http://articles.dailypress.com/2000-03-1...erence-usa

here is the best article I have found on the potential CAA SoCon "merger" after ECU and American announced they were leaving.

The article above says it was a 14 team merger but I believe by the time Richmond pulled out and nixed the thing it was announced as a 16 team deal.

This is what I believe it would have looked like

Football:
Delaware, W&M, JMU, Richmond, VMI, Furman, Wofford, The Citadel

All Sports:
Delaware, Drexel, Navy(or Towson), GMU, JMU, W&M, ODU, VCU, Richmond, UNCW, UNCG, Charleston, The Citadel, Furman, Wofford.

That would have left the SoCon to rebuild as a public school league with App and Georgia Southern leading the way. Crazy how different things might have been.

That would have likely been a 2-3 bid league in men's basketball, especially in the mid 2000s. And who knows what would have happened with the Hofstra and Northeastern bids to join the league.

Quote:The CAA has discussed expansion with a number of schools in recent months and may become a 10- or 12- team league for the 2001-2002 school year. But the league's expansion plans hit a pothole last weekend when Richmond officials revealed at the men's basketball tournament they were studying and considering a move to the Atlantic 10.

Atlantic 10 commissioner Linda Bruno said Thursday at the league's men's basketball tournament in Philadelphia, however, that her conference would remain at 11 members following Tech's departure for the Big East Conference. She had visited Richmond earlier this winter, and UR was thought to be one of the schools under consideration if the A-10 chose to expand.

Uh ... so what the heck happened??

VT left for the Big East in 2000, and Richmond joined the A10 in 2001 ...

(04-13-2017 10:22 PM)sctvman Wrote:  That would have likely been a 2-3 bid league in men's basketball, especially in the mid 2000s. And who knows what would have happened with the Hofstra and Northeastern bids to join the league.

It was a 2 to 3 bid league a few years when VCU, ODU and Mason were dominating the league.

(04-13-2017 10:22 PM)sctvman Wrote:  That would have likely been a 2-3 bid league in men's basketball, especially in the mid 2000s. And who knows what would have happened with the Hofstra and Northeastern bids to join the league.

Charleston might have helped get the CAA a semi-regular at-large, but would the other SoCon schools have helped that much?

My dream CAA, constructed in the early 2000s, would have been something like this:

ODU
VCU
Richmond
George Mason
William & Mary
JMU
Charlotte
Davidson
UNCW
Charleston
George Washington
Towson

That's using the whole "realign conferences into compact footprints" idea, with Hofstra, Drexel and Northeastern going to the A-10 or whereabouts.

That, of course, was never happening. But it's not hard to wonder in particular if a CAA that had a strong ODU, VCU and Mason could have held its ground and improved it with strategic additions. The addition of the Northeast schools and Georgia State did a lot to destabilize the CAA and water down its culture from a respectable Mid-Atlantic conference to a bloated one with a disappearing identity.

(04-14-2017 08:53 AM)MplsBison Wrote:  

Quote:The CAA has discussed expansion with a number of schools in recent months and may become a 10- or 12- team league for the 2001-2002 school year. But the league's expansion plans hit a pothole last weekend when Richmond officials revealed at the men's basketball tournament they were studying and considering a move to the Atlantic 10.

Atlantic 10 commissioner Linda Bruno said Thursday at the league's men's basketball tournament in Philadelphia, however, that her conference would remain at 11 members following Tech's departure for the Big East Conference. She had visited Richmond earlier this winter, and UR was thought to be one of the schools under consideration if the A-10 chose to expand.

Uh ... so what the heck happened??

VT left for the Big East in 2000, and Richmond joined the A10 in 2001 ...

Richmond announced day before announcement that they were puling out and joining the A10.

No Richmond led to the socon schools pulling out which led to a potential caa(minus uncw) American east merger. That got voted down by the AE schools which led to Delaware and friends coming to CAA. This led to northeastern making the jump to the CAA for football school #6 so the CAA could become an all sports conference taking away the control from the A10. That led to an even bigger gap in basketball between the CAA and A10 which resulted in more CAA schools making the jump leaving the current CAA as an unsustainable round robin conference from Boston to Charleston divided almost equally between public and private schools

(04-13-2017 10:22 PM)sctvman Wrote:  That would have likely been a 2-3 bid league in men's basketball, especially in the mid 2000s. And who knows what would have happened with the Hofstra and Northeastern bids to join the league.

Hofstra and Northeastern was done strictly get control of the old Yankee Conference Football. America East had an interest and the A10 did not want it. Hence they came over from America East and Richmond, eventhou in the A10 voted for the CAA. This how the CAA Football happened. As those two teams soon dropped football, the CAA only added southern teams leading towards URI to commited to NEC for Football and UMass left for the MAC. After the defections the CAA asked URI to reconsider, which they did and added two northeast team. Believe it was Albany and Stony Brook.

There are more America East teams in CAA football than there are CAA or A10 teams, nowadays.

(04-14-2017 11:33 AM)Steve1981 Wrote:  

(04-13-2017 10:22 PM)sctvman Wrote:  That would have likely been a 2-3 bid league in men's basketball, especially in the mid 2000s. And who knows what would have happened with the Hofstra and Northeastern bids to join the league.

Hofstra and Northeastern was done strictly get control of the old Yankee Conference Football. America East had an interest and the A10 did not want it. Hence they came over from America East and Richmond, eventhou in the A10 voted for the CAA. This how the CAA Football happened. As those two teams soon dropped football, the CAA only added southern teams leading towards URI to commited to NEC for Football and UMass left for the MAC. After the defections the CAA asked URI to reconsider, which they did and added two northeast team. Believe it was Albany and Stony Brook.

Northeastern played a very good game. The CAA needed a 6th football team to get the affiliation from the A10. Northeastern was that 6th team and then soon after it was official NE and Hofstra dropped the sport the were brought in for. Well played