CAA Expansion

[madDOG]

Video of the press conference is up on UAlbanysports.com for those who couldn't catch it live at work (like me).

 

I have to say, I was grinning ear to ear watching the video. This is such a huge step forward for us, and to have accomplished this in such a relatively short amount of time is HUGE. We were Division 3 when I attended UA 15 years ago and I always knew we could be so much more. To actually see it happen is just. friggen. AWESOME!

[UAalum72]

Now to make the most of it.

I'm hoping that the athletic department invests heavily in marketing this new conference, stadium etc...

At least this much so far

 

At least this is up while Giants visitors are still coming

[danefan]

This is a great article.

 

http://shar.es/vA0aV

Edited August 8, 2012 by danefan

[Dane Pound]

AndrewSantillo Lee McElroy also said @UAlbany will have to negotiate a separation agreement from the @NECsports

 

A FB coach also told me that the NEC could still decide to disqualify us from getting an autobid. We'll have to see. I suppose the same is true of Stony Brook.

 

It would seem pretty lame to disqualify us after picking us as the preseason favorite. Valid and legal but lame. I figured our NEC separation agreement would be to retain our eligibility for the auto-bid and then get called for 10 holding calls against CCSU.

[danefan]

Last week, the Great Danes were picked as the preseason favorite for the 2012 season. According to an NEC official, UAlbany will be eligible for the league’s automatic postseason bid this year.

 

http://www.troyrecord.com/articles/2012/08/09/sports/doc502336f87c964248720991.txt

[UAalum72]

Last week, the Great Danes were picked as the preseason favorite for the 2012 season. According to an NEC official, UAlbany will be eligible for the league’s automatic postseason bid this year.

 

http://www.troyrecord.com/articles/2012/08/09/sports/doc502336f87c964248720991.txt

From the same story:"That increase of scholarships will allow the program to schedule games against Football Bowl Subdivision teams as early as 2015."

[danefan]

Last week, the Great Danes were picked as the preseason favorite for the 2012 season. According to an NEC official, UAlbany will be eligible for the league’s automatic postseason bid this year.

 

http://www.troyrecord.com/articles/2012/08/09/sports/doc502336f87c964248720991.txt

From the same story:"That increase of scholarships will allow the program to schedule games against Football Bowl Subdivision teams as early as 2015."

 

I'm hoping that despite not being a counter until 2015, we can get an FBS game in 2014.

[Phoenix]

I'm hoping that despite not being a counter until 2015, we can get an FBS game in 2014.

 

How could we convince an FBS school to play us if we're not a counter? (honest question)

[madDOG]

McElroy has made UAlbany a winner

 

http://www.timesunion.com/sports/article/McElroy-has-made-UAlbany-a-winner-3773724.php

[Phoenix]

Looks like CAA Football's twitter account has more or less addressed the URI situation. Commissioner Yeager has officially asked URI to reconsider it's planned departure for the NEC after this season, but they have not officially decided on the (re)invite. CAA asked UAlbany to remove URI from its banners pending URI's decision.

[UAalum72]

I'm hoping that despite not being a counter until 2015, we can get an FBS game in 2014.

 

How could we convince an FBS school to play us if we're not a counter? (honest question)

It happens. CCSU played Western Mich. a few years ago, Wagner's playing FL Atlantic this year.

 

It could be the FBS school figures they have no hope of getting to six wins, or they just want a home game. Only one FCS game per year can count for them, so a second FCS game might as well be a non-counter.

[GreatDane87]

Even I have to admit that I might have been wrong about the AD's ability to raise the level of UAlbany's athletics program. This is great....a real accomplishment. But now it is time to turn to some of the other sports and athletes that receive a fraction of the Athletic Department's attention.....such as softball and baseball. Since just about all of the outdoor sports will have new and improved venues, wouldn't it make some sense to take care of the softball and baseball teams as well? Doing so would complete the vision in the 2010 project and continue this impressive rise.

 

 

 

McElroy has made UAlbany a winner

 

PETE IORIZZO, COMMENTARY

 

Published 9:38 p.m., Wednesday, August 8, 2012

 

 

 

1 of 4.

 

 

 

UAlbany's Vice President for Athletic Administration/ Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Dr. Lee A. McElroy Jr. talks about UAlbany playing in the Colonial Athletic Association starting in 2013, on Wednesday Aug. 7, 2012 in Albany, NY. (Philip Kamrass / Times Union)

 

ALBANY — Lee McElroy wasn't supposed to be announcing that the University at Albany football program is joining the Colonial Athleltic Association, one of the top FCS conferences.

 

And he certainly wasn't supposed to be making the announcement in the shadow of a rising football stadium, a project that will be completed in 2013.

 

But of course, he also wasn't supposed to oversee 57 conference championships, two trips to the NCAA men's basketball tournament, one appearance in the NCAA women's basketball tournament and an FCS playoff game, either.

 

No, only one thing was supposed to happen after McElroy left American University to become UAlbany's athletic director in 2000.

 

He was supposed to get fired.

 

"They told me it was a career killer," McElroy said. "Don't go!"

 

***

 

Now, of course, it's the university that shouldn't want McElroy to go, especially not after he and president George Philip managed to get construction started on their football stadium, a project so miraculously brought back from the dead they might as well name it Lazarus Field.

 

(Bob Ford Field works, too.)

 

Moving to the CAA in football in 2013 is the perfect complement to the stadium project. The Great Danes are getting a real football stadium. Now they'll be playing a fitting brand of football, too, against FCS powers like Delaware, James Madison, Maine and New Hampshire.

 

By 2015, UAlbany also will be full-scholarship and able to play so-called "guarantee games" against college football's top programs. UAlbany vs. Alabama? Hey, it could happen.

 

Not only will those games grant the Danes national exposure and kindle some local interest — even in lopsided defeat — but they bring revenue of $500,000-$800,000.

 

But McElroy's tenure shouldn't be defined by football's growth alone. When he arrived at UAlbany, the school was in its Division I infancy and without a conference affiliation in any sport other than football.

 

Five years later, the Danes made the first of two NCAA men's basketball appearances. Meanwhile, the track program continued to rise as an East Coast power, and, in 2007, the lacrosse program went to the national quarterfinals.

 

Women's basketball was a longtime also-ran, but McElroy made a brilliant hire in Katie Abrahamson-Henderson, who this past spring took the Danes to the NCAA Tournament in her second season.

 

The school also built a new lacrosse stadium and field hockey surface and kept the Giants happy enough to return for 16 summers.

 

"He's able to create a pretty decent feeling of family, where you get the feeling everybody is trying to help you win," UAlbany football coach Bob Ford said. "You say, 'Well, sure, but that's true at every university.' Oh, no. It's not. Not even close."

 

***

 

None of this is to say McElroy leads a flawless department. Here's one weakness: It often fails to capitalize on the publicity its successes should offer. Sometimes, it seems UAlbany has mastered public perception about as well as I've mastered quantum mechanics.

 

In fact, at a news conference Wednesday, even McElroy made a joke about the school's sometimes clumsy handling of information. He quipped that he was announcing "the least best-kept secret in college football."

 

But building a public image is secondary to building winning programs, which is what fans, alumni, coaches and the athletes care about most.

 

There were few who thought McElroy — or anyone else, for that matter — could win at a school that 12 years ago still was just in its Division I infancy.

 

"They said, 'Why would you want to take a job at a place that hasn't proven itself?'" McElroy recalled. "I said, 'That's why I want to take it. So we can build a foundation.'"

 

The foundation is here.

 

And, to the surprise of some, McElroy still is, too.

 

piorizzo@timesunion.com * 518-454-5425 * @PeteIorizzo

 

 

Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/sports/article/McElroy-has-made-UAlbany-a-winner-3773724.php#ixzz234HZ6Ua5

[Tribal]

Thrilled SBU and Albany are joining CAA football. It's going to be fun.

[Clickclack]

Thrilled SBU and Albany are joining CAA football. It's going to be fun.

 

Thank you...as you can see from the activity on this board we are equally as thrilled.

[jmufan]

Just wanted to say congrats on joining the CAA. I look forward to the battle of the purple and gold.