CAA's Yeager Defends FCS in Light of O'Day's E-mail

[TexasTerror]

Thought this was deserving of its own thread... I like what he says about "our world" and he's right. Us FCS diehards know a lot more about the Big Sky and Patriot League compared to some of the FBS leagues (particularly when we are not from or living in that region)...


Tom Yeager, the commissioner of the Colonial Athletic Association, has seen the leaked and now-famous e-mail sent by Jim O'Day and understands many of the Montana athletic director's concerns.

He has many of his own, like how one of the smaller schools in his conference that has, say, a 6,500-seat stadium, might outbid its gate in pursuit of a home playoff game.

"If you're not ranked, there's pressure that comes to bear from your own fans to up the ante," he said. "And Appalachian State raises the bar in the east pretty high."

Such is life in the Football Championship Subdivision, which may not be long for the Montana Grizzlies. It seems assured that the Western Athletic Conference, a Bowl Subdivision league in flux, is going to invite Montana to move on in, whether it's in November or later.

http://missoulian.com/sports/college/montana/football/article_533bdbd4-d1c2-11df-a56a-001cc4c002e0.html

[Appfan_in_CAAland]

The CAA has a powerful brand, having been home to the last four Division I FCS winners not named Appalachian State - and the Mountaineers beat CAA teams for its three straight titles from 2005-07.

When did Northern Iowa join the CAA?

[UNI Pike]

It seemed like UNI was part of the CAA north for a number of years, given all of the playoff matchups.

[bostonspider]

That writer has some bad facts about the "CAC" as the headline calls it. There was never a time when the football conference got down to 6 members in 2000, that was the basketball conference when AU, ECU and UR all left. This CAA is the same conference as the A10 and the Yankee before, it just has been renamed twice. There was no "merger" with the A10 football playing schools, 2 of them have been in the conference since its inception (UMass & URI). I think he took some facts from Wikipedia, which is pretty off in its description of the change over from A10 to CAA. The only school that wavered on switching leagues was in fact UR, which considered going non-scholarship in the Patriot League (President at the time told the team they could never win the A10/CAA). Made the National Title all that much sweeter just a few years later.

[Appfan_in_CAAland]

That writer has some bad facts about the "CAC" as the headline calls it.

I hear a lot of people, even here in Richmond, call the CAA the "Colonial Athletic Conference" for some reason. It really amazes me.

[JMUNJ08]

I hear a lot of people, even here in Richmond, call the CAA the "Colonial Athletic Conference" for some reason. It really amazes me.

They are in the A10 for everything else. Don't forget, only 25 ppl can actually go see a game at the new stadiumxoopsxxoopsx

[ur2k]

They are in the A10 for everything else. Don't forget, only 25 ppl can actually go see a game at the new stadiumxoopsxxoopsx

You realize that Richmond is a city as well as a university, right?xnodx

Carry on.

[MacThor]

You realize that Richmond is a city as well as a university, right?xnodx

Carry on.

Go easy on the safety schoolers.

[Appfan_in_CAAland]

I hear a lot of people, even here in Richmond, call the CAA the "Colonial Athletic Conference" for some reason. It really amazes me.
They are in the A10 for everything else. Don't forget, only 25 ppl can actually go see a game at the new stadiumxoopsxxoopsx

I'll explain this for you as carefully as I can. While I have no affiliation with the CAA or any of its current or former institutions, I do live in a city called Richmond, Virginia (actually in Henrico County, but that's nit-picking). Richmond, in addition to being the capital of Virginia, is the home of the Colonial Athletic Association offices (actually that's in Henrico County too, but again, nit-picking). Richmond is also home to the CAA men's basketball tournament. There are five members of the CAA in Virginia, including one in Richmond - Virginia Commonwealth (which of course makes the other 11 CAA members upset about the basketball tournament's location). Anyway, the CAA gets a lot of press in the area, both in the print and broadcast media. Local sports talk is, I think anyway, very good at covering the Virginia members and the conference as a whole, considering the state's overall infatuation with the Hokie-dokies. So you'd think people in this metro area would know the conference is called the "Colonial Athletic Assocation". However, in going about my daily business here in the heart of CAALand, I often encounter people referencing the "Colonial Athletic Coneference", and it really amazes me.

What this has to do with the size of the new University of Richmond Spiders Stadium, or their conference affiliation, is beyond me.

[rufus]

Go easy on the safety schoolers.

Be careful about that generalization. I know quite a few JMU grads who were accepted by "better" regional universities like UVa, W&M, and UNC. In my case, I applied to UVa, JMU, and VT, and was accepted by all three. W&M was too small and too close to home, so I didn't apply. I didn't look outside of VA, due to financial factors.

Upon visiting UVa and realizing that I had no interest in spending four years with that student body, I decided on JMU. At this point, I've been out of college for a number of years, I've graduated from a top 10 MBA program, and I'm doing just fine in my career. Attending the "safety school" doesn't seem to have held me back.

Let's keep it to sports and stop the nonsense.

[MacThor]

Be careful about that generalization. I know quite a few JMU grads who were accepted by "better" regional universities like UVa, W&M, and UNC. In my case, I applied to UVa, JMU, and VT, and was accepted by all three. W&M was too small and too close to home, so I didn't apply. I didn't look outside of VA, due to financial factors.

Upon visiting UVa and realizing that I had no interest in spending four years with that student body, I decided on JMU. At this point, I've been out of college for a number of years, I've graduated from a top 10 MBA program, and I'm doing just fine in my career. Attending the "safety school" doesn't seem to have held me back.

Let's keep it to sports and stop the nonsense.

Fair enough. I don't really consider JMU a safety school -- it was my 2nd choice; my brother and several friends went there. Those of us who went to one of the FCS level schools in the state know what the real safety school is anyway. ;)

That comment was directed (poorly) at one individual poster who never gets tired of reminding us he can't count any higher than 25, even in irrelevant threads.

[mcveyrl]

I'll explain this for you as carefully as I can. While I have no affiliation with the CAA or any of its current or former institutions, I do live in a city called Richmond, Virginia (actually in Henrico County, but that's nit-picking). Richmond, in addition to being the capital of Virginia, is the home of the Colonial Athletic Association offices (actually that's in Henrico County too, but again, nit-picking). Richmond is also home to the CAA men's basketball tournament. There are five members of the CAA in Virginia, including one in Richmond - Virginia Commonwealth (which of course makes the other 11 CAA members upset about the basketball tournament's location). Anyway, the CAA gets a lot of press in the area, both in the print and broadcast media. Local sports talk is, I think anyway, very good at covering the Virginia members and the conference as a whole, considering the state's overall infatuation with the Hokie-dokies. So you'd think people in this metro area would know the conference is called the "Colonial Athletic Assocation". However, in going about my daily business here in the heart of CAALand, I often encounter people referencing the "Colonial Athletic Coneference", and it really amazes me.

What this has to do with the size of the new University of Richmond Spiders Stadium, or their conference affiliation, is beyond me.


Wow, you know a lot.

But Richmond, Virginia is not in Henrico County. Virginia is the only state left that operates with cities independent of counties. True story. And I know I'm nit-picking, but that's what friends are for.

The rest of the post, I have no real issues with.

[Appfan_in_CAAland]

Isn't Radford every Virginia student's safety school?

[mcveyrl]

Isn't Radford every Virginia student's safety school?

If you're looking for safety, Radford ain't the place to get it...

[URMite]

Wow, you know a lot.

But Richmond, Virginia is not in Henrico County. Virginia is the only state left that operates with cities independent of counties. True story. And I know I'm nit-picking, but that's what friends are for.

The rest of the post, I have no real issues with.

I interpreted it to mean he is in Henrico and considers it Richmond for the sake of this discussion. Not that Richmond is in Henrico.

[mcveyrl]

I interpreted it to mean he is in Henrico and considers it Richmond for the sake of this discussion. Not that Richmond is in Henrico.

You might be right. Are the CAA offices in the county? That's kind of what I was basing my opinion on, but I honestly have no clue where the offices actually are.

[URMite]

You might be right. Are the CAA offices in the county? That's kind of what I was basing my opinion on, but I honestly have no clue where the offices actually are.

I wasn't even thinking about that, but yes it is. I was saying that I thought Appfan meant his house is in Henrico...

[BigHouseClosedEnd]

The CAA office is on Patterson, west of Parham. I believe that puts it in Henrico County.

[mcveyrl]

I wasn't even thinking about that, but yes it is. I was saying that I thought Appfan meant his house is in Henrico...

We'll just keep this hijack going a little longer...

Yea, I had considered that, but I thought the CAA office was downtown Richmond. So I stand corrected. I assume that you're right about his house.

[ur2k]

We'll just keep this hijack going a little longer...

Yea, I had considered that, but I thought the CAA office was downtown Richmond. So I stand corrected. I assume that you're right about his house.

Hijack continued.

Yup, the CAA office is in Henrico. Not sure where Appfan's house is. The CAA office is also across from a Burger King not too far (ironically) from UR's campus.