Johns Hopkins lax to B1G?

thanks for the report.  you might want to edit the title to indicate that you mean for lacrosse only.

there is zero reason to do this, aside from the magical gets us to six teams so we can have a lacrosse conference reason.  I don't like this because JH will dominate the conference every single year, this wouldn't even be close to competitive or fair.  Thanks but no thanks.

That would be cool. And it's not lacrosse related, but weren't there rumors about having a Canadian University join the NCAA and Conference for hockey?

It sort of sounds like they've been approached by damn near everyone.  Assuming Hopkins really does have their pick of any conference to join, I can't see them choosing any conference but the ACC or B1G, if any at all.  Unless they have a Texas complex, then maybe they'd go mid-major.

Next thing you'll be telling me, Maryland is joining the conference. C'mon guy.

...wait, what? Maryland already joined?! Yeesh, well at least it's not Rutgers or something.

....wait, what?

I smoked pot with Johnny Hopkins

I'd imagine this would be akin to Chicago's membership in the CIC, only with Hopkins lacrosse playing in a newly formed Big 10 conference. In that light, it makes a ton of sense at least for the CIC, as Hopkins has tons and tons of research money, particularly in medicine and public health. 

Hopkins has stellar academic reputation.  Would this put them in the CIC?  That might be the lure for Hopkins to do it.  And it would improve the overall academics of the CIC, so from that perspective, wouldn't we all be in favor of it?

I'd think that, in 10 years, the Michigan - Ohio State - Penn State - Hopkins - Maryland quintet will be a dominant lacrosse machine.  Whether than generates significant revenue is a whole other question.

Syracuse, Princeton, Maryland, UVA....in other words, they are one of the best programs in the country. I guess, for the Big 10, they would be adding prestige to it's budding LXS program and for JH, they would be getting $$$ out of it. 

Damn, came here to post this.

Pretty awesome and unique situation for Johns Hopkins and the CIC, along with our lacrosse league. Would give instant credibility with Maryland and JH, plus solid members Rutgers and Penn State, with big brands M and OSU, and the potential to nab UVa/UNC. The Big Ten goes from no lacrosse to powerhouse almost overnight. I can only imagine it would also help recruiting. I'm really excited and rooting for this to happen. 

While we're at it, we should add U Toronto and McGill to the BTHC (semiserious).

I would be in favor of this if it led it to an academic relation similar to the relationship the B1G has with U of Chicago. Johns Hopkins had top tier academics/ research in both the social sciences and medicine.

I'm divided on this. I see the pluses in that Johns Hopkins is an amazing school and more than fits our academic standards. Plus, its always nice to have another huge research school, but still, aside from lacrosse, does adding Johns Hopkins add anything athletically, or am I missing something here?



I'd rather hold out for UVa/VaTech, or UNC/Duke, or some combination of these, but I figure UNC will never go anywhere without Duke and vice versa. I think these are overall much more balanced schools and still extends the B1G further into the Southern footprint.

I think that having JHU in a Big 10 lax conference is inspired. Lax is a huge growth sport nationally and JHU has great academics, which may be two lures for UVA and UNC, who are similar institutions on both fronts.

The idea of the B1G tradition being lost is true, but I think is unfortunately is colleateral damage from dealing with reality. The fact is that population growth is decreasing in the midwest and football on its own has not been great in terms of on the field success, so focus on other sports makes sense. Hell, with the concussion work going on here at MGH where I work and other places, I'm not sure football is a great long-term financial play in and of itself.  Finally, if cable ever does go ala carte (or the B1G network does), I guarantee you that a B1G lax conference has the potential for six figure subscribers on the East Coast alone JUST for JHU, UMD, UVA etc lax. 

Interesting...given that the current expansion rumors are circling around Virginia and North Carolina.  Adding Johns Hopkins for Lacrosse only makes sense if Virginia & North Carolina do not join this conference.  If UVA & UNC join the Big Ten, then the B1G gets a lacrosse autobid without needing an affiliate member.

The "Virginia to the Big Ten" rumor and the "Johns Hopkins to the Big Ten in lacrosse" rumor are most likely mutually exclusive.

I would love to see this happen.  Having two traditional powerhouse programs in a league associated with the midwest would really help legitimize B1G lacrosse and help the game expand beyond the east coast, both of which will help Michigan get the lacrosse recruits they need and make them a better know commodity on the east coast.  Of course that will make it pretty difficult for Michigan to compete for conference championships, but in the long run should be a good thing. 

I know this report is tenuous at-best, but it's interesting to consider the merits of a push east rather than south or west. My knowledge of lacrosse, like many, is thin, but I know D1 lacrosse is wildly popular in the Mid-Atlantic region, similar to hockey in New England and the Upper Midwest.

Oh ... the title really is misleading. I'm sure it was not the OP's intention to trick people, but I clicked on this thread thinking it was about something absurd, rather than intriguing.

Johns Hopkins is a lot more palpatable on academics side in that research hospitals are big business (Michigan does ~17 billion a year in treatment  and normally has ~60 billion in federal grants at any time).  

I like the idea of cooperating with them in lacrosse and perhaps using that to open some doors for institution ties on the medical side of things.  That would benefit the B1G.  Plus of course JH might decide it likes making money off sports and bring in other D1 sports.  Imagine how surreal it would be to turn on the TV and see Johns Hopkins vs USC in the Rose Bowl.  

I think the big x-factor in the BTN's continued success will be lacrosse, the fastest growing (non-NASCAR) sport in America.  Adding Hopkins would give us six along with Ohio State, Michigan, PSU, Rutgers, and Maryland.  Having an actual lacrosse conference would further encourage existing B1G members to create a team of their own and further validate the speculative additions of UNC and UVa.  It would go a long way in giving the BTN relevant programming year-round.

(no, I don't consider NASCAR a sport).

This sounds fishy to me. Now, Hopkins would fit with a new Lacrosse strategy, and its academic profile certainly fits the bill, but since when does the B1G cherry-pick teams from certain sports to be associate members? It has already been explicitly stated that they would do no such thing for Notre Dame in non-football sports. Why LaCrosse only?

This would be roughly analogous to signing Notre Dame as a hockey-only associate member (something that actually would have made some sense when hockey was realigning) or some other academically strong hockey school.