Tag Archive for caa

John Miller | October 18, 2012
2 comments

CONFERENCE REALIGNMENT: College of Charleston to Join CAA? Who Replaces Them?

According to ESPN:

Multiple sources within the CAA told ESPN.com that they expect the Cougars to move to the CAA.

Still not official, but the writing’s on the wall. Davidson on the other hand is officially staying put in the SoCon. Personally, I consider Davidson to be the SoCon’s only premiere basketball team. Sure College of Charleston did ok here, but they never made a huge splash in the NCAA tournament like Davidson did. The bottom line is College of Charleston is replaceable, Davidson is not.

But who do we replace CoC with? Well it has to be a team that has something to gain by coming to the SoCon, someone within the footprint, and probably a basketball/olympic sports only team. But it could be a football school, but that would likely mean a couple of schools are coming along.

Likely Suspects

Coastal Carolina
No brainer pick. It puts another school in SC to replace Charleston. They would compete in baseball/football/basketball right off the bat.

Tennessee Tech
Fits well within the footprint. Decent RPI. Doubt they would move since OVC fits them better.

Winthrop
They haven’t been good lately, but

Read more

Category: Basketball, ConferenceRealignment, Football | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
John Miller | October 16, 2012
No comments

CONFERENCE REALIGNMENT: Davidson Decides to Stay in the SoCon?

Bob Morrison, editor of the College basketball magazine Blue Ribbon Yearbook and writer for NBA.com & SECDigitalNetwork.com, tweeted the following today:


After pondering a move to the Colonial, Davidson decides to remain in Southern Conference, which retains a marquee hoops program.
October 16, 2012 5:20 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite
@cdortch
Chris Dortch

If you haven’t been paying attention, Davidson & College of Charleston have basically been invited to the CAA and have been considering the move for some time.

That’s a decent source we have there, but we’ve been burned before. It ain’t official until it’s official obviously. But having followed this pretty closely, I expected Davidson to stay put. They have a lot of history in this conference and they are the top dog here. A move would increase their travel and make them a small fish in only a slightly bigger pond. The TV exposure and possible money increase were the only reasons to even consider it.

The worry that App State and Georgia Southern will leave soon affects football a lot more than basketball. Actually, basketball in the SoCon might get even better if we leave (hate to say it). The SoCon will be able to reload easily enough with some Big South schools, if and when we leave, so the instability argument isn’t as real as some may think.

This decision (if it’s true) decreases the odds that College of Charleston will leave, but like Dortch says it’s still 50/50. CoC’s Board of Trustees have meetings scheduled on Thursday and Friday of this week, with the athletics talk supposedly being done on Friday. So hopefully we’ll know by the end of the week one way or the other. I think the SoCon needs to be proactive, regardless of the outcome, and invite a few more members. Coastal Carolina, in particular, is a no brainer. In any case, if this news it’s true, it’s great news for SoCon hoops.

Category: Basketball, ConferenceRealignment | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
John Miller | August 7, 2012
One comment

It’s Official: Albany & Stony Brook Football Join CAA, No word from Charleston

This is a video interview with CAA Tom Yeager who today officially announced that Albany and Stony Brook are joining the CAA for football only.

He talks about some of the factors they look for in potential additions, but nothing specific as to what other schools are in play.

Since College of Charleston wasn’t announced, it’s pretty clear they haven’t made up their mind fully. They are probably waiting for their athletics committee to make a formal recommendation to the Board of Trustees. Then the BOT will have to schedule a meeting. If we do see a randomly scheduled BOT meeting that should be a big red flag that they are about to make a decision.

This announcement shouldn’t really affect CoC’s decision since they are football only additions and CoC doesn’t play football.

Frankly I’m more worried about Davidson leaving than CoC, if for nothing else than name recognition. But hopefully that is less likely. The state of the SoCon is still TBD.

Category: ConferenceRealignment | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
John Miller | August 3, 2012
One comment

REPORT: Stony Brook & Albany Moving to CAA for Football Only

According to a report from Newsday:

Stony Brook University will leave the Big South Conference in football after the 2012 season and join the Colonial Athletic Association, according to two people familiar with the move.

Albany, Stony Brook’s longtime rival in the America East Conference for all other sports, also is headed to the CAA for football, the sources confirmed.

To be clear, nothing official has been announced, this news site is quoting 2 unnamed sources.

But it’s been commonly known that Stony Brook & Albany were being courted by the CAA. What comes as a surprise from this report is that both schools will supposedly will be making the move for football only. I’m not really sure why that is. Stony Brook’s baseball team is their greatest asset right now, why just take their football team? Or is it Stony Brook that doesn’t want to make the complete move?

This relates to App State in that …READ MORE

Category: ConferenceRealignment, Football | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
John Miller | July 24, 2012
5 comments

CONFERENCE REALIGNMENT: College of Charleston May Leave SoCon Within 2 Months

According to multiple sources, including the Charleston Post & Courier, College of Charleston’s Board of Directors met today to discuss leaving the SoCon for the CAA.

The CAA “has been in contact with the College of Charleston about the College’s potential interest in joining the league,” committee chairman Dwight Johnson said in a statement. “No formal invitation has been extended by the CAA at this time.”

A recommendation will be provided by their next meeting on Aug 3.

Jeff Hartsell, the author of …READ MORE

Category: ConferenceRealignment | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
John Miller | July 21, 2012
No comments

CONFERENCE REALIGNMENT: SoCon School’s Presidents/Chancellors Discuss Plans

As all of you know, the CAA is looking to expand after losing a few schools.

Newschannel 13 WNYT in Albany reported yesterday that U-Albany has accepted an invitation to join the CAA in 2013. But I don’t really trust any local news, and until we hear anything more official, it’s just a rumor at this point. But it’s a rumor that makes sense.

The SoCon is scared that Davidson and College of Charleston will both leave …READ MORE

Category: ConferenceRealignment | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
John Miller | July 3, 2012
3 comments

CONFERENCE REALIGNMENT: SoCon Releases Statement on CAA Rumors

Rumor had it that the CAA was talking to Appalachian State, Davidson, & College of Charleston. The rumor also said that the SoCon was giving its schools until July 4 to make up their mind. Nobody really knew why July 4 was picked or what the punishment would be. Looks like the reason was because there never was a July 4 deadline to begin with. The SoCon released the following statement:

“Per Southern Conference policy, the league office will not be making any public comments regarding membership issues.

Additionally, despite numerous published reports citing a July 4th deadline, the conference office has not issued any ultimatums to its member schools regarding conference affiliation.”

How did the rumor get started? Well basically, the Burlington Times reported it citing unnamed sources. The Charleston Post & Courier cited the Burlington Times. The Virginia Gazette cited the Charleston Post & Courier. Then the Winston-Salem Journal cited the Virginia Gazette.

So it SEEMED like all of these reliable sources were reporting it, when really all of these newspapers were just citing each other and the original one didn’t have a good source. So I guess the moral of the story is, it doesn’t matter how many newspapers are reporting it, it’s a rumor until it comes from the horse’s mouth.

So what do we know for sure? Well we know for sure the CAA is talking to at least a few SoCon schools about membership, that much has been said publicly. According to UNCW’s Chancellor, the CAA is looking at adding schools by Christmas (roughly). …READ MORE

Category: ConferenceRealignment | Tags: , , , , , ,
John Miller | June 25, 2012
2 comments

CONFERENCE REALIGNMENT: C-USA Commish on App State / UNCW Chancellor on CAA Timeline

There are 2 minor conference realignment stories to report, so I combined them.

First off, C-USA Commissioner Britton Banowsky spoke with the Charlotte Observer about UNC-Concord’s entry into the conference. But he was also asked about Appalachian State’s chances, to which he replied:

“Appalachian is a fine university that reached out to us when they began to explore the possibility of FBS membership. They have aspirations of moving up to a higher platform, and I’m not comfortable talking about the details of that dialogue or anything in the future.”

The AD’s will be meeting again in August to decide the division structure and probably talk school additions.

He was also asked about the fact that UNC-Concord hasn’t even played a down yet, to which he replied that it wasn’t a concern.

In an unrelated story, I personally applied to be Associate-Commissioner of C-USA. When asked what my qualifications were, I told him that I didn’t have any – but I DID stay at a Holiday Inn Express in Charlotte last night….I start Monday. …READ MORE

Category: ConferenceRealignment | Tags: , , , , , , ,
John Miller | June 23, 2012
8 comments

App State Spokesman on CAA Talks: App is Still Pursuing FBS

According to an article from the Watauga Democrat, Appalachian State Spokesman Mike Flynn said earlier today that:

“There are no new developments in Appalachian’s ongoing pursuit of a conference that sponsors FBS football,”

He could have said “no comment” but he said a little bit more than that. He basically said we’re not interested because they’re not FBS. I want to go FBS as much as anyone, but I hope they know something I don’t. We aren’t getting a C-USA invite unless we pick up our campus and physically move it. Whoever the C-USA does add, won’t be revealed for at least a year. We aren’t getting a Sun Belt invite, because they literally said they aren’t going to offer anyone else (unless they get raided again). And the WAC thing isn’t happening.

So where is this mythical FBS offer going to come from? The MAC? I doubt it. If Davidson, Charleston, Furman, and Elon do leave for the CAA, frankly, we would be stupid to stay put. We’ll be playing against powerhouses like Kennesaw State and Campbell before you know it. A 10-year moratorium banning FCS-FBS moves has been rumored for awhile. If we don’t get an invite before then, we’ll be stuck playing Western Carolina for 10 years when we could at least be playing Villanova or JMU.

The choice might not be between the CAA and FBS. The choice is probably between a stripped down SoCon or a reenergized CAA. Given those choices, do we still want to hang around here only to be left at the FBS altar?

There are risks either way. I think best case scenario is the status-quo. No one in the SoCon leaves and we stick it out for 1 to 10 years until we get an FBS invite. But if those teams leave and we don’t, it might just be time to hit the panic button.

Category: ConferenceRealignment, Football | Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
John Miller | June 22, 2012
9 comments

REPORT: CAA Formally Invites Appalachian State, Davidson, & Charleston *UPDATED*

According to GoBlueRidge.net,

On Friday, the Colonial Athletic Association, which will lose member schools Old Dominion (Conference USA), Virginia Commonwealth (Atlantic 10) and Georgia State (which will join the Football Bowl Subdivision in April) after the 2012-13 season, made a formal invitation to Davidson, College of Charleston and Appalachian State—yes, ASU, to become league members.

The CAA initially extended an invitation to Davidson and the College of Charleston to join the league back on May 17. Furman and Elon joined the conversation a short while later. In turn, the Southern Conference is giving its member schools contacted by the CAA until July 4 to make a decision either way.

If this is true, it pretty much confirms/adds to the CAA RUMOR we talked about recently. However, this article mentions nothing about Stony Brook which was also rumored to be invited.

At this point, it is pretty obvious …READ MORE

Category: Basketball, ConferenceRealignment, Football | Tags: , , , , ,
« Older Entries