In Alternative Conference Realignment News: The Other Guys

[Aughnanure]

Looks like a cute little fight is brewing between the CAA, MVC and A-10.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/10/sports/ncaafootball/conference-instability-is-filtering-down-to-the-next-level.html

"While waiting to see how things play out, officials from more basketball-heavy leagues like the Atlantic 10, the Colonial Athletic Association and the Missouri Valley are scouting the landscape to see which of their members might be stolen away or what schools they might add.

"There are still so many uncertainties," Tom Yeager, the Colonial Athletic Association commissioner, said. "I think everyone is trying to get a grip on where it's going. We're all studying the possibilities. The hardest thing is managing your own people to just not run through a lot of useless energy or getting overly worried about, 'What are we doing?' "

Hofstra's president, Stuart Rabinowitz, had reached out informally to Atlantic 10 members Charlotte, Richmond and George Washington, along with Boston University of the America East, to gauge their interest in joining the C.A.A., according to two people with knowledge of the talks.

Rabinowitz is the president of the C.A.A. Council of Presidents/Chancellors. Hofstra declined comment Sunday night, but Yeager did not deny that conversations were taking place when asked about them last week.

"There's a lot of informal conversations going on," Yeager said. "Athletic directors are running into each other in the press box on Saturdays, and I think it's a nonstop topic of conversation. We're not going after anyone."

Although the C.A.A. is sending feelers to A-10 members and others, a different college official said that the Atlantic 10 had expressed informal interest in adding C.A.A. members George Mason and Virginia Commonwealth.

The potential inter-C.A.A.-Atlantic 10 poaching shows the fragility that exists even far from the big-money B.C.S. leagues. Doug Elgin, the commissioner of the Missouri Valley Conference, said that was the current reality.

"Many institutions in conferences all across the country are gathering information, as well, as they review and analyze their current conference membership," he said. "We will continue to keep all such informal inquiries that we might receive from individuals outside our membership confidential.""

[bilsu]

It is interesting that teams are soliciting teams from A10 and A10 is out soliciting other teams. Obviously they are expecting the A10 to lose members to the new Big East.

[Dawson Rental]

I'm sure that the Horizon League is wondering whether there is any chance that they can hold on to Butler before this is all through.