The CAA football and non-football schools need to read the writing on the wall, get together with the America East Conference, and split into two conferences based on who plays football and who does not play football. Then they can further redefine themselves as needed.
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CAA/AEC (MOSTLY) FOOTBALL CONFERENCE
- Maine / New Hampshire
- Albany / Stony Brook
- Binghamton (non-football) / Delaware
- Towson / James Madison
- William & Mary / Elon
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(Football-Only Members: Rhode Island, Villanova, Richmond)
James Madison can be replaced by Monmouth when they make their inevitable jump to FBS. UNC-Wilmington and Charleston will most likely decide to move to a more Southern league, and can be replaced by two non-football schools from the Northeast, a better fit for everybody.
CAA Football only has 5 full CAA members and 7 football-only affiliate CAA members from various conference (Am-East, A-10, etc). That seems unsustainable.
CAA football started after a few A-10 members joined CAA as full members and the other A-10 football schools had to join CAA as football-only or go independent. If even one or two full CAA football members leave, that could easily reverse itself, seeing as A-10 has 6 members playing football in various leagues (4 scholarship, 2 non-scholly)
From other FCS mid-majors, like the MVC/MVFC combo, to the P-5 conferences like the expanded ACC, none of these groupings make much sense. I guess the Pac-12 does in the P-5. MWC and MAC in the G-5. Ivies, SWAC and MEAC (what's going on there?) in the FCS. But aside from those?
Sports Illustrated did this cool piece (https://www.si.com/college/2020/06/29/ncaa-college-football-conference-realignment) on not just regionalized realignment but also soccer-styled promotion/relegation too. Not that any of it is likely. Still, I hope smaller TV contracts down the road will somehow lead to more regionalism going forward.
While the CAA may not make much sense, some cutting and pasting w/members from other conferences, could fix things. We'll see.
The CAA football and non-football schools need to read the writing on the wall, get together with the America East Conference, and split into two conferences based on who plays football and who does not play football. Then they can further redefine themselves as needed.
·
CAA/AEC (MOSTLY) FOOTBALL CONFERENCE
- Maine / New Hampshire
- Albany / Stony Brook
- Binghamton (non-football) / Delaware
- Towson / James Madison
- William & Mary / Elon
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(Football-Only Members: Rhode Island, Villanova, Richmond)
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AEC/CAA NON-FOOTBALL CONFERENCE
- Vermont / ???Hartford??? (or replacement school)
- UMass-Lowell / Northeastern
- Hofstra / NJIT
- Drexel / UMBC
- UNC-Wilmington / Charleston
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James Madison can be replaced by Monmouth when they make their inevitable jump to FBS. UNC-Wilmington and Charleston will most likely decide to move to a more Southern league, and can be replaced by two non-football schools from the Northeast, a better fit for everybody.
CAA Football only has 5 full CAA members and 7 football-only affiliate CAA members from various conference (Am-East, A-10, etc). That seems unsustainable.
CAA football started after a few A-10 members joined CAA as full members and the other A-10 football schools had to join CAA as football-only or go independent. If even one or two full CAA football members leave, that could easily reverse itself, seeing as A-10 has 6 members playing football in various leagues (4 scholarship, 2 non-scholly)
Great read from a realignment guru like myself.
Great CAA read but where do most conferences go?
From other FCS mid-majors, like the MVC/MVFC combo, to the P-5 conferences like the expanded ACC, none of these groupings make much sense. I guess the Pac-12 does in the P-5. MWC and MAC in the G-5. Ivies, SWAC and MEAC (what's going on there?) in the FCS. But aside from those?
Sports Illustrated did this cool piece (https://www.si.com/college/2020/06/29/ncaa-college-football-conference-realignment) on not just regionalized realignment but also soccer-styled promotion/relegation too. Not that any of it is likely. Still, I hope smaller TV contracts down the road will somehow lead to more regionalism going forward.
While the CAA may not make much sense, some cutting and pasting w/members from other conferences, could fix things. We'll see.