Lehigh Football Nation
May 30th, 2013, 09:59 AM
I found this interesting.
http://www.thetimesnews.com/sports/elon-sports/southern-conference-attrition-factored-in-elon-s-move-to-caa-1.150899
Lambert has taken exception to material in the final line of a Times-News report last week that read: Sources have said Elon, and Lambert specifically, have not supported East Tennessee State and VMI for potential Southern Conference inclusion.
“It is absolutely the opposite of the truth,” Lambert said. “The fact of the matter is we were active proponents of VMI. I love VMI.”
Lambert said the last vote Elon participated in regarding Southern Conference expansion was to authorize campus visits for East Tennessee State, Mercer and VMI.
“Elon voted for all of them. So that’s the record,” Lambert said. “It was unanimous across the conference. That’s the record.”
Translation: We love VMI. It's the other schools we hated.
In the process that ultimately produced its decision to join the Colonial Athletic Association, Elon University viewed the Southern Conference’s state of flux as impossible to ignore.
“Obviously, it was a concern,” Elon president Leo Lambert said. “It’s a very unstable time right now in the world of college athletics. Of course, that was foremost in our mind in terms of thinking about not only what was happening, but what could be in the future.”
“We have had two very fine, longstanding football powerhouses leave the conference and two very prestigious basketball (programs) leave,” Lambert said, referring to Appalachian State and Georgia Southern in football and Davidson and College of Charleston in basketball. “We were very concerned about Davidson College looking at other options, as well.
“Those are uncertainties, but that’s what we’re called upon to do. And our role sometimes is to make judgments on certain situations. And we were very, very pleased to have this extraordinary opportunity come before us, to consider the Colonial. It was, I think, a brilliant option for Elon to have the opportunity to evaluate and eventually accept.”
My Translation: We needed Davidson to give us hoops street cred. Once they left, the SoCon had no street cred. The CAA is weakened, but at least they still have some left.
http://www.thetimesnews.com/sports/elon-sports/southern-conference-attrition-factored-in-elon-s-move-to-caa-1.150899
Lambert has taken exception to material in the final line of a Times-News report last week that read: Sources have said Elon, and Lambert specifically, have not supported East Tennessee State and VMI for potential Southern Conference inclusion.
“It is absolutely the opposite of the truth,” Lambert said. “The fact of the matter is we were active proponents of VMI. I love VMI.”
Lambert said the last vote Elon participated in regarding Southern Conference expansion was to authorize campus visits for East Tennessee State, Mercer and VMI.
“Elon voted for all of them. So that’s the record,” Lambert said. “It was unanimous across the conference. That’s the record.”
Translation: We love VMI. It's the other schools we hated.
In the process that ultimately produced its decision to join the Colonial Athletic Association, Elon University viewed the Southern Conference’s state of flux as impossible to ignore.
“Obviously, it was a concern,” Elon president Leo Lambert said. “It’s a very unstable time right now in the world of college athletics. Of course, that was foremost in our mind in terms of thinking about not only what was happening, but what could be in the future.”
“We have had two very fine, longstanding football powerhouses leave the conference and two very prestigious basketball (programs) leave,” Lambert said, referring to Appalachian State and Georgia Southern in football and Davidson and College of Charleston in basketball. “We were very concerned about Davidson College looking at other options, as well.
“Those are uncertainties, but that’s what we’re called upon to do. And our role sometimes is to make judgments on certain situations. And we were very, very pleased to have this extraordinary opportunity come before us, to consider the Colonial. It was, I think, a brilliant option for Elon to have the opportunity to evaluate and eventually accept.”
My Translation: We needed Davidson to give us hoops street cred. Once they left, the SoCon had no street cred. The CAA is weakened, but at least they still have some left.