Construction crews worked day and night on Doak Campbell Stadium ahead of the football team’s opener last week. There’s also a crane and work crews nearby as the early stages of the football operations building are taking shape.

With all of the activity and more than $400 million being spent on the two football projects, as well as requests from all of the coaches on Florida State’s campus, why would the athletics department launch another sport? The Seminoles will add women’s lacrosse, which is set to play in the spring of 2026, and have already hired coach Sara Tisdale.

The answer is Title IX, a law that requires universities that receive federal dollars to make strides in its offerings of women’s athletics and expand the number of scholarships or opportunities for women to compete in athletics.

“We did a comprehensive Title IX review of where we were when I became athletic director, working with (FSU general counsel) Carolyn Egan,” FSU athletics director Michael Alford told the Osceola. “And just looking at what our numbers were, what our facilities are, the opportunities we provide our student-athletes, so it was a comprehensive Title IX review. After that review, it was obvious we needed to add a sport because we want to always make sure we’re in compliance with Title IX.”

According to the Department of Education’s database, FSU had 29,475 full-time undergraduates in 2022-23 (the last year data is reported). Of those undergrads, there are 12,447 men and 17,028 women. FSU athletics must continue to add opportunities for women to remain in compliance with Title IX, which in large part evaluates the male-to-female ratio of the undergraduates.

In the latest part of the Osceola’s series, which takes a look at how the transformation of the NCAA applies to FSU athletics and its future, we take a look at not only the need to add another sport but the desire to do so at a high level.

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Outlining specific benchmarks for earning ACC success initiatives

FSU exploring options to expand baseball, softball scholarships

FSU added beach volleyball in 2012, and the program immediately became one of the best in the nation. The Seminoles have won seven Coastal Collegiate Sports Association titles.

Next up is lacrosse, which is among the fast-growing sports around the nation. The ACC had 10 programs compete in women’s lacrosse in 2024, with Stanford, California and SMU all joining the league and bringing lacrosse programs.

FSU athletics and Seminole Boosters, Inc., also announced an ambitious five-year fundraising campaign goal of $75 million last fall, Elevate Champions. The goal is to raise $45 million for women’s athletics facilities, $22 million for scholarships and $8 million for coaches’ clubs. Already, $11.6 million has been donated, including $5.6 million to scholarships, $3.668 million to facilities and $2.35 million to the Coaches Clubs.

All of FSU women’s sports are under the umbrella of the Elevate Champions fundraising effort, including the addition of lacrosse.

Tisdale brings a wealth of experience, building programs from scratch at Augustana, Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan.

“A lot of student-athletes want to be down south,” Tisdale said. “If I could build programs in the Northwest where it snows, I think building a program down here in Tallahassee will be a slam dunk.”

No field has yet been designated and there’s plenty of work to do in the next 18 months. Tisdale has already hired an assistant coach, and the race is on to build the program.

“It is a sport I think we’ll be able to be competitive in real quick because of Florida State’s location and athletes wanting to come play at a great academic institution,” Alford said. “I’m excited about it, so fun. It is an exciting sport to watch.”

Alford said FSU administrators are also taking a look at improvements for beach volleyball.

“There are things we need to address in beach volleyball, looking at where they practice compared to where their locker rooms are,” Alford said. “There are things we need to do better. We need to do something a little bit better with our dining services for our student athletes.

FSU will also address a number of equity issues when the football team moves out of the Moore Center and into the football operations building in the fall of 2025, where they will have a dedicated weight room and training facility. No longer will FSU's men's and women's teams have to work around the football team to use the existing weight and training room in the Moore Center.

"Football is a behemoth and getting them into their own facility just frees up weight room hours, training room hours, and is going to make a huge difference on our student-athletes' time," Alford said, referring to the 450 FSU men and women who don't play football. "They'll be able to get into the weight room at decent hours and able to get training room time that is more conducive to their schedule of classes.

“So it’s just making sure we are doing the right thing with the experience we provide our student-athletes.”

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