NEC

[Ruler 79]

With UMASS headed to the MAC, Fordham leaving the PL, and Maine and UNH leaving the CAA(eventually I imagine) Rhode Island headed for the NEC will the NEC finally become a 63 scholarship league? Will CCSU, Albany, and Monmouth stay if it does not?

I know its a lot but I was curious to your thoughts.

Goodluck to all the playoff participants this weekend.

Happy Holidays to all.

[henfan]

Ask Stony Brook.

[aceinthehole]

With UMASS headed to the MAC, Fordham leaving the PL, and Maine and UNH leaving the CAA(eventually I imagine) Rhode Island headed for the NEC will the NEC finally become a 63 scholarship league? Will CCSU, Albany, and Monmouth stay if it does not?

I know its a lot but I was curious to your thoughts.

Goodluck to all the playoff participants this weekend.

Happy Holidays to all.

First, where exactly are Maine and UNH going? I think UNH sticks it out in the CAA, and Maine may consider a 40-scholly NEC. I just don't think anyone really knows yet what these 2 schools will do if UMass and 'Nova announce they are leaving the CAA this year.

I've said this before, but the NEC isn't going to 63 just to be attractive to affiliate members (FU, UNH, or Maine). I say this because SBU left when it was clear the NEC wasn't ready to allow 63 and URI just annonced they would join with the full understanding they would have to reduce to 40 scholarships.

The ONLY reason the NEC may consider to increase the schollys to 60+ is to be a "bowl counter" or more competative in the nationally and in the playoffs. Personally, I think the NEC is missing out on FBS revenue by limiting schollys to 40. That being said, currently 7 of the 9 NEC football teams are full members of the NEC. NEC programs must protect their own interest first - and currently that means limiting football budgets by limiting scholarships.

CCSU, Monmouth, and RMU are NEC core members, so I don't see any way they "leave" and play football elsewhere. Where is this new full scholly conference in the Northeast anyway?

You know I like you Albany fans a lot, but there is a reality that many of you still don't want to face. SBU left the NEC because they were fully committed to 63 schollys and have the facilities and budget comparable to many CAA teams. Albany had the same opportunity to leave the NEC for the Big South and they declined. Albany still has the WORST facility in the NEC and a budget far smaller than your peer SBU. All actions we've witnessed from your administration/AD show content with the 40-scholly NEC model. Albany, as an affiliate, can leave the NEC at any time but there is no reason to think you will because you could have left with SBU, but didn't. And if you don't go to the Big South, where is Albany going? A CAA invite is appears remote at best, but until the inviation is sent, I expect UA to be a valuable member of NEC football.

[Seahawks]

IMHO, membership by a Northern school in the Big South is ridiculous. Rivalries still mean something.

The NEC will probably grow their scholarships in time. I don't know of any timetable other what is already known.

[Ruler 79]

It seems to me that the FCS landscape has changed quite a bit and looks to be continually changing, which is why I posed the question.

Ask SBU what? That they are pissing away money to be in a scholarship league that really doesnt have any more impact on the FCS world then the NEC?If their AD is spending that amount of mnoney to get an FBS payday then he shopuld be fired. I assure you if SBU had a conference to come back to THEY WOULD. If the NEC went to 63 rides SBU would be back in heartbeat. As it stands now, they have the best facilities and spending monies they can't afford to be spending , a coach that was the second coming of Christ, and they are only moderatly successful. I am not sure they were better then Robert Morris this year.

To ACE: Sources at Albany stated that besides the uneccessary travel and expense to play a Liberty or a Coastal, it is no more appealing then playing CCSU, Monmouth, St. Francis and Robert Morris. Its not like an Albany/Coastal Carolina game would draw any better then Albany/CCSU...no disrespect against any of the above schools mentioned. Neither conference was a well known entity then ands that still holds true today. ACE, thats why Albany didnt go to The Big South, it had nothing to do with scholarships. Albany wanted 63 rides then and wants 63 rides now more then ever I assure you. If a conference was available they would jump in a minute. Its been a while so I can reveal it, but my "source" for my info was from the late Kermit Hall.

[aceinthehole]

To ACE: Sources at Albany stated that besides the uneccessary travel and expense to play a Liberty or a Coastal, it is no more appealing then playing CCSU, Monmouth, St. Francis and Robert Morris. Its not like an Albany/Coastal Carolina game would draw any better then Albany/CCSU...no disrespect against any of the above schools mentioned. Neither conference was a well known entity then ands that still holds true today. ACE, thats why Albany didnt go to The Big South, it had nothing to do with scholarships. Albany wanted 63 rides then and wants 63 rides now more then ever I assure you. If a conference was available they would jump in a minute. Its been a while so I can reveal it, but my "source" for my info was from the late Kermit Hall.

I agree with you 100%. Albany didn't make the move because the advantages for UA (63 schollys = FBS games), didn't outweigh the disadvantages (increased travel costs, scheduling, new 'rivalries', no AQ at the time, etc). I personally think UA made the right choice by staying. We know SBU was hellbent on 63 schollys and didn't want to wait for the NEC to act. That's when UA had the perfect opportunity to follow them. But I can empithise and see how some Dane fans feel like they have fallen behind SBU - because of the lack of a new stadium or 63 scholarships.

I think SBU is a good program and they certainly have the resources available to them. CCSU's current AD is the former Assoc AD at SBU and he is very impressive, so I think we are on the right track. I think SBU's AD is an arrogant nutjob, but he has the resources that UA doesn't appear to have right now. I also think SBU isn't much better than what the best the NEC has to offer (UA, CCSU, MU, RMU), and they would have been well served by staying.

I think we know that all the NEC coaches want 63 scholarships. The problem is the ADs and Presidents need to figure out a way to pay for them. From Title IX to faculty concerns to scarce budgetary resources, all the schools face problems getting there. I think the NEC may get to "bowl counter status" in the next 4 or 5 years, but as you pint out the FCS landscape is changing dramatically and who know what's next.

[Seawolf97]

I dont think anyone at SBU is upset about the leaving the NEC. There were some great rivalries but it was time to move on and the NEC couldn't provide. Is the Big South the final destination ? Probably not-it is no secret SBU wants to go FBS someday. When that someday is another story.
We have held our own in the Big South never finishing worse than 2nd and Co Champs twice. Do we need to get better sure we do. We havent been at 63 scholarships all that long but we will improve.
And by the way there are number of Albany posters who would love to have our schedule in 2011. Are we going to beat UTEP and Buffalo ? Who knows. I would take one fo them as a W. Eventually we will knock off an FBS school. So no as fan we have to keep moving forward where ever that takes us.
No hard feelings . We can still play eachother home and away which I hope we do.

[LastMinuteman]

The NEC and Patriot League should swap the teams who want to be full scholarship and the ones who want to be non-scholarship or income-related aid only. A 40 scholarship limit doesn't make sense for anyone, it's purely a compromise necessitated by the NEC's divided membership.

[danefan]

The NEC is a losing proposition for Albany long term, but not because the NEC is a bad league or the other schools are going backwards, because we know that's not true. The NEC has made great strides in the last three years in particular.

The problem for Albany is we are falling behind our peer schools. Our peers are not small private schools. They are large state Universities (UNH, Maine, UMass, Stony Brook, Buffalo, Delaware, Towson, etc....).

This isn't just on the athletic side - its on the institutional vision side, of which Athletics and football in particular are a micrcosim of the the overall problem.

On the SBU issue - I don't think the Big South is a perfect fit for SBU and at the time they moved I thought Albany made a good move not going with them for all the reasons Ruler indicated above. But I have to believe if everyone knew what was going to happen to the CAA North and FCS football in the Northeast we may have had a different opinion. But hindsight is 20/20.

[aceinthehole]

The NEC is a losing proposition for Albany long term, but not because the NEC is a bad league or the other schools are going backwards, because we know that's not true. The NEC has made great strides in the last three years in particular.

The problem for Albany is we are falling behind our peer schools. Our peers are not small private schools. They are large state Universities (UNH, Maine, UMass, Stony Brook, Buffalo, Delaware, Towson, etc....).

This isn't just on the athletic side - its on the institutional vision side, of which Athletics and football in particular are a micrcosim of the the overall problem.

On the SBU issue - I don't think the Big South is a perfect fit for SBU and at the time they moved I thought Albany made a good move not going with them for all the reasons Ruler indicated above. But I have to believe if everyone knew what was going to happen to the CAA North and FCS football in the Northeast we may have had a different opinion. But hindsight is 20/20.

For the record, that is my 'issue' with CCSU in the NEC. The sports membership of the NEC fits CCSU perfectly, and the NEC front office is much more competent than the AE. I think the NEC is a great and growing league, and in many respects has a more cohesive membership and effective commissioner than the MAAC, AE, etc.

But I long for the day CCSU is associated with 'similar' universities - medium sized, Northeast publics. While we've debated this before, CCSU is not an exact 'peer' to Albany, Maine, or a Towson, but we do share many similar characteristics and history. I enjoy our rivalries with Monmouth, RMU, and even Quinnipiac and Mt. St. Mary's - but with members like SFNY, LIU, etc. it's difficult for us to raise our profile.

CCSU is the odd man out in the NEC, and when you look at our academic and regional profile we look a lot like a Eastern Washington (Big Sky) , Southeast Missouri (OVC), Western Carolina (SoCon), or Northern Colorado (Big Sky), yet we don't have a strong conference membership with peer schools.

Danefane - If you were the Albany AD would you renew your membership in the NEC or offer 63-scholarships and join the Big South with SBU? As an NEC affiliate, Albany has the most flexibility and could push for 63 in the NEC or state your intent to do the same somewhere else (ala Fordham to the PL). Would you support a Albany ultimatum to the NEC?

[danefan]

The NEC is a losing proposition for Albany long term, but not because the NEC is a bad league or the other schools are going backwards, because we know that's not true. The NEC has made great strides in the last three years in particular.

The problem for Albany is we are falling behind our peer schools. Our peers are not small private schools. They are large state Universities (UNH, Maine, UMass, Stony Brook, Buffalo, Delaware, Towson, etc....).

This isn't just on the athletic side - its on the institutional vision side, of which Athletics and football in particular are a micrcosim of the the overall problem.

On the SBU issue - I don't think the Big South is a perfect fit for SBU and at the time they moved I thought Albany made a good move not going with them for all the reasons Ruler indicated above. But I have to believe if everyone knew what was going to happen to the CAA North and FCS football in the Northeast we may have had a different opinion. But hindsight is 20/20.

For the record, that is my 'issue' with CCSU in the NEC. The sports membership of the NEC fits CCSU perfectly, and the NEC front office is much more competent than the AE. I think the NEC is a great and growing league, and in many respects has a more cohesive membership and effective commissioner than the MAAC, AE, etc.

But I long for the day CCSU is associated with 'similar' universities - medium sized, Northeast publics. While we've debated this before, CCSU is not an exact 'peer' to Albany, Maine, or a Towson, but we do share many similar characteristics and history. I enjoy our rivalries with Monmouth, RMU, and even Quinnipiac and Mt. St. Mary's - but with members like SFNY, LIU, etc. it's difficult for us to raise our profile.

CCSU is the odd man out in the NEC, and when you look at our academic and regional profile we look a lot like a Eastern Washington (Big Sky) , Southeast Missouri (OVC), Western Carolina (SoCon), or Northern Colorado (Big Sky), yet we don't have a strong conference membership with peer schools.

Danefane - If you were the Albany AD would you renew your membership in the NEC or offer 63-scholarships and join the Big South with SBU? As an NEC affiliate, Albany has the most flexibility and could push for 63 in the NEC or state your intent to do the same somewhere else (ala Fordham to the PL). Would you support a Albany ultimatum to the NEC?

Yes. 100% ultimatum to remove the restriction on scholarships or at least raise it to allow schools to be counters for FBS games.

I'd be on the phone with Fordham every week to guage their direction as well as with Maine and UNH. I'd also be laying the foundation of a move with SBU wherever that may be in the future, including a potential move to the MAC to join Buffalo and UMass.

We have a looming doomsday type of problem at Albany that everyone appears to be ignoring.....Coach Ford is not going to coach forever. He's 76 and my best guess is he's got 2 or 3 more years at the helm. If Albany doesn't make a move or at least come out and state its intentions soon, we're never going to find a suitable replacement for Ford when he does retire. We've got an heir-apparent at New Haven now (Pete Rossomondo - former OC at Albany), but who knows how long he'll be there before moving on. Just to point out how much of a thorn in the side of Albany fans/alumns sides Stony Brook has been in the last 5 years - The coach everyone thought would replace Ford is now the HC at Stony Brook (Chuck Priore - Captain 82 Danes).

[Ruler 79]

Another great canadate is current Purdue University LB coach Lou Anarumo. Has great ties to the UA program and has great respect for Coach Ford. He knows several of the former Albany players(myself included). He would be a great fundraiser and gets along well with today's players. He has coached at Harvard, Syracuse, Marshall and has been at Purdue for about 6 years.He has NFL dreams but I am sure he would consider UA with a new stadium and 63 rides. He was actually going to be hired by Jon Gruden before the Bucaneers fired him.

[COBBLESTONE]

I actually hope NOT. A big reason we joined the NEC was to save our program. We have a huge "DROP FOOTBALL" crowd at Rhody. Sad, our own people feel this way. These idiots were actually happy when they saw what Northeastern and Hofstra did and they were urging our administration to do the same thing.

With us joining the NEC it will be less expensive for us and we'll probably be more competitive. For the NEC to jump up to 63 schollies, it'll just give the URI footballers haters more fuel for their fire. FUCK THOSE PEOPLE.

GO RHODY!

[Seawolf97]

I think you are safe in the NEC for quite awhile. Programs like Wagner, Sacred Heart ,Duquense are not in any rush for 63 scholarships. Sorry to see you leave the CAA but better in the NEC than do a Hofstra.