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For the first time since 1997, Lycoming College is adding sports to its athletics department, president Dr. Kent Trachte announced Thursday.
With approval of the school's Board of Trustees, the Warriors are adding women's field hockey and baseball to begin competition during the 2022-23 school year. Athletics Director Mike Clark said the school is beginning a nationwide search for coaches early in 2021.
"I, and the Trustees, understand sports are part of the academic mission," Trachte said during an online press conference. "They learn very important skills and attributes that serve them well moving forward."
The move was made as Lycoming tries to stabilize enrollment numbers as, nationally, enrollment in private institutions like Lycoming has fallen for the better part of the last decade. The introduction of baseball and field hockey marks the first time Lycoming has added athletics programs since beginning men's and women's lacrosse programs in 1997.
Field hockey and baseball were previously offered by Lycoming, but field hockey was discontinued following the 1992 season and baseball was halted following the 1971 season. The field hockey team will play and practice at the Shangraw Athletic Complex on Union Avenue in Williamsport. The baseball team will play at the complex being constructed by the Williamsport-Lycoming Chamber of Commerce on Rose Street. Construction on the complex is expected to begin early in 2020 and be completed by the spring of 2021.
Lycoming is the only of the 18 Middle Atlantic Conference schools which did not offer field hockey and baseball. Both sports will compete in the MAC Freedom Conference with field hockey expecting to play a full MAC schedule in the fall of 2022 and baseball playing a full schedule in the spring of 2023.
Clark said the school will begin a nationwide search for head coaches early in 2021. The hope is to give the new coaches time to fill out two recruiting classes before participating in a full intercollegiate season. He said there's a chance the baseball program could play some sub-varsity competitions in 2021.
"We always deal with the question of how can you be in Williamsport and not have baseball?" Clark said. "The facility part was the most difficult hurdle for us. What the visitor's bureau is doing with that complex is phenomenal for us. That is a unique opportunity for us to capitalize on this, because we don't have room for a baseball field at our facility."
"Adding these two sports seems like a sound strategy," Trachte said. "Many others have done it and we've been a little slow at adding sports, but we've done it the right way considering the resources we need to put into play."
The field hockey team will play and practice on the current soccer/lacrosse field located adjacent to the football field at the Shangraw Athletic Complex. In order to make room for the additional team, Lycoming is fundraising to construct a $3 million expansion of the locker rooms at the Shangraw Athletic Complex, as well as permanent seating for the soccer/lacrosse/field hockey field.
Lycoming also put lights on the field this year to extend practice windows for teams who need to utilize the field. The new locker rooms will be constructed at the West end of the football field, opposite the scoreboard, between the football and soccer fields. The structure will likely feature two locker rooms, according to Clark, and then the current locker rooms will be renovated to accommodate which teams use those.
"The timing of this reflects that we've been able to make progress on the front of our facilities," Trachte said. "Plans are in place to raise funds to enhance the field at the Shangraw Athletic Complex. And with the work of (Lycoming Executive Vice President) Chip Edmonds and the advancement team, we're well on the way to raising the dollars for that project."
Lycoming considered other sports to add instead of field hockey or baseball during the five-year process to reach this point, but none of them made the sense of the two ultimately chosen. Clark said it wasn't feasible to consider adding track and field when there was no where to put a track. Lycoming had discussions with other schools who offer track and field programs without having a track of their own, and it just wasn't the right fit.
Both Clark and Trachte said Lycoming's proximity to areas and schools with much success in both field hockey and baseball made the decision to add those sports the right one. Lock Haven University competes at the Division I level for field hockey in the Atlantic-10 conference, and Bloomsburg University won multiple Division national championships under legendary coach Jan Hutchinson.
Also, high school programs in the area in both sports have been successful in recent years. Clark hopes being able to draw interest from athletes in the area will help the programs be competitive quickly.
"I certainly don't think that will hurt," Clark said. "But I think the success of both sports will largely be dependent on who we hire and how well they recruit. We all know the best programs at ever level aren't full of freshmen and sophomores and it's going to take a little time to get things going and to have mature, experienced teams. But I'm a huge believer, based on everything we are, the quality of our academics, our area, the commitment to good facilities, our financial strength institutionally, we can attract quality coaches who are competitive year in and year out. But it's going to take some time."
"The Trustees and I are very excited about all of this," Trachte said. "We're looking forward to having the young men and women on campus who will compete in field hockey and baseball. And we're very pleased to take the tangible steps to having those here in the near future."