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It appears that the Charlotte 49ers will play football as an independent, at least for the foreseeable future.

Athletics director Judy Rose said Thursday that the Colonial Athletic Association -- which the 49ers had hoped to join as a football-only member when they begin playing in 2013 -- would only consider accepting Charlotte in all sports.

"It was all or nothing with the CAA," said Rose, who wants the remainder of Charlotte's athletic programs to remain affiliated with the non-football Atlantic 10. "So we're an independent in football for an indefinite period of time. It's not ideal, but we're fine with that."

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They're FINE with that? That's terrible!

At least they are in a place with plenty of teams nearby

Arrogance was behind this decision.

Too bad, as they would have made a nice addition to the CAA in ALL SPORTS.

DSUrocks07 wrote:

It appears that the Charlotte 49ers will play football as an independent, at least for the foreseeable future.

Athletics director Judy Rose said Thursday that the Colonial Athletic Association -- which the 49ers had hoped to join as a football-only member when they begin playing in 2013 -- would only consider accepting Charlotte in all sports.

"It was all or nothing with the CAA," said Rose, who wants the remainder of Charlotte's athletic programs to remain affiliated with the non-football Atlantic 10. "So we're an independent in football for an indefinite period of time. It's not ideal, but we're fine with that."

Read more: http://gmine.blogspot.com/2011/09/49ers ... z1ZOR5JsON" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

They're FINE with that? That's terrible!

They're "fine with it" the way a guy who just got dumped for 65 year old fat slob with a big bank account is "fine with it"

TwinTownBisonFan wrote:

DSUrocks07 wrote:


They're FINE with that? That's terrible!

They're "fine with it" the way a guy who just got dumped for 65 year old fat slob with a big bank account is "fine with it"

A bit dramatic. We were offered a full CAA membership and decided to turn it down. Seems our administration feels its better to go A10/Independant than CAA all-sports. I seriously doubt our Chancellor and AD made that decision on a whim.

The caa is better than the a10 in a multitude of sports. The a10's biggest advantage over the caa, basketball, has completely disappeared as odu gmu and vcu are as good as any current a10 teams (odu beat Xavier, Dayton and richmond last year and dusquesne and unc Charlotte the year before that).

It makes zero sense for Charlotte not to join the caa. No skin off our backs though, enjoy mediocrity out in the ether of independent fcs football!

ODUfanRazor wrote:enjoy mediocrity out in the ether of independent fcs football!

...as opposed to enjoying mediocrity in CAA football like ODU.

93henfan wrote:

ODUfanRazor wrote:enjoy mediocrity out in the ether of independent fcs football!

...as opposed to enjoying mediocrity in CAA football like ODU.

yep, were going to be mediocre in our first year in the caa.....you got us!

Delaware fans obsession with odu is bordering on scary.

49RFootballNow wrote: A bit dramatic. We were offered a full CAA membership and decided to turn it down. Seems our administration feels its better to go A10/Independant than CAA all-sports. I seriously doubt our Chancellor and AD made that decision on a whim.

No doubt Charlotte is doing what they think is best for them long term. I don't fault them for that. There has to be some kind of back up plan in place if/when the A10 collapses, right?

Will this make Charlotte the only FCS independent with no announced plan to move to the FBS? If so, this is seriously one shitty way to build a football program. Good luck.

Are they clinging to the A-10 because of basketball? If so, how is the A-10 going to look after Temple bolts to the Big East, if that happens? Is Rhode Island staying in the A-10 for all other sports? UMass?
As discussed here before, scheduling is the biggest challenge for an independent. They won't get a CAA opponent after week 3 of the season. It will be difficult finding other conference-affiliated opponents as well. Playing Savannah States and Campbells and NCCU's was fine for the first couple of years of the program, but it gets old.
The decision certainly had to factor the exit cost for the A-10 as well as the entry fee for the CAA. Not sure what those costs are, if any at all, but football startup costs are hard enough to deal with alone.
There is no doubt they are rolling the dice on this one. And they probably figured that no decision is the absolute right one with the current landscape changes going on. It will be interesting to see how this turns out.

Charlotte has not made the NCAA tournament in Men's basketball since they joined the A-10, so it would seem as if clinging to it for basketball doesn't make sense. They have done better in A-10 in other sports.

Remember that Charlotte has been a member of both Conference USA and the Sun Belt. Perhaps they feel they have the history and relationships to go back to one of these when the A-10 folds and achieve FBS football membership, without having to jump conferences again. The A-10 is their 4th conference in the last 20 years.

ODUfanRazor wrote:

93henfan wrote:
...as opposed to enjoying mediocrity in CAA football like ODU.

yep, were going to be mediocre in our first year in the caa.....you got us!

Delaware fans obsession with odu is bordering on scary.

49RFootballNow wrote:

TwinTownBisonFan wrote:
They're "fine with it" the way a guy who just got dumped for 65 year old fat slob with a big bank account is "fine with it"

A bit dramatic. We were offered a full CAA membership and decided to turn it down. Seems our administration feels its better to go A10/Independant than CAA all-sports. I seriously doubt our Chancellor and AD made that decision on a whim.

This is the part I don't understand. Are people really ignorant enough to believe that we just woke up one morning and said, "hmm FCS independent sounds nice?"

HXC Niner wrote:

49RFootballNow wrote:
A bit dramatic. We were offered a full CAA membership and decided to turn it down. Seems our administration feels its better to go A10/Independant than CAA all-sports. I seriously doubt our Chancellor and AD made that decision on a whim.

This is the part I don't understand. Are people really ignorant enough to believe that we just woke up one morning and said, "hmm FCS independent sounds nice?"

Not saying that but holding it as a trump card seems a little reckless. Especially when you are trying to build your program. Even as a stop gap measure, rivalries are key to the financial and marketable success of any collegiate football program, more so one with FBS aspirations.

Serious question for any Charlotte fans on this site:

I looked at your website - looks like the sports they've experience any kind of recent success with are:

Men's & Women's Track, Women's Soccer, Baseball & Golf.

This is why you don't want to join the CAA?

What am I missing?

Wow...be sure to read the comments on that blog referenced in the first post. Seems that even the UNCC fans are split on this.

Personally, I think UNCC messed up by not taking the CAA's offer. If the Big East raids the A-10 of the good basketball teams, UNCC is left holding the bag in two revenue sports.

Oh, and someone even thinks UNCC can win an FCS championship as an independent. They'll have a hard enough time just making the playoffs.

I think the catholic basketball-first schools of the Big East and A-10 will band together in the near future. Charlotte might want to have a contingency plan.

BillK asks great questions and I agree with Dukie that UNCC missed the boat not taking the CAA's invitation. It would appear that UNCC's decisions are based on pre-A10 history and not on recent events over the last 5-6 years. However it turns out for them, it will be because of their decisions, not a lack of alternatives. Wishing UNCC good fortune, but I really don't understand the path you are taking. Hopefully it is based upon knowledge I am lacking.

I want to know what the Big South is thinking. Why not offer Charlotte associate membership? Who cares if they jump ship in a few years? Isn't that what Stony Brook is going to do? Isn't that what Liberty wants to do? Doesn't Coastal want to join the Socon? Why stand pat? It's not like 7 football schools is too many. It's actually not enough, and thus every team in the conference having to play a D2 for another home game.

FWIW. A friend of mine (UNCC grad with decent connections) said that he "believes" that Charlotte thinks they can get into the CAA in the future without much of a problem. Committing now doesn't make sense for them with the uncertainty of the trickle-down effect from the Big East, A-10, CAA, CUSA. They think that within 2 years things will shake up and that being unemcumbered in football will made it easier to make a move.

CAA Flagship wrote:FWIW. A friend of mine (UNCC grad with decent connections) said that he "believes" that Charlotte thinks they can get into the CAA in the future without much of a problem. Committing now doesn't make sense for them with the uncertainty of the trickle-down effect from the Big East, A-10, CAA, CUSA. They think that within 2 years things will shake up and that being unemcumbered in football will made it easier to make a move.

That seems logical to me. Its just a huge gamble.....

danefan wrote:

CAA Flagship wrote:FWIW. A friend of mine (UNCC grad with decent connections) said that he "believes" that Charlotte thinks they can get into the CAA in the future without much of a problem. Committing now doesn't make sense for them with the uncertainty of the trickle-down effect from the Big East, A-10, CAA, CUSA. They think that within 2 years things will shake up and that being unemcumbered in football will made it easier to make a move.

That seems logical to me. Its just a huge gamble.....

I don't know. It makes sense and while they're an independent I think they can get 4-6 games from CAA/SoConish opponents, 4-6 games from Big South/MEACish opponents and then a couple of throw away games, either D2, Pioneer League or FBS. It's not impossible to think that they could create a schedule where they're playoff-worthy at 8-3. Plus, nobody else is doing that at our level, so there's not a lot of competition to lock up OOC dates with other teams.

I could see a schedule like this:

ECU
Wofford
Georgia State
Presby
William and Mary
Furman
Bethune
Davidson
ODU
Liberty
Savannah State

Obviously, there's a certain level of team that could be interchanged (i.e. JMU/Richmond for W&M), but they would have an opportunity to get some quality wins with this schedule and make the playoffs, which is the ultimate goal at this level and they could keep their A-10 status (for what that's worth). If anything drastic happens, they would be a program that could probably still get in either the CAA or SoCon based on their market.

mcveyrl wrote:

danefan wrote:
That seems logical to me. Its just a huge gamble.....

I don't know. It makes sense and while they're an independent I think they can get 4-6 games from CAA/SoConish opponents, 4-6 games from Big South/MEACish opponents and then a couple of throw away games, either D2, Pioneer League or FBS. It's not impossible to think that they could create a schedule where they're playoff-worthy at 8-3. Plus, nobody else is doing that at our level, so there's not a lot of competition to lock up OOC dates with other teams.

I could see a schedule like this:

ECU
Wofford
Georgia State
Presby
William and Mary
Furman
Bethune
Davidson
ODU
Liberty
Savannah State

Obviously, there's a certain level of team that could be interchanged (i.e. JMU/Richmond for W&M), but they would have an opportunity to get some quality wins with this schedule and make the playoffs, which is the ultimate goal at this level and they could keep their A-10 status (for what that's worth). If anything drastic happens, they would be a program that could probably still get in either the CAA or SoCon based on their market.

What CAA school will sacrifice a bye week in the middle of the conference schedule to play them? I'm saying it will be hard for them to get a CAA game after week 3.

mcveyrl wrote:

danefan wrote:
That seems logical to me. Its just a huge gamble.....

I don't know. It makes sense and while they're an independent I think they can get 4-6 games from CAA/SoConish opponents, 4-6 games from Big South/MEACish opponents and then a couple of throw away games, either D2, Pioneer League or FBS. It's not impossible to think that they could create a schedule where they're playoff-worthy at 8-3. Plus, nobody else is doing that at our level, so there's not a lot of competition to lock up OOC dates with other teams.

I could see a schedule like this:

ECU
Wofford
Georgia State
Presby
William and Mary
Furman
Bethune
Davidson
ODU
Liberty
Savannah State

Obviously, there's a certain level of team that could be interchanged (i.e. JMU/Richmond for W&M), but they would have an opportunity to get some quality wins with this schedule and make the playoffs, which is the ultimate goal at this level and they could keep their A-10 status (for what that's worth). If anything drastic happens, they would be a program that could probably still get in either the CAA or SoCon based on their market.

I meant the gamble of being able to get a CAA invite again in a few years if they want one.

I agree that if anyone can go Indy, Charlotte is in the best position to do so.