Gary Gait floats later lacrosse season start, more games amid cancellations
Gary Gait advocated for delaying the start of the lacrosse season amid first-week game cancellations. Jacob Halsema | Staff Photographer
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Oftentimes Gary Gait congregates with his coaching staff to discuss the pressing issues around college lacrosse. They often meet in what Gait described as a, “war room,” figuring out ways the sport can improve.
This year, the main topic is how teams configure their schedule and whether the season should start later. With frigid temperatures rampaging the East Coast and Midwest the past couple weeks, countless lacrosse games in Week 0 were either postponed, moved indoors or outright canceled. It’s a problem which doesn’t affect Syracuse since it plays in the JMA Wireless Dome, Gait still supports delaying the season a few weeks.
People around the lacrosse world voiced their displeasure with the cluckiness at the start of the 2026 season. Gait was the latest to weigh in on the discussion during his weekly media availability Thursday.
“We sit around and talk all day. We would love to see a start date push back a little bit,” Gait said. “We’re the ones where it doesn’t matter, because we have a dome and indoors. But we’d also like to see teams have to play midweek games and maybe increase the minimum number of games from 10 to, like, 13.”
Gait said Division I lacrosse used to be like Division II and Division III, where teams would challenge themselves with more midweek games. That’s no longer the case. Gait explained programs are treating the lacrosse season like football teams, giving themselves a full week of practice to prepare for a weekend opponent.
It’s something he strongly opposes. Syracuse has four weekday games this season against Maryland, Princeton, Air Force and Denver. The Orange also had three in 2025.
“I’m trying to provide a great experience for the athlete. I think that’s playing more games,” Gait said. “So I’m all for playing more games, starting a bit later and mandating some midweek games.”
ESPN’s Paul Carcaterra floated an interesting idea on social media last week in an attempt to solve early-season scheduling issues. He suggested there be four host venues for each weekend in February. This could mean having games at the JMA Wireless Dome, Lucas Oil Stadium, The Star in Dallas or places in Florida and other southern locations.
In this scenario, Carcaterra said there should be three games on Friday, four on Saturday and three on Sunday. This eliminates the prospect of cancelation or postponements and “offers a great fan experience, streamlined media opportunities for coverage and exposure, sponsorship and event partnership, and an opportunity to bring high-level lacrosse to some non-traditional areas.
Carcaterra added this as well:
“People will argue there would be an average of two extra away games and budget issues. Last I checked some teams travel for scrimmages. Ticket sales and event sponsorship could offset some team travel expenses. Teams can be creative with fundraising and a small price to pay to give the players, coaches, support staff, and the fans what they deserve … great lacrosse played in suitable and desirable playing conditions. The reality is the sport isn’t getting pushed back and ending in June anytime soon and teams don’t want play numerous midweek games. We need some solutions. Feel free to share your thoughts or another idea.”
Hosting a weekend slate of games is something Gait has talked about with his coaches. The problem? The beginning of lacrosse season coincides with the end of the basketball season, meaning the Dome isn’t always available.
“It’s a great idea. We’d love to do it. It’s just a matter of, can we schedule that with the ACC to get that done,” Gait said.
Syracuse sometimes gets criticized for playing too many home games and not having cold weather games. But when you have a domed stadium, it makes everything so much easier. However, the Orange will test themselves in cold conditions in February.
On Feb. 21, Syracuse will travel to Cambridge, Massachusetts, for a meeting with No. 13 Harvard. The following week, SU takes on No. 2 Princeton, before a meeting with Penn two days later. In total, it has eight games — by far the most since Gait took over in 2021.
“When we head to Boston later this month, we’ll make sure we get outside and play in the cold a little bit, try and acclimate a little bit,” Gait explained. “But I think our indoor facilities are awesome, and it allows us to prepare. It’s much easier to focus on learning when you’re warm and comfortable, as opposed to just focusing on trying to stay warm. So that’s why we love our indoor facilities.”
When it comes to the number of games teams play, Gait thinks it should be a minimum of 13. Programs like Notre Dame keep their schedule light, playing 11 games the past two seasons, while Syracuse is slated to play 15.
Gait pointed to the variety of games played as an issue with the NCAA’s Tournament selection process. He added that the RPI system — the biggest determining factor for picking worthy teams for the postseason — is “meant for having more contests than 11, 12 or 13. Gait said it does better when you have 20 and it shows more consistency.
“It would be easier to do, but we’re looking at new selection processes for NCAA Lacrosse, so they’re experimenting with a couple ideas, and maybe that’ll change down the road,” Gait said.
“You gotta understand what the selection process is and what type of schedule works for that selection process. And that’s something that we look at our tough schedule this year. It’s that tough for a reason, because we use the RPI system, and we want to make sure that most of the teams we play are in the top half of the RPI.”
Bringing major changes to lacrosse takes time. Making modifications isn’t as simple as the click of a button. But based on Gait’s comments, he doesn’t think the current scheduling model should continue.
