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Post by longsuffering on Feb 19, 2022 11:45:25 GMT -5
Domino Theory? You're dating yourself.π AE is losing Hartford but will still be fine with nine. League hopping is like the portal for schools. The grass is not always greener elsewhere.
Looking at the 30 teams in the NEC, AE and MAAC post Hartford, you could spend all day mixing and matching them based on emphasizing different criteria. When in doubt stay put. There is an unspoken dividend in not stabbing your partner schools in the back so best to have a very compelling reason to migrate.
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Post by mm67 on Feb 19, 2022 11:58:52 GMT -5
There is no all-sports athletics conference in the US which is a better fit for HC than the PL.
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Post by bfoley82 on Feb 20, 2022 2:21:53 GMT -5
Googling "Bryant" and "America East" produces nothing other than that article, which doesn't exist any more. Same for "Quinnipiac" and "America East". Taking your domino theory down a level, what exactly does AE offer Quinnipiac and Fairfield? Basketball is a wash, competitive-wise, maybe a dip. What other sports are AE superior in and/or the MAAC doesn't sponsor? Men's and Women's Lacrosse. Even Baseball is better in America East since they had a CWS team in 2012.
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mainejeff
Climbing Mt. St. James
UMaine Sports Forum: https://umainesports.freeforums.net
Posts: 73
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Post by mainejeff on Feb 20, 2022 14:21:34 GMT -5
Latest has Fairfield to the CAA, Bryant to America East and most likely Quinnipiac to AE.
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Post by princetoncrusader on Feb 20, 2022 15:29:46 GMT -5
Private schools leaving to join conferences largely made up of state schools?
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Post by longsuffering on Feb 20, 2022 16:05:45 GMT -5
Latest has Fairfield to the CAA, Bryant to America East and most likely Quinnipiac to AE. Those moves will put geographic stress on Merrimack in the NEC.
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Post by longsuffering on Feb 20, 2022 16:08:46 GMT -5
Private schools leaving to join conferences largely made up of state schools? Not ideal. The private schools would be twiddling their thumbs during the discussion groups about techniques in lobbying state legislatures.
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Post by Chu Chu on Feb 20, 2022 16:46:08 GMT -5
What would you guys think about Bryant and/or Merrimack joining the Patriot League? They would be much closer and provide a New England balance to the league. I realize they are not big names, but they are similar institutions to league members. Recently, they have made great strides in athletics and sometimes given us all we can handle.
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Post by nycrusader2010 on Feb 20, 2022 17:06:43 GMT -5
What would you guys think about Bryant and/or Merrimack joining the Patriot League? They would be much closer and provide a New England balance to the league. I realize they are not big names, but they are similar institutions to league members. Recently, they have made great strides in athletics and sometimes given us all we can handle. I would welcome either. Probably would lean slightly pro-Merrimack, out of the two.
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Post by longsuffering on Feb 20, 2022 18:27:07 GMT -5
What would you guys think about Bryant and/or Merrimack joining the Patriot League? They would be much closer and provide a New England balance to the league. I realize they are not big names, but they are similar institutions to league members. Recently, they have made great strides in athletics and sometimes given us all we can handle. I would welcome either. Probably would lean slightly pro-Merrimack, out of the two. Say goodbye to an OOC FB game, or two if they both joined, and reduce the mathematical chances of getting the BB auto bid by a few percentage points. Other than that, shorter travel is good for the environment.
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Post by nycrusader2010 on Feb 20, 2022 18:51:09 GMT -5
I would welcome either. Probably would lean slightly pro-Merrimack, out of the two. Say goodbye to an OOC FB game, or two if they both joined, and reduce the mathematical chances of getting the BB auto bid by a few percentage points. Other than that, shorter travel is good for the environment. If up to me, I would only entertain PL expansion if the school sponsored football.
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Post by hcgrad94 on Feb 20, 2022 20:44:34 GMT -5
Bryant would be good. Have to imagine they would jump at it. Would prefer Fairfield although no football is a big negative.
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Post by nycrusader2010 on Feb 20, 2022 21:18:26 GMT -5
Bryant would be good. Have to imagine they would jump at it. Would prefer Fairfield although no football is a big negative. I'm not sure if anyone is "jumping" at the chance to get into the Patriot League. But Bryant would likely seriously consider it. And TPTB in the Lehigh Valley would likely give the old thumbs down, like they did to Monmouth eight years ago. I agree Fairfield with football would be an awesome fit -- shame that they got rid of the sport. They were one of the top DI non-scholarship teams at the time. And I love their little stadium, right down the hill from the upperclassmen townhouses. Saw my cousin play lax there multiple times when he was the GK at Towson.
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Post by sader1970 on Feb 20, 2022 21:48:23 GMT -5
One of my son's roommates was on the Stag football team and I was pretty sure he was on scholarship and, if memory serves, there was written communications that when they got rid of the football program, the school committed to honor those scholarships through graduation.
So, I'm not at all sure that Fairfield was a non-scholarship team. That said, perhaps they had limited number of schollies like the PL rather than the full complement.
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Post by bfoley82 on Feb 22, 2022 11:39:10 GMT -5
Private schools leaving to join conferences largely made up of state schools? Hartford is private so not out of the question with Bryant to AE. But I have not heard anything about that with AE besides here.
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Post by bfoley82 on Feb 22, 2022 11:42:43 GMT -5
What would you guys think about Bryant and/or Merrimack joining the Patriot League? They would be much closer and provide a New England balance to the league. I realize they are not big names, but they are similar institutions to league members. Recently, they have made great strides in athletics and sometimes given us all we can handle. Bryant this week is ranked in baseball after sweeping #12 East Carolina. Men's lacrosse there has been the most successful with NCAA wins including one over Syracuse in the dome.
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Post by timholycross on Feb 22, 2022 12:06:21 GMT -5
I'm sure Mike Pressler could have jumped back to a bigger school- kudos to him for staying at Bryant. And kudos to Bryant for hiring him in the first place.
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Post by bfoley82 on Feb 22, 2022 14:31:44 GMT -5
I'm sure Mike Pressler could have jumped back to a bigger school- kudos to him for staying at Bryant. And kudos to Bryant for hiring him in the first place. He won't leave Bryant because he is happy with being able to go hunting and Bryant gave him the chance to coach after that mess.
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Post by bfoley82 on Feb 22, 2022 14:32:06 GMT -5
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Post by nycrusader2010 on Feb 22, 2022 14:45:55 GMT -5
What would you guys think about Bryant and/or Merrimack joining the Patriot League? They would be much closer and provide a New England balance to the league. I realize they are not big names, but they are similar institutions to league members. Recently, they have made great strides in athletics and sometimes given us all we can handle. Bryant this week is ranked in baseball after sweeping #12 East Carolina. Men's lacrosse there has been the most successful with NCAA wins including one over Syracuse in the dome. I remember when Bryant lacrosse first exploded onto the national scene. I didn't realize Coach Pressler, who resigned from Duke following the 2006 scandal, was still there. Bryant's first really big season came when National POY Zach Greer decided to use his extra year of eligibility there (Duke had '06 season cancelled when multiple players were wrongfully accused of sexual assault) while in business school, reuniting with his old coach.
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Post by DFW HOYA on Feb 22, 2022 14:57:38 GMT -5
There is no all-sports athletics conference in the US which is a better fit for HC than the PL. Big East? Ivy? Maybe even A-10?
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Post by longsuffering on Feb 22, 2022 15:55:28 GMT -5
There is no all-sports athletics conference in the US which is a better fit for HC than the PL. Big East? Ivy? Maybe even A-10? A-10: No football. Big East: No football. Ivy: No FCS tournament. Of course we are not invited to any of these leagues anyway, but it would be distasteful to me to screw our co-founding PL Partners and unilaterally pull out of the Patriot League. I get the feeling that isn't important to some fans and I can understand. The most accessable of the three leagues you mention is the A-10. We would be going from BU with 33,000 total students to UMass Amherst with 32,000 and a State subsidy. The only savings would be a few cents on the turnpike toll to Rte. 91 to travel to UMass as I think that is a little less from Auburn than to go to Boston from the Rte.146 Turnpike exit.
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Post by KY Crusader 75 on Feb 22, 2022 16:53:39 GMT -5
So much speculation year after year after year--I think there is very little chance we will leave the PL in the foreseeable future
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Post by nycrusader2010 on Feb 22, 2022 18:32:33 GMT -5
Big East? Ivy? Maybe even A-10? A-10: No football. => NOT INVITEDBig East: No football. => NOT INVITEDIvy: No FCS tournament. => NOT INVITEDOf course we are not invited to any of these leagues anyway, but it would be distasteful to me to screw our co-founding PL Partners and unilaterally pull out of the Patriot League. I get the feeling that isn't important to some fans and I can understand. The most accessable of the three leagues you mention is the A-10. We would be going from BU with 33,000 total students to UMass Amherst with 32,000 and a State subsidy. The only savings would be a few cents on the turnpike toll to Rte. 91 to travel to UMass as I think that is a little less from Auburn than to go to Boston from the Rte.146 Turnpike exit. FIFY. If HC leaves the PL, the most likely landing spot is the America East Conference. And this is due to the fact that one day down the line, its possible that the America East could take over stewardship of Hockey East. If joining America East in all sports were to guarantee Holy Cross hockey a spot in the best hockey conference in the country, sign me up yesterday. The CAA would be the next most logical place for HC to go if we were to leave the PL. But given that the mid-major sports underworld has been abuzz the past 4 weeks regarding the topic of CAA expansion, and Holy Cross wasn't even mentioned, safe to say TPTB in Fenwick are happy in the Patriot League. Holy Cross and Fairfield as a package deal to the CAA would've been a nice feather in the cap for that league and would nicely bridge the geographical gap between Brookline and Long Island.
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Post by A Clock Tower Purple on Feb 22, 2022 19:13:16 GMT -5
This discussion is pointless. Only way HC is ever leaving the pL is if the league folds and forces HC to find a new home.
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