NEC denies Monmouth associate membership for Football

[Dave195]

http://nycbuckets.com/2013/01/nec-presidents-sending-a-harsh-message-to-monmouth/

Where does MU go now?

[Franks Tanks]

The Big South?

The real question is what will happen to the MU bowling program?

[henfan]

Apparently one of the D-I's most vulnerable conferences apparently believes that they can afford to be choosy with membership. Gotta love their moxie!

[Dave195]

Hopefully they can leverage their new (future) stadium into a membership in the CAA or Patriot League.

[superman7515]

Hey, can't knock them for having a set. I applaud them for valuing their brand.

[henfan]

What brand?

[superman7515]

The one that despite all the posturing is on the same level as the oh so stable CAA.

[Pard4Life]

Ha, oh boy... Monmouth just killed their program. SBU just escaped that mess and Liberty is not going to be around much longer. Forget the Patriot.

[DFW HOYA]

Ha, oh boy... Monmouth just killed their program. SBU just escaped that mess and Liberty is not going to be around much longer. Forget the Patriot.

How? Are you saying the NEC is the only place Monmouth could ever go?

[danefan]

Apparently the NEC's plan has worked as they expected it.

Word is that CCSU and Bryant both declined an offer the America East to join immediately after the NEC refused affiliate status to Monmouth. Had Monmouth been allowed to join as an affiliate, there is no doubt in my mind that Bryant and CCSU would be in the America East today with their football programs in the NEC as affiliate members.

Kudos to the NEC for having a big set.

[NHwildEcat]

Apparently the NEC's plan has worked as they expected it.

Word is that CCSU and Bryant both declined an offer the America East to join immediately after the NEC refused affiliate status to Monmouth. Had Monmouth been allowed to join as an affiliate, there is no doubt in my mind that Bryant and CCSU would be in the America East today with their football programs in the NEC as affiliate members.

Kudos to the NEC for having a big set.

And thus the AE went to UMass-Lowell to replace BU. Crazy the trickle down on this.

[busybee14]

The Nec is starting to see things come together,and advancing each year.MU decided BBall was more important than stability on the football side.Nec will no doubt eventually find suitable replacements.I think they did the right thing .now loosing UA is a bigger blow which will take some time to find a program on their level of play to bring in.

[NHwildEcat]

As a related aside, can anyone tell me on average what NEC member schools spend on their athletic budgets?

[DFW HOYA]

As a related aside, can anyone tell me on average what NEC member schools spend on their athletic budgets?

Per the EADA reports, the range is from $5.5 million (St. Francis NY) to $21 million (Sacred Heart). The average is $12.8 million.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Apparently the NEC's plan has worked as they expected it.

Word is that CCSU and Bryant both declined an offer the America East to join immediately after the NEC refused affiliate status to Monmouth. Had Monmouth been allowed to join as an affiliate, there is no doubt in my mind that Bryant and CCSU would be in the America East today with their football programs in the NEC as affiliate members.

Kudos to the NEC for having a big set.

I think they had no choice in the matter, because had Bryant and CCSU left, RMU would have been on the first train out of town as well. To where I'm not sure, but I believe they would have been gone too. Perhaps Wagner as well.

Good commissioners do what it takes to keep things together, and Ms. Norris did so. I agree, she deserves credit that she made a bold decision that keeps things together.

[aceinthehole]

Norris is a fantastic commish - I'm a big fan.

I also think the NEC did the right thing, however I think CCSU should have left anyway. In the short-term FCS independence would have been tougher for us, but I don't like the long-term effects of keeping CCSU in the NEC for all sports.

From an institutional standpoint (not just athletic), CCSU is much worse off in the NEC. We just can't expect to improve our image, academics or "name brand" by remaining associated with 2 schools named St. Francis and commuter diploma mill like FDU. Our biggest "rivals" have left (UMBC, QU, Monmouth). Central just doesn't have anything in common with the NEC schools. The average home attendance for a Sacred Heart men’s hoop game is less than 750 – CCSU draws over 2k for nearly every game and would draw even better with conference games against Albany, Vermont, Stony Brook.

Personally, I’m not happy right now, and I’m hoping we get some better news in the near future.

[NHwildEcat]

Norris is a fantastic commish - I'm a big fan.

I also think the NEC did the right thing, however I think CCSU should have left anyway. In the short-term FCS independence would have been tougher for us, but I don't like the long-term effects of keeping CCSU in the NEC for all sports.

From an institutional standpoint (not just athletic), CCSU is much worse off in the NEC. We just can't expect to improve our image, academics or "name brand" by remaining associated with 2 schools named St. Francis and commuter diploma mill like FDU. Our biggest "rivals" have left (UMBC, QU, Monmouth). Central just doesn't have anything in common with the NEC schools. The average home attendance for a Sacred Heart men’s hoop game is less than 750 – CCSU draws over 2k for nearly every game and would draw even better with conference games against Albany, Vermont, Stony Brook.

Personally, I’m not happy right now, and I’m hoping we get some better news in the near future.

And CCSU is public, which makes the school an outlier anyways.

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

And CCSU is public, which makes the school an outlier anyways.

CCSU is a large, fairly urban, public university who's peers, imo, are Towson, Albany, URI, Binghamton etc.

Monmouth, in some respects, could fit into the new A10. They have a facility that would work for hoops and their location is perfect.

[aceinthehole]

CCSU is a large, fairly urban, public university who's peers, imo, are Towson, Albany, URI, Binghamton etc.

Monmouth, in some respects, could fit into the new A10. They have a facility that would work for hoops and their location is perfect.

Without upsetting those who take this acdemic "peer" stuff very seriously - CCSU closest academic DI peers are: Towson, Eastern Illinois, Eastern Washington, etc. CCSU is also lot like a few FBS schools like Middle Tennessse State, Eastern Kentucky, UL-Monroe but we are a whole lot smaller.

Central is a mid-sized (12k), comprehensive public universtity offering only a Doctorate in Educ Leadership. While many of our students are from urban backgrounds, the campus is actually in suburban New Britain. Also, we are not a public research university - so while we share a history with Albany and others (who was once a Normal school) we don't match their profile today. But yes, overall CCSU is much closer in profile to say Binghamton than to St. Francis and that's why I rather be in the AE than the NEC.

[dgreco]

Ace, I feel the same way. However, I do not think Bryant was a fit for the AEast but it was a step up. Bryant while not in the category of PL's is far better academically than most of the NEC. Also, the athletic support is towards the top or is at the top in the NEC. I wish we had a chance to compete in a conference where we could have strong rivalries with schools who had students who care.

When I was at Bryant we were DII, but still had sellouts for BB and FB. Now, it is hard, because there are no peer institutions and the teams have been mediocre. However, FB still had about 70% capacity and BB this year has been averaging close to 80-90%.

I hope Bryant turning it down has something else in store in the near future. I hope it is the PL, but if not maybe Bryant gets to move around to another conference where they will have peers that help build up Bryant and not make it stand out.

Also, while Bryant, President Machtley, and the students enjoy football, FCS football is not a cash cow, it isn't that important in the grand scheme of things and I rather see a small sacrifice (non schollie/indie) and build up the other programs. Bryant's cornerstone programs are baseball and lacrosse. Now we have a good basketball team, so having a little more irrelevant football would not be the end of the world.

Also, if dropping football resulted in a new 5k seat stadium on campus I would support that too.

[superman7515]

Also, if dropping football resulted in a new 5k seat stadium on campus I would support that too.

Blasphemy!

[dgreco]

Blasphemy!

I know you can't say that here, but if Bryant grows overall, as an alumnus, I will be okay with a hit or two.

[NHwildEcat]

I know you can't say that here, but if Bryant grows overall, as an alumnus, I will be okay with a hit or two.

The cost associated with football is the reason I don't want my SNHU to add football. I remember the days of playing Bryant and as an insitution have continued to grow leaps and bounds over the last decade. If we had football that would be great, but not at the expense of our successful sports such as soccer/bball, and now baseball.