ECU back to CAA?

[70sHawk]

Now that Pitt and Syracuse are leaving the Big East (leaving it with only 6 football playing schools), ECU's hopes of joining the Big East as a football-only school have probably improved dramatically.

On the other hand, that means that ECU will be searching for a home for the rest of its sports...which means get ready for Terry Holland to call Tom Yeager about re-joining the CAA.

We all know that Yeager would take them back (heck he took RICHMOND - which shows the level of the man's self-respect - back in football).

But - assuming no one leaves - does going above 12 teams make any sense for conference MEMBERS (not the league office) ? And, if so, why would it be in the interest of CAA members for ECU to be that school?

[ramnation]

Oh jeez, this is going to be a sh*tstorm.

Cue SJ in 5...4...3...2...

[70sHawk]

Still Jonesn lurking on the CAA Zone??? No Way!!

I'll save him the time and post his position in advance: "Whatever ECU wants to do is in the best interest of whoever they do it with". I honestly don't have animosity toward ECU. But they chose to leave the CAA because they thought it was in their best interest. The CAA should only let them (or anyone else) in if it is in the interest of the current membership.

My question was directed toward UNCW fans an, by extension, to fans of other existing CAA schools...the ones who chose not to leave.

[ramnation]

Objectively, they will help CAA baseball a lot obviously. Basketball will give us another mid-pack program but it does give UNCW a natural rival which will be great for you guys. If ECU is on the way up as SJ wants everyone to believe than more competition at the top is never a bad thing, although I'll believe it when I see it since we've never seen it from ECU ever.

I think it helps ECU more than it helps the CAA since they aren't doing anything for the football aspect of the conference and they are mediocre at best when it comes to our marquee sport in basketball. I think it will definitely help raise the conference profile in baseball though. That's probably the one place it actually helps us.

[TheGreenMonk]

As long as they remain a non-BCS team in football I would have no problem having them back. They’d bring more pros than cons to the CAA and it would be nice to play them during conference play for all our other sports. If the Big East remains in the BCS, and they somehow joined as a football only member, no way should the CAA allow them back. The money advantage they would have over our (meaning all of the current CAA) sport programs would make them an upper echelon team based on being able to pay more for coaches, scholarships, facilities, etc. It makes no sense to prop them up and have to compete for NCAA bids against an athletic department with more money because the football conference they play in doesn’t want them as a full member. Also, they’d degrade the CAA’s academic reputation (just kidding ECU fans, well, not really…).

[StillJonesn]

The CAA would make a lot of sense if we were offered a football only invite. That said I don't think ECU spent $40 million last year on new Olympic sports complex, a track, tennis courts, soccer and softball stadiums, and basketball practice facility to accept just a football only invite. We have BCS level facilities in every sport now and complete athletics that would help any conference.

East Carolina stands as one of only 14 schools nationally with spring NCAA post-season representation in baseball, softball, men's and women's golf and men's and women's track and field.

ECU is the only BCS non-automatic qualifying institution among the group, which consists of Alabama, Arizona, Arizona State, California, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Stanford, Texas, Texas A&M and UCLA.

That’s pretty elite company last spring and women’s soccer is ranked this fall so it‘s not just baseball. I don’t know what other schools the CAA could add that bring as much or have as much potential but there really is only one other school in the non BCS that has more support than ECU and that’s BYU. We've never been as commited as we are in basketball right now and it's certainly moving in the right direction.

Monk you can talk about academic reputations but much of the CAA doesn’t offer any doctoral degrees or much research of any kind where reputations are made. ECU has contibuted a lot, and on issues that will impact most of us. When you or your family members have heart related issues as most of us will, remember that the procedures that are saving your life could have been created at ECU.

[jumpinmullet]

I am dead set against ECU coming back to the CAA because that would mean that UNCW is staying in the CAA and I think they need to get out ASAP.If they do come back in it would seal the deal and UNCW would be stuck.I don't think ECU wants to go backwards and they are really in a tough spot now and nobody seems to want them other than a CAA type deal and they have a lot bigger dreams than that.

[nitneylion]

Mullet, where do you want UNCW to go?

[hawkfan4life]

We need to stay in the caa. The southern conference does not get at large bids to the ncaa tourney.

[jumpinmullet]

The CAA will most likely change now and who knows what will happen to the A-10 either.I would like to see UNCW in a conference that makes some kind of sense for all sports and not just basketball.A more regional mix of schools.SoCon seems to be a close fit but the snob factor here is against it for some reason.If UNCW is it the stuff and better than the SoCon I can't see it on paper at all.
B