" 'When I left Toronto 15 years ago to attend Graceland University in Iowa, on an athletics scholarship, Ryerson had 5,200 students,' Joseph said. "They now have 26,000 students. Since that time, Ryerson has done a great job of raising its academic profile. It's now my job to raise the profile of the athletic programs and help take them to the next level.' "There aren't a lot of specifics in the story about what that might entail, granted. The three Toronto universities, as far as sports are concerned, don't do the best job of capitalizing on being located in the most densely populated, wealthiest region of the country. It hurts the profile of the entire CIS when the teams in Canada's capital city are seen as irrelevant.
Given its location, Ryerson should be competitive in basketball and soccer, both genders. Its men's hockey team has made strides. It's no longer an automatic two points in the standings and its women's team will soon begin full-fledged OUA and CIS play.
(Football would be far-fetched, although Joseph came from a university which has a good football porgram. Speaking tongue-in-cheek, they could always rent Varsity Stadium from that neighbouring school.)
Related:
Ryerson riding high on sports; University's new athletic director is confident that school 'is poised to be great' (Toronto Sun)
Whenever the discussion comes up about expansion everyone not familiar with Toronto mentions Ryerson, and with pretty good cause I mean the school is a large size and from Toronto! I think the only option they'd have for a home field though would be to rent out Varsity a la UW with University Stadium for years...hey, ya never know, there could very well be a second Rams team! (although UOIT up in Oshawa seems far more likely for OUA expansion)
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