SUU football team joins new league

CEDAR CITY — For the first time since 1996, the Southern Utah University football team will have the chance to play for a conference title.

SUU President Steven D. Bennion announced Wednesday afternoon that SUU, along with six other schools, have aligned to form the Great West Football Conference.

"This announcement is the culmination of 18 months of hard work," Bennion said.

SUU joins UC Davis, St. Mary's College, Cal Poly, Northern Colorado, North Dakota State and South Dakota State in creating the new conference — bringing the total of Div. I-AA conferences to 15.

"Being able to play for a conference championship gives the players a motivation," first-year SUU head coach Wes Meier said. "They want the ring on their finger — that's our goal."

SUU athletic director Tom Douple will serve as the chairman of the new league and it will operate under the support of the Mid Continent Conference, but will be operated as its own entity by an executive committee.

"What began over 18 months ago as a vision, today is a true reality," Douple said. "It's a positive day for our student-athletes, university and athletic department. It's also a good day for the Great West Football Conference."

The announcement was also made at individual press conferences at the six other schools.

The T-Birds will remain members of the Mid Continent Conference in all other sports.

"Tom has great vision for the athletic department as well as his associates and everything is on its way up," Meier said. "They are extremely focused and worked very hard to make sure that athletics continue to become very important here at Southern Utah University."

Southern Utah last played in a league as a member of the now-defunct American West Conference.

"Now you have a short-term goal to shoot for," said SUU linebacker Nick DiPadova, who transferred in from BYU. He said in every level of football he has played in there was a conference title to play for except last year (his first year at SUU).

"It seemed like something was missing," he said.

Competition in the new league will begin next year, but due to previous schedule commitments, SUU and South Dakota State will play only five of the six schools. SUU has designated its game with Sacramento State as its sixth league game.