Well, congratulations to the ECFC, which will now have three of it's members continuing into the postseason, with Castleton State and Norwich being selected to ECAC bowl games.

As for Gallaudet...so close, and yet so far.  Consider, they BEAT Mt Ida in the regular season.  Lost to Castleton State by eight points, and Norwich by ten, after late fades in both games by the Bison.  If they'd managed to hold on against Castleton, they'd have tied with Mt Ida for first place in the conference.  And with their season win over Mt Ida....yep, Bison go to the NCAA tournament...probably for the first time ever.  Instead, the season is over for them.  But, on the bright side, a 7-3 record, certainly their best NCAA record, well, ever.

It's worth noting, the five football playing members of the CAC (as of July 1), produced three bids to last year's NCAA tournament.

Gallaudet, obviously, won't be joining the CAC for football, and the conference would have no reason to ask them back.  Though the CAC is a better geographic fit, the Bison have found their home in the ECFC.  They would never be competitive in the CAC.  In the ECFC, they can be....

Actually, the CAC and Empire 8 could join together for football without affecting any regular season scheduling.  The CAC members could be made associate members of the E8 for football only.  Each conference would be it's own division within the E8 for football, and play a separate schedule.  Then the two division champions play in the conference championship game for the automatic bid.

I was reading a press release from Christopher Newport, announcing the Captain's arrival in the CAC for the 2013-2014 season.  The interesting part was at the bottom, where it noted that the Captain's would join the CAC for all sports except Football (which the CAC doesn't sponsor) in the Fall of 2013.  It then noted that they were a member of the USA South for football, and would remain an affiliate member in that sport until 2015, or join the Capital Athletic Conference "if the league begins sponsoring football before that time."

I just found it interesting they put that comment in.  The CAC hasn't had football as a conference sponsored sport since it's inception.  That the Captains are even mentioning the possibility of joining the CAC for football would seem to suggest that might change in the forseeable future.  So, does anyone know?  Are there any serious discussions about starting conference play in football at some point?  Or was Christopher Newport just musing here?

They are, how's that possible?

Last time I checked, the NCAA bylaws STILL prohibited new single sport conferences from EVER becoming eligible for automatic bids in the NCAA tournament.  Since the ECFC is most certainly a football only conference, how are they getting exempted for that prohibition?

Quote from: AUPepBand on September 01, 2008, 01:26:44 PM

Quote from: bman on August 30, 2008, 07:50:11 PM
Gordon

Thanks for that.  I always assumed the Pioneers was related to the Military acadamy since the Military engineers were generally referred to as pioneers...

Pep thought that Widener at one time was known as PMC Colleges....was it Penn Military Corps Colleges or was it Penn Military College (PMC)?

The PMC Colleges was from when there were actually two colleges using the same campus..Penn Military College, and (I believe) Penn Manor College, which was a traditional four year college.  Eventually the military college was closed down, though present day Widener still has a strong ROTC chapter.  One remainder of the PMC days was the broom drill, held at the Homecoming game.  You'd have retired vets who'd attended PMC, some in their 80s, marching across the field carrying their brooms for the official "inspection", it was certainly a unique tradition.  That was discontinued when Leslie C Quick stadium was decommissioned, though.

Hi folks, I attended Widener University a number of years back, during the years of football coach Bill Cubit and basketball coach C Alan Rowe.  I'm certain this question was asked before, so pardon me for asking it again, but when exactly did Widener decide to drop it's decades old nickname Pioneers and replace it with Pride....and why?

I realize this is slightly out of place, but since the North Atlantic Conference doesn't start sponsoring football until 2009, there's no topic in Post Patterns for this.

I see the NAC has seven members for football, with all but two being associate members.  In order to qualify for an AQ at some point, four of them would need to sponsor at least one other sport in the conference (core members).  Husson and Castleton State are full members, so there's two core members.  I understand Mt Ida continues to play lacrosse in the conference, so bringing in it's football team would also make it a core member.  That gives three core members, one short of the required number to start the AQ countdown start running.  The other four confirmed members will be Becker, Gallaudet, Maine Maritime, and Norwich.  I also have heard Anna Maria is considering becoming football team #8.  Of those last four of five colleges, is there any chance of one of them becoming a core member?

Quote from: frank uible on November 30, 2007, 08:20:21 PM
Will the University of Vermont and St. Michael's College bring back football? If so, an interesting Vermont Conference, including Norwich and Middlebury, could be formed.

The North Atlantic Conference (NAC) has apparently decided to sponsor football starting in 2009.  Castleton will be one of seven colleges...Becker, Castleton State, Husson, Norwich, Mount Ida, SUNY Maritime, and...wait for it....Gallaudet.

First, someone needs to remind the NAC that, at present, FOUR of your seven members in any sport have to be core members to get an automatic in that sport, the NAC will have three in football.  WHY Gallaudet, out of Washington, DC, has decided to join a conference just to play football against teams mainly from Vermont and Maine, is anyone's guess.   

Gallaudet might be competitive in the conference, but the road trips would be something else.

Quote from: Coach C on March 13, 2006, 10:38:57 AM
jack,

i think the whole region is in play.

C

So it would seem.  We've got at least one conference (AWCC) that looks like it'll end up folding because of all the movement.  We're gonna need a playbook just to keep track of who's going where.

Jeff (not Jack) 

Anyone know if the CAC is content with nine members starting in 2007, or if they intend to bring in someone else?

With all the comings and goings in the Atlantic/Mid-Atlantic region, we're gonna need a who's who just to keep up with it all.

Hmm, Catholic and Goucher are headed out of the CAC in 2007 for a yet unnamed conference.  Anyone know who else is joining this new conference?  Will Catholic be playing football in the new conference, or are they staying in the ODAC for that?

Jeff McCloskey

From what I read in the NCAA Division III Bylaws, a conference can maintain it's eligiblity for the NCAA tournament as long as it maintains seven NCAA eligible institutions in the conference, four of which are "core" members.  But the seven members don't need to have been in the conference for two years.  If this is right, the CAC won't lose it's qualifiers, since Hood and Villa Julie would both be full members for the 2007-2008 academic year, the same year Catholic and Goucher formally depart, leaving the conference with eight members in both Men's and Women's basketball?

Am I reading this right?  Sorry if this has already been discussed in here, and I just missed it.

Jeff McCloskey

Anyone on here know if the new gym at YCP will be ready for the home opener?