Article out of Richmond with comments from CAA Commish who appears concerned that a possible UMass move to FBS may cause New Hampshire and Maine to leave the CAA.Link at http://www2.timesdispatch.com/sports/20 ... -ar-699411

Freaked -

Thanks for the info. Looks like the "big CAA announcement" involved Drexel starting up a women's crew team !!! "Stroke ! Stroke ! Stroke !"

Let's summarize CAA FB -

Delaware - stable
Towson - stable
James Madison - stable (upwarldy mobile ?)
William & Mary - stable
Old Dominion - up & running
Georgia State - up & running - CAA league in 2012
Northeastern - quit football
Hofstra - quit football

Richmond (A10) - probably stable
Rhode Island (A10) - moving to NEC
UMass (A10) - may be moving to MAC FBS
Villanova (BE) - may be moving to BE FBS
Maine (AE) - ?
New Hampshire (AE) - ?

So including Ga. State, we're looking at 11, but we may have pending departures by 'Nova and/or UMass.


Candidates -
Fordham - sought and got a divorce from the Patriot League
Stony Brook - biding time in the Big South
UNC-Charlotte - FCS FB in 2013.
Albany - may be happy in 40 scholarship NEC, might be happier with Stony Brook in the CAA....


I think here's what I would do, if I'm CAA commissioner....

Meet with CAA presidents / ADs and achieve confirmation that you'd like to have 12 FB teams going forward.

Meet with Maine and New Hampshire and find out where their heads are at ? I honestly have no idea where they might go, if they are unhappy (the NEC is an option, but they'd have to dump 63-40 scholarships). Find out if they feel less isolated if Rhode Island (and potentially UMass / Villanova) are replaced with Fordham, Stony Brook, Albany ? Assure them that is the contingency plan.

Meet with A-10 commissioner and Presidents of Northeastern, Hofstra, Richmond and UNCC, and see if there is any interest in having Richmond and UNCC join the CAA (for all sports) and having Northeastern and Hofstra taking their place in the A-10 (for all sports)....
I think at one point, Richmond was in the CAA (or affiliated with the CAA schools) and they went off to the A-10. Maybe there is some bad blood, but administrators change and memories fade....

This is when the reality of an imperfect world kicks in. Schools don't want to make moves to a lower conference. It's why logic doesn't playout in the region. For instance, since Hofstra and NU don't have football, there is little reason for them to be in the CAa anymore...especially NU who was only brought in because they had football and gave the CAA enough to usurp sponsorship. Remember, NU was one of the lower candidates in the AE. the CAA could have taken BU in the same market, but BU had no football. Same goes with Drexel: like NU and Hofstra, they make more sense in the AE now.

You mention Charlotte and Richmond. They don't want to be in the CAA where you have to win the conference to make the tourney. You can count on your fingers how many at-large bids they have had. Meanwhile, in a bad year, the A10 will get 2 schools in. In an average year, 3-4, and in some good years, 5. That will never be the case with the CAA.

And you also have the SoCon in the region.

In the perfect world, commissioners would be on the phone making swaps. But it's not part of the the greedy world of college sports. Ideally, you'd have NU, Drexel and Hofstra volunteer for the AE...you'd have the other 3 non-football CAA schools (GMU, VCU, UNCW) volunteer to join the SoCon with other top non-football schools from the Big south...and the SoCon football schools join the CAA. But that wouldn't ever happen.

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And personally, I'd like to see UNH, Maine leave the CAA for a new northeast conference other than the NEC.

Wouldn't take much either: just dropping some scholarships.

Love to see America East football with Maine, UNH, Albany and Stonybrook as the core. Invite CCSU for all-sports (and a name change to Connecticut St.) for #5. The URI and Fordham as associate members for 7 total schools:

UNH
Maine
URI
C connecticut St.
Albany
Fordham
Stonybrook

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Look for GMU and VCU to add football in the next 4-7 years...

Tute79,Quinn,and Dbackjon,thanks for the posts.

Article out of Richmond with comments from CAA Commish regarding today's FCS summit in Frisco Texas and possible future CAA realignment.Link at http://www2.timesdispatch.com/sports/co ... -ar-758436

FCS MB thread discussing CAA/UNCC situation at http://www.championshipsubdivision.com/ ... =4&t=22474

I remember reading somewhere that Youngstown St might get a football invite to the CAA? When going back through these posts I don't really see any mention of them, They are the only non Summit/MVC team in the Valley, and if it happened it would make room for North Dakota to move into the Summit....thoughts?

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So the CAA football league will be headed downward to 9 or 10, with the defection of UMass to the MAC for FBS football.
Where only 2 years ago, the CAA was sweating how to accommodate 14 teams (as ODU and Georgia St.) add the sport,
now 5 schools have withdrawn, namely:

Hofstra (dropped football)
Northeastern (dropped football)
URI (to the NEC)
UMass (to FBS FB in the MAC)

Villanova (to FBS FB in the BE ??? Sort of in limbo)

With URI and UMass gone, Maine and New Hampshire are increasingly isolated.

Perhaps after Villanova's fate is known, the CAA may want to strategize about inviting new members.
First step would be to check the status of current CAA schools (does JMU intend to move up ?)
Second step would be to ascertain if any CAA members want to add FB (George Mason ?, VCU ?)
Third - determine how many members there should be going forward.
Fourth - look over the ususal suspects:
Stony Brook,
Fordham,
Charlotte (UNCC - they appear to be aiming for FBS ultimately)
Albany
Youngstown State (yes tkalmus - I would agree they are worth talking to).

I would like to see North Dakota ultimately end up in the Summit ? MVFC, since that's where they belong - the MVFC would appear to be the hold-up).

Na. Many people think they should consider it, but it never has been anything too solid. Would love to see it though.

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It's a tough call for Maine and UNH.

The CAA could just bring in the likes of Stony Brook and Fordham, perhaps even Albany would might be interested. Then you'd have 4-5 schools in the region.

But that said, I'd almost be happier if you were to take the northern NEC teams and start something new. One can argue that UNH and Maine would be better off with the likes of URI, Albany, Stony Brook.

Problem is the numbers. UNH, Maine, Albany and Stonybrook are all AE schools. But to sponsor, they need 6 all-sports members. So even if you brought in C Connecticut St., that would only be 5. So URI as an affiliate member does you no good. Just think that FCS football in the region would be better off if the few schools with the sport were together: Maine, UNH, URI, CCSU, Albany, Stony Brook, Fordham. Even Bryant.



The CAA will be fine post-UMass and even Nova. They'll have options for football-only like Fordham and Stonybrook that would help UNH and Maine. YSU is another football only option. Charlotte too. CAA will be fine for football.

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FCS MB thread discussing UMass leaving CAA for MAC story at http://www.anygivensaturday.com/showthr ... C-official

Fordham has added scholarships, so they aren't eligible for the Patriot League football title anymore. Stony Brook is playing football in the Big South. Charlotte needs a home, at least temporarily.

FCS CAA:
Maine
New Hampshire
Fordham (new)
Stony Brook (new)
Rhode Island (through 2012)
Villanova (looking to get out)
Towson
Delaware
James Madison
William & Mary
Richmond
Charlotte (new)
Georgia State

The other alternative is to acknowledge practically the enitre membership may move to FBS, and have those schools join the WAC for football only (let's say Charlotte, Georgia State, James Madison, Delaware, Towson, and Stony Brook for discussion purposes); the remainder form a new America East football league (Maine, New Hampshire, Fordham, Richmond, William & Mary, and possibly Villanova). If the new America East league needs a substitute for Villanova, it could look at an upwardly mobile NEC school. The only real outliers in the new FCS league would be the Virginia schools.

There's at most 5 FBS schools there, so collective FbS is not an option:

Charlotte, ODU, Ga St are all Planning to eventually upgrade. Jmu has the tools. Delaware can too. And then Nova. The rest don't have the support.

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wbyeager -
you lost ODU in the shuffle....

Why on earth woud these eastern schools want to link up with the WAC ?
I'm thinking that if another eastern FBS conference formed, they could potentially pull in:
Buffalo, Temple, and UMass from the MAC
Marshall and ECU from CUSA
Then they'd have critical mass