'Blindsided': SFU shuttering varsity football program, effective immediately

SFU’s football program has come to an end, effective immediately, the university announced on Tuesday.

In a statement, SFU said the decision stemmed from the university’s challenges in finding conferences in which to compete.

The university said a number of football programs had shuttered in the last few years within the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II—noting that there were only two football programs remaining in Division II west of Colorado, outside of SFU.

The Red Leafs team has represented SFU since the beginning of the university’s athletic department in 1965. In 2012, SFU became the first and only Canadian team to be part of the NCAA.

In 2021, SFU joined the Lone Star Conference, based in the southwestern United States, for a two-year affiliate agreement. But the university said that the Lone Star Council of Presidents voted against renewing their agreement earlier this year.

“With the recent announcement that the team will not be invited to continue with Lone Star, we don’t have a conference to play in for 2024,” current provost and vice-president of academics Academic Wade Parkhouse said in a statement.

 “The ongoing uncertainty creates an unacceptable experience for students. As a leadership team, we concluded that football is no longer a feasible sport for SFU.”

SFU president Joy Johnson said the decision to close down the football program altogether was not one that was taken lightly.

The university said it made the decision now so that students could have time to make other plans for their athletic careers.

“All students impacted are being supported with one-on-one guidance regarding next steps. We will support football athletes who want to explore options outside of SFU, and will honour athletic scholarship commitments for those who choose to remain at SFU and meet eligibility requirements for the 2023-24 school year,” SFU said in a statement.

But Michael Beck, a former player and coach for the team said it won’t be an easy road forward for athletes who suddenly don’t have a team to play for.

“A lot of the other schools have already figured out the finances for the players that they did sign and are looking to retain. So their schools or their rosters are already set. Spring camp has already happened at SFU,” Beck told Burnaby Beacon.

“And that's going to be the same for other programs as well. So a lot of these guys might not even have spots. And other schools probably aren't going to be willing to cut their own guys to free up money to bring these guys in. A roster of close to 80—it's gonna be pretty hard for everyone.”

Beck said he found out about the university’s decision through a group of current coaches around 9am on Tuesday morning, and players found out after that. The university sent out a public announcement just a few hours later around noon.

While the university said it will honour awards for those athletes who choose to remain at SFU and meet eligibility requirements next year, Beck said the announcement raised questions for many scholarship athletes—particularly international students, who pay much higher tuition than domestic students.

And he said the decision has been met with a lot of anger from the football community.

“No one is happy. The alumni, coaches, and former players are extremely mad. Blindsided by a decision that came from nowhere. This is a historic program that is responsible for more CFL athletes than any other program,” Beck said.

“For it to just be killed off without involving any other institution but the athletic department is embarrassing and frankly irresponsible from the athletic department. They should be embarrassed.”

He said the university has mismanaged the Red Leafs, from its hiring decisions, to funding, to going into the Lone Star Conference to begin with.

Beck also said there was a feeling among players and coaches that SFU hadn’t tried hard enough to look for a conference to house the team.

“Once the GNAC folded the athletic department should have been looking more seriously into the [National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics] or mending fences with the Canada West [Universities Athletic Association],” he said.

“From what I’ve heard conversations were nothing but preliminary with other conferences and leagues and the athletic department just found it easier to kill the program rather than fully explore other options.”

PostMedia, meanwhile, reported that Canadian university sports organization U Sports had not received any request from SFU to join that group.

In a statement, the BC Lions team said it was saddened and disappointed to hear the news out of SFU—and noted that many of its great players have been SFU Football alumni.

“Today’s news impacts several dedicated individuals, in particular the student-athletes, coaches, staff, countless volunteers, parents and, of course, alumni, who tirelessly dedicated themselves to the SFU program. … The BC Lions will continue to do everything we can to support amateur football at all levels in this province,” the team said.