Cal Lutheran Faculty OKs Move : School’s Bid to Place All Teams in a Division III Conference Gains Momentum

Cal Lutheran took another step toward becoming a member of NCAA Division III on Monday when the university’s faculty voted, 52-11, to approve a proposed move to the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Assn.

Jerry Miller, Cal Lutheran’s president, said that the school’s athletics program would benefit by moving to the SCIAC.

“I am pleased with this action by the faculty to place all of our intercollegiate sports under one conference umbrella and to be associated with the NCAA Division III,” Miller said. “I think this new conference will give us a balance in all of our sports.”

A move to the SCIAC would put all Cal Lutheran teams in the same conference for the first time. Cal Lutheran is a member of the Division II Western Football Conference and belongs to the Golden State Athletic Conference in the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics District 3 in other sports.

Two hurdles remain before the conference change becomes official.

The Cal Lutheran Board of Regents, which next meets Oct. 28-29, must ratify the move. Approval also must be given by the SCIAC presidents, who will next meet Oct. 26.

The SCIAC Faculty Athletic Committee, composed of faculty members and athletic directors from the conference schools, already has voted to accept Cal Lutheran into its ranks.

Bob Shoup, CLU’s football coach, said it would be nice for all Kingsmen athletic teams to play in the same conference, but he stopped short of endorsing the move. “The overwhelming majority of coaches want to stay with the status quo,” Shoup said.

If the move is approved, it probably would be taken in steps, Miller said. Non-revenue-producing sports could be moved as early as 1990. Revenue-producing sports--basketball and football--might take as many as 4 years to make the change, according to Dr. Harvey Good, chairman of the SCIAC Faculty Athletic Committee.

Athletic scholarships are prohibited in Division III, necessitating the longer transition period for the football and basketball teams.

The SCIAC includes Occidental, Pomona-Pitzer, Redlands, Whittier, Claremont, La Verne and Caltech. All but Caltech play football.