March 27, 2009
VANCOUVER, B.C. -
By Marc Weber, The Province
Simon Fraser University will apply for NCAA Division II membership by this year's June 1 deadline and, if approved, plans to move all its teams there by the 2011-12 season.
SFU's board of directors voted Thursday morning to support the athletic department's application to the major U.S. sporting body, which in a landslide vote in January 2008, opened its doors to Canadian schools for the first time.
"It's about our historical roots with the Pacific Northwest, and we also realize that travel within the Canada West has become quite cumbersome," said SFU athletic director Dr. David Murphy.
Clan teams competed en masse in the U.S.-based NAIA until the late 1990s when their conference dissolved and their NCAA advances were rejected because the league's constitution didn't then allow for Canadian members.
High-profile sports football and basketball shifted their affiliation to Canadian Interuniversity Sport in 2000-01 and women's volleyball and wrestling now compete in Canada, too.
SFU would join the D2 Great Northwest Athletic Conference, which includes the likes of Western Washington University.
Murphy said the plan calls for moving their NAIA sports into D2 in 2010-11 and the CIS sports the following season, though he admitted concern over a potentially messy divorce. SFU basically came to CIS hat in hand a decade ago.
"Oh yeah, absolutely [I'm concerned]," said Murphy. "But I think if anyone looks at it intellectually, I don't think they should take this personally. Hopefully there will be an orderly discharge.
"As I've said to the CIS, this is not anti-CIS. I personally love CIS. But there are times when you have to do things for your own particular needs."
NCAA officials meet in July and if SFU is accepted, they would go through a three-year process before becoming full-fledged members.
University of B.C. athletic director Bob Philip was a central figure in the push for NCAA membership -- his reasoning based largely around an increase in athletic scholarships and the ability to keep the best Canadian athletes at home -- but UBC officials are still deliberating.
The matter is more complicated for UBC, which among other things could choose to keep some sports in CIS, if allowed.
The issue of dual membership will be discussed by CIS in April and voted on in mid-June. That's past this year's NCAA application deadline, but UBC could still choose to apply for the following year.
CIS chief executive officer Marg McGregor, who met with the presidents of both universities in October, wasn't surprised by Thursday's news.
"It's something that CIS was anticipating," she said. "We'll be sad to see SFU leave."
SFU has won four of the last eight CIS women's basketball championships.
The full skinny on the Clan's move to the NCAA
By Marc Weber, The Province
So much ground to cover around the seemingly-imminent move of SFU to the NCAA and the potential of UBC to go as well. Starting with UBC. I mentioned in today's article on SFU's application to join NCAA Division II, that UBC's decision is far more complex than SFU's for a number of reasons.
1. DUAL MEMBERSHIP
Like I said in the piece, UBC would consider keeping some teams in CIS and having others play in the NCAA and, for that reason, it's prudent of them to wait for the CIS to make a ruling on dual membership.
Nothing etched in stone here, but an example of a candidate to keep in CIS would be women's rugby -- an emerging NCAA sport with only a handful of teams in the U.S. And depending on which conference UBC eyes [PacWest or GNAC] certain sports aren't offered there, so you'd have to go out and find another home for those sport, or play as an independent. Depending on how cost prohibitive those options are, it might make sense to keep some teams in CIS (lots of issues inside this issue).
That vote on dual membership will come mid-June at the AGM, so after the June 1 NCAA deadline. All that means is the timeline shifts one year if UBC chooses to go down the NCAA road, and there's plenty of reasons to suggest UBC wouldn't want to go down that road right away anyway.
"I think we need to look at the timing," said UBC athletic director Bob Philip. "Any time you move from one league to another, even if it's a better situation, you want to take a look at the timing and have the least negative effect on your student-athletes. Part of that will be CIS allowing dual memberships. I've told our president that we may have some sports in Canada."
2. MEN'S HOCKEY
One big reason for UBC not wanting to rush this decision is men's hockey. Going D2 allows you to "play up" in Division 1 in two sports, exclusive of football and basketball. For UBC, with their new $55 million Olympic arena and, one would think, a potential to draw a crowd, the one obvious D1 choice is men's hockey.
So many issues there right now it's a novel: Where to play? (the NCAA hockey landscape is about to shift with realignment); What about the NCAA's association-wide moratorium on D1 membership until 2011 -- how does that affect Canadian schools coming in under the pilot program?; What about UBC having to shift from a CIS hockey program to an NCAA one where major junior players are ineligible -- will CIS help ease that transition or take a hard line?
There are NCAA hockey meetings in April in Florida and UBC representatives might or might not be invited there. Athletic director Bob Philip said continued one-on-one meetings with specific schools and conference reps might be more appropriate anyway to move things forward.
3. ACADEMIC ACCREDITATION
It's a boring issue from a sports perspective, but it's an issue. Basically, to be an NCAA member your school has to be accredited by a U.S. body, and while it's obvious that SFU and UBC are fine schools that will be accredited, it's a potentially lengthy process (and perhaps costly, though SFU athletic director Dave Murphy denied that). How long? Well, it can take schools up to five years apparently.
There is plenty of indication that the process could be sped up considerably and one would think the NCAA might have some pull in the matter, but nothing's confirmed at this point. It's still a discussion point for UBC, where some faculties already have this U.S. accreditation on their own (helps with student recruitment) like commerce, law and medicine.
My understanding is that Canadian schools can apply for NCAA membership as long as they've started this accreditation process, but that full-fledged membership would be on hold until it's completed. Usually, schools aren't allowed to compete for a national championship until they are full-fledged members, though Murphy said he felt that point was negotiable.
NOTE: A report from UBC's NCAA Division II review committee was delivered to President Stephen Toope this week and will be made public (not sure when yet).
Exhausted? Because there's plenty more ground that wasn't covered in today's article.
NOT JUST ABOUT SCHOLARSHIPS
UBC's decision to go to NCAA Div. 2 isn't just about scholarships. There's also an element of concern over the future of the Canada West.
Malaspina, UNBC and UBC-Okanagan are all expected to make applications to the conference, and on the heels of letting in Fraser Valley and Thompson Rivers, there's potential for an all-B.C. conference which would please all the small schools trying to save money but seriously depress UBC.
"Certainly that's been an issue for us," said Philip.
There's a special CIS meeting scheduled for late April where 10 points are on the agenda, dual membership is one and new membership is another.
"The landscape of university sport is changing," acknowledged CIS CEO Marg McGregor. "The NCAA decision [to open its doors] is one impact on it. The contraction in the marketplace is another, and new universities requesting membership.
"The leadership of CIS has acknowledged we need to be governing ourselves differently. The status quo doesn't cut it. We need to be pro active.
"Our objective [at the April meeting] is to get feedback from members on a preferred direction and from that the board will craft motions that would be put before the annual meeting in June."
McGregor also said there could be some movement with the scholarship issue this summer. She expects there to be motions on the floor at the AGM relating to an envelope approach to scholarships. I.E. Not more money in the pot, but more freedom on how schools can distribute that money. In essence it would give schools the ability to offer a kid or two a full-ride (perhaps) at the expense of other roster players.
COULD SFU'S PARTING BE A MESSY ONE?
Another topic that was touched on in today's article with Murphy expressing concern over how things could play out with the CIS. McGregor acknowledged that it's in everyone's best interest for SFU's CIS sports to play out 2009-10 in Canada because schedules are set, but of allowing SFU to remain in 2010-11, her immediate reaction was that it was "a different story."
"There's clearly a need for lots of dialogue and discussion of how things could unfold," she said. "There's a transition period if they go and absolutely that impacts CIS and our members. We want to look out for the best interest of CIS student athletes."
Obviously if CIS members determine they don't want SFU around in 2010-11, then those Clan teams will have to look to make the jump to Div. 2 that season.
Why not just make the jump then anyway? Well, a possible reason could be recruiting. Football and men's basketball -- both CIS sports for SFU -- will certainly need to bolster their lineups to be highly competitive in D2 and maybe the school thinks an extra year to attract top recruits is what they need.
On optics alone, high-profile sports getting waxed in their first year of D2 competition would be a disaster.
CLAN TO BRING BACK GOLF; SAVE TRAVEL COSTS
Dr. Murphy said Thursday that the only change to SFU's sporting lineup would be the addition of men's and women's golf, sports that were cut a few years back. He said that if the Clan were to remain in CIS, they would have some tough decisions to make, i.e. cutting sports.
While SFU's decision to apply to the NCAA is mostly about history, there is a financial component to it. Not only will the Clan save travel money in D2 simply by not extending themselves as far east as Winnipeg -- and by riding buses instead of flying everywhere -- according to Murphy they'll save around $400,000 in championship travel.
It's a number that's confirmed by Philip, as CIS schools have to pay big time into a CIS championship travel pot. Essentially it's a cost-sharing program. No such thing exists in the NCAA.
"In the NCAA, that's all paid for," said Murphy. "They pay for 75 schools [in some sports] to go to nationals. That's an amazing budget."
Critics of UBC's potential move have pointed to escalating costs, and there's no doubt some sports like men's hockey would cost more to run in the NCAA. But Philip says the savings in championship travel will offset those.
