UBC, Canada West trying to resolve their differences

Expect blood, sweat and tiers in Canada West.

Long story short, the between-the-lines part of Wednesday's latest about UBC kicking the tires on joining NCAA Division II is that this will force Canada West and CIS to come to the table. As Jim Mullin noted:

Canada West meets Thursday and this is a major topic of discussion. Following that, the top brass from the CIS and the Canada West will make a courtesy call to the Dr. Toope's office within the next two weeks.

The Canada West will make the case that some of what is stated in the UBC report, 'UBC Vancouver Campus and NCAA Division II Membership: A Review of the Issues' does not accurately represent the level of change and accommodation they have made for the Thunderbird program.

The report states, 'The CIS has expressed little concern about a potential UBC Vancouver departure.'

As far as the Canadian side is concerned, that is a gross misrepresentation and there are other points. (CKNW 680)

In other words, UBC is hoping it has leverage to get what it wants to regard to Canada West re-alignment. This might open the door to tiering in team sports other than football, matching apples to apples. It makes sense that UBC (36,500 undergraduates) should be going head-to-head against Alberta (28,500) and Calgary (25,000) instead of newer CIS members such as Fraser Valley and Thompson Rivers, which only compete in a handful of sports.

It would be a stretch to take this on face. The meat of it is UBC director of athletics Bob Philip does not want to head into well-deserved retirement with this still at loose ends.