Rumor- UMASS-LOWELL to the AE; Today or Tomorrow

[Dane Pound]

Clearly the AE added UMass-Lowell so they wouldn't have to move the league headquarters out of Boston...

[UA_MA_2000]

Clearly the AE added UMass-Lowell so they wouldn't have to move the league headquarters out of Boston...

 

... And the AE gains a New England public school in the Boston market. I wonder whether CCSU was considered.

 

I know very little about UMASS-Lowell. I am curious to read everyone's views on why (or why not) this is a good move for the AE.

Edited February 14, 2013 by UA_MA_2000

[madDOG]

We were in the same conference during the D2 years

[danefan]

Here's my issue - its yet another school without football.

 

Most like, some don't, but the fact remains - our football and basketball programs are the top priority for the athletic department. And those priorities are not currently aligned because we play in different conferences.

 

That's the only real reason I like the CAA.

[Dane96]

We will be in the CAA at some point. What the league looks like then is another story.

 

To answer the other question, apparently both CCSU and Bryant rebuked the AEC offer for admission! It is universally agreed this was due to the Monmouth situation with football as the rejection came almost the same week the NEC voted to deny Monmouth football membership.

 

CCSU guys are NOT happy.

[danefan]

We will be in the CAA at some point. What the league looks like then is another story.

 

To answer the other question, apparently both CCSU and Bryant rebuked the AEC offer for admission! It is universally agreed this was due to the Monmouth situation with football as the rejection came almost the same week the NEC voted to deny Monmouth football membership.

 

CCSU guys are NOT happy.

 

The NEC's strategy worked. Had the NEC allowed Monmouth in as a football affiliate, we would have seen Bryant in CCSU in the AEast instead of or with Lowell.

[alum73]

I have no inside knowledge, but it seems to me that the AE has totally forsaken football, which resulted in both UA and SBU making the moves they did and Bryant and CCSU their response as well. If the AE had moved football forward, as some us hoped, they might have attracted some fine additions, but that didn't happen. Now I hope we migrate to the CAA. Maybe this will spur the NEC to increase their football Scholarship levels, perhaps Monmouth could pull a URI and go back to the NEC.

[uofalbany]

One less top team in NEC football... now their chances of the ncaa birth are greater. At least the NEC conference HAS football.

I don't blame them for staying. Would moving to the AE be an upgrade anyway.

 

At this point in time, without football aspirations and bringing in DII schools, I can't see this conference growing in the correct direction.

I wouldn't be overly joyous going to the CAA, but like df says, at least we'd have both basketball and football together. The move would

be at least a slight improvement, and would probably be a better stepping stone if we ever wanted to go bigger and better.

Edited February 14, 2013 by uofalbany

[uofalbany]

Due to the CAA having football, being dominant in the fcs, and having some b-ball success in the ncaas,

people nationwide must know the CAA & its schools much more than the AE at its schools, in athletic terms. I'm sure chatter

about the CAA dwarfs that of the AE.... I'd move to the CAA if given the chance.

Edited February 14, 2013 by uofalbany

[dslyank]

The caa was never my first choice for football. I had hoped for some sort of yankee conference restart or AmEast football [which appears dead now???]. So I guess, I now have to get on the caa or at least a northern division split of the caa bandwagon. That being said, except for the fact that they lack football, a "state university" in mass. with a very good athletic tradition is NOT in my opinion a bad add for the AmEast. Sort of like UA a few years back [except we had football, but no stadium].

[danefan]

The caa was never my first choice for football. I had hoped for some sort of yankee conference restart or AmEast football [which appears dead now???]. So I guess, I now have to get on the caa or at least a northern division split of the caa bandwagon. That being said, except for the fact that they lack football, a "state university" in mass. with a very good athletic tradition is NOT in my opinion a bad add for the AmEast. Sort of like UA a few years back [except we had football, but no stadium].

 

If I were a Vermont fan I'd be ecstatic with this add.

 

It just goes to show how divergent our interests are from the non-football schools.

[Dane96]

People really don't understand the nefarious nature of the UM Lowell past, and their current hack leader IF...IF THEY have turned it around; good move. If same old same old...the Q would have been an equally $ienaty choice.

[olddog71]

I had hoped that with BU(MA's) departure from the AE that the conference would have considered adding football, but if the rumors about UMass are correct then that scenario would still have been possible. I would like to have heard the discussion at AE admin meetings about the football future in the last couple years. Was it a possible consideration? Did we wait until it was no longer an option to make our move to the CAA for the sport?

[UAalum72]

For all that's been said about BU killing AE FB (and as true as that may have been 15 years ago) I've also heard that New Hampshire was one of the teams opposed, because if AE formed its own league while the CAA held together, it would be years before America East would be eligible for an autobid. It's no longer possible for both leagues to exist separately (with ODU and Ga State moving to FBS) so I wouldn't expect AEFB to happen unless there are more changes, like James Madison or Delaware to FBS and Wm. & Mary to the Patriot, that almost wipe out the Virginia wing of the league. I don't think UD or W&M wlll happen.