Rhode Island moving to the NEC?

[ladyflame]

GoHens.net implosion..............

Hey, that sure beats a UMaine FB extinction.

Come on, at least give me some credit. I'm trying to think of ways to save UMaine FB and keep you happy, neither of which may be possible at this point.

have to agree. at least maine still has football! in my opinion the most enjoyable sport on all levels

[mainejeff]

GoHens.net implosion..............

Hey, that sure beats a UMaine FB extinction.

Come on, at least give me some credit. I'm trying to think of ways to save UMaine FB and keep you happy, neither of which may be possible at this point.

Why so touchy?

I'm sure that Delaware will end up in a solid FCS conference with the rest of us once JMU, ODU and Georgia State move up.

[henfan]

If I was UMaine fan, I'd be less concerned about which fictitious conference my team might end up in someday and more concerned about the immediate survival of my FB program and the ever increasing number of flights I'll have to board to watch my team play road games. If rumors mentioned earlier in this thread are true, someday might never come for UMaine FB.

OTOH, the Black Bears might do as the TSN article suggests and follow URI to the NEC, fulfilling the school's long-held desire for FB scholarship reductions. In the NEC, maybe UMaine wouldn't be as compelled to constantly lobby for across the board reductions, as they did for years in the A-10.

[mainejeff]

If I was UMaine fan, I'd be less concerned about which fictitious conference my team might end up in someday and more concerned about the immediate survival of my FB program and the ever increasing number of flights I'll have to board to watch my team play road games. If rumors mentioned earlier in this thread are true, someday might never come for UMaine FB.

OTOH, the Black Bears might do as the TSN article suggests and follow URI to the NEC, fulfilling the school's long-held desire for FB scholarship reductions. In the NEC, maybe UMaine wouldn't be as compelled to constantly lobby for across the board reductions, as they did for years in the A-10.

That article is baseless as it concerns Maine. Maine's AD has stated that Maine is committed to the CAA (this was after the URI to the NEC story came out). So no.......Maine fans have no reason to be "worried".

But back to Delaware........so not if, but when ODU, JMU and Georgia State move up to the FBS........what type of football conference do you envision for Delaware???

[danefan]

If I was UMaine fan, I'd be less concerned about which fictitious conference my team might end up in someday and more concerned about the immediate survival of my FB program and the ever increasing number of flights I'll have to board to watch my team play road games. If rumors mentioned earlier in this thread are true, someday might never come for UMaine FB.

OTOH, the Black Bears might do as the TSN article suggests and follow URI to the NEC, fulfilling the school's long-held desire for FB scholarship reductions. In the NEC, maybe UMaine wouldn't be as compelled to constantly lobby for across the board reductions, as they did for years in the A-10.

That article is baseless as it concerns Maine. Maine's AD has stated that Maine is committed to the CAA (this was after the URI to the NEC story came out). So no.......Maine fans have no reason to be "worried".

But back to Delaware........so not if, but when ODU, JMU and Georgia State move up to the FBS........what type of football conference do you envision for Delaware???

Do you have a link for that? I haven't seen any comment from anyone but Yeager.

[GannonFan]

But back to Delaware........so not if, but when ODU, JMU and Georgia State move up to the FBS........what type of football conference do you envision for Delaware???

Again, does it matter? UD football isn't going to wither and fade away. 22k people (or more when they enlarge the stadium) will keep coming to games and making millions for the program. Why would that change if JMU, ODU, and G State are off the schedule (especially considering that two of them aren't even on the schedule now)? You need 6 schools for an autobid, and there'll be more than six schools left if those schools go and if UD doesn't go with them. And UD did very well for decades without an autobid so even that isn't so sacrosanct.

Why the worry for UD? It's hard to find a more stable or more secure program anywhere in FCS right now and well into the future. We may not have won as often as we would've liked over the past 5 years, but that hasn't impacted the health of the program at all. You keep harping on this with seemingly no grasp of the situation.

[mainejeff]

Do you have a link for that? I haven't seen any comment from anyone but Yeager.

Maybe that is because that's all you are looking for.......

Maine athletics director Blake James said, “One of the great attributes of our league is size, and it provides you with games. For us to get eight conference games is a real benefit, and to be part of the CAA reflects well on our institution. I don’t see any better situation for us than the one we are in.”

http://www.projo.com/uri/content/Szosta ... a5125.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[mainejeff]

But back to Delaware........so not if, but when ODU, JMU and Georgia State move up to the FBS........what type of football conference do you envision for Delaware???

Again, does it matter? UD football isn't going to wither and fade away. 22k people (or more when they enlarge the stadium) will keep coming to games and making millions for the program. Why would that change if JMU, ODU, and G State are off the schedule (especially considering that two of them aren't even on the schedule now)? You need 6 schools for an autobid, and there'll be more than six schools left if those schools go and if UD doesn't go with them. And UD did very well for decades without an autobid so even that isn't so sacrosanct.

Why the worry for UD? It's hard to find a more stable or more secure program anywhere in FCS right now and well into the future. We may not have won as often as we would've liked over the past 5 years, but that hasn't impacted the health of the program at all. You keep harping on this with seemingly no grasp of the situation.

AGAIN........just stop side-stepping and answer the damn question.

I see 4 or 5 members left after the dust settles.......

Villanova (maybe)
Delaware
Towson
Richmond
W&M

I'm not saying the Delaware football is going away (no matter how much you and henfan try to frame my comments that way )......I'm just asking you guys what type of conference (with the names of possible member schools) that you see Delaware ending up in. Is that a difficult question? Just take a guess......come on......I know that you are educated enough to answer that........

[danefan]

Do you have a link for that? I haven't seen any comment from anyone but Yeager.

Maybe that is because that's all you are looking for.......

Maine athletics director Blake James said, “One of the great attributes of our league is size, and it provides you with games. For us to get eight conference games is a real benefit, and to be part of the CAA reflects well on our institution. I don’t see any better situation for us than the one we are in.”

http://www.projo.com/uri/content/Szosta ... a5125.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You're right. I wasn't looking. Hence the reason I asked.

[mainejeff]

Maybe that is because that's all you are looking for.......

Maine athletics director Blake James said, “One of the great attributes of our league is size, and it provides you with games. For us to get eight conference games is a real benefit, and to be part of the CAA reflects well on our institution. I don’t see any better situation for us than the one we are in.”

http://www.projo.com/uri/content/Szosta ... a5125.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You're right. I wasn't looking. Hence the reason I asked.

You're the ultimate cherry picker.

[GannonFan]

Again, does it matter? UD football isn't going to wither and fade away. 22k people (or more when they enlarge the stadium) will keep coming to games and making millions for the program. Why would that change if JMU, ODU, and G State are off the schedule (especially considering that two of them aren't even on the schedule now)? You need 6 schools for an autobid, and there'll be more than six schools left if those schools go and if UD doesn't go with them. And UD did very well for decades without an autobid so even that isn't so sacrosanct.

Why the worry for UD? It's hard to find a more stable or more secure program anywhere in FCS right now and well into the future. We may not have won as often as we would've liked over the past 5 years, but that hasn't impacted the health of the program at all. You keep harping on this with seemingly no grasp of the situation.

AGAIN........just stop side-stepping and answer the damn question.

I see 4 or 5 members left after the dust settles.......

Villanova (maybe)
Delaware
Towson
Richmond
W&M

I'm not saying the Delaware football is going away (no matter how much you and henfan try to frame my comments that way )......I'm just asking you guys what type of conference (with the names of possible member schools) that you see Delaware ending up in. Is that a difficult question? Just take a guess......come on......I know that you are educated enough to answer that........

What's so difficult, I've already answered. It'll be the current CAA minus JMU, ODU, and G-State. For someone who's adamant that Maine isn't going anywhere you sure seem committed to writing them out of the CAA. Why would Maine, UNH, and UMass leave, especially once the FBS-bound programs jet off for an FBS backwater like the MAC or CUSA? What's so hard to see there???

[henfan]

But back to Delaware........so not if, but when ODU, JMU and Georgia State move up to the FBS........what type of football conference do you envision for Delaware???

Jeff, through the years, you have consistently mistaken 'if' for 'when'. For example, the chestnut from a few years ago, "when the America East gets its own football and hockey leagues..."

UD fans tend not to be obsessed with ridiculous speculative scenarios because, as I have explained to you before, we're far more interested with UD doing what it can to improve its own fortunes. If the school does what it has to do to improve facilities, recruit players and win games, we won't have to worry about "what happens if, blah, blah, blah". None of us can see into the future to know what other opportunities might emerge with new or rising leagues or teams. Besides, we're fans and, aside from offering our support, we have zero control over what our schools do with their FB programs.

[89Hen]

There are only 3 current CAA football programs that can and will step up.......JMU, ODU and Georgia State.

Has Georgia State played a game yet?

[89Hen]

Jeff, through the years, you have consistently mistaken 'if' for 'when'. For example, the chestnut from a few years ago, "when the America East gets its own football and hockey leagues..."

He's nothing but consistant. It has been fun over the years watching jeff turn crimson when there's talk of America East, football expansion/contraction, etc...

[mainejeff]

What's so difficult, I've already answered. It'll be the current CAA minus JMU, ODU, and G-State. For someone who's adamant that Maine isn't going anywhere you sure seem committed to writing them out of the CAA. Why would Maine, UNH, and UMass leave, especially once the FBS-bound programs jet off for an FBS backwater like the MAC or CUSA? What's so hard to see there???

Yeager and the CAA South seem intent on jettisoning UMass, UNH and Maine according to many CAA South fans........I was just asking.

[mainejeff]

It has been fun over the years watching jeff turn crimson when there's talk of America East, football expansion/contraction, etc...

Much like you do when religion and/or abortion is mentioned.

[Seawolf97]

AGAIN........just stop side-stepping and answer the damn question.

I see 4 or 5 members left after the dust settles.......

Villanova (maybe)
Delaware
Towson
Richmond
W&M

I'm not saying the Delaware football is going away (no matter how much you and henfan try to frame my comments that way )......I'm just asking you guys what type of conference (with the names of possible member schools) that you see Delaware ending up in. Is that a difficult question? Just take a guess......come on......I know that you are educated enough to answer that........

What's so difficult, I've already answered. It'll be the current CAA minus JMU, ODU, and G-State. For someone who's adamant that Maine isn't going anywhere you sure seem committed to writing them out of the CAA. Why would Maine, UNH, and UMass leave, especially once the FBS-bound programs jet off for an FBS backwater like the MAC or CUSA? What's so hard to see there???

Exactly - where do any FCS teams go ?. Either the MAC or maybe C-USA. I cant see any team at our level making a quantum leap to the ACC, Big East or SEC . These conferences are on their to way to becoming Super Conferences in time and a JMU doesnt match up with a Uconn if the ACC comes calling. Also as we all know an upgrade in football means all other sports will probably need to step it up a notch or two to compete. So bring your check books and expect to be a bottom dweller for awhile.

[GannonFan]

What's so difficult, I've already answered. It'll be the current CAA minus JMU, ODU, and G-State. For someone who's adamant that Maine isn't going anywhere you sure seem committed to writing them out of the CAA. Why would Maine, UNH, and UMass leave, especially once the FBS-bound programs jet off for an FBS backwater like the MAC or CUSA? What's so hard to see there???

Yeager and the CAA South seem intent on jettisoning UMass, UNH and Maine according to many CAA South fans........I was just asking.

When has Yeager ever made a comment like that? And when has anyone other than Mickey "Mouse" Matthews even said anything publically like that from a CAA South school? So some yahoos on a message board and a coach who says anything and everything pooh-pooh some CAA North schools - big deal. The people who actually matter (i.e. Yeager and the college presidents he works for) haven't said anything of the sort.

Don't worry, MJ, as long as you guys don't drop football you'll be stuck with Delaware and its fans for a long, long time. I know that just warms your heart!!!

[bluehenbillk]

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/sports/20 ... EM_ID=8500" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Mixed signals from Yeager here, says the New England schools are in, then says wouldn't be surprised if they left for a more regional conference.....

[mainejeff]

Yeager is drinking some Mickey Matthews kool-aid.

I'd like to ask CAA fans that post here.......where is Yeager getting 8 or 9 members to establish an FBS league???

I count 3.........ODU, JMU and Georgia State. I'll even throw in the possibility of Charlotte and I'll raise you one by adding Delaware (who I don't see EVER moving up). That's 5......on a good day. Where are the other 3 or 4 schools coming from???

[KAUMASS]

Gotta agree with MJ here. I don't see 8 schools from the CAA jumping to FBS status, even "as a league". Don't have the attendence or stadium requirements. In the next few years, only UD, JMU & Georgia State will have the stadium capacity for FBS. ODU is close.

I don't see UR, "nova, UNH, Maine, UMass, W&M & Towson coming up with a 30-50 million dollar renovations/additions to their stadiums in the next couple of years.

Yeager is talking out his ***.

[bluehenbillk]

I'd like to ask CAA fans that post here.......where is Yeager getting 8 or 9 members to establish an FBS league???

MJ- Maybe I'm missing it, where did you get a FBS reference. The only thing the article referenced was 8 league games, it never said FBS.

[danefan]

Gotta agree with MJ here. I don't see 8 schools from the CAA jumping to FBS status, even "as a league". Don't have the attendence or stadium requirements. In the next few years, only UD, JMU & Georgia State will have the stadium capacity for FBS. ODU is close.

I don't see UR, "nova, UNH, Maine, UMass, W&M & Towson coming up with a 30-50 million dollar renovations/additions to their stadiums in the next couple of years.

Yeager is talking out his ***.

I don't believe there is a stadium requirements for FBS anymore. They changed it to attendance, which is a rule that's never enforced anyway. So I think you really only need a 15,000 seat stadium that is filled every game to meet the requirements.

[KAUMASS]

Gotta agree with MJ here. I don't see 8 schools from the CAA jumping to FBS status, even "as a league". Don't have the attendence or stadium requirements. In the next few years, only UD, JMU & Georgia State will have the stadium capacity for FBS. ODU is close.

I don't see UR, "nova, UNH, Maine, UMass, W&M & Towson coming up with a 30-50 million dollar renovations/additions to their stadiums in the next couple of years.

Yeager is talking out his ***.

I don't believe there is a stadium requirements for FBS anymore. They changed it to attendance, which is a rule that's never enforced anyway. So I think you really only need a 15,000 seat stadium that is filled every game to meet the requirements.

If the league could move up to FBS without stadium size requirements, would schools have a choice wether or not they wanted to give out 85 scholarships or could they pick a number between 63 & 85? If possible, what schools in the CAA would give out 85, what schools would stay at 63, anyone in the middle? Would any CAA school want to play in the CAA with other teams with higher scholarship #'s if they stayed at 63? They probably wouldn't win....
Would bowl money to the conference compensate for the additional schollies? Would CAA schools want to play bowl games instead of the the playoffs? Lot's to chew on here, the line is starting to get blurred.

Is Yeager's long term goal here trying to get some bowl money to the conference if they could go FBS?

[danefan]

I don't believe there is a stadium requirements for FBS anymore. They changed it to attendance, which is a rule that's never enforced anyway. So I think you really only need a 15,000 seat stadium that is filled every game to meet the requirements.

If the league could move up to FBS without stadium size requirements, would schools have a choice wether or not they wanted to give out 85 scholarships or could they pick a number between 63 & 85? If possible, what schools in the CAA would give out 85, what schools would stay at 63, anyone in the middle? Would any CAA school want to play in the CAA with other teams with higher scholarship #'s if they stayed at 63? They probably wouldn't win....
Would bowl money to the conference compensate for the additional schollies? Would CAA schools want to play bowl games instead of the the playoffs? Lot's to chew on here, the line is starting to get blurred.

Is Yeager's long term goal here trying to get some bowl money to the conference if they could go FBS?

I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) that FBS schools have to give out the full 85 rides. So if the CAA wanted to move up as a conference all schools would have to be on board.

The other questions is how the new transition rules apply here. The new rules require a conference invite before transitioning from FCS to FBS. I don't think there is any clarity on an entire conference moving up, if its even possible at all.

I don't think Yeager's goal is to move the whole conference to FBS. The only team that has any real plans in motion so far is Ga.St. and JMU. Every other school, including ODU are 5-10 years away at the earliest. Who knows what the FBS/FCS alignment will look like in that time.