SRU – ESU football game in September to be nationally televised

The NCAA Tuesday notified Slippery Rock University and East Stroudsburg University that The Rock’s home game against the Warriors Sept. 12 has been selected as the NCAA Division II Showcase Game of the Week. The kickoff has been moved back an hour to 7 p.m. to accommodate a live national television broadcast that will be produced by the American Sports Network.

The NCAA and the American Sports Network will select one Division II football game in each of the 11 weeks of the 2015 regular season to serve as their showcase game. The Rock and ESU game on Sept. 12 will be the second featured game of the year. The game will be offered to all networks owned by Sinclair Broadcasting and will also be streamed nationwide on ncaa.com. The complete list of channels that pick up the game will be announced on Monday, Sept. 7th.

The game will highlight two of Slippery Rock’s most successful football alums in Rock head coach George Mihalik and ESU head coach Denny Douds. The pair both rank in the top four among all active NCAA Division II coaches in career wins. Mihalik, a 1974 Slippery Rock graduate, enters his 28th season as the head coach at The Rock and his 40th overall season as a member of the coaching staff. Mihalik ranks fourth on the all-time wins list in the PSAC and ranks fourth among all active Division II head coaches with 185 wins. Coincidentally the Sept. 12 game will also be a milestone game for Mihalik, as it will mark his 300th career game as the leader of The Rock program.

Douds, a 1963 Slippery Rock graduate, enters his 42nd season as head coach at ESU and 50th year at ESU overall. He holds the PSAC career record with 250 wins, ranking third in NCAA Division II history.