Football Rumors: Playing Akron; 45 scholarships; Ga State!

[Dane96]

Lots of rumors are flying around all of a sudden. First, rumor is that the NEC could be increasing scholarship levels to 45...a very significant accomplishment and a kick to the groin of STONY BROOK.

 

Second, coming off the heels of CCSU getting W. Michigan to play them, someone has stated they heard Akron may play us in 2008. Not sure if this is true...but Frank Blasinsky is from the area. This would be HUGE!

 

Third, Ga. State, with the hiring of Dan Reeves, is pretty close on football. If this comes to fruition...the dominoes should start falling and the CAA could break apart. Lots of possibilities. I have spoken to numerous CAA people...and they all believe that UA is expansion choice number 1. That being said, it could also force UMASS and URI out...and that could mean AE football. Part of this also involves St. Louis, who is being courted by the MVC. If St. Louis goes...and the CAA shifts (any hoop movement will take in UNC-Charlotte)...plus with St. Bonnies and some of the other bottom A-Ten feeders, you have to think UMASS will be searching for a new home.

 

Interesting stuff.

[purplehaze]

Lots of rumors are flying around all of a sudden. First, rumor is that the NEC could be increasing scholarship levels to 45...a very significant accomplishment and a kick to the groin of STONY BROOK.

 

Second, coming off the heels of CCSU getting W. Michigan to play them, someone has stated they heard Akron may play us in 2008. Not sure if this is true...but Frank Blasinsky is from the area. This would be HUGE!

 

Third, Ga. State, with the hiring of Dan Reeves, is pretty close on football. If this comes to fruition...the dominoes should start falling and the CAA could break apart. Lots of possibilities. I have spoken to numerous CAA people...and they all believe that UA is expansion choice number 1. That being said, it could also force UMASS and URI out...and that could mean AE football. Part of this also involves St. Louis, who is being courted by the MVC. If St. Louis goes...and the CAA shifts (any hoop movement will take in UNC-Charlotte)...plus with St. Bonnies and some of the other bottom A-Ten feeders, you have to think UMASS will be searching for a new home.

 

Interesting stuff.

Yes it is--sounds like the predicted massive re-alignment of the CAA, America East and A-10 is about to unfold.

Wonder where we will end up?

[UA_MA_2000]

First, I hope the America East adopts football (and hockey, but this is probably just dreaming). That would be fantastic! Secondly, I would love to see UMASS and Rhode Island join an America East football conference. That would be awesome! I continue to hope that UMASS and R.I. join the A.E. in basketball someday, as well as other sports, as it would create a Northeast state-school power conference (like the Big Ten in the Midwest, SEC in the southeast, PAC-10 in the west, and so forth) or at least a conference with all the New England state schools that has the potential to be a power conference!!

 

I really hope we never join the CAA. Academically, it's an inferior conference than the America East, and I like the current profile fit with the A.E.

 

Conferences like the America East have the potential, with its strong state flagship school presence, to last a long time and get much better across the board, both athletically and academically. Once Bingo, UA, and SB made the jump to D-I, the real potential for a strong New England state-school conference really became a possibility and a reality. Now just convince UMASS and R.I. of that ... .

 

Just my $0.02. Maybe I'm the only one who wants to see UMASS and R.I. in the America East.

[Dane96]

First, I hope the America East adopts football (and hockey, but this is probably just dreaming). That would be fantastic! Secondly, I would love to see UMASS and Rhode Island join an America East football conference. That would be awesome! I continue to hope that UMASS and R.I. join the A.E. in basketball someday, as well as other sports, as it would create a Northeast state-school power conference (like the Big Ten in the Midwest, SEC in the southeast, PAC-10 in the west, and so forth) or at least a conference with all the New England state schools that has the potential to be a power conference!!

 

I really hope we never join the CAA. Academically, it's an inferior conference than the America East, and I like the current profile fit with the A.E.

 

Conferences like the America East have the potential, with its strong state flagship school presence, to last a long time and get much better across the board, both athletically and academically. Once Bingo, UA, and SB made the jump to D-I, the real potential for a strong New England state-school conference really became a possibility and a reality. Now just convince UMASS and R.I. of that ... .

 

Just my $0.02. Maybe I'm the only one who wants to see UMASS and R.I. in the America East.

 

Ummm...academcially, it would be a SUPERIOR conference to the AE. You are talking about some serious academic schools. Except for Towson and Hofstra...you are talking some of the best institutions in the East. Believe me...even President Hall thought so.

[UA_MA_2000]

AE: Stonybrook, Binghamton, UAlbany, Vermont, UNH, Maine, Hartford, UMBC, Boston University.

 

CAA: Delaware, Drexel, George Mason, Georgia State, Hofstra, James Madison, UNC Wilmington, Northeastern, Old Dominion, Towson, VCU, and William and Mary.

 

Dane96: I think we can agree to disagree. Respectfully, of course, I am very interested in learning what forms the basis for your, and apparently the late President Hall's, opinion. I neither believe that the above listed schools are, without debate, "superior" to the schools in the America East, nor do I believe that they are, collectively, some of the best schools in the east (far from it) as of today (maybe a few decades ago). See two paragraphs below for the basis of my disagreement. Obviously, William & Mary and Boston University are the two conference's top schools and a league ahead of many of the other schools in each conference.

 

As far as UAlbany goes, despite the fact that we probably are not even top 1/2 even in the America East for undergraduate programs, we still have stellar graduate school programs, placing us near the top of the America East along with Boston University with respect to graduate school programs. I suppose an academic analysis would begin with whether we are talking about graduate programs or undergraduate programs. For graduate programs, I don't think there is a contest. AE prevails. As far as undergraduate programs, it might be closer but only because UAlbany doesn't crack the top national universities list (as of yet; let's hope soon!). Here is a look at the rankings that I could find (to be updated and completed by this evening). Of course, you may have relied on other rankings, figures, or data, and I would be equally as interested in other information that can add to a thorough analysis of this issue.

US News & World Reports 2007 Rankings (schools from the 2 conferences that made the top two tiers for national universities, with the ranking in brackets):

 

Top National Universities: Wiliam & Mary [31], Boston University [57], Delaware [67], Binghamton [86], Vermont [88], Northeastern [98], Stonybrook [98], New Hampshire [105], Drexel [112]. http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/r...tudoc_brief.php

 

For national universities in the top 2 tiers, the America East comes out slightly on top for undergraduate institutions (at least in terms of number of schools in the top universities list) (and IMHO, UAlbany ain't too far off from cracking the top 50% for national universities, and as far as an analysis of graduate school programs go (factoring in the fact that quality of graduate programs is UAlbany's strength), I think the scales tip even more to the AE). And while the America East has one more school in the top universities list, if you examine only the top 4 schools in each conference, the CAA gets the slight nod due to William and Mary's high ranking: The average ranking for the CAA's top 4 schools is 77 (31+67++98+112/4), whereas the average ranking for the top four America East schools is 82.25 (57+86+88+98/4). Of course, if you extend the analysis to each conference's top 5 schools, then the America East has a better average ranking.

 

Top liberal arts schools: No school from eithier conference exists on this list. http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/r...artco_brief.php

 

Honestly, with the exception of William and Mary, there isn't even a school in the CAA Conference that is better, IMHO, than local schools RPI or Skidmore (or even Union, perhaps). At least that is my $.02.

 

Just for giggles, Union (NY) was ranked #39 on the liberal arts colleges list, and Skidmore was #48 (I wasn't expecting Union ahead of Skidmore, especially after that Newsweek article last year placing RPI and Skidmore in the top 25 "new Ivies" of the country).

 

RPI appears in the top 50 (#42, I think, and RPI was also #24 for Best Value national universities) of the national universities list. Buffalo, the other Division I SUNY school, is also on the list at #120.

 

Dane96: I assume that you have numbers that support your position that the CAA is "superior" to the America East, and I'd be curious as to what those are, as I am willing and interested to challenge even my own analysis and numbers set forth above. I think that perhaps 20 years ago, the CAA was a stronger academic conference, but this is probably due to the fact, in part, that the SUNY system is just simply not that old and makes up 1/3 of the America East. SUNY is an infant when compared to many other universities and state-run educational institutions. Naturally, a strong reputation will lag behind somewhat. Members of older generations may be too fixed on the reputations of schools that existed when they were younger or when they were students. Consider William and Mary, for example. W&M is a fine school (indeed, the highest ranked of either conferece), but much smaller than UAlbany and every other America East school (not sure about Hartford though) and was established in 1694! Without question, that's a lot of tradition and history, and I suspect much of its perceived status and reputation comes from its age (not saying they aren't a great school, but I bet W&M does not pump out the breadth or quantity of research that UAlbany does. Just a thought ... ).

 

Now, back to the conferences, I think it is unquestionably a fair debate as to which conference is better acadmically. The CAA has the highest ranking with W & M (#31), as compared to the America East's highest-ranked school at #57 (Boston U), but the America East has more schools in the list of top universities (5 to 4).

 

Obviously, the rankings from US News & World Reports are not the end-all for college rankings. But like them or not, they are the most popular and followed (in my view at least).

 

I concede that a potential flaw with using solely the numbers that I listed above is that we don't get a picture of the conferences as a whole, but rather, just a snapshot of the top half of each conference (which, as I have illustrated, may favor the America East Conference). Where it gets interesting is when we examine the schools not listed under "top national universities," or putting it another way, the "best of the rest," which may or may not favor the America East or CAA as a whole conference. UAlbany, UMBC, Maine, & Hartford versus George Mason, Georgia State, Hofstra, James Madison, UNC Wilmington, Old Dominion, Towson, and VCU. Hartford is a tier 4 school and probably the America East's "weakest link." [Yet another reason to kick them out and court UMASS and Rhode Island for membership in the AE ] Although the CAA has more schools, if you take the next four best CAA schools (let's say, James Madison, ODU, VCU, & UNC Wil. --- and you can pick any 4 of the remaining CAA schools; I just picked these off the top of my head) and the remaining 4 AE schools (UAlbany, UMBC, Maine, and Hartford), I still might give the nod to the AE as far as "top national universities" and research institutions go. But if UAlbany joins the CAA, then we're also stuck with a couple schools that I wouldn't even send my pet fish to attend.

 

Thoughts? Counterpoints? My point here was not to demonstrate that the America East Conference is necessarily "superior" to the CAA --- indeed, it is not "superior" --- but, rather, when examining the conference as a whole, my point was to demonstrate that it is the CAA that is NOT a "superior conference," but a comparable conference or even, as a whole, not quite ranked where the America East is (though close). I also see UAlbany (I hope) cracking the top universities list one of these years, as the SUNY schools seem to be gaining on a lot of schools simply because of the fact that SUNY is still an educational-institution infant. But in any event, please let me know where my analysis is going wrong. Another point that I am trying to make is for every student and alum of an AE school: Be proud! We are a strong conference academically, and we're getting better in the classroom and on the playing field --- and we are perhaps doing it at a faster rate than many other conferences!!

 

And I continue to believe that the America East is the right conference for UAlbany at this time. Just because a school has been around longer than UAlbany or another America East school, doesn't mean it's better (though I understand the importance of perceived tradition and reputation)!

[UA_MA_2000]

I thought the readers here might also enjoy this too (though it's off topic). I got this from UAlbany's wikipedia website, and I assume the numbers are true, unless someone sees an obvious error.

 

According to US News and World Report, UAlbany is a tier 3 national university. Several individual programs, particularly graduate programs, are ranked amongst the top in the country.

 

The University ranks 77th nationally in NSF funded research (http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/profiles/data/ess_ranking.cfm#E002835), behind Carnegie Mellon at #76. The University has no medical school, which makes the relatively high NSF funded profile noteworthy.

 

Chronicles of Higher Education ranks the doctoral programs in criminal justice, educational administration, and social welfare in their "Top 10" list nationally in their respective disciplines.

 

According to The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, it is a Public Ivy.[1]

 

Albany's stated mission is to move to become "most selective" university, and has engaged in a growth strategy that supports this objective (https://www.suny.edu/provost/MissionReview/MOU/Albany.pdf).

 

Other Top 25 Program Rankings and sources:

 

Criminal Justice - #2 (US News 2006)

 

Educational Administration - #7 (Academic Analytics 2006)

 

Social Welfare - #5 (Academic Analytics 2006)

 

Public Policy - #10 (US News 2005)

 

Information Technology and Management - #4 (US News 2006)

 

Educational and Counseling Psychology - #13 (US News 2006)

 

Africana Studies - #3 (Black Issues in Higher Education July 2004)

 

Public Administration and Management - #6 (US News 2006)

 

Public Finance and Budgeting - #9 (US News 2006)

 

Public Policy Analysis - #25 (US News 2006)

 

Library Science - #15 (US News 2006)

 

Nanoscience and Engineering - #1 overall (http://cnse.albany.edu/downloads/Small%20Times%20May-June%202006.pdf), ahead of Cornell (#2), Michigan-Ann Arbor (#3), Rice (#4), University of Pennsylvania (#5), Virginia (#6).

 

Atmospheric Sciences: ranked in the first quartile of NSF rankings in total federal R&D expenditures.

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_at...ity_of_New_York

[ATL_DANE]

Add Kennesaw State University (KSU) to the mix. I lived in Kennesaw (Atlanta metro) for two years. Georgia loves football above all else. They will definately add football in a big way. I hope this helps start a shake up of the conferences so that we can make a jump.