It’s an anomaly shared by few other college sports teams. In men’s lacrosse, just four teams – including Syracuse – can claim independent status.

Life as an independent has treated the Orange quite well. Twenty-two straight trips to the final four and nine national championships, all coming without belonging to a conference.

But recently, the six other men’s lacrosse playing schools that belong to the Big East in other sports have increased their calls for a Big East men’s lacrosse conference. Big East athletic directors voted a proposal down in May of 2004, Villanova head men’s lacrosse coach Randy Marks said.

Currently, a few factors are holding the potential conference back. The biggest one right now, though, is Syracuse’s refusal to join a conference. It’s a stance that may change down the road, but for now, the Orange doesn’t intend to give up its independent status, outgoing Director of Athletics Jake Crouthamel and men’s lacrosse head coach John Desko said.

‘I know John Desko feels the same way I do,’ Crouthamel said. ‘I’m firmly convinced one of the reasons for our success is the strength of schedule we play each year.’

A strength of schedule that Desko and Crouthamel say wouldn’t be possible with a six-game conference slate. This season, SU faces 12 opponents. Just two of those, Georgetown and Rutgers, would be potential Big East opponents. To a play a Big East schedule, Syracuse would have to remove four non-conference opponents and add Notre Dame, St. John’s, Providence and Villanova.

While Notre Dame is competitive on the national scale and St. John’s, Providence and Villanova are all rising opponents, Desko said they aren’t the level of opponents the Orange currently plays. At least not at this stage in the program’s development.

Syracuse plays such a strong schedule mainly to help itself in the NCAA Tournament seeding process. The tournament selection committee relies heavily on strength of schedule and RPI. In addition, SU rarely faces a team in the tournament that it hasn’t faced during the regular season.

This year, SU has already lost to No. 1 Johns Hopkins, No. 3 Virginia and No. 5 Georgetown. But those losses are obviously looked upon more favorably than losses to unranked teams like Villanova or St. John’s. It’s a risk of conference play that scares Crouthamel.

‘You’re really risking lowering your RPI,’ Desko said.

But the other schools, most of which lack SU’s national prestige, feel differently. Marks said at last May’s meetings, athletic directors from St. John’s, Notre Dame and Rutgers most adamantly supported forming a conference. They couldn’t get the necessary support, though.

To make a conference viable, six teams would have to participate. That’s the number necessary for the conference winner to get an automatic qualifier for the NCAA Tournament. With the exception of Syracuse, the six other teams play in conferences. Georgetown, Rutgers and St. John’s belong to the East Coast Athletic Conference, Providence to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, Villanova to the Colonial Athletic Association and Notre Dame to the Great Western Lacrosse League.

Notre Dame head coach Kevin Corrigan, one of the Big East’s largest supporters, believes the Big East wouldn’t succeed without Syracuse. He said as far as he knows, Syracuse and possibly Providence were the only teams that wouldn’t join the conference.

Corrigan said Providence isn’t interested at this point because its program hasn’t fully developed. The coaches at four Big East schools all confirmed their interest. St. John’s head coach Rick Sowell and Providence head coach Chris Burdick couldn’t be reached for comment.

‘Look at the quality of teams,’ Corrigan said. It could become the best conference in lacrosse. It would be good for the sport as a whole.’

Big East Associate Commissioner of Communications John Paquette said he’s heard discussion of a possible conference. Right now, though, he said there’s too much ‘competitive disparity’ between the programs. He added that none of the incoming Big East schools next season, Louisville, DePaul, Marquette, South Florida and Cincinnati, play men’s lacrosse.

If the athletic directors ever reach a consensus they want a league, Paquette said, one would be created. The money needed to create a league is also a consideration. Some schools, such as Villanova, don’t provide their program with adequate funding.

And it’s perhaps Villanova’s Marks who needs the league more than anyone. For years, Villanova’s administration has treated the lacrosse program like second-class citizens. Marks has no scholarships and no paid assistants. Marks himself is only a part-time coach.

Despite running what’s comparable to an Ivy League program, in 23 years on the job, Marks has coached several ranked teams. He’s the only coach without scholarships in his league, yet the Wildcats missed the conference’s automatic bid by one win.

If Villanova joined the Big East, all that would change because of league requirements. Marks would get his scholarships and assistant coaches. He could turn a budding program into a national contender.

‘We’d have five or six teams in the Top 20 or 25,’ Marks said. ‘It would be a lot of fun.’

St. John’s could also benefit. The Red Storm has poured tons of money into its lacrosse program, several coaches said. Many coaches believe SJU will soon compete on the national level.

For now, it’s unlikely these teams will compete together in the same league. Syracuse isn’t budging. Marks said that last May was the third time that a conference has been voted down.

Both Crouthamel and Desko agreed a move may happen in the future should parity increase. That may happen if Villanova, Rutgers and St. John’s continue to improve.

Desko sounded guardedly open toward a conference. He said when the idea floated around in the past, teams like Notre Dame, Georgetown and Rutgers hadn’t established themselves. Now, with those teams improving (GU and RU have each beaten the Orange in the last two years), Desko is more open to the possibility.

Crouthamel, though, believes the Big East could form without Syracuse. When the Big East formed a baseball conference, Miami received an exemption. The Hurricanes annually dominated college baseball like the Orange does lacrosse. Other coaches disagreed, though. Georgetown head coach Dave Urick said SU would add credibility to the league.

‘I think because Syracuse is such a dominant player, when they go to a conference meeting and say they don’t want a conference, the other athletic directors will follow,’ Marks said.

Said Rutgers coach Jim Stagnitta: ‘I just think the opportunity would be tremendous for lacrosse. When you have a conference like the Big East behind you from a media standpoint, it would just be a huge boost for all of us.’

Published on April 5, 2005 at 12:00 pm