Carleton University to announce return of football in 2013 this week

The worst kept secret in CIS football will become official this week (or next) when Carleton University administrators announce the return of Raven football for the 2013 CIS season. A partnership between the university and the ‘old crow society’ has been hard at work for the past few years developing and executing a plan for the return of football at the school.

The group has done their home work and have visited multiple CIS programs, including Laval, to put together a model that works for them. A ‘five million’ dollar fund raising effort, to support the first 5 years of operation, has almost been completed. The plan is for the ‘old crows’ and alumni supporters to support the team’s operations and the university to take care of the ‘bricks & mortar’ part of the program (locker rooms, fields, etc.).

The team will re-surface in the OUA for the 2013 season and a search for a head coach will be concluded by the end of this year.

The team will have a variety of committees, including a coaching search committee, that will direct the bigger projects like the hiring of a coach. The team will operate under the joint direction of the school and the ‘old crows’.

The coaching committee has been putting out ‘feelers’ to a variety of coaches in the football community. An attractive job like this will garner many, many coaching resumes.

Can we book our tickets yet for the 2013 Panda game?

Note:

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[*]The ‘old crow society’ is a network of 600 Carleton football alumnus
[*]OUA requires 18 month lead time for the addition of any new teams
[*]Athletic Director Jennifer Brenning was the assistant Athletic Director at Ottawa University before taking over the job at Carleton
[*]the group plans to operate on a one million dollar annual budget going forward, raising the money in 5 year chunks, eventually hoping that it becomes sustainable through revenue generating projects
[*]Kevin McKerrow, president of the Old Crows, has been working on this since the team folded in 1999
[*]John Ruddy, part of the CFL Ottawa ownership group, is also a Carleton alumni who is involved in this project
[*]Tom Timlin, an all-time Raven, is heavily involved in the project and will be instrumental in the search for a new coach
[*]Steve Dean, president of NCAFA (Ottawa minor), has been advising the group on the operations of a football program
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