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Show OREM TIMES Page 9 COMMUNITY SPORTS, PEOPLE AND OUTDOOR FUN Thursday, July 17, 2008 W Wolverines to become part of Great West Conference begginning this year Neil K. Warner NORTH COUNTY To go from participating in the Scenic West Athletic Conference at the junior college level to joining join-ing the Great West Conference at the NCAA Division I level - all in six years - now that was an announcement that proved worthy of a round of applause on Thursday afternoon. Utah Valley University supporters sup-porters were on hand to hear the school's announcement that UVU has accepted an invitation to participate par-ticipate in the newly expanded Great West Conference beginning begin-ning in the 200809 year. "It is a good day," said UVU athletic director Mike Jacobsea "It's a good day for our total program, pro-gram, our community and our student-athletes." By expanding from a football-only football-only conference to an all-sports league, the Great West has invited six schools to participate in 14 additional sports. The only Wolverine program that will not participate in Great West Conference will be the wrestling program, which is already a member of the Western Wrestling Wres-tling Conference. The schools joining UVU include: Houston Baptist University, Uni-versity, New Jersey Institute of Technology, University of North Dakota, University of South Dakota Da-kota and the University of Texas-Pan Texas-Pan American. The Conference will continue to participate in football with North and South Dakota. UC Davis, Southern Utah, Cal Poly and UC Davis, but only the two Dakota schools will stay in the conference for the other sports. Most of the schools in the conference con-ference are still in the process of making the transition to the Division Divi-sion I leveL Texas-Pan American has been a member of NCAA Division I for several years. Utah Valley and NJIT become active Division I members in 2009-10, while North Dakota and South,.. . Dakota and Houston Baptist are currently in their second year of transition up to the Division I level lev-el All three schools will become NCAA Division I counters for scheduling purposes in 2009-10. For UVU, the conference announcement an-nouncement caps off years of work the school has put in towards to-wards joining a conference. What is so great about a conference? con-ference? ',, Two keys. The athletes have 2Q3E m9 . I i fi n r A 1 K 1 k 1 'if 1W t-vb? tj 1 u & ; v with.ANew Mattress ! - . u iy. S 1 i vY4. f Jh T Salt mattrWeet not A pictured 1032 S. StatO, Omttl 9 8026050 EM MARIO RUIZNorth County A new Utah VaUey University sign was installed on the McKay Events Center in Orem on June 24. In conjunction with becoming a university, UVU has accepted a place in the Great West Conference. something to play for in a conference confer-ence championship and despite the geographical challenges, scheduling becomes much easier. "It gives you a sense of belonging, belong-ing, a sense of identity. It is a great step," said UVU basketball coach Dick Hunsaker. "We were really having a hard time filling January and February dates. There's a number of independents inde-pendents for whatever reason have chosen not to play us. The greatest benefit is, every player likes to play for a championship in the conference. They want to follow the standings. They want to know what this next game means." The travel is a concern, since UVU will have to make trips to New Jersey, North Dakota and Texas, but the school was making mak-ing those trips anyway to find enough games. , The news has many of the UVU athletes excited to be part of a conference. The baseball program is coming off a season where it beat BYU, Hawaii and nationally ranked Oklahoma State. Tmexcited I think it will be good for our team. It will give us something to work for at the end of the season," said pitcherin-fielder pitcherin-fielder Jace Brinkerhoff . I think we have a good team. Obviously "Z Vy : SATURDAY, A JULY 19! Con Watch SALE Celebrate Your Independence niraa7 mi I think we can compete with some of the best teams in the nation. na-tion. So I think this will only help us get better in our recruiting. I think it will just put us over the edge," Ryan Toolson, a senior guard, sees the move as a positive change for the basketball program pro-gram "It will be really exciting for all of my teammates and even for me it's just exciting to know that I've kind of helped pave the way for what our basketball program will do in the future," Toolson said. "It's always exciting to be in a conference and to have that level of competition year in and year out. The independent conference was kind erf rough onus." The conference will begin with six teams, but Jacobsen said he expects the conference will expand from six to 10 teams-and teams-and would be open to eventually including 12 teams. The schools most likely to be the first ones to join are Chicago State and Seattle University. Those schools include Savannah State, Longwood and Cal-State Bakersfieid. The six schools are contractually contractu-ally obligated to stay for three years, but can leave the conference confer-ence before then but must pay for 22 years! It's been a nice ride! FINAL DAY Eckn Refresmwrts! for our BLOWOUT M September 4-6, 2008! ME the conference a buyout fee. "There's a way for people if they find something, that's great for them We don't want to hinder hin-der them or hold them back, but at the same time they need to have a commitment so there is a financial commitment to all this," Jacobsen said "I don't see a need for us to worry about anything other than for us to be the best we can be in the Great West right now and continue to stay in touch with schools." By the 2009-10 season, the Great West is expected to have conference tournaments in other sports, but will not have an automatic auto-matic bid to the NCAA basketball basket-ball tournament. "I think there's no question it is a surprise to some people. I can't say it has been a surprise to me because we've kind of been oblivious to this whole thing anyway, any-way, not knowing what to expect," ex-pect," Jacobsen said. "You know me well enough that my attitude has been all along we're going to get in and get it done. Were going go-ing to be successful with it I just assumed this would be a natural progression for us. I'm not that surprised I'm ecstatic that we're at that point right noW. I knew this would come, I just didn't know when, but 1 knew it would be here." AT PRICES VOU CAN Af HMD JSP liIiMl!i mm iimMI uilHl i ih i Sponsored oy: CARDQN LAW OPFICC. LLC 1 149 We Center Street, Onem, Utah 64057 Franchuk: UVU moving more than I ever thought possible Jason Franchuk NORTH COUNTY I can't remember my first meeting with everyone and it would be unrealistic to expect everyone to recall the first time Jason Franchuk only third-person reference, I promise entered their lives. But two people I recall distinctly dis-tinctly the first time we met are Mike Jacobsen and Dick Hunsaker. The athletic director and men's basketball coach respectively, re-spectively, are two of the key figures at Utah Valley (now) University who sat proudly at tables Thursday to announce the school's newest accomplishment: accom-plishment: a (Great West) conference con-ference affiliatioa Never in a million years, or at least the five since I've known them, did I think they'd reach this point with an announcement at McKay Events Center. Call me negative. nega-tive. I know I wasn't the only one. But here it is a new name, some sweet logos, honest -to-goodness teams to compete against regularly, every season, starting not this fall but next. Jacobsen, much to his credit and energy level, just won't let the cynics win. I have been one, to some extent, from the first time we met. Not against the man so much as the mission, done all without football (Jacobsen's background) in the shadow of BYU with what appeared to be so many limitations. This guy tells me in February Febru-ary of 2003 that this school - a state college and just shortly removed from being a junior college - is going to climb the ranks and work its way to Division I? In a profile of him five years ago, some junior-college junior-college officials close to Jacobsen Ja-cobsen professionally thought he was in over his head - or, more succinct, carried too big an ego. The task seemed, from the outside, way too tall for the schooL But, again, here we are. Who's road tripping with me to New Jersey Institute of Technology? What's that, you ask? ' I fit Pate August 5th 6:00 8:30 August 26th 6:00 8:30 Jeffrey Q. Cardon Atorrwy tni Coursrtor I Another member of the Great West. You might say not so great schools like Houston Baptist, Texas Pan-American, North Dakota, South Dakota and the aforementioned NJIT. That's what there is to work with Will this work? The cynics will still be fed a lot of grub. Travel looks like it could be a nightmare. Rivalries seem few and (quite literally) far between. But let's focus on the other half of the Wolverines' glass. They needed to make a move, any move, and they did it. There's hope that other schools in Seattle and Chicago will join soon, maybe others. But UVU was at a standstill until a group of athletic directors direc-tors and school presidents, with basically nowhere else to turn, decided to forge a relationship rela-tionship - distance and logistics logis-tics be somewhat darned. Look at it this way. If BYU fans, and anyone else that follows fol-lows the Mountain West Conference, Con-ference, could give a unique allegiance the benefit of the doubt a few years ago when the league dumped ESPN in favor of some newfangled station, sta-tion, what's the harm in supporting sup-porting UVU's venture? All Wolverine sports will benefit to some degree, maybe none more than the marquee sport, men's basketball In a state full of really good college coaches, I don't believe any gets more out of the talent tal-ent he has, from the first day of practice through March, then Hunsaker. I must say I just didn't think a few years ago he would be around Orem this long. The task seemed, from the outside, like it wouldn't reap such rewards. He's been around various levels of hoops where travel is vast, and says it s the most overrated factor. He points out his team can (and has) flown directly from SIX to Newark, N.J. As for getting a recruiting base, he still doesn't have one. He has, alongside NBA player Ronnie Price, a league, something else quantifiable quan-tifiable to tell recruits. But See FRANCHUK, Page 11 (3230(0 G33 GH33 ansam W3JB TfUNSMtSSKMS p.m. p.m. LifLl |