Simon Fraser Clan

Updated on Dec 12, 2023

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Conference GNAC Athletic director Theresa Hanson		NCAA Division II Varsity teams 17

University Simon Fraser University Location Burnaby, British Columbia

The Simon Fraser Clan are the athletic teams that represent Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. SFU's teams formerly played in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics of the United States for all sports. In 1997, Simon Fraser sought to join the NCAA of the United States as a Division II school, but was turned down. After this, SFU decided in 2000–01 to partially transfer to Canadian Interuniversity Sport (now U Sports). Before the transfer, SFU did not compete in Canadian football, instead playing American football.

On July 10, 2009 the NCAA approved SFU's bid to join NCAA Division II starting in 2011–12, where SFU intended to compete in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. However, Canada West, the CIS association the SFU teams were scheduled to play in, issued a probation on all SFU teams for the 2010–11 season, leading to speculation that Clan teams would not have any conference to play in for that season. The GNAC admitted SFU one year earlier than planned as a full conference member in time for the 2010–11 season.

Varsity teams

SFU currently has 17 varsity programs competing in the following sports (affiliations included):

Basketball, men and women (NCAA D2);

Cross-country, men and women (NCAA D2);

Football, men (NCAA D2);

Golf, men and women (NCAA D2);

Soccer, men and women (NCAA D2);

Softball, women (NCAA D2);

Swimming, men and women (NCAA D2);

Track and field, men and women (NCAA D2);

Volleyball, women (NCAA D2);

Wrestling, men (NCAA D2) and women (Women's College Wrestling Association);

SFU is the only school to have finished in the top five of the NAIA division of the NACDA Director's Cup, an award given to the top overall college sports program in the United States, in each year since the award was first given to NAIA schools in 1996. The Clan won the NAIA Cup consecutively from 1997 through 2001, and again in 2004. The last win was especially impressive because it occurred after SFU partially transferred to CIS.

Oddly, the SFU Clan holds the NAIA record for most All-Americans and U.S. National Champions (individual).

Football

The Simon Fraser Clan football team has been competing continuously since the athletic department's inception in 1965. The Clan played by American rules while they competed in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics from 1965 to 2001 against other American teams. Along with other SFU teams, the football program transferred to the Canadian Interuniversity Sport and thereby switched to playing Canadian football against Canadian University teams in 2002. While playing in the CIS, SFU won their first and only Hardy Trophy conference championship in 2003 while qualifying for the playoffs twice. After playing eight seasons in the Canada West Conference of the CIS, the Clan football team began competing in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference of NCAA Division II in 2010.

The team also maintains a cross-town rivalry with the Vancouver-based University of British Columbia Thunderbirds as they are also the only two universities in British Columbia that field football teams. Since 1967, the two teams have competed in the Shrum Bowl, an annual game played at alternating venues with alternating rules. SFU holds a 17–15–1 series lead while also being the most recent champion having won the 2010 game at Thunderbird Stadium. Due to the two schools playing in two different leagues, the scheduling of these games has often been difficult, with no game being played in 2011, the 12th time the game hadn't been played since the game's inception.

Women's basketball

Team championships:

2010 CIS National Champions;

2009 CIS National Champions;

2007 CIS National Champions;

2005 CIS National Champions;

2002 CIS National Champions.

Men's soccer

Team championships and other highlights:

2016 GNAC Champion, NCAA Division II Play-off Appearance;

2015 GNAC Runner-Up;

2014 NCAA Division II Play-off Appearance;

2013 GNAC Champion, NCAA Division II Final Four appearance;

2012 GNAC Champion, NCAA Division II Final Four appearance (first non-US school to ever do so);

2011 GNAC Champion; Ranked №. 1 in the NSCAA Coaches' Poll;

2010 GNAC Champion; NAIA Final Four appearance;

2007 NAIA Final Four appearance;

2005 NAIA Region I Finals;

2004 NAIA Region I Semi-finals;

2003 NAIA Region I Champion;

2002 NAIA Region I Champion;

1987 NAIA National Finalists;

1986 NAIA National Finalists;

1983 NAIA National Champions;

1982 NAIA National Champions;

1980 NAIA National Finalists;

1976 NAIA National Champions;

1975 NAIA National Finalists;

2012 and 2016 Play-off Hosting Controversies

After the 2012 regular season, Simon Fraser's men's soccer team was ranked №. 1 in the West Region and has won the right to host the West Region playoffs. However, some other schools in the Region immediately filed complaints that some of their personnel did not have passports to enter Canada. As a result, NCAA stripped Simon Fraser of the right to host the playoffs. Simon Fraser first rented a neutral site in San Francisco, California, as the site of the play-offs, but NCAA eventually awarded the right of hosting the remaining matches of the regional play-offs to Grand Canyon University, whose men's soccer team was ranked №. 2 in the West Region after the 2012 regular season.

After the 2016 regular season, Simon Fraser's men's soccer team was ranked №. 1 once again in the West Region and has won the right to host the West Region playoffs once again. However, Simon Fraser was once again forced to rent a neutral site, this time in Seattle, Washington, as the site of the play-offs.

Women's soccer

Team championships:

2000 NAIA National Champions;

1996 NAIA National Champions;

Softball

Team championships:

2010 NAIA National Champions;

2005 NAIA National Champions;

2003 NAIA National Champions;

1999 NAIA National Champions;

Club Teams

In addition to its 17 varsity programs, SFU currently has 3 competitive club programmes competing in intercollegiate sport leagues of the following sports (affiliations included):

Ice Hockey, men (BCIHL);

Field Lacrosse, men (MCLA D1);

Cheerleading (Power Cheerleading Athletics Collegiate Nationals).

Mens Ice Hockey

Main Article: Simon Fraser University Men's Ice Hockey

The men's ice hockey team currently competes in the British Columbia Intercollegiate Hockey League, a five team club hockey league spread across British Columbia and Washington.[1] The Clan have won the league on three occasions most recently in 2010–11. The team also regularly plays games against NCAA and CIS opponents. They compete in a regular cross town rivalry with the neighboring UBC Thunderbirds. In the summer of 2016 the program began exploring the possibility of moving the program to the NCAA Division 1 level. The Clan mens hockey team also host's a bi-annual tournament in January called the Great Northwest Showcase involving top NCAA hockey programs.

Clan TV

Clan TV is an online streaming broadcast of most home games for football, basketball, and softball. It is the main broadcast source for Clan fans, and athletes' families out of town.

Mascot

The official mascot of the SFU Clan is McFogg the Dog, an anthropomorphic Scottish terrier who wears a kilt. McFogg was officially adopted as the University's mascot in 1996 and is named in honour of SFU's inaugural president Patrick McTaggart-Cowan who was nicknamed "McFog". McFogg replaced an unofficial gorilla mascot which the university had previously used since the late 1980s.