http://blog.ctnews.com/college/2012/12/ ... at-bryant/

AEast looking at Bryant and three other candidates...

Could it be Bryant, CCSU, RMU and NJIT? Would bring the league to 12 and would result in 7 football members of they wanted to sponsor football.

A joint power play with the A10 to destroy the CAA? How interesting. Rhode Island would join them at the very least in football I'm sure. Splitting the CAA could result in the football playing schools having to find new homes if they aren't brought into the AEast which would make them easy pickings for the A10.

monmouth could play in a new american east league too

I can see Northeastern and Hofstra wanting to move out of CAA into a more northern based league.
Maybe the CAA even considers them dead weight after they dropped football.
Those 2 (especially Northeastern) may be AE candidates.
Others - Bryant, CCSU, NJIT needs a home.
All possibilities.

Not sure who the A-10 will target as replacements, and which ocnference will be the most desirable after the BE raid.

If the CAA survives, they may try to redefine themselves as more of a southern-based conference.

I think there is little doubt that Northeastern and Hofstra would benefit by being in the AE again for all sports. Travel costs being big, rivalries, and of course, competition since the CAA took a huge hit in losing VCU and ODU (despite ODU being awful this year). The CAA and AE aren't that far apart now...but the AE lost BU which hurt them. But with the CAA TV contract, as tiny as it is, I don't think either school would leave the CAA for the AE. But to put things in perspective, Hofstra lost their coach to the worst program in the A10, probably the worst ever in the A10 in Fordham.

Bryant has always been the school, along with CCSU, that made the most sense to me. They fit into the region, give the AE a RI school and another CT school to help give Hartford a boost. The AE is a New England conference and the more New England schools they can get, the better. I never liked the addition of UMBC, but they wanted to expand their market.

So since UMBC was added, I think it's up in the air as to who they add. The schools will likely come from the NEC as the only option. So really, any schools in the NEC could be options.

I'd say if they expand to only 9, then it's Bryant or CCSU. 10, it's both. 11 or 12, well, then it gets interesting. But I don't think they NEED to expand to 11 or 12 now. They can wait until they get poached again and then just add a school then from the NEC or a future D2 upgrade.



I too like the idea of AE football. But with the recent CAA additions of Albany and Stony Brook, it's fairly moot. You have UNH, Maine, Albany and Stony Brook at the highest FCS level in the CAA (Albany upgrading). You also have nearby URI. So that is 5 schools in the area together. If you add Bryant and CCSU and get them to upgrade football, yes, you'd have 5 all-sports members with URI as the locked in #6 associate member. But it's not 6 members needed to fully sponsor the sport, so it's not going to happen. Sure, you can slide in Monmouth if they wanted to upgrade and have 7 members. But it's too much of a gamble these days unless you have 8 SOLID members who aren't going anywhere...preference being 10 members. Because if 1-2 schools left for say, the Patriot or CAA for all-sports, it's over for everyone.

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I'd love to see America East work with the A-10 to deplete the CAA. I don't see how the line up of 10 schools that the CAA has now is going to be able to reach any sort of consensus especially if schools in the middle of the footprint are taken by the A-10. Aside from UNC Wilmington and College of Charleston I think the CAA schools would fit in well with the America East.

UMass-Lowell is joing America East.

http://www.midmajormadness.com/2013/2/1 ... erica-east

Also, word on the street is that Bryant will not be joining A-East as rumored. Possibly due to worries over orphaning their football program after seeing what Monmouth did?

Good find and good info, obvious replacement for Boston U and gets them back to 9, still I'd like to see them take NJIT for the 10th as it gives them a more "Southern" (wow that term is relative) better tieing in UMBC without over-expanding their footprint.

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If you take Bryant out of this who are the other 3. C.Conn St.(but fb problem there like Bryant). NJIT fits better than ever now, Quinn may have spoke too soon in his quest to keep NJIT down
http://blog.ctnews.com/college/2012/12/ ... at-bryant/

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I recall a certain person who was adement that the America East had no Division 2 options to consider and that NJIT would be selected first. If this UMass-Lowell has legs, that'd be somethin'

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I said the only school in that area mentioned as wanting to move up was LIU-Post who was more likely to join the NEC b/c they had football. Did I ever say first? I think I said C.Conn St. would/should be first but NEC would need to keep their football. I said they were an option for both NEC and AEC, and you got all irate that I listed the AEC. Then NJIT said they were upgrading facilities to make themselves more appealing to the AEC.

Still, do you have 3 more D-II call ups from the NE-10, ECC to get them to the 12 they want? S.Conn St. and New York Tech are the only public schools left in the 2 conf. I think, unless someone w/ a weird name is public that sounds private.

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disappointed that CCSU/Bryant were possibly passed over for UML.

You weren't passed over, they probably asked you first, but both of you had to say no b/c NEC would kick out your football like they did to Monmouth. Wagner, Bryant, CCSU, Monmouth should have all agreed to leave the NEC and then the NEC would have to keep their football or else not have the 6 needed to sponsor it.

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Lowell Sun article with more on UMass-Lowell move to America East for 2013-2014 at http://www.lowellsun.com/todaysheadline ... division-1