Joined: Jun. 2022
Posts: 1,335
Likes: 931
If Illinois was not able to push it forward then you are looking at only the ultra-wealthy private programs:
Stanford
Duke
Northwestern (with Illinois not pursuing hockey this leaves them in a spot to fill the void in the state).
Johns Hopkins (already a Big Ten affiliated member in lacrosse)
USC (now a full-time Big Ten member)
Vanderbilt
A gigantic public university with many rich and sports-crazy boosters:
UT-Austin
Texas A&M
Washington
Or a Federal program like Navy (which is a no-brainer to me that they should).
Beyond that it would be a program catching "lightning in a bottle" with a single motivated wealthy booster:
Oregon (Phil Knight) - in a bid to make Oregon more attractive to the Big Ten?
Oklahoma (Christy Gaylord Everest)
Virginia (Paul Tudor Jones II)
Missouri (Bill Laurie; former owner of the St. Louis Blues)
The "outside the box" answer is the more likely scenario:
Canadian universities join the NCAA for college sports (especially as the "super conferences" separate from the rest of D-1 and the remainder looks more comparable to their model).
With the junior hockey scandals happening in Canada right now, the CHL is going to lose a lot of prestige and if the college hockey programs in Canada were to step up their profile they could fill that void.
There are 35 programs in U Sports currently. Most likely there would be a splitting of the programs into "big money" programs that could compete in the NCAA model versus those that couldn't (similar to D-II and D-III hockey in the US)
Some of the premier programs are:
McGill Redbirds - the home of indoor ice hockey and a wealthy well supported athletic program and is one of the premiere academic institutions in Canada if not the #1.
Queen's Golden Gaels - rivals to McGill and RMC (world's oldest hockey rivalry) and a wealthy program with a long athletic track record.
University of British Columbia Thunderbirds - some NAIA programs already and considered joining NCAA in the past; very wealthy and successful program
Alberta Golden Bears - one of the wealthiest and most successful athletic university programs in Canada
Toronto Varsity Blues - a storied and wealthy athletic program located in the largest city
Western Mustangs - Located in London, Ontario - a middle of the ground ice hockey program but well supported and rival to many listed above.
UNB Reds - successful ice hockey and athletic programs; financially not as strong as the other programs but not out of line with NCAA standards.
Calgary Dinos - competitive program with a good sized endowment
Royal Military College Paladins - Canada's military college (aka West Point) that has a solid athletic reputation and hockey history.
That is enough for a 9 team "Canadian Conference" to join the NCAA in all sports (with Canadian Football allowed to play outside of American Football).
Other programs for consideration:
York Lions
Manitoba Bisons
McMaster Marauders
Guelph Gryphons
Waterloo Warriors
Remus liked this.
Reply
CapFriendly
CapFriendly