Sara Tisdale's High Aspirations for Florida State Women's Lacrosse

Florida State is a fixture on ESPN — for football (obviously), but Olympic sports have also seen success. Women’s soccer won national titles in 2021 and 2023.

For those reasons, Sara Tisdale knew the institution well when she learned that FSU planned to add women’s lacrosse as a scholarship sport last fall.

In August, Florida State announced that Tisdale would be its first coach. But her reasons for moving to Tallahassee after more than a decade in the Midwest, most recently at Eastern Michigan, were about more than what she saw on TV. It was about a relationship she had with director of athletics Michael Alford, whom she worked with during her seven-season run at Central Michigan from 2015-22.

“Michael’s a big believer in building a culture that supports the goals of the organization or the team,” Tisdale said. “He and I align with that. I consider Michael to be family. When I got the opportunity to think about Florida State and Florida State with Michael Alford, it was a no-brainer.”

Like FSU, Tisdale has a long history. Hers is of building programs. Tisdale has coached the first women’s lacrosse games at Eastern Michigan, her alma mater Central Michigan and Division III Augustana (Ill.). It’s not something she set out to do.

“I was in the right place at the right time in the 2000s when Midwest lacrosse started to grow at the collegiate level,” Tisdale said.

Tisdale produced a 51-8 record in four seasons at Augustana from 2010-14, including a 19-win 2014 campaign that saw the program lead Division III in scoring. From there, it was on to CMU — a homecoming for Tisdale, who played club lacrosse there. So, she’s no stranger to what it’ll take to get Florida State to game one, which is slated for 2026.

In fact, she relishes the challenges the journey of being “the first” entails.

“I’ve created my programs and built my teams differently,” Tisdale said. “It comes down to the culture. My background has only been building programs, so any issues or problems that come up are ones that I’ve either not really thought through or something that I can directly address because I’ve been there from the beginning.”

When Tisdale left for EMU in 2022 to become its first head coach, it marked the end of her longest tenure to date. It begs the question: Does Tisdale get bored after building for a few seasons? Answer: Tisdale still isn’t trying to bill herself as a program builder (or resume builder).

But she couldn’t say no to Florida State. To be fair, few likely could.

“I have not really looked out for opportunities to leave any of the institutions I’ve been at,” Tisdale said. “I’ve been offered the opportunity to explore. I loved my time in Eastern Michigan and our athletic director there, Scott Wetherbee. By no means was I looking to leave that place.  I haven’t been actively looking and asking myself, ‘What’s the next program? What can I go build next?’” Tisdale said. “I’ve been happy with where I was at every single time. But when you have the opportunity to consider Florida State, it’s hard not to pay attention to it. That’s never been my goal, but it’s hard to ignore growth opportunities, personally and professionally.”

Florida State won’t be easing into anything when the calendar flips to 2026. It’s an ACC program that will face tall tests in the sport’s blue blood, including 2024 NCAA champion Boston College. But Tisdale knows FSU can compete quickly. She’s seen it done over the last two years with another football power, Clemson, which hasn’t been an easy out since debuting in 2023.

The Tigers unveiled a women’s lacrosse-only facility in 2024 and have two of the nation’s top commits headed their way, Alexa Spallina and Aubrie Eisefeld. The Long Island duo will make their college debuts the same year as FSU.

“We’re not going to compare ourselves to Clemson right now,” Tisdale said. “I have a ton of respect for what they have done right away, and I would say that that is probably the example I can point to most quickly and easily of saying, ‘This can be done. You can be competitive right away in the ACC.’”

While Clemson has shown early promise, having a Power 5 football program with hardware in the trophy case doesn’t always predict women’s lacrosse success. Schools without football (Loyola) and FCS programs (James Madison at the time of it 2018 championship) have also seen considerable success.

For Tisdale, it all goes back to culture and commitment, which she’s felt from Alford and Florida State president Richard McCullough, who put their money where their mouths are to launch the program.

“I have consulted tons of athletic directors, coaches and friends and asked them, ‘What does it take to build a program? Would you take this job? What do we need to be successful?” Tisdale said. “For me, it comes down to the resources. You have to be fully funded scholarship-wise, which we are, and the budget to create a student-athlete experience, which is at the center of every decision Alford and I make.”

While the resources are there, the wins will have to be earned — and Tisdale is looking for recruits who welcome that steep hill to climb as readily as she does.

“We want to attract the student who wants to work hard and are incredibly excited to take on the challenge,” Tisdale said. “If you look at my resume, I’ve been successful quickly — in years two and three, and that’s the expectation here.”

And so, Tisdale didn’t take much time to have a Florida summer. She’s been on the recruiting trail.

“This is a great opportunity for me to host satellite camps and have home visits with potential student-athletes and their families,” Tisdale said. “While we don’t have a physical team here, I want as many Florida State T-shirts and sweatshirts across the country and people understanding that we’re very serious about being a contender right away.”

Tisdale plans to deliver.

“The long-term goal is for people to talk about Florida State in the same way they’ve talked about other storied lacrosse programs that have had continued success — Boston College, Northwestern,” Tisdale said. “This might sound a little arrogant, but I am confident that our name will quickly be mentioned as a program constantly competing for conference championships.”