Extremely Intriguing State of CAA Article, a Must Read

[Mikey77]

Vermont would be a perfect for the CAA in my view. Strong MBB, decent LAX, strong academics. Don't see UVM leaving their New England sister schools.

[triplec2195]

Vermont would be a perfect for the CAA in my view. Strong MBB, decent LAX, strong academics. Don't see UVM leaving their New England sister schools.

Especially with the relatively easy path they have to the tourney.

[Polito]

Vermont has done what HU should have in hindsight, OWN their smaller conf and make repeated trips to the NCAAT. I can't buy in to the CAA making it once every 20 years - that sucks. Vermont has more name recognition than HU, which is silly, and has made some fantastic money being the kings of the AE.

And also, I want no part of them in the CAA. Let's try not to make this conf any harder please - it's been brutal enough to get this program to actually win it.

I can see the cases for Albany and SBU, but I really don't want them either - why in the world would we want to give them any boost? Again, the CAA is not helpful to HU, our vision should only be about HU - we don't need the CAA any bigger or more challenging. We need it more focused with proper leadership.

I hear ya FD, it was a bit all over, but I think the most important parts are that JMU is likely to leave due to football, and this will upend the conf a bit and cause some realignment, and also that the AD's are not aligned and the CAA admin has done a terrible job.

I can live with staying in the CAA as long as it doesn't expand - that's silly and a terrible thing for HU. If someone leaves, I would want them to be very on top of replacing with a quality mid program. If it disbands than HU needs to be very proactive with a plan in place now.

I also think football impacts this conf more than you think - the CAA is not driven by hoops anymore, it's driven by football, regardless of it being A10 light. That's not wrong, football drives most across the country, BUT again this is not good for HU, and I think that's why we are hearing of a lot of strife and bickering behind closed doors. Until HU gets football back, they need to be in a conf that focuses its largest energy on hoops.

[HUSID74]

The problem is that we do not have too many options concerning conferences...the CAA appears to be a shaky alliance at best. This is very similar to what happened with the old East Coast Conference. We hung in there too long as our AD was the wrestling coach and he wanted to protect his atumatic qualifiers to the NCAA Tournament.
Meanwhile the Big East and the A-10 were fromed leaving us out on the street with no rela affiliation.
I think Hofstra needs to be pro-active in terms of leading the charge to create an all new Northeast based conference but it WILL be difficult as we do not have football.
I don't want the MAAC...not a good fit for us and our programs, the America East would be a step back for us unless we can convince say, Drexel and Northeastern to come with us as they did when we went to the CAA.

[EvanJ]

Is ODU looking to come back? They opted out of football this year. If football was a money winner for ODU, they wouldn't have considered making that move.

I was shocked that ODU was willing to go to a different conference than VCU, but it was because of Football. Even if ODU makes good money from Football, they have to travel as far as Texas-El Paso (UTEP), and if all travel was done by land their average travel would be longer than every team in the CAA. When I saw VCU at Hofstra, a VCU fans said VCU flew to Hofstra, so they had more money for travel than us, and they must have even more money now. If UNCW and CofC leave together (I'd be surprised if one left and one stayed), ODU would be okay to add. Adding ODU and a northern team would make strange travel partners. If George Washington was willing to go to a worse Men's Basketball conference, would you want them? Would you rather the current ten or have UNCW and CofC replaced by ODU and GW? If ODU drops Football permanently, none of the arriving or departing schools would play Football, so it would remain with half of the Men's Basketball teams playing Football. If ODU resumes Football next season, they're less likely to leave because it would mean going down to FCS.

Going back to the America East is arguably admitting we made a mistake when we left because we would be going to a much worse Men's Basketball conference. If ODU comes back they would be going to a relatively equal Men's Basketball conference. As HUSID74 said, we don't have any options that don't have major downsides unless schools in the northeast make a new conference. If we are above average this season, it will be the first time we will be above average in four consecutive seasons in the CAA. In 1997-1998 we were 19-12, but without knowing our SOS there is a small chance we were in the bottom half of the RPI. 1997-1998 through 2000-2001 are the only four consecutive seasons we could have been better than average in Division I. It doesn't make sense for a contender to go to a worse conference.

[Mikey77]

Hofstra's going nowhere (athletic conference-wise) until we see who the new president will be. If we get another anti-athletics guy like Rabinowitz we could be in D3.

[HUSID74]

Hofstra's going nowhere (athletic conference-wise) until we see who the new president will be. If we get another anti-athletics guy like Rabinowitz we could be in D3.

If that was going to happen it would have happened under Stu...it did not, we are not going anywhere Division wise.

[The Shadow]

I was very surprised to read a report on the FanLax website about St. Joe's in Philadelphia being in some financial trouble. There was a mention about a possible merger with another college. A-10 members LaSalle and George Washington recently eliminated programs. It might now be possible for some of the changes needed to all the eastern conferences to finally start to happen. Some of these spread out conferences, over many states, just do not make sense. Maybe finances will finally cause a restructuring.

[joeg1]

Everyone who spent the last two decades criticizing Rabinowitz should be kissing his behind now. Thanks to him, Hofstra's endowment will keep it solvent, when a lot of its small/mid sized private peers are struggling to keep the lights on.

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[HofstraPride1]

Everyone who spent the last two decades criticizing Rabinowitz should be kissing his behind now. Thanks to him, Hofstra's endowment will keep it solvent, when a lot of its small/mid sized private peers are struggling to keep the lights on.

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Great point Joeg1. He certainly has done plenty positive for university and while football decision was frustrating, especially way it was handled, it is hard to argue that it didn't make fiscal sense, Had it not been cut in 2009 it certainly would have been cut in 2020 during pandemic economic crisis.

[Mikey77]

Joeg1, I'm not sure if you were responding to my post mentioning Rabinowitz. If so, let me clarify. I did not mean to criticize Rabinowitz, if that's how you read it, not at all. Much to the contrary, I think HU has risen in stature during his term. I base this view on the medical school, the DeMatties School of Engineering, the three presidential debates, and the numerous new structures on campus, by way of example. I still think it fair to say that he has not been an avid supporter of the athletic program. That view is largely based on the demise of the football program which I understand was extremely costly to maintain, but the way he handled that was ham-handed to say the least. Rabinowitz has also made comments about Hofstra becoming like a Tufts or similar institutions that don't really compete at the the D 1 level in athletics. I'm also not ready to give Rabinowitz credit for the status of the endowment, mostly because I'm not certain of all the facts. Hofstra's endowment shrunk I understand during the Great Recession of 2008 and thereafter rode the upswing in the financial markets during the Obama Administration and through the pre-Covid Trump Administration. My post was just meant to express that there will likely be little clarity as to athletics until a new president is in place, and certainly until after the pandemic subsides.

[joeg1]

Peak to trough 2008-09 the sp500 lost half its value, so not sure what you expect during that period, unless you're hiding money under your matress. It was under 100mm when he started the capital campaign in 2006, compared to now.

My point is, if the University's finances were not so exceptionally well managed, the discussion over financial support for athletics very well could have been moot.

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[HofstraPride1]

Peak to trough 2008-09 the sp500 lost half its value, so not sure what you expect during that period, unless you're hiding money under your matress. It was under 100mm when he started the capital campaign in 2006, compared to now.

My point is, if the University's finances were not so exceptionally well managed, the discussion over financial support for athletics very well could have been moot.

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Excellent points. Bottom line is our endowment in in vastly better shape now than it was when Rabinowitz took over. Hopefully next president can get us past $1 billion,

[HofstraMathew]

Compared to similar universities Hofstra's endowment is definitely towards the top of any comparison. You can debate who gets the credit but can't deny Hofstra is in an enviable position.

[Polito]

Have to agree on the non-sports stuff with Rab, he has no question put HU in a much better position than when he first started - financially, curriculum, schools, reputation, events, etc. He really has done a good job overall.

On the sports from he is a bit more split, he's def done some good IMO, hoops has gotten solid funding and the practice facility is a huge win... still do not like the football move, but I get why it was done. HU continues to field all sports from pre-COVID, so that's a big win too. I don't think it's his priority, but I don't think he 'hates' sports either as was a question early on.


I think HU conf alignment / direction could go a few ways - but I def do not see them lowering divisions - I don't even think this on the table quite frankly. They may change conf, the CAA may expand or shrink or replace teams, HU may go somewhere else, but this U will stay D1 IMO.

I could def see a lot of conf realignment due to travel, cost, and restrictions if COVID goes deep into next year at its current impact. We'll see.

[HofstraPride1]

The problem is that we do not have too many options concerning conferences...the CAA appears to be a shaky alliance at best. This is very similar to what happened with the old East Coast Conference. We hung in there too long as our AD was the wrestling coach and he wanted to protect his atumatic qualifiers to the NCAA Tournament.
Meanwhile the Big East and the A-10 were fromed leaving us out on the street with no rela affiliation.
I think Hofstra needs to be pro-active in terms of leading the charge to create an all new Northeast based conference but it WILL be difficult as we do not have football.
I don't want the MAAC...not a good fit for us and our programs, the America East would be a step back for us unless we can convince say, Drexel and Northeastern to come with us as they did when we went to the CAA.

Which AD are you referring to? Jim Garvey (AD from 1987 to 1997) was not wresting coach so was one before him? I thought East Coast didn't fall apart until late 80s/early 90s, but perhaps was on its way in mid-80s.