Houston Baptist plans to add football contingent on an invitation to a “suitable conference,” school president Dr. Robert B. Sloan said Friday.

“We’re prepared to start football with one contingency that we are invited to a conference that is suitable to us,” Sloan said.

Sloan said football has not been officially added. The timetable to begin play would be a minimum two years, he said.

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“We want to make sure that if the dominos start falling (in regards to conference realignment) that we are in position, ” Sloan said.

The HBU board of trustees voted in late May to give the go-ahead for the school explore the addition of football.

The decision to add football is expected to open the door for HBU to join a conference, possibly the Southland Conference or Summit League. The SLC has been mentioned as a possible destination with Texas State and Texas-San Antonio set to leave for the Western Athletic Conference in 2012.

Sloan informed members of the school’s athletic department during a staff meeting earlier today.

The Huskies have participated as a member of the Great West Conference - which does not receive automatic bids to any NCAA postseason events - the last three years.

HBU applied to rejoin the NCAA in 2007 after 17 years in the NAIA. The school recently submitted an annual report and strategic plan to the NCAA, the last step in gaining NCAA certification that will begin in the 2011-12 academic year.

The process is expected to be completed later this summer, with HBU gaining full Division I membership.

By JOSEPH DUARTE, Houston Chronicle
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/college/7605112.html