Having looked at the A-Sun expansion thread, I got to thinking about the possible new conference, located on the East Coast, and composed exclusively of Private colleges.

From the Colonial:
-Hofstra
-Northeastern
-Drexel

From the Metro Atlantic:
-Monmouth
-Quinnipiac
-Siena

From America East:
-Hartford

From the Northeast:
-Bryant
-Wagner

From the Patriot:
-American
-Boston University
-Loyola(MD)

Positives for the conference:
-All are like-minded private colleges.
-None sponsor football
-Have representation in all major East Coast markets

Negatives:
-Wouldn't qualify for any NCAA AQ's for a deacade.
-Would destabilize the conferences they're leaving(except for the Patriot).

Your thoughts?

i dont think anyone will leave the Patriot for that lineup

No excitement there.

American wouldn't take its Olympic sports out of the Patriot.

I expected to see something like this when I opened the thread:
CUSA East plus UAB defect, add Buffalo, UMass, and some mix of JMU, App, Ga.St, Ga.So

What a joke. No way. All those teams suck . No mega TV contract will be there. . How did you come up with this nonsense?

(02-22-2014 11:41 AM)Rube Dali Wrote:  Your thoughts?

The way that conference realignment works is that a conference attracts a school or set of schools.

So in addition to the core problem of the lineup, that the schools in the list that would add the most interest to the lineup would have no interest in joining, there is the problem that, in the New England response for directions, "you can't get there from here." There is no base conference that could implement that conference realignment, even if ,any of the schools that would add interest to that conference would wish to be a member (and few would, if any).

Hofstra cut FB to focus resources on their MBB believing they could snag an A10 invite with all the musical chairs, so they won't budge from the CAA. Siena leaders and fans have also believed for the last few years their impressive support for a school their size, their market, and their connection to St Bonaventure, makes them next to the A10 if Dayton/St Louis are poached. So they wouldn't go for that lineup vs the current MAAC, either.

That type of conference reorganization doesn't happen unless multiple conferences involved have anxieties about collapsing. It's missing any financial incentive and a strong leader willing to risk upsetting its home conference to get this organized. The small-timers running these athletic departments wouldn't stick their necks out for this. They're mostly budget managers, not Dave Gavitt types.

(02-22-2014 02:09 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  I expected to see something like this when I opened the thread:
CUSA East plus UAB defect, add Buffalo, UMass, and some mix of JMU, App, Ga.St, Ga.So

I was also pleasantly surprised as well.

My thoughts are that generally schools want 2 things:

1. To move up to a stronger athletic conference, be it performance and NCAA bids. (e.g. VCU from the Colonial to the A10).

2. To move up to a more prestigious academic conference that is more in line with institutional vision. (e.g. Boston University to the Patriot).

My feeling is that almost everyone in the NEC, MAAC, AEast and Patriot is pretty happy as to where they are a this point. CAA I think is another story with Hofstra and Northeastern not really belonging in that conference. I'm not sure where they can go, maybe an expanded MAAC.

(02-22-2014 10:01 PM)RecoveringHillbilly Wrote:  Hofstra cut FB to focus resources on their MBB believing they could snag an A10 invite with all the musical chairs, so they won't budge from the CAA. Siena leaders and fans have also believed for the last few years their impressive support for a school their size, their market, and their connection to St Bonaventure, makes them next to the A10 if Dayton/St Louis are poached. So they wouldn't go for that lineup vs the current MAAC, either.

That is a good point that Hofstra and Siena are probably waiting on the bench for the A10. Northeastern I would think has similar thoughts to eventually replace UMass in the A10.

Colonial then raids the Southern, the Southern then raids the ASun and equilibrium is restored.

(02-22-2014 11:41 AM)Rube Dali Wrote:  Having looked at the A-Sun expansion thread, I got to thinking about the possible new conference, located on the East Coast, and composed exclusively of Private colleges.

From the Colonial:
-Hofstra
-Northeastern
-Drexel

From the Metro Atlantic:
-Monmouth
-Quinnipiac
-Siena

From America East:
-Hartford

From the Northeast:
-Bryant
-Wagner

From the Patriot:
-American
-Boston University
-Loyola(MD)

Positives for the conference:
-All are like-minded private colleges.
-None sponsor football
-Have representation in all major East Coast markets

Negatives:
-Wouldn't qualify for any NCAA AQ's for a deacade.
-Would destabilize the conferences they're leaving(except for the Patriot).

Your thoughts?

Monmouth, Wagner and Bryant sponsor FCS football teams. Also, doubt any school is going to leave the Patriot League which is made up mostly of private schools (sans the 2 military schools).