Calvin University to add Division III football program
Calvin University, one of the charter members of one of the first college conferences in the country, has decided to play football.
The Grand Rapids-based college announced Friday that the Board of Trustees voted to approved the university's athletics strategic plan that calls for adding football, women's acrobatics and tumbling and men's volleyball.
It is not clear when those sports will begin at Calvin.
"We are one of the premier athletics programs in all of Division III and so why not add more offerings that meet the needs of our students," Calvin University president Wiebe Boer said. "By adding these sports, we are providing students who have competed throughout high school the opportunity to get the best Christian liberal arts education around and continue in the sport they love. It's a win-win."
Calvin was one of the first members of the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Association and has a longtime basketball rivalry with Hope, which has had football since the early 1900s.
There are currently seven MIAA schools that play football: Adrian, Albion, Alma, Hope, Kalamazoo, Olivet and Trine. The only other school without football would be Saint Mary's (Indiana), which is an all-women's college.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Calvin University to add Division III football program
