The NCAA in Canada?

Will the CIS be marginalized? Will anyone go south? CUP gauges reaction across nation to NCAA allowing international applicants

COMPILED BY DAN PLOUFFE, CUP SPORTS BUREAU CHIEF

(CUP SPECIAL) — Over one month ago, the first step was taken on a path that could wind up completely changing the dynamics of university sport in this country. On Jan. 8, the NCAA announced that it would allow Canadian schools to apply to be members of the giant U.S. college sports organization. A 10-year pilot program would allow up to three international institutions to join the highly-popular, financially-lucrative NCAA.

The possibility that current members of Canadian Interuniversity Sport head south has countless potential ramifications, but the national head office says that it isn’t at all concerned about the impact the decision could have. “We would be very surprised to see many schools leave for the NCAA,” the CIS’s chief executive officer, Marg McGregor, told the Concordian (a Concordia university student newspaper) recently, although she cautioned that “we’re in a period of great uncertainty.”

How is that uncertainty affecting individual CIS member institutions? Here’s what a number of schools from coast-to-coast interviewed by Canadian University Press had to say about the subject.

University of British Columbia

VANCOUVER (CUP) — It’s no secret that UBC is the front-runner to make the leap to the NCAA, with Thunderbirds athletic director Bob Philip expressing no doubt that “the (NCAA’s) decision was certainly initiated by our interaction with them.”

The idea of moving its teams south has been on the UBC agenda for several years, although Philip says that a campus-wide engagement is still needed to make sure the whole university community would be comfortable with the switch. Some of the issues to be addressed include what kind of student fees would have to be paid towards athletics, academic standards and generating a lot of support for scholarships in order to attract the best Canadian athletes.

“We’re happy that the doors have been opened,” Philip says. “Now once we hear what that means we’ll have that debate and see where we go.”

— Boris Kolby (the Ubyssey)

University of Alberta

EDMONTON (CUP) — Paired together, the University of Alberta and UBC own 34 per cent of the CIS national championship banners over the past 10 years, and are the top two schools in Academic All- Canadians over the same period. They are unquestionably the top sports schools in the country and often face competition that isn’t very challenging.

U of A athletic director Dale Schulha hasn’t been shy about spreading his NCAA intentions to local media. His plan would be for the Golden Bears and Pandas to join the NCAA as a Division II school, but play Division I in hockey and volleyball in a smaller conference, with eyes on having other sports move to that level after a few developmental years.

Some coaches expressed a range of concerns about joining the NCAA while Schulha himself is worried about cutting all ties with the CIS since it’s only a 10-year pilot project. Alberta has yet to begin an application process.

— Paul Owen (the Gateway)

University of Victoria

VICTORIA (CUP) — There aren’t a whole lot of other schools in Canada that can claim they are at the same level as UBC and U of A, but if there’s one that’s close, it’s the University of Victoria. While UVic may still consider joining the NCAA, athletic director Clint Hamilton says that at the moment “it’s way too preliminary; it hasn’t been on our radar screen.”

He notes that while the Vikes have a reputation for athletic excellence, “in Canada, that word ‘excellence’ is used very liberally, and there are a lot of universities that espouse to be excellent athletically who are quite mediocre.”

Hamilton does understand where UBC is coming from, praising the NCAA for the support they provide to athletics and to student-athletes. “The NCAA scholarship is tuition, books, room and board,” he notes. “We’ve been fighting for years to get to tuition (in the CIS).”

He also says that while UBC’s departure would mean the loss of a rival, it wouldn’t mean the end for the CIS or Canada West.

—David Karp (the Martlet)

University of Lethbridge

LETHBRIDGE, ALTA. (CUP) — Next to the big boys of Canada West, the smaller Pronghorns athletic department has mixed feelings about the NCAA coming to Canadian schools.

In general, the impression at the University of Lethbridge is that NCAA expansion to Canada would bring neither consequences nor benefits to the CIS. Men’s basketball coach Mike Connolly believes that CIS schools wouldn’t lose any of their recruits to Canadian NCAA programs, only that “the kids who are already heading down to the U.S. to play would now have an opportunity to stay and play in Canada.”

— Ainsley Doty (the Meliorist)

Grant MacEwan College

EDMONTON (CUP) — At Grant MacEwan College, athletic director Mark Mahl sees a parallel between the University of Alberta’s interest in joining the NCAA and the Griffins’ own quest to move up to the CIS level. He’ll be watching closely to see how things unfold.

Mahl has something else as his biggest concern, though. What he would prefer to see in Canada is a divisional setup that blends the college and university systems. “I don’t think the solution is teams from the CIS bolting to the States,” he says. “I’m just in favour of us developing a system that’s better for the whole country.”

— Tara Reid (Intercamp)

Sir Wilfred Laurier University

KITCHENER/WATERLOO, ONT. (CUP) — With an athletic budget just under $2 million — chump-change compared to that of their counterparts on the west coast — athletic director Peter Baxter doesn’t see Laurier joining the NCAA anytime soon, expressing his optimism that the profile of the CIS will only get bigger and bigger in future years.

“If you even take a look at our own history in the last few years,” says Baxter, whose school has been one of the OUA’s most consistent representatives at national championships, “I think Canadian university sport is something we want to concentrate on.”

Baxter says “God bless ’em” to schools who want to apply to the NCAA, noting that UBC may even save on travel costs by driving to the northern U.S. instead of flying over mountains.

“To be honest though, right now are they competitive with the Division I?” he asks. “I haven’t seen them at the Vanier Cup lately.”

— Dan Polischuk (the Cord Weekly)

Ryerson University

TORONTO (CUP) — If the NCAA was hoping to tap into the Toronto market, it shouldn’t get its hopes up, especially at Ryerson. Athletic director David Dubois doesn’t want to see the CIS — which he calls “a great league” — become fractionalized or divided and that Ryerson would not be able to afford the travel costs.

“You’d have to fly everywhere; you can’t just jump on a bus and drive 10 or 12 hours,” echoes Rams men’s volleyball coach Mirek Porosa.

Porosa says the NCAA decision is a threat to the competitive level of the CIS and could affect the sponsorships it is able to attract. “If Alberta decides to pull out, or Laval, it’s going to be tough,” he says.

— Jordan Hay (the Eyeopener)

McGill University

MONTREAL (CUP) — Athletic director Derek Drummond calls it a “far-fetched idea for us at the moment” to have McGill apply for NCAA membership.

“It would disastrous here in Quebec if McGill or Concordia decided to go and compete in the United States and turn their backs on all the university systems,” says Drummond, noting that most QSSF leagues only have a small handful of teams entered in them.

He thinks that even the dominant Laval Rouge et Or football program would have trouble leaving for the NCAA because of its loyalties to the Université de Montréal and Université de Sherbrooke.

Drummond notes that the NCAA’s decision raises many “huge questions,” such as whether schools who become NCAA members would be allowed to remain in select CIS sports, or funding issues for carded athletes at the national level.

Although he likes playing exhibitions against American schools, joining the NCAA just doesn’t make sense to him. “We’d be hated for it,” he says. “We’re a bunch of snobs now, what would we be then?”

— Dan Plouffe (CUP sports bureau chief)

Acadia University

WOLFVILLE, NS (CUP) — On the east coast, the NCAA’s decision isn’t having much of an effect. Overall, the sentiment at Acadia is that there will not be a mass exodus of programs to the NCAA and there is no fear that the CIS will suffer at all.

“It wouldn’t be the first time that a Canadian university has competed in the U.S.” says athletic director Dan McNally, who notes that Acadia has no plans of seeking NCAA membership. “I don’t think it will be a major issue. If they want to go, and think they need to go, and think they can compete, why not?”

— Lucas Timmons (the Athenaeum)

University of New Brunswick

FREDERICTON, NB (CUP) — The University of New Brunswick, like most Canadian schools, could certainly benefit from some things that would go with NCAA membership — an increase in attendance at games and the revenue that would create. However, UNB is far from a powerhouse on the CIS stage, and the university’s low recruiting and training budgets often shoulder the blame.

“The greatest challenge for most Canadian schools will be investing the amount of resources required to operate a successful NCAA program,”

says men’s basketball coach Thom Gillespie, whose team is currently at the bottom of the Atlantic region standings at 4-10. “This may be out of reach for many schools given the financial challenges facing academic institutions in Canada, which in turn impact their athletic programs.”

— Sheah Gaston (the Brunswickan)