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Date Posted: 12:08:43 06/05/03 Thu
Author: NU Hoop Fan
Subject: UMass Football 1-A or Bust??
Article in the Globe this morning that UMass is trying to get itself positioned to be in a potential 12-team Big East football conference by going 1-A in football, this would also cement UMass in a Big East basketball conference.
Ironically, in the article, it was implied that if UMass didn't go 1-A in football it would drop to 1-AA non scholarship or drop football completely.
www.boston.com/globe/sports is the link to the article.
Interesting ramafications. Costs to go to 1-A estimated to be $60-100 million.. and the Commonwealth has no cash????
UMass would slowly move from 1-AA to 1-A, ramping up scholarships, and doing something similar to UConn, playing as an independent for a couple of years.
I'm not for this at all. I don't want to pay for it.
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Re: UMass Football 1-A or Bust?? -- How about this idea for a "superconference"? -- Urban Barrister, 16:27:47 06/05/03 Thu
Interesting that the UMass coach thought "life in 1-AA is a dead-end street financially" and that the unnamed administrator quoted essentially said that the school was choosing between upgrading to I-A, staying at I-AA with no scholarships or dropping football entirely. It makes me wonder, yet again, whether it's really worth it for AE schools, particularly Albany and SBU, to keep football at anything more than a non-scholarship level if at all -- but I've already heard an earful from others on the board about the intrinsic value of football, so I won't go there again.
What I was thinking, though, was how, in the wake of the ACC/Big East fallout, how the AE could grow into becoming a new "superconference", to use a phrase popular these days with the media types and ADs alike. Here's how:
Assuming the following were to happen (not beyond the realm of possibility):
-- UMass opts for the best "keep football" option, which I think would be to stay at I-AA (with some level of scholarships),
-- the folks at Rutgers realize (finally) that their attempt to achieve I-A football respectability is futile and decide to drop down to I-AA, and
-- the A-10 as it is currently configured also disintegrates in the wake of the post ACC/Big East shuffle, leaving the University of Delaware to find a new conference,
it's possible to envision the AE morphing into a pretty interesting "superconference", comprised of the following state schools from New England and the Northeast: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, UMass, URI, Albany, SBU, Bing, Buffalo, Rutgers, UMBC and UDelaware.
Here's why I think such an idea makes sense:
Such a conference would maintain many existing rivalries (including, those between the current AE teams, Buffalo and the other SUNYs, UMass and URI, and the A-10 football schools) and create lots of logical new ones. The member schools would all be relatively similar in size and would all share comparable, strong academic values. Plus, the geographic footprint of the league would remain relatively compact, making for reasonable travel budgets (particularly, if there was a New England division comprised of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, UMass, URI and Albany, and an Atlantic division comprised of SBU, Bing, Buffalo, Rutgers, UMBC and UDelaware), and would encompass several major and regional media markets.
Finally, for all those I-AA football fans out there, the league could also sponsor a 10 team football league comprised of the six members that currently play I-AA football in the A-10, plus Buffalo, Rutgers, Albany and SBU (not a bad trade for Villanova, W&M, Hofstra, Richmond and JMU). Plus, the league could always add two of those other current A-10 teams as football-only affiliates if they wanted a 12 team football league -- or, in time, Bing and UMBC could, against better judgment, add football.
Assuming that NU ultimately plans to leaves the AE anyhow, this plan would only leave out BU and Hartford among the current AE members, although either or both could easily remain in lieu of Buffalo, Rutgers or Delaware. (Between the two, BU staying would probably make the most sense, since it would have more in common with the rest of the members in terms of size, academic values and scope of its program.)
Of course, I'm sure none of this would ever happen, since it makes much to much sense . . . .
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Highly Unlikely -- NU Hoop Fan, 21:42:46 06/05/03 Thu
First of all, Delaware is the ringleader in all of this CAA thing, so to assume they'd leave anywhere is shortsighted. They're the ones championing the CAA football conference, so they're not going to abandon ship. If the A-10 disintegrates for hoops, the CAA is going to grab the football affiliation in a nanosecond, and Delaware stays put.
Rutgers with 1-A or 1-AA football will be in the Big East, regardless. I think they have to let the Schiano experiment run its course.
NU would only leave for a football league...
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Re: Highly Unlikely -- Josh, 10:39:38 06/08/03 Sun
I think that a hockey reallignment could also hasten NU's leaving the AE. O'Brian has been less than subtle in his desire to move NU out of the AE.
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Re: Hockey Realignment?? -- UNH_Alum_In_CT, 21:33:49 06/08/03 Sun
Hockey Realignemnt????? NU is going to leave Hockey East for the ECAC, MAAC or CHA?????????? Doubt the ECAC would be interested in them (too many members already) and either the MAAC or CHA would be a significant step down. Still D-1 and would give NU a better shot at making the NCAA tournament, but would they be able to recruit the same kids they do today???
I admit NU is in a tough spot, they aren't a state university like so many AE and CAA schools, but they play 1-AA football. The majority of the scholy 1-AA football schools are the state universities. IMHO, the CAA will eventually implode because of football -- UNCW, ODU, VCU, GMU and DU have different aspirations than W&M, Delaware, Towson, JMU & Hofstra. Joining the CAA isn't the permanent solution. Maybe NU should hang tight for awhile to see what shakes out.
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Re: Highly Unlikely -- NU Hoop Fan, 00:07:18 06/09/03 Mon
Hockey East isn't going anywhere, and NU isn't going anywhere yet. The CAA still has one non-football school (ODU) who isn't in favor of the move, which is enough to keep NU out of the CAA.
I think any conference movements at the AE level will be among the last to happen. Some of the other possibilities for NU that I've heard are interesting.
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