It seemed like an odd marriage, but the more administrators analyzed it, the pairing began to make sense. Lacrosse was a booming sport, and the Big East Conference appeared poised to prosper in it. So why not bring it to Wisconsin?
This was part of the thinking at Marquette in 2009, five months after more than 100,000 people had packed Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts during the championship weekend of the N.C.A.A. men’s lacrosse tournament, culminating with a thrilling victory by Syracuse over Cornell on ESPN.
Riding lacrosse’s wave of popularity, Marquette decided to fully invest in men’s and women’s programs, introducing locals to a sport so unfamiliar that the alumni magazine explained its rules and its history.