Clawson and UR to Patriot League instead of CAA?? -- FORDHAM RAMS FOOTBALL FORUM

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Subject: Clawson and UR to Patriot League instead of CAA??

Author:
DebataRam
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Date Posted: 08:12:40 03/02/05 Wed

Clawson now facing return to Patriot

Richmond Times-Dispatch

Wednesday, March 2, 2005

Fifty-three weeks ago, Dave Clawson accepted the University of Richmond's offer to become football coach.

Clawson explained that his move from Fordham, where he had been head coach for five years, to UR was tightly linked to the fact that Richmond is a fully-funded scholarship I-AA football program. Fordham plays in the Patriot League, which awards only need-based financial aid.

"There's a big difference," Clawson said on the late-February day he was introduced as the Spiders new coach. He hired a staff and recruited on the basis of UR being a fully-funded I-AA scholarship program.

Friday, Richmond will decide if it intends to remain a fully-funded scholarship I-AA program, or join the Patriot League starting in 2007.

Asked yesterday for reaction to the unexpected development, Clawson said "I will respect the decision of the president [Dr. William E. Cooper] and the Board of Trustees, and will continue to work hard to make our football program successful regardless of our conference affiliation."

He chose not to address other questions regarding the possible change in Spiders football philosophy.

Last month, Clawson brought in his first Spiders recruiting class, an 18-man group that The Sports Network recognized as the fifth-best group of high-school recruits among I-AA programs.

UR is in the process of trying to raise funds for construction of an on-campus football stadium. - John O'Connor

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Replies:

Subject Author Date

Re: If true, great news for the PL. (NT) Go...'gate 08:23:14 03/02/05 Wed

I have trouble seeing Richmond leaving and not being in same conference as W&M, their oldest rival. It might work if they moved together. Throw in 'Nova and we have one heck of a I-AA football conference. (NT) bfg 08:56:39 03/02/05 Wed

Richmond already severed ties with W&M in all other sports when it jumped to the A-10 from the CAA. I agree that football may be different. On the other hand, from what I hear about the football situation at Richmond, the administration has a lukewarm committment to the sport. The PL may be a good fit, because the school does not seem committed to competing at the level necessary to field a consistent A-10/CAA program. (NT) -- JoltinJoe, 10:30:31 03/02/05 Wed

Also, if Richmond joins the PL beginning in 2007, we get to knock off the schedule one of those "mid major" games. (NT) -- JoltinJoe, 10:43:36 03/02/05 Wed
Agree about most sports, Joe, but I think the UR/W&M game is among the oldest football rivalries in the country. I looked at the UR message board and they don't want to give that up. They may wind up joining the PL, but their fans aren't happy about it. (NT) -- bfg, 10:43:46 03/02/05 Wed

If they move to the PL, I assume they could keep scheduling the game as an OOC game. (NT) -- DebataRam, 10:56:05 03/02/05 Wed

Yes, but their schedule starts to get tough logistically. They see their big rivals as W&M, JMU, 'Nova and Delaware. They also play a I-A game. It becomes tough to keep all of those games on a PL schedule. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see them in the PL and I think they may well make the move. I'm just try ing to look at the situation as they see it. (NT) -- bfg, 11:07:29 03/02/05 Wed

Yes, that's why I said football may be different. (NT) -- JoltinJoe, 11:08:37 03/02/05 Wed

Enclosed find the URL for a different artcile explaining rationale for Richmonds decision. DebataRam 08:57:26 03/02/05 Wed

I feel bad for Clawson. He left on us on good terms for a scholarship program and now has to deal with this. From our standpoint, though, it would be great to see them join us ... particularly if they could influence another strong academic institution or two to join them (c'mon Villanova!). (NT) PA Ram 10:59:09 03/02/05 Wed

Dave Clawson must be very unhappy here. He believed he was taking a step up toward his goal of coaching a major Div. 1-A program. If they make the move, we can expect him to move along again sooner than later. (NT) Rambacker 12:18:50 03/02/05 Wed

I spoke with Dave within the last two weeks but before this speculation. He didn't seem unhappy to me and I would expect that he will honor whatever committment he has with Richmond. (NT) -- R. Marrin, 13:03:01 03/02/05 Wed

Re: Any thoughts on whether Fordham will be more inclined to stay put in PL FB if Richmond joins the conference in FB? (NT) -- Go...'gate, 13:05:52 03/02/05 Wed
The question here is did Richmond honor their commitment to him? Surely he would not have left Fordham for another non-scholarship program. They changed the rules on him - I expect him to move on if this happens. No one would blame him, if Richmond moves to the PL he will have had the rug pulled out from under him there. (NT) -- Rambacker, 13:15:55 03/02/05 Wed

Very odd indeed. Presumably the UR administration was less than candid with Coach C in the pre-hire discussions. Perhaps an example of the best action being no action. Hey hindsight is 20/20. Also, in terms of honoring commitment, wasn't Coach commited to FU for additional years? (NT) Jimbo65 13:45:28 03/02/05 Wed

Yes, he was. But Clawson requested permission to negotiate with Richmond, and permission was granted. Clawson didn't renege on a deal. He was given permission to pursue the opening. (NT) -- JoltinJoe, 13:56:50 03/02/05 Wed

Re: Let's face it, respected collegaues; this has opened the door for Fordham to make the step up in football if they so choose. Rambacker, your sources have any thoughts on an FU cross-over into CAA FB in '07? (NT) -- Go...'gate, 14:51:13 03/02/05 Wed

as much as I'd prefer to play scholarship football, I'm not holding my breath. Fr. McShance has said on more than 1 occassion that we're not upgrading football. (NT) -- bfg, 16:01:52 03/02/05 Wed
The CAA/A-10 will welcome us. Our NY location, academic standing & quality program help. We'll be in the driver's seat. What's critical is where football nets out in our internal/external study when it's done in the Fall. Everything will fall from that, including the future of Ram football. With the major expansion of the university at Lincoln Center, new Marymount campus, Science Center, Campus Center, Recreation facility, to me it makes sense to step up to scholarship football. I don't think we'll have an answer until '06 on this, given the timing of the release of the study. (NT) -- Rambacker, 17:03:12 03/02/05 Wed

For those alums and students that would like to see us join the new CAA league, I suggest that you makes those opinions known to Fr. McShane and the Board. (NT) -- Rambacker, 17:11:24 03/02/05 Wed
Maybe, but Hofstra may still have a voice in the discussion as a full CAA member. Can't see the Dutchmen rooting for another New York school in the mix.** (NT) -- DFW HOYA, 19:23:56 03/02/05 Wed

Hofstra doesn't have much juice with the league. Plus Fordham will better deliver the NY market. (NT) -- Rambacker, 22:25:37 03/02/05 Wed

Who the hell are you, Rambacker, to speak so dispositively on every issue? You pretend to be in the know, far above us poor alumni but are you are a fake? . You have been asked before. Who are you. If not a name, then a year of graduation (if you are alumnus) -- anything that gives you credibility. Otherwise, I join the other posters who you see you as a nut with a "mission" of being big time in everything except academics. (NT) -- not convinced, 20:07:32 03/02/05 Wed

"not convinced"? Your post becomes instantly questionable based on the moniker alone. But more precisely, it's clear that you don't read my posts carefully. I have always espoused high academic standards for Fordham and always will. You sound like one of those fossils that believe Fordham cannot maintain high academic standards and also have a winning, national athletic program. Your type of thinking is passe - Fordham is moving toward a future of success at the highest level academically and athletically. You can watch while we do it, if you choose. Best of luck living in the 50's. (NT) -- Rambacker, 22:10:42 03/02/05 Wed

Re: The CAA/A-10 will welcome us. Our NY location, academic standing & quality program help. We'll be in the driver's seat. What's critical is where football nets out in our internal/external study when it's done in the Fall. Everything will fall from that, including the future of Ram football. With the major expansion of the university at Lincoln Center, new Marymount campus, Science Center, Campus Center, Recreation facility, to me it makes sense to step up to scholarship football. I don't think we'll have an answer until '06 on this, given the timing of the release of the study. -- JCC, 21:49:37 03/02/05 Wed

If you read the article on the Lincoln Center expansion, it says that Fordham's enrollment will increase dramatically in the future. This will increase our operating budget and as our alumni base increases, so will contributions. This would enable us to support Div. 1-A football if we want. I'm not saying it will happen - just saying there may be more justification for it in the future given our increased stature, need to recruit nationally, etc. (NT) -- Rambacker, 22:04:09 03/02/05 Wed

I hope you're right, but I'm not so sure. First of all, much of the additional space at LC will be used by grad and law students. People in grad programs in education and social service aren't generally big contributors, nor do they take much interest in Fordham sports. While Fordham Law grads are more generous contributors, they tend to focus donations on the Law School, unless they also did their undergrad work at FU. As for the LC undergrads, many of them are hip, artsy, urban types who aren't much interested in sports, or anything else at Rose Hill. More.... (NT) -- Ram'69, 10:50:10 03/03/05 Thu
....While I'm convinced that better football (& basketball) WOULD dramatically expand applicant pools to our undergraduate programs at Rose Hill, I'm less certain that they would have the same effect at LC. Given the University's modest financial resources--and considering the new administration's tremendous interest in upgrading Lincoln Center--I've got the feeling that sports and other programs at Rose Hill inevitably will command less attention. Rose Hill has always been the University's flagship campus, and I hope that I'm wrong about some of these matters. (NT) -- Ram'69, 11:04:51 03/03/05 Thu

Frankly, I believe that the administration needs to make the completion ot the Rose Hill campus a priority, at least as high a one as the Lincoln Center expansion. It is our flagship campus, but has never been completed. Rose Hill is the common core of the university - we need a new campus center, science center, combined recreation complex/convocations center, football stadium, probably another dorm, Collins Hall refurbishment, etc. There's a lot to be done to finish our core campus. (NT) -- Rambacker, 15:55:47 03/03/05 Thu

It's time to launch a campaign, similar to what has happend at Richmond over the past week, to contact the Admin and the BOT and tell them how we think Fordham should proceed. (NT) -- bfg, 17:10:13 03/03/05 Thu

I couldn't agree more. If we don't, we could end up with an athletic program and a Rose Hill campus that does not match our insititutional goals. (NT) -- Rambacker, 22:04:49 03/03/05 Thu