JOSH HERWITT
Josh is CSTV.com's men's basketball editor and writes a weekly national column. E-mail here!
Bill Harkins wants nothing more than to be No. 57.
He craves what Dave Petriemala, John Danowski and every Division I lacrosse coach has, and he's prepared to do whatever it takes for that happen.
But sometimes there are things you can't control, and for Harkins, that's simply the case when it comes to talking with school administrators for the past two years about an eventual Division I men's lacrosse program at Florida State.
For the school's club lacrosse coach, it's been one long back-and-forth conversation with boosters, athletic director Dave Hart, Jr. and president T.K. Wetherell.
The lacrosse community, however, has waited even longer for its next Division I men's program to pop up.
It was three years ago when Bellarmine officially announced that it was adding men's lacrosse to its athletics department as the 57th team at the Division I level. That's the last time that anyone has heard a school speak of starting a varsity men's lacrosse team, and in the interim, another team was lost when Butler dropped its program back in January.
Harkins, with his relentless attitude and continued success at the club level on the other hand, believes he can make the Seminoles the new No. 57 in due time.
But as always, there are several hurdles standing in the way.
"We've had tremendous support from the administration," the fourth-year coach said. "They'd like to see the program elevated along with women's."
And that's just the thing. If Harkins has any realistic thoughts of developing Division I men's lacrosse at FloridaState, it will not come until a women's team hits the field first.
It's legislation like Title IX that has made the course that much more difficult for Harkins, but it hasn't got him losing hope of eventually coaching the ACC's fifth team.
"He's put lacrosse as the next Division I sport in the minds of the boosters at FloridaState," FloridaState team president Todd Matherly said of Harkins. "But I don't think it's as easy as that because if they're going to do that, they have to add another women's sport."
While women's lacrosse seems to be the likely choice to complement the men's program for now, gender equity concerns are only half the battle for Harkins, who has guided the Seminoles to the national championship game at the club level three out of the last four years.
What swings in the balance even more than Title IX are the budgeting and funding issues that Harkins has no say on.
"The Division I program that will actually start has nothing to do with our program," Matherly continued. "It has everything to do with the boosters, the school, Title IX and all that kind of stuff."
So, while Title IX regulations have forced universities to offer the same number of opportunities for men and women, Harkins says the gender equity issues don't outweigh the financial necessities that are keeping Florida State from announcing a men's lacrosse team sooner than 2010.
"The magic that makes everything happen like almost everything else in life is the money," he said matter-of-factly. "They do not want to start the program unless they're endowed...If we had a commitment for endowing the program, we'd probably have an announcement."
And until a foundation can be set up and that endowment finally comes through, Harkins' vision for a Division I program must continue to simmer while discussions progress further with the school's administration.
"We're really in the earlier stages than I thought we would [be]," admitted Harkins, who has acted as the program's primary advocate.
If there's one thing that Harkins has, though, it's support.
Support from the school's administrators. Support from his past and present players. And most of all, support from his colleagues, guys that have been around the sport for a long time in Virginia coach Dom Starsia, Maryland coach David Cottle and Navy coach Richie Meade among others.
In fact, it's been Harkins who has managed to excite the school about lacrosse enough to get his team its own field, something that no other club sport at FloridaState has.
"We get as much support as any school gets at our level," Harkins assured. "FloridaState is a phenomenal school...It's got a lot of things going for it."
And with all the history and tradition that Florida State athletics has produced over the years to go along with the constant dose of sunshine, don't think Harkins will have any trouble stealing kids away from the perennial Northeast powers to join him in Tallahassee.
On second thought, it's a situation that would capture the interest of any top-rated high school recruit from Long Island, Baltimore or any other lacrosse hot bed.
So as the buzz grows larger and the talk of college lacrosse spreads deeper into the state of Florida, it's Harkins who's still holding on to his chance to be the new No. 57.
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