By AJ Werner | Reporter
As Baylor builds upon its sports empire with basketball and football leading the way, the time to add another sports program might be soon for Baylor Athletics.
One NCAA-sanctioned sport the Bears can potentially add is lacrosse. Women’s lacrosse was announced as a Big 12 conference sport last November, though the first official matches will not begin until 2025. Current members of the league include Arizona State, Cincinnati, Colorado, Florida, San Diego State, and UC Davis.
Baylor has men’s and women’s club lacrosse teams on campus and the team members take their clubs very seriously. The teams are passionate about lacrosse and also about maintaining a program that lasts after their times here at Baylor are done.
Men’s lacrosse club president Giuseppe Randazzo, a senior from Ramsey, N.J., has been playing lacrosse since fourth grade and says the club has reignited his passion for the game after burning out with the sport in high school.
“I didn’t even bring my stuff to Baylor,” Randazzo said. “I went to Late Night with the student activities and I found the lacrosse table. I thought I was done but then I came back.”
Women’s lacrosse club president Eliza Darby of Stillwater, Minn., says she’s seen great things with the club throughout her time at Baylor despite the challenges and changes each year brings.
“Four years ago, we weren’t very good in comparison to the other girls in our conference,” Darby said. “Last year, we had a little bit of an off year, but the culture is really interesting because it is 100% student-run. It can really vary year by year just because leadership changes a lot. We don’t even have a coach.”
Randazzo lit up with excitement when asked whether Baylor should consider joining Big 12 lacrosse if a men’s league was put in place following the women’s inaugural season in 2025.
“No bias at all, absolutely,” Randazzo said. “I see why Baylor hasn’t done it, but there are a lot of schools that would be willing to and there’s schools that are probably ready to do so as well.”
Randazzo also shared that a frequent talking point of the club is whether or not the team would want to try out for an official Baylor lacrosse team if the men’s league was initiated.
“We’ve been talking about it for a while now. Yeah, there’s a lot that goes into it, but we really want it,” Randazzo said. “We really want it to happen, even for me knowing I’m about to graduate, I want to see Baylor make that push in the upcoming years.
But while the enthusiasm is there for a men’s lacrosse team, there has been no news on the Big 12 creating a men’s league while they focus on the first season of women’s lacrosse.
Baylor adding a women’s lacrosse team is more a possibility at this time. Darby, however, shared concerns over whether or not it would be in Baylor’s best interest to start a lacrosse team for several reasons.
“I just don’t know if Baylor added a lacrosse team if it would get the kind of attendance that they would want from having spent all that money on an NCAA divisional team,” Darby said. “Obviously, lacrosse is awesome, and I love lacrosse, but I just don’t think it’s realistic, in my opinion, in the near future.”
When also asked about possibly trying to form a division lacrosse team, Darby said that the club is confident and comfortable where it’s at and isn’t holding their breath on that possibility.
“Everyone really enjoys the club culture and like what we’ve done with that,” Darby said. “I don’t know if especially our older girls would be interested in committing themselves to something like that, especially so late in the game, when it’s going to be like a new program and all that kind of stuff. I think all of us know that it’s super exciting that it’s coming into the Big 12, but it probably won’t make its way to Baylor for a while.”
Randazzo hopes that the program’s “you get out what you put in” mentality paves the way for a men’s collegiate lacrosse opportunity with Baylor as the club struggles with things like money.
“We’re really self-funded or self-run, and basically the only thing that the school does is regulate when we can practice [and] what logos and stuff we can use,” Randazzo said. “So we all pay dues, but we’d love to just represent the school. We wouldn’t have our team if it wasn’t for Baylor.”
The two clubs may express different opinions, but both still share the same goal of building up their programs and being key factors in the growth of the sport here in Waco. Men’s club lacrosse is hosting an open practice on Wednesday before holding tryouts from 6-8 p.m. on Sept. 17 and 18 at the BSB fields.
