Simon Fraser Clan

Simon Fraser Clan
University Simon Fraser University
Conference GNAC
Athletic director Theresa Hanson
Location Burnaby, British Columbia
Varsity teams 17
Football stadium Swangard Stadium
Basketball arena West Gymnasium
Softball stadium Beedie Field
Soccer stadium Terry Fox Field
Lacrosse stadium Terry Fox Field
Mascot McFogg the Dog
Nickname Clan (Formerly "Clansmen")
Colors Red and Blue[1]
         
Website athletics.sfu.ca

The Simon Fraser Clan are the athletic teams that represent Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. SFU's teams formerly played in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics of the United States for all sports. In 1997, Simon Fraser sought to join the NCAA of the United States as a Division II school, but was turned down.[2] After this, SFU decided in 2000–01 to partially transfer to Canadian Interuniversity Sport. Before the transfer, SFU did not compete in Canadian football, instead playing American football.

On July 10, 2009 the NCAA approved SFU's bid to join NCAA Division II starting in 2011–12, where SFU intended to compete in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. However, Canada West, the CIS association the SFU teams were scheduled to play in, issued a probation on all SFU teams for the 2010–11 season, leading to speculation that Clan teams would not have conference to play in. The GNAC admitted SFU one year earlier than planned as a full conference member in time for the 2010–11 season.[3]

Varsity teams

SFU currently has 17 varsity programs competing in the following sports (affiliations included):[4]

SFU is the only school to have finished in the top five of the NAIA division of the NACDA Director's Cup, an award given to the top overall college sports program in the United States, in each year since the award was first given to NAIA schools in 1996. The Clan won the NAIA Cup consecutively from 1997 through 2001, and again in 2004. The last win was especially impressive because it occurred after SFU partially transferred to CIS.

Oddly, the SFU Clan holds the NAIA record for most All-Americans and U.S. National Champions (individual).

Football

The Simon Fraser Clan football team has been competing continuously since the athletic department's inception in 1965. The Clan played by American rules while they competed in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics from 1965 to 2001 against other American teams. Along with other SFU teams, the football program transferred to the Canadian Interuniversity Sport and thereby switched to playing Canadian football against Canadian University teams in 2002. While playing in the CIS, SFU won their first and only Hardy Trophy conference championship in 2003 while qualifying for the playoffs twice. After playing eight seasons in the Canada West Conference of the CIS, the Clan football team began competing in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference of NCAA Division II in 2010.[5]

The team also maintains a cross-town rivalry with the Vancouver-based University of British Columbia Thunderbirds as they are also the only two universities in British Columbia that field football teams. Since 1967, the two teams have competed in the Shrum Bowl, an annual game played at alternating venues with alternating rules. SFU holds a 17–15–1 series lead while also being the most recent champion having won the 2010 game at Thunderbird Stadium. Due to the two schools playing in two different leagues, the scheduling of these games has often been difficult, with no game being played in 2011, the 12th time the game hadn't been played since the game's inception.[6]

Season results

Year Coach Overall Conference Standing Bowl/playoffs Highest# Final°
National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) (1965–2001)
Canada West (CIS) (2002–2009)
2002 Chris Beaton 2–6 6th NR NR
2003 Chris Beaton 5–3 2nd W Canada West semi-final
W Hardy Trophy
L Uteck Bowl 		8 8
2004 Chris Beaton 3–5 6th 6 NR
2005 Chris Beaton 0–7–1 7th NR NR
2006 Frank Boehres 0–7–1 7th NR NR
2007 Dave Johnson 0–8 7th NR NR
2008 Dave Johnson 5–3 4th W Canada West semi-final
L Hardy Trophy 		7 8
2009 Dave Johnson 1–6 (*) 7th 7 NR
CIS: 16–47–2
Great Northwest (NCAA Division II) (2010–present)
2010 Dave Johnson 1–9 (0–9 NCAA) 0–8 5th NR NR
2011 Dave Johnson 3–7 2–6 4th NR NR
2012 Dave Johnson 5–6 4–6 4th NR NR
2013 Dave Johnson 3–7 3–7 5th NR NR
2014 Jacques Chapdelaine 2–9 2–7 5th NR NR
2015 Kelly Bates 0-9 0-7 7th NR NR
NCAA: 13–42 11–40
Total:
      National championship         Conference title         Conference division title
#Highest rank during the course of the season (NR=not ranked).
°Final rank. Since 2000, the final rankings were released following the playoffs.

[7]

(*) In 2009, two victories were nullified because CWUAA accused SFU for having ineligible players in both games. However, SFU argued that they followed CWUAA's guidelines perfectly and that the player was eligible at the time of the accusation. The Manitoba Bisons also used an ineligible player in a Simon Fraser win, so the game was declared "no contest."

CIS playoff results

Simon Fraser in the CFL

Simon Fraser University holds the record for the most players selected in the Canadian Football League Draft since 1965, when the athletics program first began. Moreover, SFU holds the record for most first round selections with 33 and most first overall selections with five.[8]

As of the start of the 2015 CFL season, 12 former Clan players are on CFL teams' rosters:

Simon Fraser in the NFL

Former Clan wide receiver Victor Marshall was invited to the Seattle Seahawks rookie camp in May 2013 and earned a contract on May 13 to take part in Organized Team Activities and training camp as a tight end.[9] On July 30, 2013 the Seahawks released Marshall during training camp.[10]

Women's basketball

Team championships:

Men's soccer

Team championships and other highlights:

2012 and 2016 Play-off Hosting Controversies

After the 2012 regular season, Simon Fraser's men's soccer team was ranked №. 1 in the West Region and has won the right to host the West Region playoffs.[11] However, some other schools in the Region immediately filed complaints that some of their personnel did not have passports to enter Canada.[11] As a result, NCAA stripped Simon Fraser of the right to host the playoffs.[11][12] Simon Fraser first rented a neutral site in San Francisco, California, as the site of the play-offs,[11] but NCAA eventually awarded the right of hosting the remaining matches of the regional play-offs to Grand Canyon University, whose men's soccer team was ranked №. 2 in the West Region after the 2012 regular season.[12]

After the 2016 regular season, Simon Fraser's men's soccer team was ranked №. 1 once again in the West Region and has won the right to host the West Region playoffs once again.[13][14] However, Simon Fraser was once again forced to rent a neutral site, this time in Seattle, Washington, as the site of the play-offs.[13][14]

Women's soccer

Team championships:

Softball

SFU Clan women's softball players, left to right: Carly Moir, Trisha Bouchard and Stefani Durrant

Team championships:

Club Teams

SFU currently has 3 competitive club programmes competing in intercollegiate sport leagues of the following sports (affiliations included):[4]

Beside the 3 afore-mentioned competitive clubs, SFU also has 17 other sport clubs competing in other leagues.[15]

Clan TV

Clan TV is an online streaming broadcast of most home games for Football, Basketball, and Softball. Over the years the format has changed but it is the main broadcast for Clan fans, and athletes families out of town.[16]

Mascot

The official mascot of the SFU Clan is McFogg the Dog, an anthropomorphic Scottish terrier who wears a kilt.[17] McFogg was officially adopted as the University's mascot in 1996[18] and is named in honour of SFU's inaugural president Patrick McTaggart-Cowan who was nicknamed "McFog". McFogg replaced an unofficial gorilla mascot which the university had previously used since the late 1980s.[19]

References

  1. ↑ "SFU Common Look and Feel | Colour Palette". Retrieved 2016-09-05.
  2. ↑ Vancouver Province: UBC expects visit by NCAA 8 November 2005
  3. ↑ Simon Fraser University to join NCAA next year
  4. 1 2 The complete list of teams is available in the drop menus on the Department of Athletics' Home Page.
  5. ↑ Simon Fraser University (2009-07-10). "SFU first Canadian school in NCAA". Simon Fraser University. Retrieved 2012-01-22.
  6. ↑ Josh Curran (2011-08-30). "Shrum Bowl called off for 2011 season". The Ubyssey. Retrieved 2012-01-22.
  7. ↑ "SFU Clan football Year by Year Record". Retrieved 2012-12-14.
  8. ↑ 2011 Canadian Draft Guide Archived December 11, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.
  9. ↑ Seahawks Make Roster Moves | Seattle Seahawks. Seahawks.com (2013-05-13). Retrieved on 2015-12-13.
  10. ↑ Seahawks Make Roster Moves | Seattle Seahawks. Seahawks.com. Retrieved on 2015-12-13.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Howard Tsumura (2012-11-06). "SFU men's soccer sets up NCAA host home in San Francisco, CCAA nats at Coquitlam". The Province. Retrieved 2016-11-30.
  12. 1 2 Bob Romantic (2012-11-14). "This Is Big: GCU Men's Soccer Happy to Host Super Regional Finals". News.GCU.edu. GCU Today. Retrieved 2016-11-30.
  13. 1 2 Liza Siamer (2016-11-12). "SFU men's soccer ready to make long playoff run". The Peak. Retrieved 2016-11-30.
  14. 1 2 "Clan tabbed as Div. 2 west team to beat". Burnaby NOW. 2016-11-08. Retrieved 2016-11-30.
  15. ↑ Sport Club Directory, Department of Recreation, Simon Fraser University. Sfu.ca (2014-12-11). Retrieved on 2015-12-13.
  16. ↑ "Simon Fraser Clan". Retrieved 2012-12-14.
  17. ↑ "Simon Fraser University | Canada McFogg the Dog". athletics.sfu.ca. Retrieved 2015-12-14.
  18. ↑ "SF News - September 5, 1996". www.sfu.ca. Retrieved 2015-12-14.
  19. ↑ "The costumed campus". The Peak. Retrieved 2015-12-14.
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