs since they were out of compliance with Title IX.

Wonder what would of happened if legal action was taken. Maybe, god forbid, funding to the football team would have been cut.
It is a state school.

"In July, Villalonga, who is in her second year of graduate school, sent an email to FSU administrators formally petitioning to add women’s lacrosse as a varsity sport. When the school responded and said FSU was “not actively evaluating the addition of any sports programs to our current collection of teams,” Bryant and the team sent a letter threatening legal action. "

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/2 ... 048755007/

I tend to agree with you here for this and other reasons previously mentioned.

The first sign will be who FSU signs as a coach in the next few weeks. If it's a bigger name, then you may see them more active in the portal. If not, I think they try to build the program more organically, like Rhode Island not like USF or Clemson.

My guesses--

Within the next few weeks, they hire a coach, an experienced head coach, but nowhere near a "name" and not from a major conference.

They bring in 12 2025 commits, 15 2026 commits, bring in 5-10 transfers and add a 5-7 "walk-on" club lacrosse players to help build numbers.

FSU has a reputation for giving its coaches very long leashes, they don't buy out poorly performing coaches in non-revenue sports.

[LaxDadMax]

I won’t say it can’t happen, but it is not likely any FSU club players will be invited to join the team. Hopefully this was not their thought when making the push to add D1 wlax at FSU.

The new coach, if hired soon, will probably try to get a few late 2025 recruits or get some 2025s who may flip. The coach will have the full 2026 recruiting cycle and will probably take about 15 players in that class. The coach will more likely fill the rest of the team from the transfer portal. And have slightly larger recruiting classes for several years.

With the timeline they have given themselves they will have to adopt a model more like Clemson. Get transfers. Remember, USF was originally slated to start play in Spring 2024 and pumped the breaks to build more from the ground up. Maybe FSU does the same and delays for another year. Will be interesting to see what happens with the program. And interesting to see what happens to ACC wlax if the football pieces start to unravel.

It does seem like an aggressive plan to shoot for Spring 2026 to start. The timing isn't great as you do miss out on what could have potentially (depending on coach choice, etc) been a very good 25 class if this had been announced early summer and gotten a coach in place. ACC is becoming a huge conference for women's lacrosse, but wouldn't surprise me at all to see Clemson and FSU bolt to the Big 10 or SEC before FSU takes the field.

Moving to the SEC is much more likely than Big 10. Problem is that UNC, Clemson, MIami are more attractive schools to the SEC and FSU.

[spidey44]

I tend to agree with you here for this and other reasons previously mentioned.

The first sign will be who FSU signs as a coach in the next few weeks. If it's a bigger name, then you may see them more active in the portal. If not, I think they try to build the program more organically, like Rhode Island not like USF or Clemson.

My guesses--

Within the next few weeks, they hire a coach, an experienced head coach, but nowhere near a "name" and not from a major conference.

They bring in 12 2025 commits, 15 2026 commits, bring in 5-10 transfers and add a 5-7 "walk-on" club lacrosse players to help build numbers.

FSU has a reputation for giving its coaches very long leashes, they don't buy out poorly performing coaches in non-revenue sports.

Remember, they plan on playing Spring of 2026 so they will need a lot more 25s or transfers to fill out a roster. And probably quite a few from the current club team (I have no idea how good they are...). And USF is building pretty much from the ground up. Remains to be seen how many transfers they pull in next year, but only have 7ish currently.

[RollTheCrease]

Don't know how much FSU will invest in the program. Sounds like they were dragged kicking and screaming into funding the Wlax programs since they were out of compliance with Title IX.

Wonder what would of happened if legal action was taken. Maybe, god forbid, funding to the football team would have been cut.
It is a state school.

"In July, Villalonga, who is in her second year of graduate school, sent an email to FSU administrators formally petitioning to add women’s lacrosse as a varsity sport. When the school responded and said FSU was “not actively evaluating the addition of any sports programs to our current collection of teams,” Bryant and the team sent a letter threatening legal action. "

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/2 ... 048755007/

I tend to agree with you here for this and other reasons previously mentioned.

The first sign will be who FSU signs as a coach in the next few weeks. If it's a bigger name, then you may see them more active in the portal. If not, I think they try to build the program more organically, like Rhode Island not like USF or Clemson.

My guesses--

Within the next few weeks, they hire a coach, an experienced head coach, but nowhere near a "name" and not from a major conference.

They bring in 12 2025 commits, 15 2026 commits, bring in 5-10 transfers and add a 5-7 "walk-on" club lacrosse players to help build numbers.

FSU has a reputation for giving its coaches very long leashes, they don't buy out poorly performing coaches in non-revenue sports.

Clemson built their team on transfers. USF has been building from the ground up. Clemson and FSU have the ACC which will appeal to recruits and transfers. USF to a lesser extent has the AAC and an administration that seems all in on athletics and especially investing in wlax now. Don’t know much about RI but suspect they will need to settle for who they can get, but believe they will be at a completely different level than the other three programs. Clemson should be a consistent top 20 moving forward. It may take a few years for FSU but they can consistently be a top 20-30 program. With Coach McCord USF will be as well.

I’m terms of FSUs recruiting classes you may not be far off in terms of the numbers they take in each. I assume the coach will want a number at least in the mid 30s for players when the team hits the field in Spring 2026. I respectfully disagree any will be walk-ons from the FSU club team. And hopefully this is not an expectation of the FSU club parents or players. The time commitment needed to play D1 is much different than club lacrosse. And at the level FSU will be playing the speed of the game and athleticism will be much faster and higher. If current FSU club players fit this bill they would have committed their time to another school already.

[Relax77]

Don't know how much FSU will invest in the program. Sounds like they were dragged kicking and screaming into funding the Wlax programs since they were out of compliance with Title IX.

Wonder what would of happened if legal action was taken. Maybe, god forbid, funding to the football team would have been cut.
It is a state school.

"In July, Villalonga, who is in her second year of graduate school, sent an email to FSU administrators formally petitioning to add women’s lacrosse as a varsity sport. When the school responded and said FSU was “not actively evaluating the addition of any sports programs to our current collection of teams,” Bryant and the team sent a letter threatening legal action. "

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/2 ... 048755007/

I tend to agree with you here for this and other reasons previously mentioned.

The first sign will be who FSU signs as a coach in the next few weeks. If it's a bigger name, then you may see them more active in the portal. If not, I think they try to build the program more organically, like Rhode Island not like USF or Clemson.

My guesses--

Within the next few weeks, they hire a coach, an experienced head coach, but nowhere near a "name" and not from a major conference.

They bring in 12 2025 commits, 15 2026 commits, bring in 5-10 transfers and add a 5-7 "walk-on" club lacrosse players to help build numbers.

FSU has a reputation for giving its coaches very long leashes, they don't buy out poorly performing coaches in non-revenue sports.

Clemson built their team on transfers. USF has been building from the ground up. Clemson and FSU have the ACC which will appeal to recruits and transfers. USF to a lesser extent has the AAC and an administration that seems all in on athletics and especially investing in wlax now. Don’t know much about RI but suspect they will need to settle for who they can get, but believe they will be at a completely different level than the other three programs. Clemson should be a consistent top 20 moving forward. It may take a few years for FSU but they can consistently be a top 20-30 program. With Coach McCord USF will be as well.

I’m terms of FSUs recruiting classes you may not be far off in terms of the numbers they take in each. I assume the coach will want a number at least in the mid 30s for players when the team hits the field in Spring 2026. I respectfully disagree any will be walk-ons from the FSU club team. And hopefully this is not an expectation of the FSU club parents or players. The time commitment needed to play D1 is much different than club lacrosse. And at the level FSU will be playing the speed of the game and athleticism will be much faster and higher. If current FSU club players fit this bill they would have committed their time to another school already.

I think with FSU and soon to be Miami , even with McCord, USF won’t get there. Clemson will be a perennial Top 15-30 team. Can’t see USF getting there. Think FSU happening so close to when USF starts hurts them big time. Just my opinion.

[Relax77]

I tend to agree with you here for this and other reasons previously mentioned.

The first sign will be who FSU signs as a coach in the next few weeks. If it's a bigger name, then you may see them more active in the portal. If not, I think they try to build the program more organically, like Rhode Island not like USF or Clemson.

My guesses--

Within the next few weeks, they hire a coach, an experienced head coach, but nowhere near a "name" and not from a major conference.

They bring in 12 2025 commits, 15 2026 commits, bring in 5-10 transfers and add a 5-7 "walk-on" club lacrosse players to help build numbers.

FSU has a reputation for giving its coaches very long leashes, they don't buy out poorly performing coaches in non-revenue sports.

Remember, they plan on playing Spring of 2026 so they will need a lot more 25s or transfers to fill out a roster. And probably quite a few from the current club team (I have no idea how good they are...). And USF is building pretty much from the ground up. Remains to be seen how many transfers they pull in next year, but only have 7ish currently.

Think you’re gonna have a lot of players transfer to FSU like Chepenik did to USF. And not just sophomores. Gonna get fifth years and a few juniors. They are gonna be competitive right away and I’m sure they will have a soft schedule outside of the ACC like Clemson did.

[LaxDadMax]

I tend to agree with you here for this and other reasons previously mentioned.

The first sign will be who FSU signs as a coach in the next few weeks. If it's a bigger name, then you may see them more active in the portal. If not, I think they try to build the program more organically, like Rhode Island not like USF or Clemson.

My guesses--

Within the next few weeks, they hire a coach, an experienced head coach, but nowhere near a "name" and not from a major conference.

They bring in 12 2025 commits, 15 2026 commits, bring in 5-10 transfers and add a 5-7 "walk-on" club lacrosse players to help build numbers.

FSU has a reputation for giving its coaches very long leashes, they don't buy out poorly performing coaches in non-revenue sports.

Remember, they plan on playing Spring of 2026 so they will need a lot more 25s or transfers to fill out a roster. And probably quite a few from the current club team (I have no idea how good they are...). And USF is building pretty much from the ground up. Remains to be seen how many transfers they pull in next year, but only have 7ish currently.

Think you’re gonna have a lot of players transfer to FSU like Chepenik did to USF. And not just sophomores. Gonna get fifth years and a few juniors. They are gonna be competitive right away and I’m sure they will have a soft schedule outside of the ACC like Clemson did.

Remember by 2026, the supply of 5th years will be very low since no more covid exemptions. I doubt they put the resources in to be competitive. My prediction is whoever they hire as a head coach will be the lowest paid one in both the ACC and state of Florida.

Let's remember something -- FSU facilities are no where near Clemson, UF or even USF. For non-revenue sports, they are probably at the same level Their top 5 women's soccer team shares a locker room.

The entire athletic department (including football) is underfunded against most of the ACC. The football team won't have a dedicated weight room until next year. This is going to be a much harder place to recruit to than other schools which are being mentioned.

[Relax77]

I tend to agree with you here for this and other reasons previously mentioned.

The first sign will be who FSU signs as a coach in the next few weeks. If it's a bigger name, then you may see them more active in the portal. If not, I think they try to build the program more organically, like Rhode Island not like USF or Clemson.

My guesses--

Within the next few weeks, they hire a coach, an experienced head coach, but nowhere near a "name" and not from a major conference.

They bring in 12 2025 commits, 15 2026 commits, bring in 5-10 transfers and add a 5-7 "walk-on" club lacrosse players to help build numbers.

FSU has a reputation for giving its coaches very long leashes, they don't buy out poorly performing coaches in non-revenue sports.

Remember, they plan on playing Spring of 2026 so they will need a lot more 25s or transfers to fill out a roster. And probably quite a few from the current club team (I have no idea how good they are...). And USF is building pretty much from the ground up. Remains to be seen how many transfers they pull in next year, but only have 7ish currently.

Think you’re gonna have a lot of players transfer to FSU like Chepenik did to USF. And not just sophomores. Gonna get fifth years and a few juniors. They are gonna be competitive right away and I’m sure they will have a soft schedule outside of the ACC like Clemson did.

Remember by 2026, the supply of 5th years will be very low since no more covid exemptions. I doubt they put the resources in to be competitive. My prediction is whoever they hire as a head coach will be the lowest paid one in both the ACC and state of Florida.

Let's remember something -- FSU facilities are no where near Clemson, UF or even USF. For non-revenue sports, they are probably at the same level Their top 5 women's soccer team shares a locker room.

The entire athletic department (including football) is underfunded against most of the ACC. The football team won't have a dedicated weight room until next year. This is going to be a much harder place to recruit to than other schools which are being mentioned.

Maybe , but their top 5 soccer team still recruits well even with those facilities you mentioned.

[LaxDadMax]

I tend to agree with you here for this and other reasons previously mentioned.

The first sign will be who FSU signs as a coach in the next few weeks. If it's a bigger name, then you may see them more active in the portal. If not, I think they try to build the program more organically, like Rhode Island not like USF or Clemson.

My guesses--

Within the next few weeks, they hire a coach, an experienced head coach, but nowhere near a "name" and not from a major conference.

They bring in 12 2025 commits, 15 2026 commits, bring in 5-10 transfers and add a 5-7 "walk-on" club lacrosse players to help build numbers.

FSU has a reputation for giving its coaches very long leashes, they don't buy out poorly performing coaches in non-revenue sports.

Remember, they plan on playing Spring of 2026 so they will need a lot more 25s or transfers to fill out a roster. And probably quite a few from the current club team (I have no idea how good they are...). And USF is building pretty much from the ground up. Remains to be seen how many transfers they pull in next year, but only have 7ish currently.

Think you’re gonna have a lot of players transfer to FSU like Chepenik did to USF. And not just sophomores. Gonna get fifth years and a few juniors. They are gonna be competitive right away and I’m sure they will have a soft schedule outside of the ACC like Clemson did.

Remember by 2026, the supply of 5th years will be very low since no more covid exemptions. I doubt they put the resources in to be competitive. My prediction is whoever they hire as a head coach will be the lowest paid one in both the ACC and state of Florida.

Let's remember something -- FSU facilities are no where near Clemson, UF or even USF. For non-revenue sports, they are probably at the same level Their top 5 women's soccer team shares a locker room.

The entire athletic department (including football) is underfunded against most of the ACC. The football team won't have a dedicated weight room until next year. This is going to be a much harder place to recruit to than other schools which are being mentioned.

Maybe , but their top 5 soccer team still recruits well even with those facilities you mentioned.

Maybe.

However soccer recruiting is apples and oranges to lacrosse with such a high percentage of recruiting being done internationally. Quick check show 9 of 23 girls on FSU roster are from foreign country.

I think baseball and softball are a much better comparison. However, recruiting baseball/softball players in Florida is probably like recruiting lax players in Maryland.

[njbill]

Or just use AI.

[livelovelax]

The transfer portal is here to stay. I keep hearing some people say that once covid is over, the portal will be done or will have fewer players. Reality is covid is over and the portal will continue on for those that want to move on due to lack of playing time, graduate programs and change of scenery.

The big ACC and SEC football schools will all thrive if they have wlax.

[LaxGnome22]

The transfer portal is here to stay. I keep hearing some people say that once covid is over, the portal will be done or will have fewer players. Reality is covid is over and the portal will continue on for those that want to move on due to lack of playing time, graduate programs and change of scenery.

The big ACC and SEC football schools will all thrive if they have wlax.

I actually think the portal will be used even more as we move forward. Look at ND, UNC just to name a few. All those kids committed the last two years are not all gonna pan out and see the field. They will go to teams 10-25 and get playing time. Then those kids just got replaced and won’t see any playing time and will go to 25-40 etc etc. Also look at the number of kids some teams are piling on. No way they are keeping them.

[Womenslaxxfan]

The transfer portal is here to stay. I keep hearing some people say that once covid is over, the portal will be done or will have fewer players. Reality is covid is over and the portal will continue on for those that want to move on due to lack of playing time, graduate programs and change of scenery.

The big ACC and SEC football schools will all thrive if they have wlax.

I actually think the portal will be used even more as we move forward. Look at ND, UNC just to name a few. All those kids committed the last two years are not all gonna pan out and see the field. They will go to teams 10-25 and get playing time. Then those kids just got replaced and won’t see any playing time and will go to 25-40 etc etc. Also look at the number of kids some teams are piling on. No way they are keeping them.

Could not disagree more. Is the portal here to stay? Yep. Will the activity level go down from where it’s been? Yep.
Transferring college to get field time for a non revenue sport will be a decision made by a very small minority of players. The vast majority of players that don’t play won’t transfer because they actually like the college they are attending, the friends they have made, etc. transferring is no guarantee of an improvement in happiness by the way.
This isn’t football or basketball. NIL money for women’s lacrosse is small and will always be small.
For those young women who are truly unhappy with their college experience because of their play time on the field, the portal will be helpful. But without the grad transfer and 5th year, it will be a small percentage of total players, Ian’s also a small percentage of the players that don’t see field time. There are over 3000 division 1 women’s lax players. 1500 don’t play. Less than 100 who are undergrads will transfer. Yawn….

[LaxGnome22]

The transfer portal is here to stay. I keep hearing some people say that once covid is over, the portal will be done or will have fewer players. Reality is covid is over and the portal will continue on for those that want to move on due to lack of playing time, graduate programs and change of scenery.

The big ACC and SEC football schools will all thrive if they have wlax.

I actually think the portal will be used even more as we move forward. Look at ND, UNC just to name a few. All those kids committed the last two years are not all gonna pan out and see the field. They will go to teams 10-25 and get playing time. Then those kids just got replaced and won’t see any playing time and will go to 25-40 etc etc. Also look at the number of kids some teams are piling on. No way they are keeping them.

Could not disagree more. Is the portal here to stay? Yep. Will the activity level go down from where it’s been? Yep.
Transferring college to get field time for a non revenue sport will be a decision made by a very small minority of players. The vast majority of players that don’t play won’t transfer because they actually like the college they are attending, the friends they have made, etc. transferring is no guarantee of an improvement in happiness by the way.
This isn’t football or basketball. NIL money for women’s lacrosse is small and will always be small.
For those young women who are truly unhappy with their college experience because of their play time on the field, the portal will be helpful. But without the grad transfer and 5th year, it will be a small percentage of total players, Ian’s also a small percentage of the players that don’t see field time. There are over 3000 division 1 women’s lax players. 1500 don’t play. Less than 100 who are undergrads will transfer. Yawn….

I’m not talking about the 3000 kids. Yes. Most of them aren’t going anywhere. I’m talking about the top kids. Let’s be honest. There are plenty of great d2 or d3 schools. There’s a reason why so many top kids don’t go to them and it has nothing to do with the school. These kids are picking their school with lax being #1. UNC is a great college and a great atmosphere. If UNC was ranked 120th, not one of those commits would have committed there. The transfer portal will be abundant in the top 40 schools. 100 seems a lot to me. Not sure what the number was last year, but I believe it will continue to be prevalent.

[NotFromMD]

Where is the speculation on coach hire? Job has been posted for a bit. What's the word?

[LaxDadMax]

Where is the speculation on coach hire? Job has been posted for a bit. What's the word?

A few middle tier head coaches have interviewed. Not sure if any assistants have. Initial goal was to have new coach in place by this weekend.

[spidey44]

Going into the biggest fall recruiting weekend and no coach announced yet. Could we hear something this week?

[LaxDadMax]

Going into the biggest fall recruiting weekend and no coach announced yet. Could we hear something this week?

I think they hope so. Their leading candidate turned them down a little more than a week ago so I am sure they are on to 2nd and 3rd choices.

[btwn30lax]

Who was the lead candidate? Need my insiders to start giving a little intel on this one!