Here's a starting point for America East discussions...

I'm not a fan of any of the AE teams but there is a big rumor about the possibility of I-AA football in the AE. I know Maine and New Hampshire have football, Stony Brook and Albany are moving up to scholarship I-AA. Throw in that CAA is taking over the A-10, you might see UMass and Rhode Island moving to AE for football.

Albany
Stony Brook
Maine
New Hampshire
UMass
Rhode Island

I read that New Haven wants to go D-1. Well, this conference is a great fit for New Haven.

One idea being bandied about involves:
1) the AE bringing in UMass and Rhode Island (from the A-10)
2) having SUNY-Albany upgrade football to full FCS (63) scholarship ball (this exceeds the current NEC football self-imposed limit of 45 (?)).... so Albany might have to leave NEC football as soon as they start any such transition
3) having SUNY-Stony Brook end their commitment to Big South Football when that agreement expires in 2010, and
4) perhaps adding Central Connecticut State to the conference
(from the NEC)... they would need to add football scholarships, like Albany.

Then the AE could consist of

Maine (FB moves to AE, from the CAA)
New Hampshire (football moves to AE, from the CAA)
Vermont (no FB)
UMass (FB moves to AE, from the CAA,
other sports come over from A-10)
Rhode Island (FB moves to AE, from the CAA,
other sports come over from A-10)
Central Connectivcut State (all sports move to AE from NEC)
Boston Univ (no FB)
Hartford (no FB)
SUNY - Albany (FB moves to AE, from the NEC)
SUNY - Stony Brook (FB moves to AE, from Big South)
SUNY - Binghamton (no FB)
Maryland - Baltimore County (no FB)

That's 12 with 7 football teams. Could New Haven be added in lieu of CCS ? Perhaps. New Haven will certainly be looking for a home. From the conference's point of view, if they seriously want to pursue this AE Football concept, they would need New Haven to play 63-scholly FB within the conference.

I really like this alignment. It has a nice collection of the New England flagship institutions.

I think Stony Brook is just biding their time with Big South football for a limited duration, not foreclosing their options, in case they want to pursue this.
They need Albany to move up to a 63 scholarship FB league. The Big South would certainly accommodate them, alongside Stony Brook.

The other thing that might help this happen is the addition of FB by CAA schools ODU (2009) and Georgia State (maybe about 2011 or 2012). That potentially pushed CAA FB to 14 schools, and that seems like it might be the impetus for some movement by a few of the guest schools (UMass, URI, UNH, Maine)....
The other 2 guest schools (Richmond (A-10) and Villanova (BE)), would seem to be likely to stay put.

I've mentioned it before but the school I'd like to see in the America East is Central Connecticut St...especially if they step up and change the school name to Connecticut St.

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I seriously doubt either school will readd football anytime in the foreseeable future. Club football is student-organized, they may get a grant from the school (usually through the student government or out of a fund set aside for intramurals), but most of the remaining money is either through donations or the students participating themselves. Even putting non-scholarship football under the AD's umbrella is a much, much bigger chunk of change to be dealing with, and the draws with club football are no indication that there would be any interest in university football.

And the problem with the regional schools is that there are different levels of FCS they participate in. Ideally, you'd be able to upgrade Vermont to partial scholarships while some of the other schools like URI, UNH and Maine downgrade. This would then open the door for Albany, Stonybrook to join even potential new schools like CCSU (hopefully Connecticut St. at that point )

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Perhaps URI is considering a more local more to the AE:

http://news.collegesportsinfo.com/2009/ ... -east.html

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i wonder is Central Connecticut St. regrets leaving America East?

Fast forward 17 years and now CCSU (should be Connecticut St. ) is the ONLY public school in the 12 team NEC. Meanwhile, the America East has 9 members and only 2 private schools.

CCSU would also be the 3-4th biggest school in regards to enrollment.

Not to mention they have football.

This is one of the potential moves that I just don't understand why it hasnt' happen.

You'd have:
Maine
UNH
Vermont
BU
Hartford
CCSU
Binghamton
Albany
Stonybrook
UMBC

For football:
Maine
UNH
CCSU
Albany
Stonybrook
* UMass
* URI
* Fordham

* = associate members

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Something else to consider...

With Northeastern dropping football, there is NO reason to still be in the CAA. They couldnt' afford football partially because of the increase in travel costs for all their other sports. Why not tuck your tail and go back to a conference that actually makes sense. If in the AE, they'd have 1 trip to Maryland from Boston each year. In the CAA, Philly, Towson and Delaware are their CLOSEST trips.

A similar argument can be made for Hofstra.


Maine
UNH
Vermont
Boston University
* Northeastern
Hartford
* C. Connecticut St.
Binghamton
Albany
* Hofstra
Stonybrook
UMBC

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I've been following UNH for four decades and I've lived in CT most of my life. I don't think Central CT was ever a member of America East or its predecessor the North Atlantic Conference. IIRC, the only formal conference affiliation CCSU has had with a few AE schools that I can think of was the Seaboard Conference which was a Women's Basketball only conference. I believe that CCSU made one formal application to the league, but the president's voted against it. Something about the different academic profile at CCSU than the other AE schools.

BTW, it is Stony Brook, two words.

As a UMass guy you should know why your AE Football Conference hasn't happened -- UMass isn't interested in that alignment for its football program. And without UMass, UNH isn't interested, Maine and URI probably not either. Then there's this little factor of five non-football schools in AE who have no vested interest in football. Personally, I think you have to have at least eight all sports members playing football to be a viable, stable, secure football league. And now you have to add in the factor that Albany, CCSU and Stony Brook all are now also in an AQ league. By existing regulations, I believe that an AE Football league would have to wait two years to get an AQ.

Just way too many uncertainties with too many schools for this league to ever evolve. Would Stony Brook and UMass be content with this association or always seeking to go to a higher level? Can and will CCSU and Albany get to full scholarship? Will URI continue to play full scholarship football?

UNH,

As a UMass guy, I also know times change. In 1995, we rejected a chance to join CUSA and upgrade to football with a conference lined up. A10 football is now gone and the CAA is south-centric. If UMass has money issues with football and does not upgrade, and does not downgrade to D3, then there is money to be saved by being in a conference with less travel in the northeast. Make no mistake: creating a conference as such would be saying Umass has no plans to upgrade ever.

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Since the "Dayton Rule" went into effect, I don't believe any D-I institution can play football anywhere but at the D-I level. That's what led to many of the MAAC and Pioneer League teams being reclassified as I-AA (now FCS). It also led to the eventual shutting down of programs at Siena, Fairfield, Iona, Lasalle, St. Peters, etc. because in effect they really were D-3 football programs. Pretty sure the only options for UMass (and UNH) are Non Scholarship D-I (Ivy, Patriot, Pioneer although the Patriot model won't save any money), Reduced Scholarship D-I (NEC), Full Scholarship D-I FCS (like today in the CAA), Full Scholarship D-I FBS (like your C-USA offer) or eliminating their program.

Agreed, there is money to be saved with a league with a tighter footprint, but UMass has never shown any interest in such an association. At least based on what I read from the many UMass posters on AGS. The same savings could be said about the all sports conference UMass chooses to belong to. Couldn't they save significant money by playing in America East? Just never seen any interest out of Amherst in doing so. And so far, even these tough economic times don't seem to be driving UMass back to a conference with a tighter Northeast footprint.

Don't think I knew about the C-USA offer, but 1995 didn't have the same communication vehicles of today! Was Temple included in that offer? JMHO, but UMass will need to upgrade their football program to become aligned with any conference with FBS aspirations or find a stable niche conference similar to what Hockey East provides for the ice hockey programs. Unfortunately, I don't think we can count on the CAA remaining to be that football niche for the foreseeable future. UMass may have to upgrade football to retain the basketball affiliations it desires or even to keep the FCS affiliations it prefers. You'd have more options in the realignment game if you played a higher level of football. Just like UConn has significantly more options than Villanova and Georgetown do because of the level of football they play. That's the reason UConn is in the B10 and ACC discussions and Nova and G'town aren't.

Agreed, I should have clarified my mis-post. Non-scholarship would be the option after remaining with the current scholarships or upgrading.

And I agree: Umass needs to upgrade to be a part of the future landscape. The changes could come one day where there is a bigger gap between levels of play.

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C-USA with Marshall and East Carolina as the closest teams and a footprint spreading to Texas makes the MAC with Temple and Buffalo as the closest schools along with a footprint "only" out to Illinois look significantly better for UMass.

If Big East Football ceases to exist because members have been absorbed by the B10 and ACC, then the options for UMass will probably result in them being a Northerly outlier in whatever affiliation created since I think the A-10 will also implode as a result. UNH and Maine aren't going FBS. Pretty sure URI isn't upgrading football to tag along with UMass. Much more likely for URI is a reduction of scholarships to become an affiliate football member of the NEC or dropping the program so they can align with basketball centric schools (BU, Northeastern, Hofstra, Drexel, George Washington, other A-10 fall outs, AE non football schools, etc.). If UMass (and URI) had a secure home for football, they too could join a basketball centric conference. But I think football is going to drive more of the future alignments since higher level conferences are going to want members who play football at the same level. And Eastern schools finally acknowledge that aligning with schools with a similar level of football helps create stable homes for their athletic departments.