001.jpg) Colonial
Athletic Association to Begin Sponsoring
Division I-AA Football in
2007
Date: May
4, 2005
RICHMOND,
VA -- Colonial Athletic Association
Commissioner Thomas E. Yeager announced
today that the conference will sponsor
football beginning with the 2007
season.
"We are
pleased to announce the addition of
football to the CAA," Yeager said.
"College football, with all of its
tradition, pageantry, and rivalries,
creates an interest and excitement on
campus and across communities that is
unmatched. We look forward to having the
CAA name attached to such a distinguished
group of institutions and building on the
successes that those members have had in
the past."
Members of
the CAA's Division I-AA football
conference will be the University of
Delaware, Hofstra University, James
Madison University, the University of
Maine, the University of Massachusetts,
the University of New Hampshire,
Northeastern University, the University of
Rhode Island, the University of Richmond,
Towson University, Villanova University
and the College of William & Mary.
All 12
teams are currently members of the
Atlantic 10 Football Conference and will
continue that affiliation through the 2006
season.
"The
addition of Northeastern as a full CAA
member and the sixth football-playing
institution qualified the CAA for football
conference recognition by the NCAA,"
Yeager said. "With the commitment to begin
conference competition, invitations were
sent to the other six institutions and we
are thrilled that the long, competitive
history of this league will be
preserved."
The
conference is already considered one of
the finest in Division I-AA football,
having produced the past two national
champions in Delaware (2003) and James
Madison (2004) and three of the last seven
with Massachusetts claiming the title in
1998. Ten of the 12 teams have reached the
Division I-AA playoffs at least once in
the past five years.
"This move
allows us to brand the CAA as our
conference for all 23 sports," said UD
Director of Athletics Edgar N. Johnson.
"That was very important for us. Our
football program at Delaware received the
greatest recognition in media and as far
as attendance and we'll benefit from this
move. This is what we've always wanted -
to have all of our sports compete under
one conference.
Delaware
will now have all of its sports under the
same conference affiliation for the first
time since being members of the Middle
Atlantic Conference through the 1969-70
season. The Blue Hen women's rowing and
men's and women's indoor track and field
squads compete as independents.
Four teams
(Delaware, James Madison, New Hampshire
and William & Mary) earned I-AA
playoff berths a year ago and all of them
advanced to the quarterfinals, marking the
first time in the 27-year history of I-AA
football that a conference had achieved
that feat. Eight of the 12 conference
members were ranked in the ESPN/USA Today
Top 25 poll at the same time last
October.
"As
coaches, we just wanted to keep the same
teams together and keep the same quallity
in all areas," said Delaware football head
coach K.C. Keeler. "We believe we have the
best football conference in the country at
the I-AA level and we will continue to
strive for excellence."
Celebrating
its 20th Anniversary in 2004-05, the CAA
has established itself as one of the
nation's top collegiate conferences. Along
with Delaware, Hofstra, James Madison,
Towson and William & Mary, other full
members include Drexel University, George
Mason University, University of North
Carolina at Wilmington, Old Dominion
University and Virginia Commonwealth
University. Georgia State University and
Northeastern will increase the CAA's full
membership to 12 when they join the
conference on July 1, 2005.
"I am very
pleased that the CAA has seen two major
events this year," said Dr. Eugene P.
Trani, President of Virginia Commonwealth
University and chair of the CAA Council of
Presidents. "First, the addition of
Northeastern and Georgia State bringing
the conference to 12 full-time members
with six Division I-AA football programs
and schools in five of the nation's nine
largest media markets. Second, I am
delighted that Villanova, Maine, New
Hampshire, Richmond, Massachusetts and
Rhode Island are now all part of Colonial
football. The CAA universities could not
be more pleased with the increased
recognition that the CAA is a major league
on the national scene."
Football
will become the 22nd sport to be sponsored
by the CAA. The conference has produced 16
national team champions in five different
sports, 33 individual national champions,
11 national players of the year, 11
national coaches of the year and 12 Honda
Award winners.
Copyright,
© 2005, University of Delaware. All
rights reserved.
Please direct Athletics questions to the
Athletics
Media
Relations
office.
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