The Men’s Collegiate Lacrosse Association (MCLA) is a national organization of non-NCAA, college lacrosse programs. The MCLA currently operates in the US and Canada with 213 teams in two divisions, across ten conferences.
This national organization of men’s collegiate club teams was formed in the Fall of 2006 to provide more direct attention to collegiate club lacrosse and it replaces the old USL MDIA.
The MCLA provides a governing structure much like the NCAA, with eligibility rules, national polls, All-Americans and a national tournament to decide national champions in both the A and B Divisions. Ten MCLA conferences are spread across the country, from coast to coast.
The old “USLIA” term stood for the US Lacrosse Intercollegiate Associates. A brief history of the Associates is in order. Bob Korba, Commissioner of the Lone Star Alliance and Head Coach at the University of Texas, had first organized the Creole Bowl in New Orleans in 1994. The Creole Bowl matched the champions of the Lone Star Alliance and the SouthEastern Lacrosse Conference in the Big Easy for one post-season, neutral site championship event.
The success of the event promoted further discussion on the national scene involving a potential true national championship for collegiate club lacrosse nationwide. The Western Collegiate Lacrosse League, founded in 1978, had promoted college lacrosse for many years on the West Coast. And the SouthEastern Lacrosse Conference, Southwest Lacrosse Association, Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Lacrosse League, Pacific NW Collegiate Lacrosse League, and Big Ten Lacrosse Conference had all existed on one level or another since the mid 80’s. Sam Sadtler (Pacific Northwest Collegiate Lacrosse League and Liaison with the USILA), Mickey-Miles Felton (President, Western Collegiate Lacrosse League and long-time Head Coach at Arizona), Jason Lamb (Head Coach at BYU), Sonny Pieper (Long-time President of the SouthEastern Lacrosse Conference), and Brian Mosher (Long-time Head Coach of the Univ. of Illinois and Former President of the Big Ten Lacrosse League) were involved in early discussions with the USILA to give more support and recognition to the Associates. At the time, the Associates (collegiate club programs) were under the auspices of the USILA (United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association), the governing body for college men’s varsity lacrosse. Despite the affiliation with varsity lacrosse, the Associates were governed by its own Board of Directors and left to its own devices to organize and structure a national club league.
Despite the fact that there was virtually no intra-conference competition across the country at the time, aggressive plans were laid for the first ever USILA National Championships in St. Louis in May of 1997. All six of the participating leagues agreed to certain minimum eligibility standards and agreed to send their conference champions to the inaugural National Championship tournament. The six leagues would maintain their own organizations, identities, records, and structures. A constitution and bylaws were drafted and ratified. Eight teams made it to “the Lou” that year (Arizona, Virginia Tech, Simon Fraser, Illinois, Auburn, Texas, BYU, and California-Santa Barbara) for the first ever National Championship Tournament. The BYU Cougars beat the UCSB Gauchos by four goals on a Monday morning in front of about 50 people for the first ever IA National Title on the hardened turf at the Anheuser Busch Sports Center.
At the time, the USILA offered limited financial and administrative support for the Associates to organize the first two national championship tournaments. But the expansion wheels were spinning hard and fast. The success of the tournament and the new Top 25 poll spurred more growth for the Associates. Cal beat BYU in a classic overtime contest to earn the 2nd ever USILA National Championship in May of 1998. In 1999, the Associates voted to drop out of the USILA and join US Lacrosse, then the newly formed national governing body for lacrosse in the US. Thus, the USILA Associates became the MDIA as they merged into a division of the Men’s Division of US Lacrosse. Although the MDIA Board still governed the league, US Lacrosse took on a more active role in administration and planning/conducting the end of year national championship tournament.
The national championship tournament expanded to 12 teams in 1999 and quickly to 16 teams in 2000. Two previously independent college club leagues, The Upper Midwest Lacrosse League (Minnesota/Iowa) and the Pioneer League (New England), joined up for the Spring 2000 season to give the Associates a total of 8 conferences nationwide. The number of IA teams had doubled by year four and the Associates had quickly developed into the only “coast to coast” lacrosse league in the country. Prior to the 2002 season, the Central Collegiate Lacrosse Association (CCLA) split in half forming a brand new conference called the Great Rivers Lacrosse Conference (GRLC). The GRLC became the 9th conference playing under the USL MDIA banner nationwide.
In the Summer of 2006, the MDIA Board of Directors voted to form a new organization called the Men’s Collegiate Lacrosse Association (MCLA), separate from US Lacrosse. The new organization was formed in order to better serve collegiate club lacrosse. US Lacrosse was a valuable partner to the old MDIA for many years, however both the MCLA Board of Directors and US Lacrosse felt that the MCLA would be better served on its own. The MCLA will still maintain some representation on US Lacrosse boards, committees, and councils. However, the MCLA will conduct its own national tournament and oversee it’s own budget.
The MCLA continues to grow each season. Over 200 teams are expected to compete under the MCLA banner for the 2009-2010 season in ten different conferences nationwide. More growth is expected in the future as the sport of lacrosse continues its rapid expansion at the high school and youth levels. With limited growth of NCAA Men’s Lacrosse, many players continue to gravitate toward collegiate club lacrosse around the nation.
Note: The previous text was optioned from http://www.collegelax.us/faq.php#q1
