T-Birds interested in joining Big Sky

CEDAR CITY — When the Big Sky Conference announced the possibility of expansion, naturally, Southern Utah University took note.

"We'll put our name in the hat and see what happens," SUU athletic director Tom Douple said. "We compete in a lot of sports with the Big Sky Conference."

For the last two decades, SUU has been the little brother looking in at the Big Sky Conference. It petitioned to get into the league in 1996 and was denied, but a lot has changed in eight years.

Since jumping to the Div. I level in the late 1980s, the institution has bounced from conference to conference before settling in with the Mid-Continent Conference in all sports but football and gymnastics in 1997.

"I'm very proud of our program and the progress we've made in the last four years that I've been here," Douple said. "We have a bright future athletically."

Since the last petition, SUU in general has experienced success, not only on the national level but against current members of the Big Sky Conference, which would make an SUU move to the Big Sky that much more intriguing.

Members of the Big Sky Conference's President's Council met last month and established criteria for entry, and also indicated the conference could add as many as three schools or none at all.

Part of the criteria for entry includes academic quality, competitiveness, commitment to gender equity and commitment to the academic success of student-athletes and geography.

Competitively speaking, over the last six years (including last Saturday's 34-31 win over Weber State), the T-Bird football team is 9-9 against members of the BSC and 11 of the 18 games were played on the road.

Also, SUU has won two national rushing championships and has 18 Div. I-AA all-Americans (1st, 2nd, and 3rd teams).

During the last eight years, the men's basketball team is 12-12 against BSC schools. Also, the T-Birds claimed a Mid-Con Championship and earned their first-ever berth into the NCAA Tournament.

The T-Bird have also advanced to the conference's postseason tournament seven straight seasons, and finished in the upper half of the league standing four of the seven years.

All-time, the women's basketball team is 41-78 (34.4 percent), but the T-Birds are 4-4 in their last eight meetings with BSC teams.

The T-Birds have winning records over Sacramento State (9-8) and Eastern Washington (5-2), and are near .500 with Weber State (9-10) and Northern Arizona (9-11).

Geographically speaking, Cedar City falls into the southern half of the conference with Weber State and Northern Arizona, and the T-Birds could be traveling partners with NAU.