Presume they are talking with the Big South. Hampton has already made the move there.

https://hbcugameday.com/2018/06/15/the-t...ms-future/

Quote:No school has benefited more from the Celebration Bowl than North Carolina A&T in its first three years, but Hilton wasn’t a firm supporter of it early on.

“When it was initially proposed, I was opposed to it. I wanted to compete for the national championship.”

Big South #12
Radford, Longwood, Hampton
Campbell, Gardner-Webb, High Point, Asheville, North Carolina A&T
Winthrop, Presbyterian, Charleston Southern, South Carolina-Upstate

FB has affiliates (Kennesaw, North Alabama, Monmouth) with CSU, PC, G-W, & now Hampton. So A&T could fit Hampton + 2 HBCU’s into schedule.

BB will have a clear top 4 (Winthrop, Asheville, Hampton, High Point) until High Point moves on.

Howard may have to look north to get out of the MEAC. If both Howard and NC A&T go, the MEAC takes major hits academically. FAMU may have to look at the SWAC.

America East may look to Howard to be a travel partner with UMBC and also add NJIT when Albany and Stony Brook go FBS with the A Sun.

(06-17-2018 05:48 PM)NoDak Wrote:  Howard may have to look north to get out of the MEAC. If both Howard and NC A&T go, the MEAC takes major hits academically. FAMU may have to look at the SWAC.

America East may look to Howard to be a travel partner with UMBC and also add NJIT when Albany and Stony Brook go FBS with the A Sun.

It’s sad to watch an HBCU league possibly fall apart in a few year span (Savannah St, now Hampton...maybe NC A&T...Howard, B-C, & Florida A&M down the line?).

But selfishly I’m hoping dominoes fall so Chicago St lucks into permanent membership there (love the WAC but it’s rolling membership with sky high travel costs and an unwinnable league).

Howard would need to start men’s lacrosse to get in America East. Howard has women’s lax but not men’s. NJIT already has men’s but not women’s lax.

NC A&T, NC Central, FAMU, and Howard all have over 10k enrollment. The rest are all below 4500. Chicago St would fit right in with struggling enrollments and finances.

(06-17-2018 05:48 PM)NoDak Wrote:  Howard may have to look north to get out of the MEAC. If both Howard and NC A&T go, the MEAC takes major hits academically. FAMU may have to look at the SWAC.

America East may look to Howard to be a travel partner with UMBC and also add NJIT when Albany and Stony Brook go FBS with the A Sun.

In about 30 seconds, Howard joining America East (and starting men's lacrosse) will be an established fact that only fools question. NoDak is amazing.

(06-17-2018 06:49 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  

(06-17-2018 05:48 PM)NoDak Wrote:  Howard may have to look north to get out of the MEAC. If both Howard and NC A&T go, the MEAC takes major hits academically. FAMU may have to look at the SWAC.

America East may look to Howard to be a travel partner with UMBC and also add NJIT when Albany and Stony Brook go FBS with the A Sun.

It’s sad to watch an HBCU league possibly fall apart in a few year span (Savannah St, now Hampton...maybe NC A&T...Howard, B-C, & Florida A&M down the line?).

But selfishly I’m hoping dominoes fall so Chicago St lucks into permanent membership there (love the WAC but it’s rolling membership with sky high travel costs and an unwinnable league).

Isn’t any conference “unwinnable” for Chicago St at this point? Has CSU ever had a winning record in basketball?

(06-17-2018 10:22 PM)DoubleRSU Wrote:  

(06-17-2018 06:49 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  

(06-17-2018 05:48 PM)NoDak Wrote:  Howard may have to look north to get out of the MEAC. If both Howard and NC A&T go, the MEAC takes major hits academically. FAMU may have to look at the SWAC.

America East may look to Howard to be a travel partner with UMBC and also add NJIT when Albany and Stony Brook go FBS with the A Sun.

It’s sad to watch an HBCU league possibly fall apart in a few year span (Savannah St, now Hampton...maybe NC A&T...Howard, B-C, & Florida A&M down the line?).

But selfishly I’m hoping dominoes fall so Chicago St lucks into permanent membership there (love the WAC but it’s rolling membership with sky high travel costs and an unwinnable league).

Isn’t any conference “unwinnable” for Chicago St at this point? Has CSU ever had a winning record in basketball?

Right now, yes.

But Chicago St actually put out a decent team its first year in the WAC - outright 4th in a 9 team league.

It’s years like that or the one 10 years ago (above .500 vs D1) where the stars could align in the MEAC instead of thwarted by New Mexico State.

There’s still formiddable MEAC teams like ‘01 Hampton or the Kyle O’Quinn-Norfolk State squads or the recent NC Central teams but it’s still much easier to break than the Pistol Pete dynasty with Grand Canyon’s unlimited bank accounts lurking.

Chi St had 19 wins in 2009

The driver here I suspect is enrollment as far as where these programs think they belong.

NC AT&T 10,000
Howard 10,000
NC Central 10,000
Florida A&M 10,000

The 10,000 shows they aren't struggling too much financially.

Savannah St is 3,400 with an endowment of 6.9 million. It made sense to make the move back down to Division II. The money to compete with Duke and pay for a 10 million dollar basketball coach just isn't there.

(06-17-2018 06:49 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  

(06-17-2018 05:48 PM)NoDak Wrote:  Howard may have to look north to get out of the MEAC. If both Howard and NC A&T go, the MEAC takes major hits academically. FAMU may have to look at the SWAC.

America East may look to Howard to be a travel partner with UMBC and also add NJIT when Albany and Stony Brook go FBS with the A Sun.

It’s sad to watch an HBCU league possibly fall apart in a few year span (Savannah St, now Hampton...maybe NC A&T...Howard, B-C, & Florida A&M down the line?).

But selfishly I’m hoping dominoes fall so Chicago St lucks into permanent membership there (love the WAC but it’s rolling membership with sky high travel costs and an unwinnable league).

Why? Some of the better HBCU schools are being significantly held back due to their conference loyalty. In the public education world it's grow or whither on the vine and eventually die. The HBCU model is antiquated and much like some of the all female schools that eventually shed that label they too can prosper. (see Florida State, Winthrop, etc.) Don't get me wrong, HBCU's have a great story to tell and once played a vital roll in education, but that day has passed. In all honesty, some of them have been run so poorly and have had their budgets decimated that they should be shut down as they are a drain to tax payers and are a disservice to their students and community. Why should schools like Hampton and NC A&T be forced to circle the drain with some of their conference mates when they have an opportunity to better themselves and community by growing and going in a different direction?

I count 12 HBCUs that have 6000 or more students enrolled, with 3 in D2. Some of the data have not been updated, but a lot of the HBCUs last year had an increase of enrollment. Kentucky State has the largest increase by 160%.

Albany State 6615
Fayetteville State 6000
Winston-Salem State 6000

Florida A&M
Jackson State
Howard U.
Prairie View
Southern U.
Texas Southern
North Carolina A&T
North Carolina Central
Tennessee State

The rest of the HBCUs are under 6000 enrolled. I do think those 12 could find a way into a conference like Hampton U. and Tennessee State did. They could get better recognized and get more enrollment, and improve their athletics if they moved to a better conference.

If they sign a naming rights with ATT they could have A&T&A&T&T arena.

Geography probably keeps the SWAC together but the MEAC schools would be better served dropping to d2 or moving to regional conferences.

Delaware St, Coppin St, Morgan St, UMES, and SC St all need to move down.

Doesn't the Atlantic Sun need another team to even it out and you would still be guaranteed the Big South FB admission?

(06-20-2018 06:50 PM)spenser Wrote:  Doesn't the Atlantic Sun need another team to even it out and you would still be guaranteed the Big South FB admission?

Yes
2018-19:

A-Sun has 9
Big South has 11
MEAC has 11
Southern has 10

Big South would be closest travel wise for NC A&T

Big South - 153 miles, 2:30 drive time average
Southern - 249 miles, 4:02 drive time
MEAC - 339 miles, 5:45 drive time
A-Sun - 479 miles, 7:18 drive time

(06-19-2018 09:15 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  Geography probably keeps the SWAC together but the MEAC schools would be better served dropping to d2 or moving to regional conferences.

Delaware St, Coppin St, Morgan St, UMES, and SC St all need to move down.

The MEAC should sell the shell (by the seashore) of the conference to eight schools from C-USA. Keep Florida A&M and Bethune-Cookman around for an extra year to keep the conference from being completely dissolved, then they head to the SWAC.

As far as the rest of the MEAC:

Coppin State - Division II
Delaware State - Division II
Howard - Atlantic Sun or America East
Maryland-Eastern Shore - Division II
Morgan State - Divsion II
Norfolk State - Division II
North Carolina A&T - Big South
North Carolina Central - Big South
South Carolina State - Division II

(06-20-2018 08:01 PM)chargeradio Wrote:  

(06-19-2018 09:15 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  Geography probably keeps the SWAC together but the MEAC schools would be better served dropping to d2 or moving to regional conferences.

Delaware St, Coppin St, Morgan St, UMES, and SC St all need to move down.

The MEAC should sell the shell (by the seashore) of the conference to eight schools from C-USA. Keep Florida A&M and Bethune-Cookman around for an extra year to keep the conference from being completely dissolved, then they head to the SWAC.

As far as the rest of the MEAC:

Coppin State - Division II
Delaware State - Division II
Howard - Atlantic Sun or America East
Maryland-Eastern Shore - Division II
Morgan State - Divsion II
Norfolk State - Division II
North Carolina A&T - Big South
North Carolina Central - Big South
South Carolina State - Division II

FAMU and B-C to the A-Sun would be brilliant. It puts them in a conference for Olympic sports with 4 other Florida schools and it means a ton of savings in travel. Big South football would have the following HBCUs:

Hampton
NC A&T
NC Central
FAMU
B-C