Intercollegiate football is returning to George Fox University.
Starting in fall 2013, the university will sponsor an NCAA Division III team, returning to the field for the first time since the 1968 season.
Following years of study, the George Fox Board of Trustees made the decision to reinstate the sport on March 13, 2010.
Impetus for Football
Opportunity for Participation
Intercollegiate athletics are an important part of George Fox University, home to one of the Northwest's most successful small-college sports programs. Winning programs, however, are accompanied by a proper balance between academics and athletics: George Fox competes in the NCAA Division III and is committed to the Div. III philosophy of offering students opportunities for participation in a competitive athletic environment. Thus, George Fox is making efforts to expand the number of sports offered and percentage of students participating in intercollegiate athletics. Since joining the NCAA Div. III, the university has added men’s and women’s golf and is exploring adding women’s lacrosse and men’s and women’s swimming.
As an NCAA Div. III member, need and academic ability, not athleticism, determine scholarships and financial aid. In Div. III, participation is the focus and students play for the love of the game.
Men’s Sports
- Baseball
- Basketball
- Cross Country
- Football (starting 2013)
- Golf
- Soccer
- Tennis
- Track & Field
Women’s Sports
* The university is also exploring adding swimming and women’s lacrosse in the near future.
Enrollment Goals
The George Fox strategic plan calls for a traditional undergraduate enrollment of 1,825 students by 2015. (Enrollment in spring 2010 is about 3,400 with 1,700 traditional undergraduates.) Studies of universities that have added football in recent years have found that football attracts both students who want to play football and others who want to attend a college that sponsors a football program. Also, the addition of football has proven to positively impact efforts to improve gender balance and ethnic diversity on campuses. Both are goals at George Fox.
Northwest Conference
The Northwest Conference is a NCAA Div. III conference with a strong tradition of academic and athletic excellence. The conference has encouraged George Fox to add football to enable easier scheduling opportunities and minimize travel costs for all conference schools.
When George Fox begins playing football, eight of nine Northwest Conference schools will field football teams. The exception will be Whitman College. Menlo is an associate member and fields a team.
Northwest Conference schools offering football:
- George Fox University (beginning fall 2013)
- Lewis & Clark College
- Linfield College
- Menlo College (associate member)
- Pacific University (beginning fall 2010)
- Pacific Lutheran University
- University of Puget Sound
- Whitworth University
- Willamette University
West Coast Christian Colleges and Football
The addition of football will make George Fox University one of only three Christian colleges on the West Coast to sponsor a football program. Azusa Pacific University (Calif.) and Whitworth University (Wash.) are the other two football-playing members of the 105-member Council for Christian Colleges and Universities on the West Coast.
Intercollegiate Athletics at George Fox
George Fox offers student athletes the opportunity to compete for conference and national titles. During this last decade, the baseball team (2004) and the women’s basketball team (2009) have both won NCAA Div. III national titles.