Someone Needs to Apologize to SFU's 4th Year Seniors

As Jamie detailed in an earlier Top Cheddar post, Simon Fraser University is off to Division 2 of the NCAA next season. I think they have a great coaching staff and will be well positioned to have some success in their conference. I’m a little more skeptical than Jamie about their potential for a few reasons, but that’s a post for another day. However, it is unfortunate that the football program is leaving the CIS under somewhat dubious circumstances.

The Clan finished the season 3-5. Not exactly anything to write home about (considering two of those wins came against a struggling UBC program) but they played some of the better competition in the CanWest conference pretty tough, specifically taking perennial powerhouse Saskatchewan to overtime.

Unfortunately their record for the season will be officially listed at 1-7 as they had two wins overturned by the CanWest due to ruling of having an ineligible player for the first three games of the season.

Now those who follow CIS football (i.e. not Jamie), have heard all about his by now but it recently got back into my head with Manitoba being stripped of some wins for an ineligible player as well, although under very different circumstances (former steroid suspension).

My only piece of what I would assume to be reliable information is the press release from the CanWest conference (I haven’t been able to find any statements from SFU indicating that what was in the press release was incorrect). The press release says that the player was enrolled in SFU’s Graduate Diploma in Business Administration (GDBA) and was accepted into one of SFU’s MBA programs in late September. This translates into saying that he was ineligible when he was in the GDBA and then eligible once accepted into the MBA. In terms of student-athlete transfers, there is a distinction in terms of eligibility between being in a graduate diploma vs. graduate degree program.

My assumption based on the press release was that someone in SFU’s Athletic Administration dropped the ball and informed the coaching staff that this player would be eligible to play football if he was in the GDBA program. I believe this could be an honest mistake, although it speaks to a lack of due diligence procedures within SFU athletics. When this problem was declared the CIS reviewed and decided not to recommend sanctions, but the CanWest conference decided to enforce their by-laws. Basically, CanWest decided to enforce the letter of the law instead of the spirit of it.

It also appears to be a final f*** you for SFU departing the CIS for the NCAA (apparently the relationship between SFU and the CanWest conference was never that great to begin with).

Now this doesn’t actually bother me from a football perspective and I don’t think the CanWest should have gone over the head of the CIS, but it actually bothers me as an SFU business student.

I’m currently working on my MBA at SFU's Segal Graduate School of Business (different program than said player) and therefore have familiarity with SFU’s graduate business school’s application process and procedures. So I was annoyed this player may have been accepted into the MBA a week or two into the term and may not have met all the admission requirements. The main difference between the MBA and GDBA in admission requirements relates to work experience, undergraduate GPA, the GMAT exam (the GMAT is not requirement of the GDBA), and the GDBA is an online program. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t affect me at all and I don’t need anything else MBA-related to be stressed out about.

I brought this topic up to a good friend of mine (perhaps unwisely given he is SFU Football alumni and bleeds their colours and was immediately defensive about the issue. I quickly got the "You're a complete imbecile" tone of voice that I've grown to know and love) and he informed me that this player’s classes never changed. And I was able to find a statement from SFU’s Athletic Director essentially indicating the same thing.

Program changed, but classes did not? Unfortunately, this did not clarify anything for me. In fact, it just confused me more.

But through my confusion I have worked out the possible following scenarios:

• SFU AD is Correct, Press Release is Wrong: This player was enrolled in the MBA program the entire time (i.e. he was never in the GDBA to begin with) and someone wrote it down wrong somewhere in the papers that were submitted to the CIS and CanWest. In which case, said person is a moron and the CanWest is clearly in the wrong. SFU should also consider legal action against the CanWest and provide a press release stating the facts.

• SFU AD is Correct, Press Release is Correct: This player was enrolled in the GDBA program, but was enrolled in the individual courses that were part of the MBA program and then was fully accepted into the MBA program in September as per the press release. In this case, someone at SFU Athletics didn’t distinguish the eligibility ramifications of just taking the appropriate courses from the program and actually being accepted and enrolled into the program itself. It’s not just semantics as the former will not lead to a degree from the program. For example, since I’m in the biotechnology MBA I can’t enroll in a course from one of the other MBA programs (5 in total, plus the GDBA) at SFU without permission from the administration of the graduate business school and the course instructor, let alone would a GDBA student be able to enroll in any MBA courses without such permission. Then when this issue first surfaced the player was fully accepted and enrolled in the MBA program (as per the press release) and was eligible at that point. Similar to reasons described earlier in this post, this bothers me as business student but not in terms of football.

• SFU AD is Incorrect, Press Release is Correct: Courses did change and my initial impression based on the press release is correct.

Now there are plenty of rumours circulating on message boards regarding this issue. Many of which imply that SFU knowingly tried to get around the rules of the CIS. I just don’t have the evidence to make the suggestion that there was intent.

At the end of the day I don’t know the full truth and I likely never well. But I’m a big fan of “Occam’s razor” (simplest explanation tends to be the best one) but I will not tell you which possibility I think is the simplest.

However, through this whole ordeal I have a few conclusions:

1. The CanWest and all member schools with football teams looked like a bunch of idiots this year. Seriously, what kind of circus is this conference?
2. If SFU saves money in the NCAA Division 2 based on reduced travel costs some of that money would be best allocated to a (or a better) Compliance Officer. The NCAA tends to enforce its rules a little more strictly and may add fines to such infractions.
3. The CIS needs to act eligibility rules and procedures that are transparent and are set up in in such a way to prevent these kind of mistakes from happening.
4. CIS coaches must error on the side of caution with transfers.
5. Conferences within the CIS should not be able to over rule the CIS. That means that either the CIS or the conference may rule on an eligibility case, not both.
6. The biggest losers out of this are the fourth year players at SFU. They lost the possibility of a 5th year due to the move to the NCAA and then lost out a chance at the playoffs on what may very well be their final year of football. The team never looked like a Vanier Cup contender, but I don't think that's relevant.

So who needs to apologize to SFU's 4th year seniors? I think the CanWest, CIS, SFU athletic administration, and SFU coaching staff all owe these kids an apology.