(01-13-2022 02:27 AM)NJcollegehoopsGUY Wrote:  As a Monmouth fan, I hope they only move to CAA for football at the moment. Since CAA-Football is a different organization than the CAA for other sports, this seems like a safer decision than moving all sports over. I am not confident in the CAA will remain intact over the next year. There is no common identity among members and I could imagine some of the southern members flaking to the A-10 (Charleston?) or SoCon or ASUN. Until there is more clarity on that front, I hope basketball stays put in the MAAC. Plus, with the rise of Iona because of Pitino, it could be good for Monmouth. Being the #2 in a league with a nationally recognized program could be the better for recruiting and branding...especially if they win some games against them. Who knows, if the MAAC commish had any ambition, maybe the MAAC could grab Hofstra during this time of turbulence for the CAA and get to 12 members themselves.

CAA isn't going anywhere and is a step from the MAAC and will get you more national games. I think they have a contract w/ cbs sports channel.

The Colonial. Where you go when you don't plan on being anything better.

(01-13-2022 04:33 AM)All4One Wrote:  The Colonial. Where you go when you don't plan on being anything better.

The CAA.....A-10's JV teams

(01-12-2022 11:06 PM)Fresno St. Alum Wrote:  

(01-12-2022 05:19 PM)solohawks Wrote:  

(01-12-2022 04:52 PM)Fresno St. Alum Wrote:  

(01-12-2022 03:59 PM)solohawks Wrote:  

(01-12-2022 03:33 PM)Fresno St. Alum Wrote:  You guys didn't see the CAA's short list where they said they could take all 3 of Monmouth, Marist, Howard

Saw it but there is no way the southern schools sign off on a northern dominated expansion

Who else would the go for that they can all agree on? Sounds like Monmouth is in. Hampton, Winthrop, UNCG seem like the southern schools they could look at.

Thats a good question

UNCG is probably the top target, but i don't see why on earth they would leave the SoCon for the CAA at this point.

Winthrop would be a nice grab and wouldn't disrupt a potential 12 team CAA football league with Monmouth.

All other southern schools that would be willing and able candidates have football: Hampton, Campbell, NC Central, NC A&T

My preference as a UNCW fan would be UNCG and Winthrop as they align well with UNCW and CoC.

That would also unite what I believe are the 4 non football schools in the Carolinas in one place.

Does the UNC system have the same rules as the UC and CSU system here. SDSU and Fresno had to be a yes for SJSU coming in, when it came to a vote. Same w/ the CSUs and CSUB to the Big West and the UCs w/ UCSD.

Not a "rule" but the CAA likely would find someone else if UNCW didn't want UNCG

Hofstra did this with Stony Brook and is the reason the CAA doesn't currently have N/S divisions

As a fan of a school that has always been an outlier in the conference I find this territoriailism the northern schools have baffling

(01-13-2022 04:33 AM)All4One Wrote:  The Colonial. Where you go when you don't plan on being anything better.

Maybe? Although JMU, ODU, Georgia State, VCU, GMU, Richmond, and ECU were all a part of the conference there at one time, and those teams certainly wanted something better (and got it). I guess that might explain the attitude of what's leftover tho

(01-13-2022 07:30 AM)Blue_Trombone Wrote:  

(01-13-2022 04:33 AM)All4One Wrote:  The Colonial. Where you go when you don't plan on being anything better.

Maybe? Although JMU, ODU, Georgia State, VCU, GMU, Richmond, and ECU were all a part of the conference there at one time, and those teams certainly wanted something better (and got it). I guess that might explain the attitude of what's leftover tho

If an opening in the A-10 came, half of the conference would be on the short list.

(01-13-2022 07:30 AM)Blue_Trombone Wrote:  

(01-13-2022 04:33 AM)All4One Wrote:  The Colonial. Where you go when you don't plan on being anything better.

Maybe? Although JMU, ODU, Georgia State, VCU, GMU, Richmond, and ECU were all a part of the conference there at one time, and those teams certainly wanted something better (and got it). I guess that might explain the attitude of what's leftover tho

ODU, GA State, and JMU ended up in the same conference. I would not be shocked to see ECU back with that group sometime in the future.

VCU, GMU, and UR all ended up in the best basketball conference for them. The A-10 fits their pure basketball focus.

(01-12-2022 05:41 PM)ShakeNBake Wrote:  UNCG and Winthrop would be good. Would help travel for Elon, UNCW, CofC and W&M.

At least one of any southern new members would have to include football in my view. A full, all sports member. Replace Winthrop with VMI or Furman, would be optimal.

If Monmouth joins for all sports, the all sports core would become:
W&M
Elon
Delaware
Towson
Monmouth

As mentioned, Monmouth for football only makes no sense for the CAA.

(01-13-2022 08:12 AM)whittx Wrote:  

(01-13-2022 07:30 AM)Blue_Trombone Wrote:  

(01-13-2022 04:33 AM)All4One Wrote:  The Colonial. Where you go when you don't plan on being anything better.

Maybe? Although JMU, ODU, Georgia State, VCU, GMU, Richmond, and ECU were all a part of the conference there at one time, and those teams certainly wanted something better (and got it). I guess that might explain the attitude of what's leftover tho

If an opening in the A-10 came, half of the conference would be on the short list.

Couldn’t you say that about the Big East and A10?
The Sun Belt and AAC?

There’s a pecking order for sure. It’s not like the CAA is alone in dealing with it.

(01-13-2022 08:58 AM)Sitting bull Wrote:  

(01-13-2022 08:12 AM)whittx Wrote:  

(01-13-2022 07:30 AM)Blue_Trombone Wrote:  

(01-13-2022 04:33 AM)All4One Wrote:  The Colonial. Where you go when you don't plan on being anything better.

Maybe? Although JMU, ODU, Georgia State, VCU, GMU, Richmond, and ECU were all a part of the conference there at one time, and those teams certainly wanted something better (and got it). I guess that might explain the attitude of what's leftover tho

If an opening in the A-10 came, half of the conference would be on the short list.

Couldn’t you say that about the Big East and A10?
The Sun Belt and AAC?

There’s a pecking order for sure. It’s not like the CAA is alone in dealing with it.

No one is moving from the Sun Belt to the AAC.

(01-13-2022 02:27 AM)NJcollegehoopsGUY Wrote:  As a Monmouth fan, I hope they only move to CAA for football at the moment. Since CAA-Football is a different organization than the CAA for other sports, this seems like a safer decision than moving all sports over. I am not confident in the CAA will remain intact over the next year. There is no common identity among members and I could imagine some of the southern members flaking to the A-10 (Charleston?) or SoCon or ASUN. Until there is more clarity on that front, I hope basketball stays put in the MAAC. Plus, with the rise of Iona because of Pitino, it could be good for Monmouth. Being the #2 in a league with a nationally recognized program could be the better for recruiting and branding...especially if they win some games against them. Who knows, if the MAAC commish had any ambition, maybe the MAAC could grab Hofstra during this time of turbulence for the CAA and get to 12 members themselves.

I have been thinking about this identity crisis issue within the CAA for some time (Matt Brown had an excellent Extra Points newsletter about this last year before realignment). The Conference is definitely in a bind since they have a wide variety of members of varying characteristics that can create fissures:

• Geography - North vs Mid-Atlantic vs South
• Funding/Regulatory Constraints - Public vs Private
• Institutional Focus/Culture - Research/Science vs Liberal Arts/Humanities
• Membership Status - Full Members vs Affiliates
• Sports Sponsorship - Football vs Non-football playing members
• Athletic Department strengths/focus - Football vs Basketball (Along with Hockey to an extent with the America East affiliates)
  

Based on this, I can't help but feel like there are too many opportunities for the CAA to eventually splinter after schools get tired of having to appease conference members they have little in common with.

Part of me thinks the America East football affiliates (Stony Brook, Albany, UNH, Maine) might get tired of traveling south for conference games and attempt to poach URI and Delaware to join them in the America East so they can restart football in an more New England/North East centered footprint (with Villanova and/or Richmond as football affiliates).

Or maybe some of the non-football schools on the conference's outer range like College of Charleston and Northeastern get tired of the travel for Olympic sports and look to join something closer regionally or with less football influence.

Bottom line, it feels like the CAA is bound for some kind of fracture to happen among its membership, it seems more like a loose confederation than a united conference. I'd wager that the CAA eventually loses its AE football affiliates and non mid-Atlantic (ie its historic core" in VA, MD, DE, and maybe NC) with members get plucked by other conferences based on geography.

(01-13-2022 09:32 AM)Cruhawk Wrote:  

(01-13-2022 02:27 AM)NJcollegehoopsGUY Wrote:  As a Monmouth fan, I hope they only move to CAA for football at the moment. Since CAA-Football is a different organization than the CAA for other sports, this seems like a safer decision than moving all sports over. I am not confident in the CAA will remain intact over the next year. There is no common identity among members and I could imagine some of the southern members flaking to the A-10 (Charleston?) or SoCon or ASUN. Until there is more clarity on that front, I hope basketball stays put in the MAAC. Plus, with the rise of Iona because of Pitino, it could be good for Monmouth. Being the #2 in a league with a nationally recognized program could be the better for recruiting and branding...especially if they win some games against them. Who knows, if the MAAC commish had any ambition, maybe the MAAC could grab Hofstra during this time of turbulence for the CAA and get to 12 members themselves.

I have been thinking about this identity crisis issue within the CAA for some time (Matt Brown had an excellent Extra Points newsletter about this last year before realignment). The Conference is definitely in a bind since they have a wide variety of members of varying characteristics that can create fissures:

• Geography - North vs Mid-Atlantic vs South
• Funding/Regulatory Constraints - Public vs Private
• Institutional Focus/Culture - Research/Science vs Liberal Arts/Humanities
• Membership Status - Full Members vs Affiliates
• Sports Sponsorship - Football vs Non-football playing members
• Athletic Department strengths/focus - Football vs Basketball (Along with Hockey to an extent with the America East affiliates)
  

Based on this, I can't help but feel like there are too many opportunities for the CAA to eventually splinter after schools get tired of having to appease conference members they have little in common with.

Part of me thinks the America East football affiliates (Stony Brook, Albany, UNH, Maine) might get tired of traveling south for conference games and attempt to poach URI and Delaware to join them in the America East so they can restart football in an more New England/North East centered footprint (with Villanova and/or Richmond as football affiliates).

Or maybe some of the non-football schools on the conference's outer range like College of Charleston and Northeastern get tired of the travel for Olympic sports and look to join something closer regionally or with less football influence.

Bottom line, it feels like the CAA is bound for some kind of fracture to happen among its membership, it seems more like a loose confederation than a united conference. I'd wager that the CAA eventually loses its AE football affiliates and non mid-Atlantic (ie its historic core" in VA, MD, DE, and maybe NC) with members get plucked by other conferences based on geography.

You are 100% correct. The CAA is a conference currently kept together by hubris only. Once the members come to their senses and realize that there isn't any significant upside in staying in the CAA, we'll see that fracturing that you speak of, but I don't have a ton of faith in that happening.

The fact that the America East has shown zero interest in sponsoring football doesn't help, and is frankly baffling to me. Basketball is nice, but football drives brand recognition. They should have been jumping at the chance to pull affiliates after the CAA lost its standard-bearer in JMU.

(01-13-2022 09:32 AM)Cruhawk Wrote:  

(01-13-2022 02:27 AM)NJcollegehoopsGUY Wrote:  As a Monmouth fan, I hope they only move to CAA for football at the moment. Since CAA-Football is a different organization than the CAA for other sports, this seems like a safer decision than moving all sports over. I am not confident in the CAA will remain intact over the next year. There is no common identity among members and I could imagine some of the southern members flaking to the A-10 (Charleston?) or SoCon or ASUN. Until there is more clarity on that front, I hope basketball stays put in the MAAC. Plus, with the rise of Iona because of Pitino, it could be good for Monmouth. Being the #2 in a league with a nationally recognized program could be the better for recruiting and branding...especially if they win some games against them. Who knows, if the MAAC commish had any ambition, maybe the MAAC could grab Hofstra during this time of turbulence for the CAA and get to 12 members themselves.

I have been thinking about this identity crisis issue within the CAA for some time (Matt Brown had an excellent Extra Points newsletter about this last year before realignment). The Conference is definitely in a bind since they have a wide variety of members of varying characteristics that can create fissures:

• Geography - North vs Mid-Atlantic vs South
• Funding/Regulatory Constraints - Public vs Private
• Institutional Focus/Culture - Research/Science vs Liberal Arts/Humanities
• Membership Status - Full Members vs Affiliates
• Sports Sponsorship - Football vs Non-football playing members
• Athletic Department strengths/focus - Football vs Basketball (Along with Hockey to an extent with the America East affiliates)
  

Based on this, I can't help but feel like there are too many opportunities for the CAA to eventually splinter after schools get tired of having to appease conference members they have little in common with.

Part of me thinks the America East football affiliates (Stony Brook, Albany, UNH, Maine) might get tired of traveling south for conference games and attempt to poach URI and Delaware to join them in the America East so they can restart football in an more New England/North East centered footprint (with Villanova and/or Richmond as football affiliates).

Or maybe some of the non-football schools on the conference's outer range like College of Charleston and Northeastern get tired of the travel for Olympic sports and look to join something closer regionally or with less football influence.

Bottom line, it feels like the CAA is bound for some kind of fracture to happen among its membership, it seems more like a loose confederation than a united conference. I'd wager that the CAA eventually loses its AE football affiliates and non mid-Atlantic (ie its historic core" in VA, MD, DE, and maybe NC) with members get plucked by other conferences based on geography.

Agree with most. Except the bold part above. Traveling south twice a year for football to play other premier FCS programs is not that bad. I am pretty sure we want to continue playing in the best northeast/mid-Atlantic FCS football conference with regular multiple at large bids, instead of breaking it up. The tension is in the all sports side of CAA. The 4 AE schools in the CAA FB are very happy with the current arrangement, and I’m sure so are NOVA, Delaware and Towson. The alternate options are all diluted weaker FCS football arrangements. If CAA breaks up, the CAA FB will most likely stay intact and move under a different conference umbrella.

Anyway, I can confirm the original Monmouth rumor...hearing this is actually for all sports. This is part of a much larger expansion plan that would bring the CAA to 14 basketball schools...I'll share the full list as soon as I can get it confirmed by everybody. There was a surprising ( to me, anyway) name on it.

(01-13-2022 10:38 AM)MattBrownEP Wrote:  Anyway, I can confirm the original Monmouth rumor...hearing this is actually for all sports. This is part of a much larger expansion plan that would bring the CAA to 14 basketball schools...I'll share the full list as soon as I can get it confirmed by everybody. There was a surprising ( to me, anyway) name on it.

Good to see Chicago State finally found a home.

(01-13-2022 10:38 AM)MattBrownEP Wrote:  Anyway, I can confirm the original Monmouth rumor...hearing this is actually for all sports. This is part of a much larger expansion plan that would bring the CAA to 14 basketball schools...I'll share the full list as soon as I can get it confirmed by everybody. There was a surprising ( to me, anyway) name on it.

I would've guessed Howard/Hampton but "14 basketball schools", one of which is a surprising name leads me to believe at least one of the two aren't included.

Either the surprising name is from a better league (SoCon) or one we wouldn't have considered ready for the CAA.

(01-13-2022 10:38 AM)MattBrownEP Wrote:  Anyway, I can confirm the original Monmouth rumor...hearing this is actually for all sports. This is part of a much larger expansion plan that would bring the CAA to 14 basketball schools...I'll share the full list as soon as I can get it confirmed by everybody. There was a surprising ( to me, anyway) name on it.

Lets go Longwood!

(01-13-2022 10:38 AM)MattBrownEP Wrote:  Anyway, I can confirm the original Monmouth rumor...hearing this is actually for all sports. This is part of a much larger expansion plan that would bring the CAA to 14 basketball schools...I'll share the full list as soon as I can get it confirmed by everybody. There was a surprising ( to me, anyway) name on it.

So the 9 remaining basketball schools are College of Charleston, Elon, UNC-W, William & Mary, Towson, Delaware, Drexel, Hofstra, and Northeastern.

Football has still has 11 Albany*, Delaware, Elon, Maine*, New Hampshire*, Richmond*, Rhode Island*, Stony Brook*, Towson, Villanova*, W&M.

Of the FB affiliates, Nova is obviously not leaving the Big East, and I don't see Rhode Island or Richmond moving basketball etc. from the A10 to the CAA. So add Monmouth as #12 for football and #10 for basketball, make Stony Brook a full member, and then add Winthrop UNC-Greensboro, Iona as #s 12-14.

Football
South: Elon, Richmond, W&M, Towson, Delaware, Villanova
North: Maine, UNH, URI, Stony Brook, Albany, Monmouth

Basketball
South: CofC, Winthrop, Elon, UNC-W, UNC-G, W&M, Towson,
North: Delaware, Drexel, Monmouth, Hofstra, Stony Brook, Iona, Northeastern

(01-13-2022 10:17 AM)ibby10 Wrote:  

(01-13-2022 09:32 AM)Cruhawk Wrote:  

(01-13-2022 02:27 AM)NJcollegehoopsGUY Wrote:  As a Monmouth fan, I hope they only move to CAA for football at the moment. Since CAA-Football is a different organization than the CAA for other sports, this seems like a safer decision than moving all sports over. I am not confident in the CAA will remain intact over the next year. There is no common identity among members and I could imagine some of the southern members flaking to the A-10 (Charleston?) or SoCon or ASUN. Until there is more clarity on that front, I hope basketball stays put in the MAAC. Plus, with the rise of Iona because of Pitino, it could be good for Monmouth. Being the #2 in a league with a nationally recognized program could be the better for recruiting and branding...especially if they win some games against them. Who knows, if the MAAC commish had any ambition, maybe the MAAC could grab Hofstra during this time of turbulence for the CAA and get to 12 members themselves.

I have been thinking about this identity crisis issue within the CAA for some time (Matt Brown had an excellent Extra Points newsletter about this last year before realignment). The Conference is definitely in a bind since they have a wide variety of members of varying characteristics that can create fissures:

• Geography - North vs Mid-Atlantic vs South
• Funding/Regulatory Constraints - Public vs Private
• Institutional Focus/Culture - Research/Science vs Liberal Arts/Humanities
• Membership Status - Full Members vs Affiliates
• Sports Sponsorship - Football vs Non-football playing members
• Athletic Department strengths/focus - Football vs Basketball (Along with Hockey to an extent with the America East affiliates)
  

Based on this, I can't help but feel like there are too many opportunities for the CAA to eventually splinter after schools get tired of having to appease conference members they have little in common with.

Part of me thinks the America East football affiliates (Stony Brook, Albany, UNH, Maine) might get tired of traveling south for conference games and attempt to poach URI and Delaware to join them in the America East so they can restart football in an more New England/North East centered footprint (with Villanova and/or Richmond as football affiliates).

Or maybe some of the non-football schools on the conference's outer range like College of Charleston and Northeastern get tired of the travel for Olympic sports and look to join something closer regionally or with less football influence.

Bottom line, it feels like the CAA is bound for some kind of fracture to happen among its membership, it seems more like a loose confederation than a united conference. I'd wager that the CAA eventually loses its AE football affiliates and non mid-Atlantic (ie its historic core" in VA, MD, DE, and maybe NC) with members get plucked by other conferences based on geography.

Agree with most. Except the bold part above. Traveling south twice a year for football to play other premier FCS programs is not that bad. I am pretty sure we want to continue playing in the best northeast/mid-Atlantic FCS football conference with regular multiple at large bids, instead of breaking it up. The tension is in the all sports side of CAA. The 4 AE schools in the CAA FB are very happy with the current arrangement, and I’m sure so are NOVA, Delaware and Towson. The alternate options are all diluted weaker FCS football arrangements. If CAA breaks up, the CAA FB will most likely stay intact and move under a different conference umbrella.

Short of an A10 invite, the CofC isn't going anywhere when the options are dropping back to the Atlantic Sun or Big South, or being a basketball school in a largely football centric conference.

(01-13-2022 09:24 AM)JMU2004 Wrote:  

(01-13-2022 08:58 AM)Sitting bull Wrote:  

(01-13-2022 08:12 AM)whittx Wrote:  

(01-13-2022 07:30 AM)Blue_Trombone Wrote:  

(01-13-2022 04:33 AM)All4One Wrote:  The Colonial. Where you go when you don't plan on being anything better.

Maybe? Although JMU, ODU, Georgia State, VCU, GMU, Richmond, and ECU were all a part of the conference there at one time, and those teams certainly wanted something better (and got it). I guess that might explain the attitude of what's leftover tho

If an opening in the A-10 came, half of the conference would be on the short list.

Couldn’t you say that about the Big East and A10?
The Sun Belt and AAC?

There’s a pecking order for sure. It’s not like the CAA is alone in dealing with it.

No one is moving from the Sun Belt to the AAC.

If invited any one of them would.