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It appears that the Waterloo Warriors program is about to become extinct.
Three individual sources confirmed to CanadaFootballChat.com that a meeting was held yesterday with administration and players where it was announced that there is a strong possibility the Warriors football program will be folding after the 2014 season.
A team that has existed since 1957, the Warriors won two Yates Cup Championships (1997, 1999). However, the team has never made it to the Vanier Cup and has the notable distinction of having the longest streak of long running programs to not to advance to the National Championship.
The Warriors are a program that has fallen on hard times recently and were dogged in scandal. Since 2002, the Warriors have not been able to qualify for the postseason and has not been able to muster up a winning record since the 2001 season.
In 2010, the team was embroiled in a steroids controversy which garnered national attention. Former Warriors receiver Nathan Zettler was charged and found guilty of possessions of anabolic steroids for the purpose of trafficking (six month jail sentence, $3,500 fine was punishment dropped down in 2013) Two other former Warriors, Matt Valeriote and Eric Legare were also charged with break and enter as well as possession of stolen property. Each entered guilty pleas in 2010 and neither served any jail time.
One player, Joe Surgenor was banned from the CIS for two years as he came clean and admitted to using steroids. In total, nine players tested positive or admitted to using the drugs. Other than Surgenor, Spencer Zimmerman-Cryer and Matthew Peto, who paid $180.00 for the drugs. Both players only used for a few days.
Consequently, the university suspended the football program for the entire 2010 season.
Once the Warriors did return in the 2011 season, the team never seemed to find their footing. Head Coach Dennis McPhee left the team in 2011 and Joe Paopao stepped in as his replacement. This past February, Paopao went back to the CFL and Marshall Bingeman step in as interim Head Coach.
Bob Copeland who was instrumental in bringing stability to the Warriors football program stepped down as Waterloo’s Director of Athletics stepped down in July 2013. Copeland is credited with bringing Paopao in as Head Coach and the construction of Warriors Field during his tenure.
When CanadaFootballChat.com interviewed Bingeman about the recruitment plans for the Warriors, he admitted that the program has limited resources and was taking steps to improve so the team could become more aggressive when it came to national recruiting.
“We never apologize for who we are and what we are,” said Bingeman. “We are a strong academic school trying to build a great football program.”
“We don’t have as many resources as some of the schools have. We are working hard to get some of those resources. We have a very committed alumni and parent group who are working very hard with us to raise our level of our game and that’s what we’re excited about from a recruiting point of view, a strength point of view and our alumni and parents are working very hard with us to raise the resources we need to be competitive.”
However, in the midst of all the hard times, there have been some bright spots. One was when the Warriors defeated the Western Mustangs 31-21 in the last game to ever be played at Western’s JW Little Stadium during the OUA playoffs.
Moreover, Warriors players have moved on to play in the CFL. Among them are Matt Vonk (Saskatchewan Roughriders), Joel Reinders (Toronto Argonauts) and Chris Besr (Saskatchewan Roughriders).
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