Naia Schools About To Venture Into The Unknown

For years, the Pacific Northwest has been an NAIA football stronghold, producing six national champions since 1985.

But that’s about to change. This could be the final NAIA season for at least some of the dozen schools that play small-college football in Oregon and Washington. For others, departure from the NAIA is no more than a few seasons away.

Apprehension and uncertainty abound as the schools prepare to switch to the NCAA.

“It’s a mess, unfortunately,” Western Washington football coach Rob Smith said. “In concept, it looked good, but the reality is we had a very good thing going a few years ago and we’ve screwed it up.”

Powerhouse teams such as Western Washington and Willamette are looking at this season as perhaps the last chance for an NAIA championship.

As it now stands, Western Washington, Central Washington and Southern Oregon are planning to move to NCAA Division II, where competition will be much tougher. Western Washington and Central Washington will join the PacWest Conference, which plans to expand to 13 teams. But of that league’s current membership, only Western New Mexico plays football.

The schedules for next season don’t include enough teams to qualify Western Washington or Central Washington for the NCAA Division II playoffs, so those schools might maintain dual membership in the NAIA for a year or more to keep postseason play a possibility.

Western Oregon and Simon Fraser also want to move to NCAA Division II, but they’re behind in the process and might have to wait four years before making the switch.

Among the public small colleges in the region, only Eastern Oregon has opted to move to NCAA Division III. Eastern Oregon will compete as an independent this season and in the future.

The region’s private football schools - Willamette, Linfield, Lewis & Clark, Pacific Lutheran, Puget Sound and Whitworth, who make up the Northwest Conference - all plan to move to NCAA Division III. But the NCAA says that Puget Sound and Whitworth may not be eligible for the switch because they still have players receiving financial aid in some sports. The schools may appeal, but if the NCAA sticks with its ruling, all of the private schools may compete in the NAIA in football for one more season.

For many years, all 12 schools were members of the Columbia Football Association and competed in the NAIA. But four years ago, the private schools ignited the shakeup by voting to move to NCAA Division III.

“The number one reason was the NAIA was very unstable,” Linfield athletic director Ron Carnahan said. “They’ve since gotten new leadership. But the dues are almost four times as great and only in two sports do they pay for any national travel in the playoffs. If we have to go to a national track meet, for example, we have to foot the bill.

“In NCAA Division III, they take care of all that. The NCAA Division III has a lot better situation for small schools in a national playoff scene.”

There also is a wide disparity in the finances of NAIA schools. For example, Lewis-Clark State of Idaho has 12 baseball scholarships, while Linfield has none.

Linfield voted against the move to NCAA Division III but decided to go along with the majority.

Willamette, ranked No. 12 this season in the NAIA, won its first-ever playoff game last season and expects to do at least as well this year, with 17 starters back, including star quarterback Chuck Pinkerton.

But the future in the NCAA Division III is murky.

“When you head into Division III, with over 300 schools, you’re talking about the playoffs becoming a much more difficult proposition,” Willamette coach Dan Hawkins said. “In this whole Division III thing, there are many different operating procedures and a lot of those things are new to these institutions.”