"Canada West officials accept applications for new members once every four years, with the next window for would-be newcomers opening in 2012. If the Cougars are approved, it'll likely be 2014 before their conference debut.
"They're not the only ones knocking at the door.
"The SAIT Trojans have also expressed interest in competing at the university level and have even explored the possibility of joining the NCAA, where some of the most storied rivalries exist between universities and the tech schools just down the road."
The UOIT Ridgebacks are a precedent for a technical university becoming a CIS member.
There are some good tech school/state school rivalries in the Football Bowl Subdivision. Georgia-Georgia Tech always have their annual grudge match in the final week of the regular season, even though they play in different conferences. (Georgia Tech once belonged to the SEC but withdrew in the early 1960s, believing that the league was getting too violent. It proved to be a wise move that school, since the ACC is more of a basketball conference.)
Related:
So when's Mount Royal joining the CIS? U just gotta wait and see (Wes Gilbertson, Sun Media)
"The UOIT Ridgebacks are a precedent for a technical university becoming a CIS member."
ReplyDeleteActually I think Ryerson set the precedent, when they went from a college to a university and joined the CIS back in the '90's. UOIT is a brand new school altogether - albeit sharing a campus with Durham College - and sure they have the word "Technical" in their name but I'm pretty sure Ryerson at college level was a tech school as well. Think so anyways...
Good point, Mike — it was Ryerson Polytechnical University at one time ... their hockey jerseys even said "RPU."
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