JMU, WMU, and Richmond have historically been the southern most members of CAA football as CAA football has always had a nothern tilt. Ga St and ODU taking Hofstra and Northeastern's spots was a BIG BIG change for the league and it upset the apple cart causing URI to look elsewhere. With ODU and Ga St gone and Albany and Stony Brook taking their spots the league is back to its original northern tilt with the 3 VA schools once again the southern most members of the league. They didn't mind it then so I doubt they will mind it now.

The Patriot should go after Fordham and William & Mary in order to get to 12. It would also create a nice travel arrangement for travel in that the schools fit into 3 "pods":

North: Boston U, Holy Cross, Army, Fordham
Central: Lehigh, Lafayette, Bucknell, Colgate
South: Loyola (MD), Navy, American, Wm & Mary

Article from Lehigh paper with comments from Lehigh AD regarding possible future Patriot League FB expansion at http://thebrownandwhite.com/2015/10/29/ ... scheduling

They should try to add William & Mary & Towson as full members and Richmond for football only.

Olympic Sports-
Boston Univ.
Holy Cross
Army
Bucknell
Lafayette
Lehigh
Colgate
Loyola (MD)
American
Navy
Towson
William & Mary

Football--
Holy Cross
Fordham*
Bucknell
Lafayette
Lehigh
Colgate
Towson
Georgetown*
Richmond*
William & Mary

For those schools it's roughly the same travel that they have currently but the academic prestige of the Patriot would be a huge boost. They also escape the instability of the CAA. For football play a 9 game conference schedule so everyone plays everyone and with an even number of teams scheduling is a breeze.

I think this is an open call for Richmond, Villanova, and William & Mary to reconsider. I suspect Richmond and Villanova will follow each other. I think Richmond will be easier to court because they've already got a program in Patriot, but Villanova's the one with a program that might get the administrative runaround to downsize after the current coach leaves, pulling a Boston, where you can make cuts to your program while getting an academic rub for it.

If and when JMU bails on the CAA I think the Patriot makes a move on those schools. William & Mary as a full member and Villanova and Richmond as affiliates gives Patriot football a huge boost and the infusion of those programs along with a strong Fordham program puts them among the FCS elite.

I think all of those schools would enjoy the benefits of being associated with the academically lauded Patriot membership. They also save some money in travel with fewer trips to New England--probably just one every other year to play Holy Cross. Villanova would enjoy beating up on Georgetown in football and I imagine Georgetown would have some allure for the Virginia schools as well.

The question is, if Wm & Mary joins as the 11th full member who gets to be #12?