CSUN to Play Football at Division I-AA Level in 1993 : NCAA convention: Defeat of measure that would have allowed Division I schools to field non-scholarship teams sets up West Coast alliance.

Cal State Northridge will play football at the NCAA Division I-AA level beginning in 1993. Against exactly who is one of few remaining questions.

The defeat Thursday at the NCAA convention in Anaheim of a proposal that would have created a non-scholarship Division I football classification--Division I-AAA--brought Northridge one giant step closer to an alliance with several other mid- to lower-level West Coast teams.

“Everyone on the West Coast is on the same option right now,” said Bob Hiegert, Northridge athletic director.

Actually, there are two options for Division I colleges which, by NCAA decree, must raise the level of their football teams currently playing at the Division II or Division III levels:

They can play cost-containment Division I-AA football, or drop the sport completely. Hiegert said Northridge will continue to play football.

For the past year officials of the six-team Division II Western Football Conference, of which Northridge is a charter member, have been trying to generate interest in the formation of a low-budget Division I-AA conference.

The conference, they said, would have scholarship restrictions in the 30-to-45 range and, with a preponderance of California teams, would be easy on the travel budget.

Plenty of schools were interested, but few would commit, choosing instead to wait for the outcome of the vote on the Division I-AAA proposal.

With the failure of that proposal, Hiegert said, almost a dozen West Coast schools were left “in a similar boat.”

Members of the Division I-A Pacific 10 and Western Athletic conferences are the only West Coast schools not affected. The remaining schools--including Big West Conference members Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Long Beach and Pacific--remain possibilities.

Along with Northridge, they include: WFC members Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Cal State Sacramento, Southern Utah, Santa Clara and Portland State; Northern California Athletic Conference member UC Davis, Division II independents UC Santa Barbara and St. Mary’s and Division III member San Diego.

Several of the aforementioned schools met informally before scheduled NCAA meetings Tuesday. Membership in the conference, rules and scholarship guidelines will be discussed next week in telephone conference calls, Hiegert said.

Northridge will be the site of additional face-to-face meetings Jan. 30-31.

* NCAA CONVENTION

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