Come this fall 2016, DePauw football will be looking for a new rival.
The Tigers, along with the rest of the North Coast Athletic Conference, learned yesterday afternoon that Wabash College will be transferring to a new conference, their own conference, consisting of just their school, for the 2016 season.
Wabash College, affectionatly referred to as, "The Little Giants," hasn't decided on what they're going to call the new conference yet, but they are throwing around such names as: the "No Women Allowed Conference," (NWAC), or the "Dicks Only Please Conference," (DOPC).
"We're really trying to assert our male dominance here," said senior football player James Edison. "We've become fed-up with co-ed colleges. Especially when they chant at every game: 'We've got pussy, yes we do! We've got pussy, how 'bout you?!'"
Wabash announced the decision shortly after their hiring of new head coach Don Morel. Morel will replace Erik Raeburn, who led the Little Giants to seven straight Monon Bell wins over DePauw.
"We took a team vote, then held a campus-wide vote," Morel said. "Everyone wanted to be in a conference of our own
“It’s a shock to all of us,” said DePauw head coach Bill Lynch. “You hate to lose a rivalry of that intensity, especially with our program being on the rise these past few years... I wish Morel and his program the very best in their own conference.”
Since this decision became public, DePauw’s athletic office has already received over 200 phone calls from alumni, most of which have consisted of asking the dreaded question: What now?
“We’re losing the biggest sporting event of the year, with the exception of Little Five,” said athletic director Stevie Baker-Watson. “So while we understand [the alumni’s] frustration, all we can do is shrug our shoulders and hope they still come out to Old Gold and Family Weekend.”
With Wabash gone, DePauw’s season will now end on November 5th, where the Tigers will face Oberlin College on the road.
April Fools.