GNAC TO BRING BACK FOOTBALL IN 2008 GNAC Press Release - Contact: Bob Guptill (509-535-5291 or bguptill@gnacsports.com) SPOKANE - The Great Northwest Athletic Conference Management Council and CEO Board have approved the return of football as a conference sport through the adoption of a new five-team football conference which will begin play in 2008, GNAC Commissioner Richard Hannan announced Wednesday.
Humboldt State University, which is located in Arcata, Calif., and Dixie State College, which is situated in Saint George, Utah, will join GNAC members Central Washington University, Western Oregon University and Western Washington University in the GNAC football league.
Humboldt State and Dixie State, currently members of the California Collegiate Athletic Association and the PacWest Conference, respectively, will be granted affiliate membership in the GNAC for football and the football conference will operate under the auspices of the GNAC. Neither the CCAA or the PacWest sponsors football.
The new league will involve all five independent NCAA Division II schools in the West that sponsor football.
The conference will seek support and assistance from the NCAA in the organization and development of the new football conference. "All five schools are firmly committed to football and this is a significant venture that makes a strong effort to stabilize NCAA Division II football in the West," Hannan said.
Humboldt State, Central Washington, Western Washington and Western Oregon previously competed in the GNAC in football between 2001 and 2005. The GNAC, however, dropped its sponsorship of football following 2005 season when Central Washington and Western Washington elected to move their football programs to the North Central Conference (NCC) and Humboldt State left the GNAC to become a member of the CCAA. The NCC is expected to disband following the 2007-08 school year.
Dixie State is currently in its first season as a NCAA Division II member.
One of the reasons for the affiliation is the commitment of the schools to remain NCAA Division II and to provide games with NCAA Division II opponents, Hannan said. Under a four-year scheduling format, the five schools will each play an eight-game home-and-home conference schedule.
The current NCAA playoff selection format places heavy emphasis on playing predominately a Division II schedule.
"The other schools which are accessible to us are currently affiliated with other conferences, thereby limiting our scheduling opportunities against other Division II schools and limiting our access to the NCAA playoffs," Hannan said.
"A double round-robin schedule will leave each school with opportunities to fill two or three dates while creating consistency in scheduling and guaranteeing each school a minimum of four home games yearly and will greatly enhance our opportunities to compete in post-season play, which is a Division II goal for student-athletes," Hannan said.
The GNAC will petition the NCAA Championship Committee to grant the conference an "earned access" berth into the NCAA Division II national playoffs. Conferences with "earned access" berths receive a berth in the playoffs, if they have a team ranked among the Top 10 in the regional poll.
The conference will also seek, with NCAA approval, a formal agreement with the Rotary Bowl in Saint George, Utah, to have one of its teams compete annually in that post-season football game.
"In addition to an opportunity to qualify for the national playoffs, one of our teams will be able to compete annually in the Rotary Bowl against a team from the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference," Hannan said.
The conference will also establish as a guiding principal 24 rather than 36 as a maximum equivalencies scholarship level, which is consistent with conferences of similar institutions and will help enhance the competitive balance within the league.
