(08-04-2022 09:30 AM)GreatDane96 Wrote:  

(08-04-2022 09:23 AM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  So for football scheduling, I can foresee a 5-pod system wherein each of the 15 teams plays its 2 podmates annually and half the other 12 opponents twice in 4 years. The pods:

1) Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island
2) Albany, Monmouth, Stony Brook
3) Delaware, Towson, Villanova
4) Hampton, Richmond, William & Mary
5) Campbell, Elon, NC A&T

I'm not sure how important it is to keep Hampton/NC A&T annual.

Agreed, and this preserves the rivalries that already exist:

Albany-SBU
UNH-Maine
Delaware-Villanova
W&M-Richmond

I would suppose that Hampton and A&T will always be scheduled as a rivalry game no matter what.

I can see Elon/Campbell building one over time. I really don't think that URI or Towson have actual football rivals, I could be wrong here...just doesn't seem to be a thing for either school (weirdly enough).

That makes sense.

The Big 10 did that win Indiana and Purdue as that was the only protected cross divisional game

The CAA could do something similar with A&T and Hampton in respect to their HBCU status

(08-04-2022 09:33 AM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  

(08-04-2022 09:23 AM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  So for football scheduling, I can foresee a 5-pod system wherein each of the 15 teams plays its 2 podmates annually and half the other 12 opponents twice in 4 years. The pods:

1) Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island
2) Albany, Monmouth, Stony Brook
3) Delaware, Towson, Villanova
4) Hampton, Richmond, William & Mary
5) Campbell, Elon, NC A&T

I'm not sure how important it is to keep Hampton/NC A&T annual.

D1 360 did his 4 minutes in. He seems to think W&M/UDel and A&T/Hampton would be protected over in-state pods, creating a pentagon with Nova/UDel/Towson/W&M/UR and a quadrangle with Hampton/A&T/Elon/Campbell.

I hope he’s correct on the pentagon pod and history would support that. Within the CAA, W&Ms preferred opponents would be UR, Delaware, Villanova and likely Elon, in that order. I could understand Hampton annually given the proximity - the rest could all be rotating. Those 4 to 5 provide at least two conference games if interest per year.

Is Campbell really the best CAA can do at this point? I mean, that the CAA/F can't pick apart these other conferences (like SoCon)...is there something going on within it? I mean, does internal politics get it to this point?

I really don't know how Villanova and Richmond get onboard with this. But then again, looking at the Patriot, if that's the alternative to the likes of Richmond, Villanova, and William & Mary...talk about being between a rock and a hard place.

Good for Campbell, though. I often thought Winthrop had the better shot at the conference. But, if football isn't happening there, it limits some options. Could also be that Winthrop to SoCon becomes a thing?

(08-05-2022 12:24 PM)The Cutter of Bish Wrote:  Is Campbell really the best CAA can do at this point? I mean, that the CAA/F can't pick apart these other conferences (like SoCon)...is there something going on within it? I mean, does internal politics get it to this point?

I really don't know how Villanova and Richmond get onboard with this. But then again, looking at the Patriot, if that's the alternative to the likes of Richmond, Villanova, and William & Mary...talk about being between a rock and a hard place.

Good for Campbell, though. I often thought Winthrop had the better shot at the conference. But, if football isn't happening there, it limits some options. Could also be that Winthrop to SoCon becomes a thing?

I thought so too on Winthrop since they already had 14 for football. I hope they do get in the SoCon, they're too damn good to be playing in the Big South now.

(08-05-2022 12:24 PM)The Cutter of Bish Wrote:  Is Campbell really the best CAA can do at this point? I mean, that the CAA/F can't pick apart these other conferences (like SoCon)...is there something going on within it? I mean, does internal politics get it to this point?

I really don't know how Villanova and Richmond get onboard with this. But then again, looking at the Patriot, if that's the alternative to the likes of Richmond, Villanova, and William & Mary...talk about being between a rock and a hard place.

Good for Campbell, though. I often thought Winthrop had the better shot at the conference. But, if football isn't happening there, it limits some options. Could also be that Winthrop to SoCon becomes a thing?

There are now nine CAA schools in both the football league and the all sports league:

Campbell, A&T, Elon, Hampton, W&M, Towson, Delaware, Monmouth, Stony Brook. That is a solid and stable core, and all schools should feel that they can be competitive within the league in all sports. The fact that all of these schools have to fund football and hoops is another plus.

From my perspective as a fan of the Tribe, relative to football, Stony Brook has replaced Hofstra, Monmouth has replaced Northeastern, Hampton has replaced ODU, Campbell has replaced JMU, and A&T/Elon have replaced UConn/UMass. Is the wattage less? Of course. But annual losses have been replaced with competitive games.

UNCW is a huge part of the CAA. Maybe they start football. Maybe that is going on behind the scenes. If adding Campbell causes UNCW to add football, that’s good news for the CAA.

As for Richmond, they left the CAA all sports league, and are having the best of both worlds. There are CAA all sports league considerations involved here for which Richmond is not involved; thankfully, they didn’t blackball Campbell for entry into the football league.

Nova is a special case. They are a Big East basketball school. They are going to do what’s right for their football program. The needs / priority of the their football program are different than the needs / priority of Tribe football (the same thing can be said about Richmond). I hope they stay, but nothing is forever.

Yes, this is the best the CAA can do right now. The SoCon schools are hanging together.

Given all of the upheaval in college sports, conference viability and stability are important, and the CAA has addressed travel costs, and league-wide competitiveness, which are factors in viability and stability.

(08-05-2022 04:03 PM)nj alum Wrote:  

(08-05-2022 12:24 PM)The Cutter of Bish Wrote:  Is Campbell really the best CAA can do at this point? I mean, that the CAA/F can't pick apart these other conferences (like SoCon)...is there something going on within it? I mean, does internal politics get it to this point?

I really don't know how Villanova and Richmond get onboard with this. But then again, looking at the Patriot, if that's the alternative to the likes of Richmond, Villanova, and William & Mary...talk about being between a rock and a hard place.

Good for Campbell, though. I often thought Winthrop had the better shot at the conference. But, if football isn't happening there, it limits some options. Could also be that Winthrop to SoCon becomes a thing?

There are now nine CAA schools in both the football league and the all sports league:

Campbell, A&T, Elon, Hampton, W&M, Towson, Delaware, Monmouth, Stony Brook. That is a solid and stable core, and all schools should feel that they can be competitive within the league in all sports. The fact that all of these schools have to fund football and hoops is another plus.

From my perspective as a fan of the Tribe, relative to football, Stony Brook has replaced Hofstra, Monmouth has replaced Northeastern, Hampton has replaced ODU, Campbell has replaced JMU, and A&T/Elon have replaced UConn/UMass. Is the wattage less? Of course. But annual losses have been replaced with competitive games.

UNCW is a huge part of the CAA. Maybe they start football. Maybe that is going on behind the scenes. If adding Campbell causes UNCW to add football, that’s good news for the CAA.

As for Richmond, they left the CAA all sports league, and are having the best of both worlds. There are CAA all sports league considerations involved here for which Richmond is not involved; thankfully, they didn’t blackball Campbell for entry into the football league.

Nova is a special case. They are a Big East basketball school. They are going to do what’s right for their football program. The needs / priority of the their football program are different than the needs / priority of Tribe football (the same thing can be said about Richmond). I hope they stay, but nothing is forever.

Yes, this is the best the CAA can do right now. The SoCon schools are hanging together.

Given all of the upheaval in college sports, conference viability and stability are important, and the CAA has addressed travel costs, and league-wide competitiveness, which are factors in viability and stability.

well said nj alum

The CAA is basically TWO 7 team conferences that share an auto bid and an FCS football league. On top of that divisional travel makes the two divisions bus leagues.

It's very similar to the Sunbelt model, with FCS affiliates plugging in the gaps where all sports members do not sponsor football.

Longwood in Farmville, Virginia is within that footprint as well.

(08-04-2022 03:48 AM)Sitting bull Wrote:  

(08-04-2022 03:37 AM)andybible1995 Wrote:  

(08-04-2022 02:27 AM)Sitting bull Wrote:  

(08-03-2022 11:58 PM)DawgNBama Wrote:  

(08-03-2022 11:33 PM)Stugray2 Wrote:  jcohen42,

Missions are no longer the same nor standards.

Stony Brook, UDel (for out of state), Hofstra (top Business and Wall Street program), Northeastern, Drexel, Elon (more liberal arts, but similar to Davidson in high AI)all have really high AI. Monmouth doesn't, a definite lowering of the bar of admission to the CAA, almost to warm body. Hampton is pretty decent for an HBCU, but that HBCU standards not on CAA standards, not even Monmouth, NC A&T lower. Now you have a Southern Baptist school.

Hampton and NC A&T can be argued was an attempt to cash in on the resurgent funding of HBCUs in the woke movement (they were dying on the limb five years ago). You could excuse that if it got you Howard and helped diversity recruiting. But I suspect all they did was bring on two athletic bricks of cement, not gold.

What I mean is these schools no longer had diddly in common, look like many of those old conferences that shattered, replaced by ones that had more common institutional ground. The CAA IMO has become a lot less stable with this configuration.

Maybe, but maybe it was more of a move against the SoCon. Both Yosef Himself and I speculated that Campbell would be a near ideal fit for the SoCon. Next thing we know, the CAA is scooping them up. I think that the CAA wants to poach the best SoCon schools, and possibly set the Northeast schools adrift or...really challenge the A-10 and the Big East in basketball. The CAA is trying to freeze the SoCon 's options, so that the SoCon cannot expand. Then the CAA will go for the SoCon itself by going after schools like Chattanooga and Furman. That is the CAA's endgame, IMO. Basically, the same thing that the AAC did to the MWC in the state of Texas.

I don’t think the add is focused against the So Con as in some sinister plot. That’s ridiculous. I agree Campbell could have been a decent fit there as well. I’m not sure what the So Cons strategy actually is though it appears to me that the best result for both Big South and So Con is a possible merger at this point.

What would the SoCon have to gain from merging with the Big South? A nineteen team southern based conference is too big at that level. The SoCon could possibly raid the Big South for additional members, but I don't see it happening. They're pretty content with the members they have now.

I also don't see Chattanooga going to the CAA. Chattanooga is more than likely to join the Sunbelt in the FBS should they expand to sixteen teams. Chattanooga had FBS aspirations several years ago, but that opportunity has probably already passed them by. The only school that the SoCon could potentially lose is UNC-Greensboro. They are not a football school, and they are one of the more consistent contenders in the SoCon every year.

As far Gardner Webb and Charleston Southern, I'm surprised the commissioner of the ASUN hasn't called the athletic director of both schools and tried to convince them to join as either affiliates for football,.or as full members, which would get them out of the Big South's merger with the Ohio Valley Conference in football. I'm also surprised the Big South commissioner hasn't called up the athletic director of Queens and convinced them to change course and join the Big South instead of the ASUN.

I don’t think there is any interest now or prior on behalf of the CAA for Chattanooga.

...and I don't think there is any interest now or prior on behalf of Chattanooga for the CAA, nor any SoCon school for the CAA.

Also, why would UNCG leave the ever-improving basketball currently being played in the Southern Conference?

Campbell would have probably been a good fit for the SoCon, but could not have been invited without also inviting a public school as well (the public/private balance in very important to the member schools in the SoCon. No way would CSU and Gardner-Webb (2 private schools) be invited from the Big South. 9 members is near perfect for football, and 10 for basketball seems to work well for the SoCon.

(08-05-2022 12:24 PM)The Cutter of Bish Wrote:  Is Campbell really the best CAA can do at this point? I mean, that the CAA/F can't pick apart these other conferences (like SoCon)...is there something going on within it? I mean, does internal politics get it to this point?

I really don't know how Villanova and Richmond get onboard with this. But then again, looking at the Patriot, if that's the alternative to the likes of Richmond, Villanova, and William & Mary...talk about being between a rock and a hard place.

Good for Campbell, though. I often thought Winthrop had the better shot at the conference. But, if football isn't happening there, it limits some options. Could also be that Winthrop to SoCon becomes a thing?

I am FAR from an expert on this-- but from the outside it appears the CAA and SOCON are at a stalemate. In the past the CAA was the better overall conference IMO (before all their defections).

In fact the SoCon may have a little more momentum at this point due to strong basketball NET rating, geographic closeness, continuity, and relatively strong football.

It does not appear either would have the strength to poach from the other at this point.

Also the SoCon is not a hybrid like the CAA which keeps all its members focused on one organization.

In short the CAA does not have the power it did at one time.

UNCG, Citadel and VMI are the only real areas of geographic overlap at this point

The CAA has coveted Furman for a long time but Furman is the geographic center of a private/military school dominated league that has come in its own in basketball

There were rumors VMI was looking to jump and I know the CAA wanted UNCG. When those did not work out it appears Hampton and A&T were given the invite

(08-05-2022 08:03 PM)Michael in Raleigh Wrote:  

(08-03-2022 05:54 PM)Poster Wrote:  A school that nobody’s heard of is leaving a conference that nobody’s heard of for another conference that nobody’s heard of.


This is the only website on the internet where this thread gets 12 replies.

Campbell is the school that educated my father in law to a wildly successful career in trusts management. Went on to earn his Master's from Northwestern, another humble little private school in a rural area outside the village of Chicago.

Campbell actually is in a tiny town 45 minutes south of Raleigh. It is as up and coming as it gets. First there was the seminary. Then the trust school. Then pharmacy. In the past 20 years: engineering, osteopathic medicine, and law (downtown Raleigh). Probably more than that; I'm just going by memory of what my wife's dad has told me. They've gone from no football to non scholarship to full FCS 63 scholarships.

I don't think it is out of the question if, in 10 years, with their trajectory, Campbell becomes the second private former FCS school, after Liberty, to go FBS.

Continuing the up and coming theme….the #1 recruiting class in FCS last year according to most sources.

(08-05-2022 04:03 PM)nj alum Wrote:  

(08-05-2022 12:24 PM)The Cutter of Bish Wrote:  Is Campbell really the best CAA can do at this point? I mean, that the CAA/F can't pick apart these other conferences (like SoCon)...is there something going on within it? I mean, does internal politics get it to this point?

I really don't know how Villanova and Richmond get onboard with this. But then again, looking at the Patriot, if that's the alternative to the likes of Richmond, Villanova, and William & Mary...talk about being between a rock and a hard place.

Good for Campbell, though. I often thought Winthrop had the better shot at the conference. But, if football isn't happening there, it limits some options. Could also be that Winthrop to SoCon becomes a thing?

There are now nine CAA schools in both the football league and the all sports league:

Campbell, A&T, Elon, Hampton, W&M, Towson, Delaware, Monmouth, Stony Brook. That is a solid and stable core, and all schools should feel that they can be competitive within the league in all sports. The fact that all of these schools have to fund football and hoops is another plus.

From my perspective as a fan of the Tribe, relative to football, Stony Brook has replaced Hofstra, Monmouth has replaced Northeastern, Hampton has replaced ODU, Campbell has replaced JMU, and A&T/Elon have replaced UConn/UMass. Is the wattage less? Of course. But annual losses have been replaced with competitive games.

UNCW is a huge part of the CAA. Maybe they start football. Maybe that is going on behind the scenes. If adding Campbell causes UNCW to add football, that’s good news for the CAA.

As for Richmond, they left the CAA all sports league, and are having the best of both worlds. There are CAA all sports league considerations involved here for which Richmond is not involved; thankfully, they didn’t blackball Campbell for entry into the football league.

Nova is a special case. They are a Big East basketball school. They are going to do what’s right for their football program. The needs / priority of the their football program are different than the needs / priority of Tribe football (the same thing can be said about Richmond). I hope they stay, but nothing is forever.

Yes, this is the best the CAA can do right now. The SoCon schools are hanging together.

Given all of the upheaval in college sports, conference viability and stability are important, and the CAA has addressed travel costs, and league-wide competitiveness, which are factors in viability and stability.

I would just love to know what goes on within CAA. To be with a group like Drexel, Northeastern, Hofstra, Delaware, W&M, and Towson, and then get to NCA&T, Monmouth, and now Campbell. The politics and what it was like when Stony Brook was first turned away. And what makes SoCon such a hard nut to crack?

I think the football pickups over the years, I tended to interpret the Stony Brook and Albany CAAF additions as the backfills for Hofstra and Northeastern respectively. Elon was some kind of mix for Georgia State and ODU (now Hampton almost literally replaces the location left by the Monarchs), but was also for travel considerations for UNCW (along with CoC; we’ll ignore the claim that Elon was a replacement for Davidson, since neither CoC or DC had football).

I can see the CAA/F additions as a way of “restocking” the southern side of the conference. I just find it curious why *these* specific schools over others. And while I just knew Monmouth was building up for membership, now that we got there, I don’t understand why they got the full invitation, same with Stony Brook. Expansion, not replacements. Growth on both sides of the Mason-Dixon, and full memberships to boot. All while you have AmEast, A10, and Big East members in with football affiliations.

It’s just odd. And while this may be “the best they can do,” couldn’t they have just waited? What is prompting this growth? Why not just adding more affiliates?

(08-07-2022 11:31 AM)The Cutter of Bish Wrote:  I would just love to know what goes on within CAA. To be with a group like Drexel, Northeastern, Hofstra, Delaware, W&M, and Towson, and then get to NCA&T, Monmouth, and now Campbell. The politics and what it was like when Stony Brook was first turned away. And what makes SoCon such a hard nut to crack?

I think the football pickups over the years, I tended to interpret the Stony Brook and Albany CAAF additions as the backfills for Hofstra and Northeastern respectively. Elon was some kind of mix for Georgia State and ODU (now Hampton almost literally replaces the location left by the Monarchs), but was also for travel considerations for UNCW (along with CoC; we’ll ignore the claim that Elon was a replacement for Davidson, since neither CoC or DC had football).

I can see the CAA/F additions as a way of “restocking” the southern side of the conference. I just find it curious why *these* specific schools over others. And while I just knew Monmouth was building up for membership, now that we got there, I don’t understand why they got the full invitation, same with Stony Brook. Expansion, not replacements. Growth on both sides of the Mason-Dixon, and full memberships to boot. All while you have AmEast, A10, and Big East members in with football affiliations.

It’s just odd. And while this may be “the best they can do,” couldn’t they have just waited? What is prompting this growth? Why not just adding more affiliates?

The CAA has southern schools as well that wanted a bus league divison like had been created for the north divison

Who would they wait on?

Does the CAA make a ton of sense? Not really

Does the CAA make more sense than any alternate conference for the majority of the schools involved? Yes

(08-07-2022 11:31 AM)The Cutter of Bish Wrote:  I can see the CAA/F additions as a way of “restocking” the southern side of the conference. I just find it curious why *these* specific schools over others. And while I just knew Monmouth was building up for membership, now that we got there, I don’t understand why they got the full invitation, same with Stony Brook. Expansion, not replacements. Growth on both sides of the Mason-Dixon, and full memberships to boot. All while you have AmEast, A10, and Big East members in with football affiliations.

It’s just odd. And while this may be “the best they can do,” couldn’t they have just waited? What is prompting this growth? Why not just adding more affiliates?

You have to look at this expansion from the point of view of the all-sports members who have always wanted divisions. They did not want to have a round-robin in basketball where every team had to travel to every other team every season. It was not a positive situation. Affiliates do not solve this situation. If you need to understand anything about the CAA, know this: the 10-team CAA wasn't working, and the 9-team CAA was going to work even less.

Stony Brook has been a no-brainer add for a while, but allegedly Hofstra had been blocking them. For whatever the reason, that was no longer the case. It was always a matter of time before they joined, honestly.

Monmouth is not a peak school academically. But they've been building up their brand, and they're a school that a lot of students in the CAA North catchment area are aware of. That's a school that the CAA is happy to take on as a way to provide an additional bus trip to Delaware, Drexel, Hofstra, et al.

You ask why couldn't the conference have just waited. My answer is, why wait? The conference had the chance to go after what they wanted for a LONG time, and they seized that chance.

(08-07-2022 08:19 PM)jcohen42 Wrote:  

(08-07-2022 11:31 AM)The Cutter of Bish Wrote:  I can see the CAA/F additions as a way of “restocking” the southern side of the conference. I just find it curious why *these* specific schools over others. And while I just knew Monmouth was building up for membership, now that we got there, I don’t understand why they got the full invitation, same with Stony Brook. Expansion, not replacements. Growth on both sides of the Mason-Dixon, and full memberships to boot. All while you have AmEast, A10, and Big East members in with football affiliations.

It’s just odd. And while this may be “the best they can do,” couldn’t they have just waited? What is prompting this growth? Why not just adding more affiliates?

You have to look at this expansion from the point of view of the all-sports members who have always wanted divisions. They did not want to have a round-robin in basketball where every team had to travel to every other team every season. It was not a positive situation. Affiliates do not solve this situation. If you need to understand anything about the CAA, know this: the 10-team CAA wasn't working, and the 9-team CAA was going to work even less.

Stony Brook has been a no-brainer add for a while, but allegedly Hofstra had been blocking them. For whatever the reason, that was no longer the case. It was always a matter of time before they joined, honestly.

Monmouth is not a peak school academically. But they've been building up their brand, and they're a school that a lot of students in the CAA North catchment area are aware of. That's a school that the CAA is happy to take on as a way to provide an additional bus trip to Delaware, Drexel, Hofstra, et al.

You ask why couldn't the conference have just waited. My answer is, why wait? The conference had the chance to go after what they wanted for a LONG time, and they seized that chance.

With all of the talk about Campbell, Hampton and NC A&T leaving the Big South for the CAA, I'd say it'd be good for both UNC Asheville and Winthrop to push for invites to the CAA. That gives the conference 2 non-football schools and the Asheville and Charlotte market's. It also gives the CAA 2 programs that will compete right away for conference championships. They'd be better basketball adds than CU, HU and A&T, no doubt.

Monmouth was a good add in terms of FB and MBB. Stony Brook was a good add in terms of MBB. NC A&T was a good add in terms of FB but a terrible add in terms of MBB. Hampton and Campbell were terrible adds in terms of FB and MBB.

While this may be ascribing far too much foresight and planning and leans into conspiracy theory territory, the adds of Hampton, NC A&T, and now Campbell could conceivably have been in the interest of crippling the MEAC so that the bloated CAA could acquire their autobid and realign into 2 conferences.

Howard is a linchpin whose departure would indeed make the MEAC unviable. By adding Howard's biggest rival in Hampton and a fellow HBCU in NC A&T, the CAA makes itself more appealing to Howard. And by drawing members from the Big South, the CAA puts pressure on the Big South to restock from the MEAC, thus precipitating the MEAC's collapse and removing some of the members that are less desirable adds for the CAA.

Ultimately, perhaps the result of such a strategy succeeding might be like so:

CAA North (Yankee Conference)
Full (6): Albany, Delaware, Maine, Monmouth, New Hampshire, Stony Brook
NFB (4): Drexel, Hofstra, Northeastern, Vermont
FB-only (2): Rhode Island, Villanova

CAA South (CAA)
Full (7): Campbell, Elon, Hampton, Howard, NC A&T, Towson, William & Mary
NFB (3): Charleston, High Point, UNC Wilmington
FB-only (1): Richmond

America East
Full (5): Bryant, LIU, Merrimack, Sacred Heart, Wagner
NFB (4): Binghamton, NJIT, UMass Lowell, UMBC
FB-only (1): Robert Morris

Big South
NFB (11): Charleston Southern, Gardner-Webb, Longwood, NC Central, Norfolk State, Presbyterian, Radford, SC State, UNC Asheville, USC Upstate, Winthrop

NEC
Full (5): CCSU, Delaware State, Morgan State, St. Francis-PA, Stonehill
NFB (5): Coppin State, FDU, Le Moyne, St. Francis-NY, UMES
FB-only (1): Duquesne

OVC
Full (5): Eastern Illinois, Lindenwood, Southeast Missouri, Tennessee Tech, Tennessee-Martin
NFB (4): Little Rock, Morehead State, SIU Edwardsville, Southern Indiana
FB-only (5): Charleston Southern, Gardner-Webb, NC Central, Norfolk State, SC State
(Tennessee State to ASUN)

Granted, a long shot, but it was fun to work out.

(08-08-2022 07:58 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  Monmouth was a good add in terms of FB and MBB. Stony Brook was a good add in terms of MBB. NC A&T was a good add in terms of FB but a terrible add in terms of MBB. Hampton and Campbell were terrible adds in terms of FB and MBB.

While this may be ascribing far too much foresight and planning and leans into conspiracy theory territory, the adds of Hampton, NC A&T, and now Campbell could conceivably have been in the interest of crippling the MEAC so that the bloated CAA could acquire their autobid and realign into 2 conferences.

Howard is a linchpin whose departure would indeed make the MEAC unviable. By adding Howard's biggest rival in Hampton and a fellow HBCU in NC A&T, the CAA makes itself more appealing to Howard. And by drawing members from the Big South, the CAA puts pressure on the Big South to restock from the MEAC, thus precipitating the MEAC's collapse and removing some of the members that are less desirable adds for the CAA.

Ultimately, perhaps the result of such a strategy succeeding might be like so:

CAA North (Yankee Conference)
Full (6): Albany, Delaware, Maine, Monmouth, New Hampshire, Stony Brook
NFB (4): Drexel, Hofstra, Northeastern, Vermont
FB-only (2): Rhode Island, Villanova

CAA South (CAA)
Full (7): Campbell, Elon, Hampton, Howard, NC A&T, Towson, William & Mary
NFB (3): Charleston, High Point, UNC Wilmington
FB-only (1): Richmond

America East
Full (5): Bryant, LIU, Merrimack, Sacred Heart, Wagner
NFB (4): Binghamton, NJIT, UMass Lowell, UMBC
FB-only (1): Robert Morris

Big South
NFB (11): Charleston Southern, Gardner-Webb, Longwood, NC Central, Norfolk State, Presbyterian, Radford, SC State, UNC Asheville, USC Upstate, Winthrop

NEC
Full (5): CCSU, Delaware State, Morgan State, St. Francis-PA, Stonehill
NFB (5): Coppin State, FDU, Le Moyne, St. Francis-NY, UMES
FB-only (1): Duquesne

OVC
Full (5): Eastern Illinois, Lindenwood, Southeast Missouri, Tennessee Tech, Tennessee-Martin
NFB (4): Little Rock, Morehead State, SIU Edwardsville, Southern Indiana
FB-only (5): Charleston Southern, Gardner-Webb, NC Central, Norfolk State, SC State
(Tennessee State to ASUN)

Granted, a long shot, but it was fun to work out.

The CAA as vampire squid. Look out SEC.

(08-08-2022 08:17 PM)Florida tribe fan Wrote:  The CAA as vampire squid. Look out SEC.

Well, one important thing to note is that even in the implausible scenario I laid out, no conference was able to take schools from conferences above them in the pecking order.