By: Steve Frost - Associate Director Marketing & Communications (sfrost@sfu.ca)
BURNABY – With a new campus stadium and a new conference to compete in, Simon Fraser University has turned to a familiar face to lead its football program.
After guiding the SFU football program through the global pandemic and the 2021 return-to-play season, SFU has officially removed the interim tag from
Mike Rigell's title and made him the program's continuing head coach, Senior Director of Athletics and Recreation,
Theresa Hanson, announced today.
"We are thrilled to have
Mike Rigell lead our football program and bring some coaching stability to the program," said Hanson. "Coach Rigell was able to bring this team together and inspire them to compete under extremely difficult circumstances coming out of the pandemic. He's outlined a vision for the program and I am confident the on-field performance will improve under his leadership."
"We've seen the positive impact Coach Rigell has had on our student-athletes and we want him to have the opportunity to lead the program with the ability to recruit student-athletes leveraging the new football stadium and conference affiliation," continued Hanson.
In its first four years competing in NCAA under a single head coach, SFU won 12 games. In the seven seasons since, the program has had four head coaches and won five games.
Rigell is the 12th head coach in SFU history.
"I'm grateful for the opportunity to bring stability to the football program so that we can work with our student-athletes, our recruits and our alumni to build a competitive program," said Rigell. "We have a world-class university, a beautiful and diverse metro-Vancouver area, and facilities that are better than most Division II schools to attract young student-athletes."
The university opened the new SFU Stadium on Terry Fox Field in September, the first permanent outdoor stadium on the Burnaby campus, that features a modern and expansive football locker room. The team played two home games in 2021, losing two close games, 36-14 to nationally ranked Central Washington, and 24-7 to Western Oregon.
SFU, along with Central Washington and Western Oregon, have accepted invitations to join the Lone Star Conference as affiliate members in football beginning next season after the Great Northwest Athletic Conference was reduced to just three teams.
The Lone Star Conference is one of the strongest of the 17 football conferences in NCAA Division II, featuring teams from Texas and New Mexico. SFU will play a nine-game conference schedule with two open weeks in which to schedule non-conference opponents.
"We are going to become competitive in the Lone Star Conference by attracting student-athletes who want to test themselves against the best athletes in Division II," said Rigell. "We are going to focus our recruiting on BC, Ontario, and Quebec and the pacific northwest corridor south of the border. We also have plans to recruit in Texas to look for athletes who want an international experience while playing each year in Texas in front of family and friends."
Rigell led SFU to a 1-7 record in 2021, his first as head coach. Six of the eight games were played on the road because of restrictions and scheduling issues brought about by the global pandemic.
On March 12, 2020, Rigell was announced as the interim head football coach and offensive coordinator at SFU. That same day, the collegiate sports world announced that it was shutting down.
Rigell was SFU's offensive coordinator, receivers coach and special teams coach on former head coach Thomas Ford's staff in 2018 and 2019.
After a successful playing career, Rigell served as special teams coordinator and running backs/receivers coach at Snow College (2014-16) and the University of Puget Sound (2013-14). He held similar roles at New Mexico Highlands in 2012 and at Idaho State in 2011. Rigell also worked with the NFL's Kansas City Chiefs on a Bill Walsh Minority Fellowship.
Rigell was as a standout player at FBS NCAA Division 1 program Brigham Young University, winning numerous awards, including Honorable Mention All-Mountain West Conference Honours and Honorable Mention Media All-Mountain West Conference Honours. Rigell continued his playing career in the Arena Football League, competing for the Utah Warriors, Tri-Cities Fever and Rapid City Aces from 2003-2006.
Rigell holds a Bachelor of Arts and Communications in Broadcast Journalism from BYU and has a Masters in Special Education and Mental Health Therapy.
--@SFU_Athletics--
