Rumor about St. Mary's

[89rabbit]

There is a rumor floating around that the Board of Trustees at St. Mary's College (CA) will be voting on Wed. to see if they will keep their football program.  Not sure how good these sources are, but it would explain why they didn't have a press conf. for the Great West.  Not a huge deal either way, they will be the Morningside of the Great West if they keep football.

Go State!

[JACKGUY]

Re: Rumor about St. Mary's

I would not be heartbroken if St. Mary's decided not to join. I don't think they are a good fit with the rest of the members anyway.

[filbert]

Re: Rumor about St. Mary's

Gaels are gone...

http://smcgaels.ocsn.com/sports/m-fo...030304aaa.html

[SDSUFAN]

Re: Rumor about St. Mary's

I have never been to Moraga and now it looks like I will not be going their to watch the Jacks play football. Maybe Basketball though.

A new Offensive Coordinator was hired on Feb 12th, you wonder what happens in his case. He no doubt resigned from previous job. So for him this has to be a real bummer.

[filbert]

Re: Rumor about St. Mary's

This idea was posted over on Bisonville...
Both SUU and UCD have Sept. 11 open. They move their game to that date, opening SUU's Oct. 23 date for a game with SDSU.

Instant round-robin conference...no need to designate Georgia Southern or Sacramento State as GWC games.

[iasomebison]

Re: Rumor about St. Mary's

This idea was posted over on Bisonville...
Both SUU and UCD have Sept. 11 open.  They move their game to that date, opening SUU's Oct. 23 date for a game with SDSU.

Instant round-robin conference...no need to designate Georgia Southern or Sacramento State as GWC games.

Sounds like a good idea :. Maybe SDSUFAN or somebody else "in the loop" can float this to Fred Oien

[SDSUFAN]

Re: Rumor about St. Mary's

Somebison:

I think the AD's had some inside information about St Mary's and have toyed enough with the schedules, that this scenario would not be new. It could very likely be in the works already and will happen. I do believe that the staffs have been on the phones with each other more than what we may think. Its interesting that the Great West name was chosen. That name was floated on Bisonville, so some one is paying attention.

[89rabbit]

Re: Rumor about St. Mary's

I too think that we will now have a game with Southern Utah this fall. I wonder who else we will get to play?

Go State!

[89rabbit]

Re: Rumor about St. Mary's

SDSU will likely play the Southern Utah Thunderbirds in 2004.

http://www.argusleader.com/sports/Th...article3.shtml


. . .


Chris Solari
csolari@argusleader.com

published: 3/4/2004

The Great West Football Conference is barely a week old, but it already has lost a member.

Saint Mary's College from California announced Wednesday that it has discontinued its football program. The school's Board of Trustees voted unanimously earlier in the day to stop funding the Division I-AA team.

That leaves six schools: South Dakota State, North Dakota State, Northern Colorado, Southern Utah, California Davis and Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo.

"This difficult decision is the result of thoughtful and lengthy discussions over recent years about the competitive and financial realities confronting all higher educational institutions of our size," Brother Craig Franz, president of Saint Mary's, said in a release.

SDSU Athletic Director Fred Oien said he was notified Wednesday of Saint Mary's decision.

"We were in good faith negotiations with the seven schools for the last 18 months," he said. "Obviously, we can't control what other universities say."

For the Jackrabbits, it negates a game scheduled for Oct. 2 in Moraga, Calif., the location of the 2,572-student Saint Mary's campus.

"It obviously creates a hole in our schedule from what we had contracted," Oien said. "But it already may give us an opportunity to schedule Southern Utah."

The Jacks and the Thunder Birds were the only two teams not scheduled to meet this fall. Southern Utah was scheduled to play Saint Mary's on Sept. 11.

Oien said the remaining six schools likely will shift their conference schedules to allow for SDSU and Southern Utah to play.

This season will be South Dakota State's first in Division I-AA football. The schools announced the new conference on Feb. 25.



Go State!