Canyons to Hire Football Coach, Try to Play in ’98

College of the Canyons, without a football team since 1981, took a major step toward reinstating the sport Tuesday by announcing it will hire a head coach and try to begin play next season.

The Santa Clarita Community College board of trustees last week approved the creation at Canyons of six new faculty positions, two for athletics. The school will hire a coach to start a women’s soccer program next season.

Expansion of the athletic program, however, remains contingent upon the college raising $200,000--including approximately 50% from private sources--and the team being able to draft a schedule.

Canyons will apply for inclusion in the Western State Conference at a conference meeting today.

“We’re very confident that we will have football,” said Michael Wilding, Canyons’ interim dean of students. “We’re going at it full speed. We’re doing all the right things. We’re confident that the money will be raised. I have no reason to see why we won’t be able to have a football team.”

Last May, the board voted to support a recommendation to reinstate football for 1998, provided approximately half the start-up costs be raised from private sources by November.

In July, the COC Foundation Board, the college’s fund-raising arm, launched a campaign to raise money to expand the athletic program and subsequently hired a fund-raising consultant.

A fund-raising rally is scheduled for Oct. 25 at Cougar Stadium, where the visiting bleachers will be improved as part of the plan.

“We are in the process of drafting job descriptions and we will advertise [coaching positions] as soon as we can,” Wilding said. “There are a lot of miscellaneous things on campus that need to be done--upgrading facilities, securing equipment. But some of that will be absorbed by the athletic budget.”

Wilding said the school expects to hire new coaches by January.