Sarah Moomaw, News Staff
The College World Series will close out the 2011-12 NCAA athletic season at the end of June, but across the country, universities and their respective athletic departments are already planning next season and beyond.
Last week, two Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) universities and Northeastern rivals – Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) and Old Dominion University (ODU) – announced plans to pull out of the CAA for more competitive conferences. VCU said May 15 it will leave the CAA for the Atlantic 10 effective July 1, and ODU said May 17 it will join Conference USA for the 2013-14 season.
“It’s disappointing that we are losing some of our members of our conference,” said Northeastern Athletic Director Peter Roby. “We certainly felt like the CAA was a very strong conference and had a lot going for it. It’s unfortunate that the goals are starting to change in terms of what people are trying to achieve and that schools feel like they have to leave.”
In early April, Georgia State University started this trend when it announced it had accepted an invitation to join the Sun Belt Conference for the 2013-14 season.
“It’s profoundly disappointing,” CAA Commissioner Tom Yeager said during a teleconference May 17. “But we will move on … I believe that our remaining institutions are solidly committed to the CAA and I thought that was imperative to be able to make that statement to any prospective members.”
George Mason University had also been looking for a new conference, but said on May 11 that it will remain in the CAA.
ODU and Georgia State are both leaving after next season to further their football programs by seeking out Football Bowl Subdivisions and the opportunity to play in postseason bowls, for which the CAA is not eligible.
VCU became a household name in college basketball after consecutive NCAA tournament appearances in 2010 and 2011.The school’s move to the Atlantic 10 was widely reported to be fueled by hopes of further basketball success.
With the departures of three schools, the Huskies and the CAA will lose competitive match-ups and league rivalries, Roby said.
“You lose some real quality conference peers who have pushed everybody to be even better, raised everybody’s level of competition and some colleagues and really good people,” Roby said. “That’s all part of what you miss when folks leave, so what we have to do with the remaining membership is remain focused on what the CAA has been about for a long time and put our best foot forward.”
Men’s basketball head coach Bill Coen echoed Roby’s sentiments but noted that the shift in the membership gives the schools still in the conference an opportunity to make a name for themselves by intensifying competition.
“VCU brought name recognition and excited the fans whenever we’d play, but there are other great programs in the CAA,” Coen said. “We’re going to have to develop those other rivalries that are still strong in the CAA.”
Yeager said the CAA is looking to add schools over the next few seasons to fill the holes left behind by these departures.
“We’re going to look for an institution that will bring something to the table,” Yeager said. “We’re not going to expand just for expansion’s sake. … We will give it very thoughtful analysis of what will it be, how it will be structured and we will pursue that.”
ESPN college basketball analyst Andy Katz reported possible additions range from as close as the rivals from Commonwealth Avenue in the Boston University Terriers and New York’s Stony Brook University to as far as southern schools like Davidson University in North Carolina and the College of Charleston in South Carolina.
“It’s a little unnerving to see all the jumps in conferences,” Northeastern field hockey head coach Cheryl Murtagh said. “You want what’s best for the schools and obviously what’s best for your sport, and in our sport we want to stay nationally competitive.”
The Northeastern men’s basketball team watched the 2011 NCAA national championship tournament knowing it beat VCU 91-80 in a regular season match-up Feb. 2, 2011, just weeks before the Rams moved onto the Final Four.
“We’ve had some great contests against VCU,” Coen said. “I think it was a rivalry that was headed in a great direction.”
The Huskies will take the court this November fresh off a 75-65 quarterfinal loss to the Rams in the 2012 Virginia 529 College Savings Plan CAA Championship tournament.
With 12:46 left to play, the Huskies were down by 21 but rallied back to the 10-point loss, while holding VCU to 11 points.
VCU’s March Madness success over the last few years has left them wanting more as they seek a greater chance of earning at-large bids to the NCAA tournament instead of relying almost solely on winning the conference.
The CAA has received four at-large bids since 2000 compared to the Atlantic 10 conference’s 20.
In 2011, the Rams were an at-large bid from the CAA and reached the Final Four. This season they were the CAA champions and received the automatic bid but a missed three-pointer from sophomore guard Rob Brandenberg with 1.4 seconds left on the clock against Indiana University solidified a 63-61 loss that kept them from moving on to the Sweet Sixteen.
“They gained a lot of national notoriety with their run to the Final Four and I think it gave a lot of credibility to the CAA,” Coen said. “Their departure is going to hurt not only our situation, but the overall credibility of the CAA. That being said, there are some tremendous teams left in the conference.”
The Northeastern field hockey team found itself in face-offs against the ODU Lady Monarchs in the 2010 and 2011 Virginia 529 College Savings Plan CAA Field Hockey Championship tournaments. The Huskies dropped the 2011 championship game 5-1, but still earned an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament last fall.
ODU owns 15 CAA championships since the 1991 addition of field hockey. Conference USA does not have field hockey as a sport, leaving questions as to where the Lady Monarchs will wind up.
According to Murtagh, there is a possibility of the ODU field hockey program remaining in the CAA, but nothing official has been decided. Until then and regardless of whether ODU stays, Murtagh said, the Huskies have to pick up where they left off.
“I think we need to maintain the level we are at from last year,” she said. “All the other teams in the conference have the potential to raise their standards. We’re [likely] losing Old Dominion but I think we’re still going to have strong competition and we need to be prepared.”
The schools’ departures leave more questions than answers as schedules have been rocked and postseasons tournaments possibly flipped without major contenders.
Since the creation of the CAA in 1983, and among the sports Northeastern competes in, ODU and VCU hold 44 and 17 Championship titles respectively.
Coen and Murtagh agreed that it was up to the conference to produce the same level of play and competition and to rebuild rivalries.
“It’s disappointing, but you really do hope that we all raise our level of play. Northeastern needs to do that,” Murtagh said. “We’ll do what we’ve been doing and compete for a championship, whether it’s Old Dominion in the final against us or any team.”
Unlike previous years, neither coach will find themselves forced to contend against one of the schools scheduled to leave in the postseason. The CAA has a rule that departing schools are ineligible for postseason play.
“[The bylaw was instated] to protect those that are actively committed to the conference and going forward,” Yeager said. “This is well-known. It’s a rule. You may not like rules, but we don’t get to pick and choose which ones we like.”
For field hockey, it means the Lady Monarchs can’t defend their title or earn their 16th CAA championship, opening the field up to the Huskies and the rest of the conference.
On the basketball court, ODU and VCU have five and six titles to their names, respectively, but neither will get to add to the trophy case.
The CAA men’s basketball championship tournament will be further shaken by University of North Carolina-Wilmington and Towson University’s postseason ineligibilities related to academic standing with the NCAA.
With five schools ineligible for the postseason, only seven will compete for the CAA Championship and a guaranteed NCAA bid. Yeager said the plan is to play the postseason with the seven schools, but if the members vote otherwise, ODU and Georgia State could be reinstated for postseason play. Doing so runs the risk of granting a leaving school the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, he said.
“I think the CAA tournament should go to one of the existing CAA teams,” Coen said. “It’s going to be an interesting debate and conversation over the next couple of months to see how this plays out.”
