"Nobody's thinks 14 is a good number," admitted Yeager, on hand at Cowell Stadium to take in UNH's 48-21 win over Northeastern Saturday. "But, by the same token, there's a lot of benefit and commitment to making it work, as opposed to blowing it up and trying to do something else."
Short-term, here's what it means for UNH: not a whole lot.
The Wildcats will play a similar schedule in 2010 and 2011, with league games against all five of their North rivals and three in the South. Starting in 2012, they will play only one home game and one away game against South teams.
But long-term, staying in the larger-footprint CAA means making it work against more schools that are different, from enrollment to facilities to geography, all of them chasing the same annual bids to the Division I playoffs with disparate budgets.
Yeager said he is in ongoing dialogues with UNH athletics director Marty Scarano and Maine's Blake James, the league's two northernmost programs and arguably two of its biggest misfits when you gauge facilities (UNH) and distance (Maine).
"It remains an ongoing concern," said Yeager. "The good part is those two schools have great coaches and great teams that play in the mix very well."
"ongoing concern" and "ongoing dialogues"...................
