Le Moyne awaiting an invite to D1

[Guest]

Article regarding Le Moyne's future

[Uindy18]

I think this adds an interesting point for the NE-10. If they would then pull a ECC school to replace Le Moyne (lets say Staten Island), that puts the ECC in a tight spot as they are teetering on the cusp of not having enough schools to keep the conference viable long term. I think this Le Moyne move may be a step towards the ECC breaking apart into the CACC and the NE-10, or maybe even the Mountain East or CIAA for UDC.

[Guest]

This is what I have been asking all along. How is D2, in general going to react to all the recent D1 upgrades, and the trickle down effect.

[Paul Falewicz]

This is what I have been asking all along. How is D2, in general going to react to all the recent D1 upgrades, and the trickle-down effect?

That is a great question. It seems like D2 is getting squeezed out. Schools want to go D1 for the money and the exposure. Or they want to go D3 to cut expenses and focus more on education. With scholarship limits at the D2 level, it appears that schools are going to the greener pastures of D1.

The issue with the NE10 is the sheer number of schools in the New England area. It is one of the most college-rich areas of the country and maybe there are too many schools here. Not all schools care about athletics or making their mark on the field. But they see a school on TV upsetting a Power 5 team and think that will be their future.

Especially at the football level. It costs a lot to run a football program and the return is not that great with the tickets. They get homecoming and some other weekends with lots of fans but a meaningless November game in 30-degree weather is not going to bring the fans.

Look at Northeastern and some of the other schools that cut their football programs. They reinvested the money in other programs and get a much better return.

New England is a tough place for football unless you are the New England Patriots. You have loyal people but not to the extent of Florida, Texas, or Pennsylvania.

[ctrabs74]

I think this adds an interesting point for the NE-10. If they would then pull a ECC school to replace Le Moyne (lets say Staten Island), that puts the ECC in a tight spot as they are teetering on the cusp of not having enough schools to keep the conference viable long term. I think this Le Moyne move may be a step towards the ECC breaking apart into the CACC and the NE-10, or maybe even the Mountain East or CIAA for UDC.

UDC doesn't sponsor football, which hurts their potential for the MEC, but, since the CIAA added non-football member Claflin recently, the CIAA could be a viable long-term option for UDC. I wouldn't be shocked at all if the ECC ends up seeing their NYC-metro/Long Island schools absorbed into the CACC with the upstate schools ending up in the NE-10 (though, I'm not so sure the Bentleys and SNHU's of the league would be overly thrilled with the prospect of road trips to Buffalo and Rochester).

It was kind of a big deal from a travel perspective when LeMoyne joined the former New England Collegiate Conference in 1992-1993, which was, as I recall, mostly centered around Connecticut and New Hampshire (plus UMass-Lowell). These were the D2 NECC members prior to the 1992-1993 season (when I went to Keene State College, so yes I'm showing my age):

Bridgeport (CACC)
Franklin Pierce (NE-10)
Keene State (D3)
New Hampshire College (now SNHU) (NE-10)
New Haven (NE-10)
Sacred Heart (D1)
Southern Connecticut (NE-10)
UMass-Lowell (D1)

As I recall, basketball had a pretty simple schedule structure for conference play: Franklin Pierce, Keene, SNHU and Lowell were effectively in one "pod" for Wednesday night home games, while the four Connecticut schools were in the other "pod" with "cross-over" games scheduled for Saturdays (ie. Franklin Pierce at Sacred Heart, SCSU at Keene, etc.).

Imagine the headaches from a scheduling standpoint if the ECC falls apart and the two remaining East Region leagues absorb the remaining members.

[cwfenn]

UDC doesn't sponsor football, which hurts their potential for the MEC, but, since the CIAA added non-football member Claflin recently, the CIAA could be a viable long-term option for UDC. I wouldn't be shocked at all if the ECC ends up seeing their NYC-metro/Long Island schools absorbed into the CACC with the upstate schools ending up in the NE-10 (though, I'm not so sure the Bentleys and SNHU's of the league would be overly thrilled with the prospect of road trips to Buffalo and Rochester).

It was kind of a big deal from a travel perspective when LeMoyne joined the former New England Collegiate Conference in 1992-1993, which was, as I recall, mostly centered around Connecticut and New Hampshire (plus UMass-Lowell). These were the D2 NECC members prior to the 1992-1993 season (when I went to Keene State College, so yes I'm showing my age):

Bridgeport (CACC)
Franklin Pierce (NE-10)
Keene State (D3)
New Hampshire College (now SNHU) (NE-10)
New Haven (NE-10)
Sacred Heart (D1)
Southern Connecticut (NE-10)
UMass-Lowell (D1)

As I recall, basketball had a pretty simple schedule structure for conference play: Franklin Pierce, Keene, SNHU and Lowell were effectively in one "pod" for Wednesday night home games, while the four Connecticut schools were in the other "pod" with "cross-over" games scheduled for Saturdays (ie. Franklin Pierce at Sacred Heart, SCSU at Keene, etc.).

Imagine the headaches from a scheduling standpoint if the ECC falls apart and the two remaining East Region leagues absorb the remaining members.

There would definitely be some long trips, but at least it’s not LSC football, where there would be at least a few flights from southern and western Texas to and from British Columbia.