Let's Talk About The CAA

I've mostly stayed away from this topic as the usual rumors float around the blogosphere, electing instead to chime in on the CofC message board, but the drama of Friday's athletics committee meeting have brought the issue of conference realignment to the forefront of CofC sports coverage. In short, I wholeheartedly support a move to the Colonial Athletic Association. I understand the increased travels expenses and I heed the dissent amongst the baseball program. I'll even agree that our Athletic Director's handling of the issue has at times bordered on amateurish. But I also believe strongly in partnering with a conference that mirrors our own athletic priorities and shares a vision of future success. 

The College of Charleston is a basketball school trapped in a football conference. That should be red flag number one. As the NCAA landscape continues to shift, the stakeholders at CofC cannot idly count on the Southern Conference to make moves that are in the best interest of it's only non-FCS program. John Iamarino has done nothing to convince me that his decisions during the conference shuffle are anything more than reactionary. The appointment of Dave Odom as "special advisor" to basketball is perhaps the last proactive announcement from the league office. Hooray?

The CAA, despite the losses of Georgia State, Old Dominion and Final Four participant VCU is still a basketball-first conference. The NBC Sports television contract is (rightfully) often used as evidence of the cutting edge vision that the CAA practices. However, the principles that separate the CAA from the SoCon in terms of exposure were evident even before the contract with NBC was signed. The College was hailed by local media outlets when we began producing and broadcasting our own games live on ESPN3. It was a step in the right direction for a mid-major school to get their product to as many audience members as possible. 

Except that the Colonial already has every one of their schools broadcasting mens basketball games live on online streams. In fact, the conference is mandating that all schools be broadcasting in HD by next season. Something we applaud as a huge success is already commonplace in another "mid-major" conference. When comparing the viewing options of a typical CAA men's basketball game with a SoCon counterpart, the latter looks almost laughably archaic. 

Getting the television coverage (especially in major markets) appeases our AD and some of the other decision makers at Randolph Hall. For CofC basketball fans, the move is more about finally landing that ticket to the Big Dance. "Oh but high and mighty CofC hasn't been to the NCAA Tournament since 1999!" said the Chattanooga/Davidson/Wofford fan. 

Trust us, we know. 

Yes, CofC has choked and/or underachieved in many a conference tournament since John Kresse retired. That's where we hope a conference deep in talent will help, not hurt, our teams chances. Even with its losses the CAA is still capable of being a multi-bid league. That makes it less likely that an entire season's worth of jostling for standing, fighting for a bye, winning a division championship and scheduling out-of-conference games eventually results in an NIT or worse. No one knows better than CofC fans how crushing one injury or cold shooting night can doom an entire season's worth of hard work. 

Now, there are many other athletes at CofC besides the men's basketball team who need to be considered. The last thing I want to see is a University of Maryland-like disregard for all non-revenue generating sports. Any change of conference needs to weigh the value of exposure, level of competition and travel times and costs for all programs. For the teams that will compete regularly and almost exclusively with the CAA (soccer, volleyball, tennis, softball) the move to the CAA is anywhere from lateral to a significant upgrade. For sports like cross country, track, swimming etc. CofC is a little behind the level of play produced by some of the CAA big boys like George Mason, James Madison and the University of Delaware. Now, will the College be willing to invest and improve these sports? The added income from making the leap in basketball would seem to indicate so; but actions speak louder than words and we won't know until the decision is behind us. 

Finally, we have one of the biggest roadblocks of a CAA jump (at least in the mind of guys like Tony Ciuffo): the CofC baseball team. Monte Lee's squad has been at least as successful (you could certainly argue more successful) than the Cougar mens basketball team over the past few years. When it comes to America's past time in the Holy City, the Southern Conference is a perfect fit. For a sport that requires so many games and so many road series', the ability to commute by bus and miss minimal amounts of class is a huge advantage. The best CAA baseball team right now is UNC Wilmington. They finished last year sandwiched between Appalachian State and Samford in terms of RPI and, winning their conference tournament, were the lone representative of the CAA at the NCAA Tournament. CofC fell just below those three teams in overall RPI but they were selected to join Samford and ASU in the NCCA Tourney as an at-large team. In fact, the baseball team was able to take advantage of the same type of selection process that the basketball team is striving to reach. The baseball team will stoop to a lower level of competition unless those same big schools in the CAA put more of an emphasis on the sport. I've never heard of a school having just baseball in a separate conference, but if Notre Dame can be in the ACC just for football than anything's possible right?....Right?

This is a blog covering Cougar mens basketball and for the betterment of that program I cannot see how one can argue against the move and still have the College's long term growth in mind. It's what Coaches Wojcik and Cremins both want. Joe Hull and President Benson both want it. The majority of students and alumni embrace the move and I do as well.