Comments on The CIS Blog: Football: Sumarah a nice hire for Carleton, but in...

The previous football program existed at a time wh...

2012-01-24T13:05:40.307-05:00

The previous football program existed at a time when Carleton had it's general arts admission program that gave a second chance to any high school graduate with a 60% minimum. They had one year to attain a B- average; after which they could transfer to a degree program and also use the credits earned. It lead to them unfairly being labelled last chance U.

That program is essentially dead so it is not a case of grads with low 60s averages crashing and burning after a year or two. However, they still have lower admission standards than most OUA schools, outside of high demand programs like journalism, architecture, aeronautical engineering, mass comm, etc.

The students at the lower end of the scale that they take in are generally far better suited to university life than 20 years ago but many would still not get into the other top OUA programs.

Ottawa's new stadium has been mentioned in the...

2012-01-18T09:19:04.781-05:00

Ottawa's new stadium has been mentioned in the comments section a few times. Maybe we'll do a picture post in the summer when it's ready. Look forward to calling games there.

You are correct that they will have one of the lar...

2012-01-17T14:37:58.520-05:00

You are correct that they will have one of the largest operating budgets in their first few years.

The lower admission standards worked to the detriment of the old Ravens that folded in 1998. The problem was that they recruited too many players that could not retain academic eligibility. Very few players made it to their third and fourth or fifth years, so they did not have veteran teams. The Old Crows are very aware of this and will probably try to not fall into that trap this time.

Carleton does not intend to use Frank Clair as their home field. They will use their on campus Keith Harris stadium. However , they will play games where larger turnouts are expected at FC. Games such as the Panda game, perhaps some select playoff games.

Surprisingly, it has never been mentioned here on the CISBlog that uOttawa will have its own campus stadium this September. Like Carleton they will play most games on campus, but play major games at FC when it is rebuilt.

Revival of a great rivalry will make for interesting times on the Ottawa football scene.

Having talked to a number of coaches and scouts fr...

2012-01-16T23:43:11.847-05:00

Having talked to a number of coaches and scouts from many OUA programs, the off-the-record consensus seems to be that Carleton will be a contender fairly quickly; certainly by the end of the first recruiting class' eligibility.

They are going to be better funded from the get-go than almost any other program outside of Quebec City. They will also have one of the OUA's best facilities after the rebuild of Frank Clair Stadium.

They will also have one huge advantage over the powerhouses you mentioned; lower admission standards in their general arts and social sciences programs.