The latest on UBC to the NCAA ...

This site's founder, Mr. Mirtle, tackled the UBC-to-the-NCAA story for today's Globe & Mail, tying it in the companion issues of expansion (who to let in, who to keep out) and realignment (who should play whom).
" 'An organization that restricts the desire of an institution to seek excellence, at whatever they're doing whether that's academically or that's athletically, to me doesn't serve the interests of any of the institutions,' (Acadia AD Brian) Heaney said.

" 'This may cause us to gather and discuss and come away with an enhanced model for all university sport in Canada. And that would be a positive."
Let us hope that's not just whistling past the graveyard. One cannot oppose UBC's interest in going South without scrutinizing the current situation -- it bears asking what the CIS plans to do for the schools who are about more than having a team for the sake of having a team.

That means redrawing league lines to reflect each institution's enrolment, athletics budget and commitment to a particular sport. It's not a tough concept to understand. It is a tough one to apply, especially with the travel involved for schools in Western Canada.

Related:
CIS mulls options in face of possible UBC defection (James Mirtle, globesports.com)
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6 comments:

  1. For some reason, in the (Toronto-area) print edition, the Globe stuck an AP gamer about the Texas Longhorns literally in the middle of Mirtle's story. Kind of misleading, given that it's not D-I that Canadian schools are going for.

    I hope that ADs and students and fans who are excited about NCAA bids are aware that the opponents are going to be like Northwest Nazarene University.

    Anyway, a tiered system in the CIS is going to be necessary if new schools want to join. How those tiers are defined is anyone's guess. (Same for each sport, so Carleton hockey is treated like Carleton basketball?)

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  2. It showed up in the Montreal print edition, too.

    It's not quite Northwest Nazarene that UBC would be playing, but I hope they're looking forward to their budding rivalries with Western Washington and Alaska-Anchorage.

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  3. I don't see why Carleton hockey would be paired with Carleton basketball.

    The thing with tiering basketball is that men's and women's teams play a common schedule to sasve travel costs. What do you do if one team is stronger year-in, year-out than your other team?

    Again, as Rob and John note, one wonders what trade-off UBC would be receiving. They're better off to try to change the system up here from within.

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  4. The point of the matter (which Heaney refers to notably) is that the entire CIS model which hasn't changed significantly for decades has to be rethought, in my opinion starting with the leadership in Ottawa which is for the most part completely invisible and devoid of any fresh ideas (outside of a women's basketball guide published last year) on how to strategically market their sports.

    Spot test: who can name the President of the CIS and the Head of Marketing for the CIS ?

    Exactly...

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  5. Nope, I knew who both of them were. I haven't talked to White, but I've spoken with Metuzals several times over the years for various pieces.

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