It's still no more than rumor as far as I can see, but I've heard SBU to CAA. Anyone with more concrete info?
No wonder everyone is trying to leave the Big South. It's so boring even their own fans don't come on the board to talk about it. lol
(05-04-2012 02:15 PM)knucklehead Wrote: [ -> ]No wonder everyone is trying to leave the Big South. It's so boring even their own fans don't come on the board to talk about it. lol
Hey I tried to promote this board last year, but the Big South "community" is really splintered with all the individual boards. It's too bad.
I'm really intrigued with what will happen with Big South football if/when SBU, Liberty, and Coastal leave. That will leave only four and I believe they need at least six. Will new fb schools join the league?
I would hope that current Big South schools add football. That would be the most ideal in my opinion. Winthrop (6,400) and Radford (9,350) are two of the largest populated schools in the Big South and don't have football. High Point is making progress in leaps and bounds for their athletic department and I could see them adding football down the road. But the Big South really needs to increase their football profile. Also, I have no idea why Longwood was added unless the Big South is conceding losing the top football schools and plans to be non-competitive in football and shift focus to being a basketball conference.
With Northeastern and Hofstra dropping football in 2010, UMass going to the MAC for 2012, Rhode Island going to the Northeast Conference in 2013, and now Old Dominion and Georgia St going to C-USA in 2013, the CAA certainly needs members for football. Stony Brook from the Big South makes sense as it will help fill the CAA football conference gap between Maine and New Hampshire and the rest of the conference (since Northeastern, Hofstra, UMass and Rhode Island are no longer conference football members). The closest f/b member school to Maine & New Hampshire is Villanova. Stony Brook doesn't really belong in the Big South to start with. It was like La Tech in the WAC.
Others mentioned as possibly leaving the Big South are Coastal Carolina and/or Liberty to the CAA and if that happened, then VMI might be interested in joining the Patriot League.
The realignment craze has reached the FCS level.
(05-17-2012 11:01 PM)RUfan03 Wrote: [ -> ]and now Old Dominion and Georgia St going to C-USA in 2013, the CAA certainly needs members for football. Stony Brook from the Big South makes sense as it will help fill the CAA football conference gap between Maine and New Hampshire and the rest of the conference (since Northeastern, Hofstra, UMass and Rhode Island are no longer conference football members).
Um, no. ODU only from CAA to C-USA.
Stony Brook Bball is terrible and the new CAA additions will likely be from below the Mason-Dixon anyhow.
Rumor has it that possibly this week the CAA will announce that Stony Brook and Albany will be added as football only members. If true that will fill the gap between Maine and New Hampshire with the rest of the CAA f/b playing member schools. It will help to keep travel cost reasonable by keeping the CAA in a condensed region from Maine to Virginia. Any thought of moving southward and increasing travel cost apparently is on hold after Georgia States early exit from the CAA.
Stony Brook (from Big South Conference) & Albany (from the Northeast Conference) officially accepted invitations today to play football in the Colonial Athletic Conference. Press conferences tomorrow with official announcements.
(06-14-2012 10:14 AM)OLD DIRTY Wrote: [ -> ]Stony Brook Bball is terrible and the new CAA additions will likely be from below the Mason-Dixon anyhow.
Stony Brook has won America East's regular season title 2 of the last 3 years, and was runner-up in their tourney, scoring invites to the NIT. So there are far worse Bball programs out there.
So why not just add some up and coming D2 programs. Two that come to my mind are located in west Virginia. Would extend footprint some but not so much it'd hurt travel costs. Just add West Liberty and Charleston. West Liberty has the best D2 basketball program out there with great fan support. Charleston is in a big market and is the state capitol. Both schools currently fully support their athletic programs so upgrading shouldn't be too difficult if they had a place to go.
There,s no room for both Liberty and West Liberty.
The Big South has often considered Campbell a team in its pocket that could join in the future. Its positive for the Big South that Campbell scheduled a game against a Big South opponent...but with the Pioneer League now getting an automatic bid it I don't see that road being a viable option.
The Big South returns back north. Monmouth U in W. Long Branch NJ is joining the Big South as an affiliate football member starting in 2014. They will fill the void left by Stony Brooks departure.