GREENSBURG, PA - Seton Hill University first-year head football coach Chris Snyder has announced the Griffins schedule for 2005, their inaugural season. "We have a wide variety of teams on our schedule, ranging from NAIA, NCAA Division II, and NCAA Division III,” says Snyder. “Scheduling for 2005 was difficult because most teams filled all of their open slots well in advance and we could not offer many home and home contracts since we already have a full slate of eight Mid-States Football Association and three non-conference games in 2006.” The Griffins will play their first official season in the MSFA in 2006 after playing all non-conference contests next season.

Seton Hill Football’s 2005 schedule is as follows:

Sept. 3 @ Urbana University
Sept. 10 McDaniel College
Sept. 17 Open
Sept. 24 @ West Liberty State College
Oct. 1 Wesley College (Homecoming)
Oct. 8 Tiffin University
Oct. 15 @ Kean University
Oct. 22 @ Frostburg State University
Oct. 29 University of Charleston
Nov. 5 @ Newport News

As Snyder and his staff are currently in the heat of the recruiting season, they expect between 105 and 120 players to report to camp in August. “The vast majority of these players will be freshmen, so we will be very young, but I am looking forward to great competition at every position,” says Snyder. “We will have to keep it simple and find the best players we have as September 3rd will be here before we know it."

As Seton Hill Football works to build its roster for the inaugural season, a decision about affiliation for the future has not been formalized. Coach Snyder commented, "We are looking at all of our options with regard to conference affiliation and whether or not we should remain in the NAIA. We are comfortable where we are, but we need to always look at what is the best fit for our students and the university. We are currently in the exploratory phase of NCAA Division II and NCAA Division III. If we decide on Division II, we would become a provisional member this fall. If we were to go Division III, we would not be a provisional member until 2006 and not a full member until 2010.”

The possible move to NCAA for Seton Hill has played a role in recruiting for Snyder and his staff thus far. “We have been very honest with all of the recruits that have come to visit campus with our status. If we decide to leave the NAIA and become a Division II program, that would have little recruiting implications to our current class,” stated Snyder. “Even if we went Division III, these athletes will have graduated before we would be a member. As of now, we are an NAIA member and a member of the Mid-States Football Association and we are recruiting as such. We should know our exact destination sometime later this spring or summer."

For more information regarding Seton Hill Football, contact head coach Chris Snyder at 724-830-1895, or Sports Information Director Marc Marizzaldi at 724-830-1169.

Seton Hill University, chartered in 1918, is a coeducational Catholic liberal arts university in Greensburg, Pa. with more than 30 undergraduate programs and 8 graduate programs, including an MBA. Seton Hill brings the world to its students through its distinguished lecturers and nationally and internationally renowned centers. Twice recognized by Entrepreneur magazine as one of the nation’s Top 100 Entrepreneurial Universities, Seton Hill has also been named one of the Best Mid-Atlantic Colleges by The Princeton Review and one of Pennsylvania’s Top 100 Businesses by Pennsylvania Business Central. For more information on Seton Hill please visit www.setonhill.edu or call 1-800-826-6234.