BingGrad

Yes, yes, yes, yes and yes.

The commissioner cannot stay in her job if the conference unravels. A conference that doesn't have members doesn't need a commissioner. She needs to do "something" to keep her job. NJIT qualifies as "something", because they won't say no.

UVM Hoop Cat

Oh, believe me I don't think any of this is good. Losing BU is bad for UVM- especially for basketball recruiting, and our only real rival in the conference for hoops. It was also the only school in the conference that looks a lot like Vermont in terms of its athletics priorities.

I didn't think it was good when Delaware, Drexel, Hofstra, Northeastern all left either, and look where the conference has gone since....trending downward.

__________________
"Let's win this game for all the small schools that never had a chance to get here"
- Hoosiers,
& UVM mens basketball NCAA's 2005

mainejeff

Ding ding ding........

I'd rather have CCSU than Q.........but you perfectly stated the facts.

UNHFan

Veterans of this board. Who is to blame with the lack of growth of this conference and the loss of schools over the pass 10+ years? Is it our university Presidents? The Ad's? Poor leadership from the Commish? What is it? God I think this league would be better off with us running it

UVM Hoop Cat

I think it's pretty clearly a combination of a mix of schools that don't share a common vision for athletics, each has their own unique set of issues and self-interests, and commissioners that have not been pro-active and accept the status quo.

__________________
"Let's win this game for all the small schools that never had a chance to get here"
- Hoosiers,
& UVM mens basketball NCAA's 2005

NU Hoop Fan

I blame the schools that voted against the CAA Merger.

Now that wouldn't have been a long term answer as geographically it probably would have been too expensive for Maine/Vermont to compete long term, but it would have given the conference some form of stability.

And it would have given the league both football AND hockey. Period.

No way BU vetos hockey in a league with that kind of cache.

NU still probably drops football, as does Hofstra, but it's under the AE umbrella.

Would Mason and VCU and ODU likely have left after a while, probably, so the SUNYs come in a few years later, big deal.

Actually, I blame NU and BU for not leaving for the MAAC in 1990 when we had a chance.

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Today is the first day of the next 86 years!

umainealum

To answer that first bold point...it's not a matter of "wanting" change, it's a matter of accepting the fact that the conference landscape is as volatile as it has ever been and it was pretty obvious to everyone (except maybe the people in the AEast office & schools) that the change was reaching the low level conferences. Change was inevitable based on every single conference change by schools across the country and to think that it wouldn't trickle down to the AEast would have be akin to the ostrich sticking its' head in the sand (which, by the way, is how I often describe this conference).

Now, the 2nd highlighted part is easy to answer...it's too damn late. To have been proactive, the conference should have already had lots of conversations with a multitude of schools, including schools like the Q, Monmouth, Bryant, etc but also with schools like Delaware, Towson, W&M. People in charge of athletic conferences just plain HAVE to know the landscape surrounding them and they HAD to know what ODU, GA State etc were thinking in regards to their athletic departments...thus, make a ton of phone calls re: football. In short, they should have had numerous conversations with a variety of schools all in the name of strengthening this conference and assuring that it will live another 20 years...as it is right now, this league is ripe for the picking and has been moved down the hall from "stable" wing to the "intensive care" ward...

The 2nd part of the proactive aspect to me is talking with all the current members and making a convincing argument to stay...committing to the overall improvement of men's basketball as a product, committing to adding a couple of programs to get that level of security that everybody was looking for, etc. It doesn't appear as though that happened either.

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UMaine - the epitome of mediocrity

Proud supporter of an AMERICA EAST team that made a coaching change...

ccd494

I think its fair to criticize Maine and UNH (and to a lesser extent UVM), and place some of the blame at their feet for where the conference ended up.

At the end of the day, America East is just somewhere Maine and UNH are parking their non-hockey and non-football sports. I understand the hand wringing by UVM, SUNY, etc. fans who are worried about the conference's basketball RPI. However, as a Maine fan, here are my priorities:

1. Play hockey in Hockey East [check]
2. Play football in a full scholarship FCS conference [check]
3. Have a conference for baseball [check] <- tenuous

Now, would it be cool to have a successful basketball program? Yes. Would it be cool to win something in women's soccer, field hockey or softball? Sure. But I'm realistic. If you have a small time athletic department like Maine's you need to prioritize.

I'll miss BU because of the history, sure, but that's about it. Bantering around CCSU vs. Quinnipiac vs. NJIT vs. Delaware State vs. whomever, honestly, it doesn't matter to me. Maine just needs to be in ANY conference. What happens if Maine is suddenly in a conference with terrible basketball/Olympic sports programs? Well, maybe Maine can win something.

I understand that programs in AE may have bigger ambitions than that (UVM hoops, SBU everything, Albany hoops?), and I don't criticize those schools for dreaming big, but a parochial New England/New York bus league is fine by me.

UVM Hoop Cat

I have to imagine they are accepting of it since this conference has been looking more and more NEC-like each year. Especially now with BU leaving, and with the rumored replacements for BU and potentially SBU.

No point in leaving for the NEC when it just looks like the NEC is coming to the AE anyways.

I know Vermont has been considering the effects of changing conference landscape but I hope with BU leaving they are thinking carefully and strategically about it a little more. Not saying that will turn into action or anything or we need to get out, but just something to really consider.

__________________
"Let's win this game for all the small schools that never had a chance to get here"
- Hoosiers,
& UVM mens basketball NCAA's 2005

UVM Hoop Cat

+1

And I'm not +1 because this is what I believe in, but this is what Maine's athletic priorities are, and they have every right to have these priorities if this is what they have deemed their athletics mission.

While I wish schools like Maine and UNH didn't treat their basketball programs like something worse than red-headed step children, they just have different priorities than UVM, and I can accept that because what else is there to do about it. The same way UVM made a decision to cut Baseball and other peripheral sports to focus on Hockey/Basketball Maine should be able to field a bunch of sports teams and be mediocre at them if it wants to.

__________________
"Let's win this game for all the small schools that never had a chance to get here"
- Hoosiers,
& UVM mens basketball NCAA's 2005

BingGrad

Exactly. Many of our board contributors have very different expectations for what they want their athletic programs to be as compared to what their school's administration want their athletic program to be.

UNH, Maine and Hartford seem to be perfectly content with fielding a large contingent of teams in the AE sports but not really making a huge commitment to those sports. Until the basketball success of the last 10 years, Vermont also fit this profile -- and may still fit it. UMBC probably fits into this category as well, but is a geographic outlier.

The SUNY's all had larger, grander, and perhaps more naive visions. Stony Brook still clearly has bigger things on their mind. Albany and Binghamton -- I'm less clear on what they want, but suspect they'd both be satisfied with the status quo.

Aceinthehole

NUHF - was there any talk about the NAC fully merging with the ECC, instead of just bringing over UD and Drexel?

A merger would have seemed to make sense back then because in the 1990-91 season the NAC had just 6 teams once Colgate left the conference, and the ECC had just 7 members following the departure of Bucknell, Lafayette, Lehigh.

A fully merged ECC/NAC conference starting in the 1991-92 season would have looked like this:

Boston University (NAC)
Central Conn. St. (ECC)
Delaware (ECC)
Drexel (ECC)
Hartford (NAC)
Hofstra (ECC)
Maine (NAC)
MD-Baltimore Co. (ECC)
New Hampshire (NAC)
Northeastern (NAC)
Rider (ECC)
Towson (ECC)
Vermont (NAC)

Not a bad 13-team conference (and 8 that played football) that runs the Northeast corridor from Boston to Baltimore. You could have also added Buffalo, who would join the ECC that year to make it an even 14.

UVM Hoop Cat

I don't think so. Most UVM fans on this site are focused on basketball- which I presume is why we are here- and don't post every single athletic announcement but we've been doing a lot of expenditures for Track and Field and Lacrosse recently. There's been a bunch of money thrown at Lacrosse, though I don't think our results have been very good. Spending can be just that- spending with no real return.

But again, these are two sports that I don't think generate much interest/demand. If these are the things the commissioner of this conference is focused on equally to basketball, YIKES. That's just scary.

__________________
"Let's win this game for all the small schools that never had a chance to get here"
- Hoosiers,
& UVM mens basketball NCAA's 2005

umainealum

And that is precisely the reason the AEast is where it is today...IMO.

__________________
UMaine - the epitome of mediocrity

Proud supporter of an AMERICA EAST team that made a coaching change...

PatrickGymRat

I think this is a great move for BU and eventually Stony Brook. I think my Cats would love to move with BU or SBU to a more competitive league. I wouldn't be surprised if such a discussion isn't taking place behind close doors as we speak. Unfortunately, my fear is we are stuck in this league with inferior teams and as a result will lose more players like Four and Bald. The talent is so watered down, it looks like a D2 division.

Lets examine the stats....

The PL conference is ranked #22 in RPI. America East is ranked #30.

PL is 54-62 in OCC games. America East is 37-80.

PL will get a 14/15 seed in the big dance giving teams like Lehigh opportunites to knock off Duke which they did.....

America East will be in the PIG and then get crushed by a #1 seed every year.

Who wants to be in America East? I don't blame BU one bit. I am extremely jealous.