How the system works

[tsull]

APU's press release noted a bunch of groups, including a form of trustees, signing off on this. The decision was made months ago, maybe a year ago. They go into meetings -- private ones as APU isn't beholden to open meetings laws for public institutions. They can decide what they want. Cut an academic program with no public input? Done. Crank up tuition? Done. Eliminate football? Done.

Trustees -- some alums, some not -- take the company line. If they speak up against cutting football they are eliminated from the board. This is how things work. Yes, there's no courage in the room, just group think. A bolder vision would be to do what HSU initially did and then didn't follow through and that would be to go to your alums and donors and tell them what could happen if they don't raise X amount of money. Saying this takes courage, one could get pushback, and it's not going with the company line. Basically you have to man-up or woman-up. It takes guts.

The easy way out -- see WWU, UN-Omaha, APU, and Humboldt -- is to just chop it and don't fund raise. WWU had money ready to go, Humboldt had a lot of money ready to go. Keeping the programs would mean putting in the hard work, being courageous in board meetings, not taking the company line, and actually trying hard in life. These things take work. They don't have to work because there's no accountability by the media, alums, donors, anyone. They'll get a tiny bit of pushback, which they'll scoff at, and move on after a few weeks. It's a cowardly way to go through life, but it's the easy way. Why rock the boat when the 6-figure payroll checks are rolling in?

At the end of the day, APU administrators don't care. They don't care about you the fan, you the players, you the alums. They don't care. They care about themselves. They'll forever be more wealthy than me and others, but never took a real stand in life. When the going got tough, they were cowards ... same with Humboldt State, WWU, and others.

[SINGLE MALT]

So true!! The easiest thing for any administrator to do is to say,"NO!!" It requires no thought, no further work, nothing! They just hope that the problem, such as they see it, will go away and they need not do any more work!! No Fundraising, no hiring coaches, no financial expenditures on equipment or travel for a large team of players. No trying to feed a large group of big men on the road!! No more responsibilities! What they neglect to see is the huge gains in the life of these young men and in the university population as a whole!! I have always believed that the football field is the largest classroom of any institute of learning, be it High School, College or University!! It is probably why at an age rapidly closing in on 70 years that I am still coaching, albeit now at the High School level. You cannot tell me that Football does not enrich the learning experience of the young men who play the game! Currently at the school that I am proud to be coaching at, Vancouver College, the 2019 AAA B.C. Champions, their school motto includes the idea that you will leave the school a Better Man and Football is a key component of achieving that goal. Every year our football graduating Seniors are on the Honour Roll or the President's List (requiring an academic average of 90%+). Football Does Make Better Men!!

[tsull]

So true!! The easiest thing for any administrator to do is to say,"NO!!" It requires no thought, no further work, nothing! They just hope that the problem, such as they see it, will go away and they need not do any more work!! No Fundraising, no hiring coaches, no financial expenditures on equipment or travel for a large team of players. No trying to feed a large group of big men on the road!! No more responsibilities! What they neglect to see is the huge gains in the life of these young men and in the university population as a whole!! I have always believed that the football field is the largest classroom of any institute of learning, be it High School, College or University!! It is probably why at an age rapidly closing in on 70 years that I am still coaching, albeit now at the High School level. You cannot tell me that Football does not enrich the learning experience of the young men who play the game! Currently at the school that I am proud to be coaching at, Vancouver College, the 2019 AAA B.C. Champions, their school motto includes the idea that you will leave the school a Better Man and Football is a key component of achieving that goal. Every year our football graduating Seniors are on the Honour Roll or the President's List (requiring an academic average of 90%+). Football Does Make Better Men!!

Great stuff, Single Malt. Glad you're still in the game. Very impressive what your football program is doing. Major props.

Have a feeling SFU is going to go the Canadian football route, wouldn't blame them. Small college football in the states on the west coast is a mess ... especially in California, which in reality is one of my favorite states. It's just not my favorite football state.

[SINGLE MALT]

I was coaching at SFU when we transitioned to the GNAC and once the Canadian Universities heard about us moving, they went nuts and tried to not give us a schedule and then would not allow us to be in the playoffs by forcing us to forfeit wins over a clerical mistake!! They will never allow SFU back in their league!!

[tsull]

I was coaching at SFU when we transitioned to the GNAC and once the Canadian Universities heard about us moving, they went nuts and tried to not give us a schedule and then would not allow us to be in the playoffs by forcing us to forfeit wins over a clerical mistake!! They will never allow SFU back in their league!!

Incredible stuff, people are too petty and need to get over themselves. WOU should be playing EOU and SOU every year whether they are NAIA or in any other division, it's stupid. People need to quit worrying about all these divisions that the average Joe knows nothing about. Not surprised what happened in the Canadian conference, stupid stuff crosses the border, I guess.

They had a perfect set up in the 80's with the Columbia Football Association, then the private schools took their ball and went home. If there was even a non-scholarship D3 conference in the Northwest (like Wisconsin) with state schools, the privates wouldn't play them. Again, being petty to serve their egos and ignoring the fans.

I'm surprised small college football has any fans, it's kind of amazing how people do business. Why donate to this sh-t show? I do, but am wondering why.

[ram_boy]

Single Malt, its been awhile since SFU left the CIS. Do you think tensions have eased? I would imagine UBC would love to see them back. I just dont want to see a Canadian university lose its football program. My preference is for them to stay in NCAA, but playing in Canada is better than not playing at all.

[tsull]

Single Malt, its been awhile since SFU left the CIS. Do you think tensions have eased? I would imagine UBC would love to see them back. I just dont want to see a Canadian university lose its football program. My preference is for them to stay in NCAA, but playing in Canada is better than not playing at all.

Always better to keep your football program than to close it to adhere to some small college alphabet soup (D2, D3, NAIA) to appease three administrators. Cutting football is bad, you never get it back, ruin homecoming, cut off alums from their school, reduce donations, etc.

The Canadian-U.S. border is closed until the spring if not later, I would think SFU might explore Canadian options. For their sake, I hope they keep football; for WOU's sake, I hope they stay GNAC.

The West Coast just sucks for sports, have you seen how awful the Pac-12 is right now in football and men's hoop?

[ram_boy]

I just dont get the Cali schools, and WW for that matter, dropping football?!? Lets say these schools were running $500,000 short a year for athletics, alumni were willing to step up at these schools. Attendance was also OK for the most part.

[Wildcat Khan]

The West Coast just sucks for sports, have you seen how awful the Pac-12 is right now in football and men's hoop?

Well, the #1 team in men's hoops is from the West Coast. They put money into the program that even some Pac-12 hoops don't do with charter flights and such. Rest of their conference as a whole may not put that much into it, but Gonzaga and this year BYU's football team don't suck. The belief though here, Pac-12 is better than anyone in the WCC including Gonzaga, Saint Mary's, and BYU who all were likely tourney teams last year with 2 to be higher seeds.

[IronOre]

I just dont get the Cali schools, and WW for that matter, dropping football?!? Lets say these schools were running $500,000 short a year for athletics, alumni were willing to step up at these schools. Attendance was also OK for the most part.

With WWU it was a culture thing. Other than the supporters of the team, no one that went there had much to do with football. I have a friend that went there, and the only time they went to a WWU football game was when I took them.

With Humboldt, it was a school administration that took the easy way out of a budget crunch. The team was very popular in Arcata.

[SINGLE MALT]

Single Malt, its been awhile since SFU left the CIS. Do you think tensions have eased? I would imagine UBC would love to see them back. I just dont want to see a Canadian university lose its football program. My preference is for them to stay in NCAA, but playing in Canada is better than not playing at all.

Given the venom that spewed from the Prairie schools when SFU left for the NCAA, I would doubt that Western conference schools would ever let SFU back in! They were really pissed!! The other problem is that most of those involved in the Canadian University football labour under the mistaken assumption that they are better than or equal than NCAA Div. 2 teams. Having coached in both, I know that NCAA Div. 2 Football is significantly better, but they persist in their own little world! UBC won't even revive the Shrum Bowl which used to be the biggest football rivalry in the province!! So no way that SFU will ever go back to U-sports, CIS or whatever the Hell they will call it next!!

[SINGLE MALT]

The other thing that everyone has to understand about the Canadian University football league is that even in the Western Conference, the closest game for SFU and UBC other than against each other is in Calgary and that is an airplane flight!! Edmonton is further away still as is U of Saskatchewan and U of Regina. When you play U of Manitoba you fly to Winnipeg and you may as well fly to North Dakota. So pretty well every game is a plane ride!! Not Cheap!!

[Brandon]

Given the venom that spewed from the Prairie schools when SFU left for the NCAA, I would doubt that Western conference schools would ever let SFU back in! They were really pissed!! The other problem is that most of those involved in the Canadian University football labour under the mistaken assumption that they are better than or equal than NCAA Div. 2 teams. Having coached in both, I know that NCAA Div. 2 Football is significantly better, but they persist in their own little world! UBC won't even revive the Shrum Bowl which used to be the biggest football rivalry in the province!! So no way that SFU will ever go back to U-sports, CIS or whatever the Hell they will call it next!!

What was the best team you saw when you were coaching?

[ram_boy]

UBC not wanting to play the Shrum Bowl is a shame. Like you said Single Malt, Shrum Bowl is biggest rivalry in province.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrum_Bowl

I am actually quite optimistic that with the vaccines for Covid available spring/summer, I think we will have college football this fall. I just hope the GNAC teams will be a part of it.

[SW_Mustang]

I just dont get the Cali schools, and WW for that matter, dropping football?!? Lets say these schools were running $500,000 short a year for athletics, alumni were willing to step up at these schools. Attendance was also OK for the most part.

I've wanted to move to CA for some time now, and I'm a little bummed that I won't be able to stay connected to D2 through a local team...

I've often wondered why small school football isn't a bigger deal in California. They have a cluster of D3 teams in SoCal, and that's about it. UC and CSU are massive systems, but they can't fund football at the D2 level at any of their institutions?