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SFU Red Leafs pondering return to Canadian leagues after issues with U.S.
The SFU Red Leafs are considering coming back to Canadian competition.
SFU has been a member of NCAA Div. II since 2010, but the school explained in a written statement Thursday afternoon that it is looking at all its options and pointed to issues with competing in the U.S. as the reason why.
SFU is the lone Canadian member in the NCAA. They moved there from the U Sports national body and its Canada West Conference, where they had been playing against the likes of the UBC Thunderbirds, UVic Vikes and Trinity Western Spartans in a variety of sports since 2000.
Prior to that, SFU teams had played in the American small college National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics since the school opened in 1965.
Multiple sources have told Postmedia that leaving the NCAA has been a conversation at SFU for several weeks. They said concerns include going back and forth across the border for games and the new NCAA rules limiting the participation of transgender athletes. The SFU statement didn't get into specifics, though.
There was no word on whether SFU features any transgender athletes.
'SFU is proud to be Canada's only NCAA team. We are working closely with the NCAA to understand evolving changes to the NCAA participation framework and how they may impact our programs and our student-athletes,' the statement read. 'It has also become more challenging to have student-athletes cross the U.S. border. Underlying these specific examples, like all post-secondary institutions, SFU needs to consider sustainability as we build successful programs.
'Because of these factors, the responsible step for SFU is to consider various governance models, costs and implications. This is something we are committed to do. We are aware that any change would be a huge decision for the university and would take some time. It would also need to include careful conversations with internal and external stakeholders.'
Canada West features teams from 17 schools. There are seven schools included in that from B.C., with the UBC Okanagan Heat, Thompson Rivers WolfPack, Fraser Valley Cascades and UNBC Timberwolves as well as UBC, UVic and Trinity Western.
SFU would need to apply to both Canada West and U Sports and be voted in to become a member school. A report commissioned by SFU by McLaren Global Sports Solutions' senior vice-president Bob Copeland in May 2023 to look at the sustainability of football and the overall state of athletics at the school listed the application fees for Canada West at $313,000 and for U Sports at $55,000.
SFU had shut down its football program initially in April 2023. A backlash from players, alumni and the football community led to the Copeland report. SFU published Copeland's report in September 2023. Football remained in limbo on the sidelines for several months, before SFU published its new strategic plan for athletics and recreation in January, and SFU Provost and Vice-President Academic Dilson Rassier confirmed at the time that the program was remaining shuttered.
Mark Coletta, who is the longtime coach of SFU's club men's hockey program, told Postmedia in October 2023 that he thought a Red Leafs team could be a contender in Div. I in five years and that he could come up with enough boosters for the program to be self-funded. The school hasn't signed off on adding the squad to its varsity roster, though.
Coletta's team has had success in exhibition games against Div. I teams, including playing the Boston University Terriers to a 1-1 draw on the road in January 2024.
Under NCAA rules, an SFU team could play Div. I since there is no national tournament in men's hockey in Div. II. A move by the school to Canada West would kibosh all that. Canada West and U Sports would undoubtedly only accept SFU if it brought all of its eligible programs.
Meanwhile, SFU has been in the midst of a cash crunch, like all universities in the country seem to be. Copeland's report pointed to an athletics budget deficit of $1.77 million when football was running. And a Postmedia story in December 2023 quoted a Rassier memo to faculty and staff in regards to department budgets being cut five to eight per cent over the current and coming fiscal years.
Rassier told Postmedia in January in regards to the new plan for athletics: 'Part of this is planning is to make absolutely sure that department is financially sustainable. So we're going to be constantly evaluating to make sure. We cannot work in ways over the next few years in ways where the department won't be financially sustainable. We have to work within a budget that is responsible with the other needs of the university.'
SFU named Luc Simard as executive-director of athletics and recreation in August 2024. The athletic department had been under interim leadership for a year. Athletic director Theresa Hanson and the school agreed to part ways in August 2023.
Simard had been the University of Toronto's director of sports and recreation.
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