(04-26-2020 06:47 AM)Bawlmer Duke Wrote:  

(04-26-2020 06:27 AM)JMURocks Wrote:  

(04-26-2020 06:17 AM)82hawk Wrote:  I poted this on the This would set up a really nice two division conference

CofC, UNCW, UNCG, Campbell, Elon, W&M(longest drive would be Charleston to Williamsburg at 7 hours. All other drives under 4:30.)

Towson, NU, Hofstra, Delaware, JMU, Drexel (Boston to Harrisonburg longest drive 9 hours, all others under 6:30)

Face it, there are only two Virginia schools left. North Carolina is the best place to make the heart of the conference and the best place to add schools. This set up would make a really good travel schedule for everyone in the conference.

Those additions, especially Campbell are very unappealing. This reinforces to me that JMU no longer belongs in the CAA.

Agreed. Hard pass. Plus 6 of those teams don't even have football.

Also, I do no think it would make sense to break up JMU from W&M if it were a two division conference.

Wait, I thought additions like Campbell would allegedly take place after JMU leaves anyway, so what difference is it to JMU?

(04-26-2020 10:09 AM)Michael in Raleigh Wrote:  

(04-26-2020 06:47 AM)Bawlmer Duke Wrote:  

(04-26-2020 06:27 AM)JMURocks Wrote:  

(04-26-2020 06:17 AM)82hawk Wrote:  I poted this on the This would set up a really nice two division conference

CofC, UNCW, UNCG, Campbell, Elon, W&M(longest drive would be Charleston to Williamsburg at 7 hours. All other drives under 4:30.)

Towson, NU, Hofstra, Delaware, JMU, Drexel (Boston to Harrisonburg longest drive 9 hours, all others under 6:30)

Face it, there are only two Virginia schools left. North Carolina is the best place to make the heart of the conference and the best place to add schools. This set up would make a really good travel schedule for everyone in the conference.

Those additions, especially Campbell are very unappealing. This reinforces to me that JMU no longer belongs in the CAA.

Agreed. Hard pass. Plus 6 of those teams don't even have football.

Also, I do no think it would make sense to break up JMU from W&M if it were a two division conference.

Wait, I thought additions like Campbell would allegedly take place after JMU leaves anyway, so what difference is it to JMU?

IF we leave, then yes, who cares. But the above proposed two division conference would have JMU in the Northern division with really noone of great interest to us outside of Delaware. W&M would be part of south division. IF JMU was a part of this, BARF!

(04-26-2020 07:29 AM)82hawk Wrote:  I don't disagree. It's obvious JMU is primed to go DI football. Hate to break it to everyone, but the shutdown we are in is devastating college athletics economics. It will take possibly a decade to recover, and that's IF everyone opens up this fall. The last thing any conference wants to do right now is bring another mouth to the table. And the cost to leave is an additional burden. If schools don't bring students on campus this fall, there goes a semester of student fees and JMU is heavily reliant on those fees.

Not to mention, even if games are played there is no way on earth everyone is going to return to full capacity stadiums. People will still be wary and may just skip going to games or buying season tickets until next year. This will heavily impact both basketball and football.

JMU already plays DI FB. I think you meant to suggest FBS FB.

(04-26-2020 06:17 AM)82hawk Wrote:  I poted this on the UNCW board: (does not account for a JMU move. And I don't see W&M move if JMU leaves)

If I could wave a wand and make any change I wanted, i'd add Campbell and UNCG to make the CAA a NC centric conference with an easy set of travel partners. UNCG, Campbell and Elon are all really close to the Virginia border to boot. Could also play the CAA tournament at the Greensboro coliseum

Campbell has a pretty big following and is really close to Raleigh. They are a rising star in NC and already have almost 7,000 students. They also have a football team.

UNC Greensboro is in the largest city on the East Coast that doesn't have a college affiliated with a top tier conference. They have about 17,000 students.

This would set up a really nice two division conference

CofC, UNCW, UNCG, Campbell, Elon, W&M(longest drive would be Charleston to Williamsburg at 7 hours. All other drives under 4:30.)

Towson, NU, Hofstra, Delaware, JMU, Drexel (Boston to Harrisonburg longest drive 9 hours, all others under 6:30)

Face it, there are only two Virginia schools left. North Carolina is the best place to make the heart of the conference and the best place to add schools. This set up would make a really good travel schedule for everyone in the conference.

I forget if this was something I mentioned anywhere or just was thinking about it, but UNCW, UNCG, Charleston, Hofstra were some fairly solid basketball schools I was thinking about for if this new conference wanted to throw in some non-football members either just on their own or to balance out a couple football only members.

I wonder how those schools would feel about that possibility versus just staying put. Obviously the CAA schools might be quicker to consider it if it's more than just JMU making the jump. Something like: JMU, ODU, Marshall, UNCC, App State, GSU, GSU, UAB, WKU, MTSU, UNCW, UNCG, Charleston, Hofstra. Ten football schools, 14 for basketball and other olympic sports.

Or, let's say that schools like UAB/WKU/MTSU/GSUx2 decide to go with the more southern schools like Troy, USA, ULM, etc. so maybe a couple other CAA schools and football only schools get added to this east coast conference. Something like: JMU, ODU, Marshall, UNCC, App State, Delaware, Towson, UMass(FB), UConn(FB), Coastal Carolina, UNCW, UNCG, Charleston, Hofstra.

I don't know how appealing something like that would be to you guys and others... Obviously the second isn't as appealing to us/ODU/etc. as the first is but it's definitely still something I'd be very on board with and I'd imagine 99% of JMU fans would agree compared to the CAA.

(04-26-2020 11:00 AM)Longhorn Wrote:  

(04-26-2020 07:29 AM)82hawk Wrote:  I don't disagree. It's obvious JMU is primed to go DI football. Hate to break it to everyone, but the shutdown we are in is devastating college athletics economics. It will take possibly a decade to recover, and that's IF everyone opens up this fall. The last thing any conference wants to do right now is bring another mouth to the table. And the cost to leave is an additional burden. If schools don't bring students on campus this fall, there goes a semester of student fees and JMU is heavily reliant on those fees.

Not to mention, even if games are played there is no way on earth everyone is going to return to full capacity stadiums. People will still be wary and may just skip going to games or buying season tickets until next year. This will heavily impact both basketball and football.

JMU already plays DI FB. I think you meant to suggest FBS FB.

Correct. Wrong terminology coming from somone at a school with no footballl....lol

(04-26-2020 09:55 PM)KickItToScotty Wrote:  

(04-26-2020 06:17 AM)82hawk Wrote:  I poted this on the UNCW board: (does not account for a JMU move. And I don't see W&M move if JMU leaves)

If I could wave a wand and make any change I wanted, i'd add Campbell and UNCG to make the CAA a NC centric conference with an easy set of travel partners. UNCG, Campbell and Elon are all really close to the Virginia border to boot. Could also play the CAA tournament at the Greensboro coliseum

Campbell has a pretty big following and is really close to Raleigh. They are a rising star in NC and already have almost 7,000 students. They also have a football team.

UNC Greensboro is in the largest city on the East Coast that doesn't have a college affiliated with a top tier conference. They have about 17,000 students.

This would set up a really nice two division conference

CofC, UNCW, UNCG, Campbell, Elon, W&M(longest drive would be Charleston to Williamsburg at 7 hours. All other drives under 4:30.)

Towson, NU, Hofstra, Delaware, JMU, Drexel (Boston to Harrisonburg longest drive 9 hours, all others under 6:30)

Face it, there are only two Virginia schools left. North Carolina is the best place to make the heart of the conference and the best place to add schools. This set up would make a really good travel schedule for everyone in the conference.

I forget if this was something I mentioned anywhere or just was thinking about it, but UNCW, UNCG, Charleston, Hofstra were some fairly solid basketball schools I was thinking about for if this new conference wanted to throw in some non-football members either just on their own or to balance out a couple football only members.

I wonder how those schools would feel about that possibility versus just staying put. Obviously the CAA schools might be quicker to consider it if it's more than just JMU making the jump. Something like: JMU, ODU, Marshall, UNCC, App State, GSU, GSU, UAB, WKU, MTSU, UNCW, UNCG, Charleston, Hofstra. Ten football schools, 14 for basketball and other olympic sports.

Or, let's say that schools like UAB/WKU/MTSU/GSUx2 decide to go with the more southern schools like Troy, USA, ULM, etc. so maybe a couple other CAA schools and football only schools get added to this east coast conference. Something like: JMU, ODU, Marshall, UNCC, App State, Delaware, Towson, UMass(FB), UConn(FB), Coastal Carolina, UNCW, UNCG, Charleston, Hofstra.

I don't know how appealing something like that would be to you guys and others... Obviously the second isn't as appealing to us/ODU/etc. as the first is but it's definitely still something I'd be very on board with and I'd imagine 99% of JMU fans would agree compared to the CAA.

I believe UNCW enjoys the association with large, top level academic schools. A lot of people want UNCW to drop back to the SoCon, but if you look at those schools they are much smaller, private for the most part and they are not research level colleges. People seem to forget conference affiliation isn't all about sports for many mid major schools. P5 schools have already "made it", and most P5 schools are high level research universities already, so any P5 conference has top notch academic schools.

Our Chancellor has UNCW on course for 25,000 students in the next 5 years and on course as a high level research university. We fit in nicely with the current CAA schools. Not sure what it would look like, but I truly believe a N/S division system is the best for all who are in right now. Every CAA school has pretty much outgrown any of the more regional conferences size wise and academically.

It even works best for JMU as long as they are in. And separating JMU and William and Mary isn't as bad as you'd think. Football conference could remain as is. JMU and the Tribe could still play twice per year as cross division rivalries. Bottom line is that th current setup isn't working and needs to be changed. Fixing it is superior to everyone abandoning ship IMO.

Yeah I get that other than Campbell being one of your choices. From JMU's perspective though, fixing it probably isn't really possible and abandoning ship is the only option to end up somewhere our football program fits. There are factors other than sports and there are sports other than football, but sports is a big factor and football is our biggest sport. In FCS and the CAA, as Purple often puts it, JMU is the six foot tall second grader.