Daily Press on CAA changes.

[Tribe4SF]

Good article from Dave Fairbank after interviewing CAA coaches.

http://www.dailypress.com/sports/colleg ... 9512.story" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[State Line Liquors]

The writing is on the wall with Maine. Seems like just about every time Cosgrove opens his mouth it's more talk about their precarious situation. And really the only way to improve their situation is to follow URI.

Adding Albany or Stony Brook to the CAA really does little to reduce their travel requirements.

[Ivytalk]

Good article!

Speaking of Cosgrove, has anyone seen Mainejeff lately?

[alvin kayak]

The CAA makes sense with Old Dominion, Georgia State, Richmond, Towson, and JMU. UNH and Maine don't really make sense, especially without UMass and URI. What is gonna happen to the Fighting Roosters of Delaware? Keeler has suggested they might bolt -- probably a good thought right now. I'd say -- long term -- CAA is doomed or at least severely damaged. SOCON will then be the king of the (FCS) land!

[State Line Liquors]

The CAA makes sense with Old Dominion, Georgia State, Richmond, Towson, and JMU. UNH and Maine don't really make sense, especially without UMass and URI. What is gonna happen to the Fighting Roosters of Delaware? Keeler has suggested they might bolt -- probably a good thought right now. I'd say -- long term -- CAA is doomed or at least severely damaged. SOCON will then be the king of the (FCS) land!

I think you're jumping to conclusions, Private. Keeler was asked a question, like just about every other coach at CAA Media Day, and he expressed concerns about the future of FCS.

[odu1986]

The CAA is not doomed. It is in the drivers seat.

[LeadBolt]

The CAA makes sense with Old Dominion, Georgia State, Richmond, Towson, and JMU. UNH and Maine don't really make sense, especially without UMass and URI. What is gonna happen to the Fighting Roosters of Delaware? Keeler has suggested they might bolt -- probably a good thought right now. I'd say -- long term -- CAA is doomed or at least severely damaged. SOCON will then be the king of the (FCS) land!

Where do you see William & Mary?

[alvin kayak]

Where do you see William & Mary?

In the U.S. News & World report rankings. Sorry...

Kidding aside --

I see William & Mary as more likely to stay with the CAA teams in the mid-atlantic/south (ODU, Ga St, Rich, etc). I've noticed a pattern where a lot of "academic" schools are ironically followers in the sports world rather than leaders. It seems like the large state univerisites are the ones with the best leadership and financial investment in major athletics (even if you include baseball along with football & basketball); they also get state funding and play the system well (notice how SMU & Southern Cal both got destroyed by the NCAA, relatively speaking).

Because if you take away sports from W&M, you still have a great school. What can you say about the University of Alabama without football? Not a whole lot in comparison.

[AZGrizFan]

The CAA makes sense with Old Dominion, Georgia State, Richmond, Towson, and JMU. UNH and Maine don't really make sense, especially without UMass and URI. What is gonna happen to the Fighting Roosters of Delaware? Keeler has suggested they might bolt -- probably a good thought right now. I'd say -- long term -- CAA is doomed or at least severely damaged. SOCON will then be the king of the (FCS) land!

Where do you see William & Mary?

Patriot League.

[Tribe4SF]

Where do you see William & Mary?

Patriot League.

Now there'a a football league in jeopardy.

[alvin kayak]

Wait...why is the Patriot League in jeopardy?

I think you're jumping to conclusions, Private. Keeler was asked a question, like just about every other coach at CAA Media Day, and he expressed concerns about the future of FCS.

Yeah, just a "question" and "response"....Because we all know how rarely Media Days bring "coach speak" and prepared lines about the upcoming season. Ball-own-ee. Hens want out of the cage to swim with the ACC & Big East sharks; might even take a MAC invite before the CAA goes the way of the polar bear in the next 5 years.

The CAA is not doomed. It is in the drivers seat.

You gotta love upstart enthusiasm. There is no way the CAA will have the most top 10 teams in 3 years if it loses UMass, Villanova, Delaware, and/or UNH. The SOCON, Big Sky, and Missouri Valley are clapping their hands right now.

[LeadBolt]

Where do you see William & Mary?

Patriot League.

Harsh!

[State Line Liquors]

I think you're jumping to conclusions, Private. Keeler was asked a question, like just about every other coach at CAA Media Day, and he expressed concerns about the future of FCS.

Yeah, just a "question" and "response"....Because we all know how rarely Media Days bring "coach speak" and prepared lines about the upcoming season. Ball-own-ee. Hens want out of the cage to swim with the ACC & Big East sharks; might even take a MAC invite before the CAA goes the way of the polar bear in the next 5 years.

Here's the quote from Keeler in TSN's article:

"At one time this is the best conference in America - you have six in the north and six in the south," said the coach of last season's national runner- up squad. "And then you have Northeastern drop football and Hofstra follows suit. And now Rhode Island is moving out. Massachusetts is already moving out. Villanova's talking about moving out. I'm concerned about I-AA football. I'm concerned about the Montanas and the Appalachian States of the world.

"Now you wonder what we're going to be in two or three or four years. And that's why I encourage our administration, if an ACC or an Big East (enters the picture) -- because those are the places that we want to be -- we would be foolish not to jump on board and do whatever it would have to take to get into those conferences. But it is a little nerve-wracking what may happen with I-AA football in the future."

Like any other program in FCS, Delaware would probably accept an offer from the Big East and the ACC. I don't really see how that's news. I also don't see, at this time, how that's something that is even a remotely probable occurrence.

[Tribe4SF]

Wait...why is the Patriot League in jeopardy?

I guess you've missed all the discussion on their situation.

- They've delayed taking a vote on going to scholarships yet again.
- They've already lost Fordham, who has gone full-scholarship, and remains a member only for scheduling purposes, and cannot win the league.
- They have two schools who clearly want scholarships (Lehigh and Colgate), three who clearly don't (Holy Cross, Georgetown and Bucknell), and one apparently on the fence (Lafayette). The votes to go scholarship just aren't there.
- Lehigh and Colgate are more likely to jump to the CAA than any other school coming into the PL. New Hampshire, Maine, Richmond, W&M, and VMI are not at all interested in joining a non-scholarship league with academic index restrictions.
- With only six teams, they can't afford any more defections.

[AZGrizFan]

Like any other program in FCS, Delaware would probably accept an offer from the Big East and the ACC.

Montana would not accept an offer from the Big East or ACC.

[Dukie95]

An aside here...

Now that ODU is in the CAA, I'm really enjoying the depth and breadth of the CAA coverage in the Dailly Press. You rarely see anything coming out of the Richmond Times Dispatch that isn't taken from the UR perspective.

[Saint3333]

Like any other program in FCS, Delaware would probably accept an offer from the Big East and the ACC.

Montana would not accept an offer from the Big East or ACC.

Yes they would. No one would turn down the TV revenue from a BCS conference.

[rebla 49er]

Yes they would. No one would turn down the TV revenue from a BCS conference.

Or a $180,000 paper bag.

[DaBigBlue]

"I hear and appreciate Cosgrove’s defiance when he bristles at the suggestion that Maine deemphasize its program or move into a perceived lesser conference. But how much longer does it make sense to stay in the Colonial, where William & Mary, James Madison, Richmond and Delaware each contend for the national championship every year and all are 600 or more miles away?

In an economic climate that sees schools even dropping the sport, sliding into the Northeast Conference would be a wise preemptive strike. Shorter travel, a more manageable schedule and an easier route to the national playoff every year are a win-win-win."

http://www.sunjournal.com/local-sports/story/1073667

[ODUalum11]

"I hear and appreciate Cosgrove’s defiance when he bristles at the suggestion that Maine deemphasize its program or move into a perceived lesser conference. But how much longer does it make sense to stay in the Colonial, where William & Mary, James Madison, Richmond and Delaware each contend for the national championship every year and all are 600 or more miles away?

In an economic climate that sees schools even dropping the sport, sliding into the Northeast Conference would be a wise preemptive strike. Shorter travel, a more manageable schedule and an easier route to the national playoff every year are a win-win-win."

http://www.sunjournal.com/local-sports/story/1073667

I chuckled at this line...

Another University of Maine football season started this week. Can you feel (or contain) the excitement?

Didn’t think so. Maybe your enthusiasm, along with mine, is tempered by a preseason coaches’ poll that slotted Maine ninth out of 11 teams in the Colonial Athletic Association, just ahead of expansion Old Dominion and perennial non-factor Towson.

At last check, the Black Bears boasted more active NFL players than any other Football Championship Subdivision (I-AA, for my fellow old-timers) program.

Really?! Thought it would have been a school like Montana, App State, Eastern Washington, JMU, etc.

Not FCS related but so true as much as I hate to say it....

Tom Brady. Brian Hoyer. Ryan Mallett. No NFL team has a stronger quarterback depth chart situation going into the 2011 season than the New England Patriots. It isn’t even close.

Can anybody but the Steelers, Pats, Cowboys, and Eagles PLEASE win the super bowl this year?!

[Tribal]

"Can anybody but the Steelers, Pats, Cowboys, and Eagles PLEASE win the super bowl this year?!"

The Eagles have never won the Super Bowl, so why start now? Maybe that's why their fans are so angry?

[kemajic]

The SOCON, Big Sky, and Missouri Valley are clapping their hands right now.

I son't see anything that these small college conferences have to clap about.

[alvin kayak]

The SOCON, Big Sky, and Missouri Valley are clapping their hands right now. I son't see anything that these small college conferences have to clap about.

Okay, let me explain.

1. There are things called conferences, which are collections of strategic business partners.
2. Conferences compete with one another.
3. When one conference loses its key members, other conferences rise in relation to it.
4. The CAA is losing its key members.
5. The SOCON, Big Sky, and Missouri valley are rising in relation to the CAA.

Need further explanation?

[Seawolf97]

Pretty negative article from the local media up in Maine. So Maine to the NEC in a few years ?

[Dukie95]

The SOCON, Big Sky, and Missouri Valley are clapping their hands right now.

I son't see anything that these small college conferences have to clap about.

That was in response to a wishful hypothetical he proposed whereby the CAA loses Nova, UD and UNH. As it is, trimming UMass and URI from the top and bottom doesn't change anything, conference pecking order-wise.