RICHMOND, Va. — Albany and Stony Brook have accepted offers to join the Colonial Athletic Association football beginning 2013 and University of Maine football coach Jack Cosgrove and athletic director Steve Abbott are pleased with the additions.
Commissioner Tom Yeager announced the additions Tuesday.
Albany has been playing in the Northeast Conference, winning the conference and reaching the FCS playoffs last season.
Stony Brook also made the FCS playoffs in 2011, winning the Big South title, and beat Albany 31-28 in the first round.
The additions will keep the CAA at 11 members next season, when Georgia State and Old Dominion move up to FBS.
The other CAA football schools are Delaware, James Madison, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Richmond, Towson, Villanova and William & Mary.
“I would like to thank our fellow Colonial Athletic Association members and Commissioner Tom Yeager and his staff for their outstanding work on this expansion,” Abbott said. “In the ever-changing landscape of collegiate athletic conferences, the CAA and Commissioner Yeager really found two institutions to enhance the conference. Albany and Stony Brook are great additions to Colonial Athletic Association Football both academically and athletically.
“They are two like institutions that we have competed with for years in America East and we look forward to now competing with them on the football field. This greatly enhances the stability of CAA football and we could not be happier,” Abbott added.
“This is great news for the CAA and Maine Black Bear Football,” Cosgrove said. “Not only have we added two Northeast teams, we have kept the excellence tag of the CAA in place. Both programs were NCAA playoff teams last year and add tremendously to the quality and depth of our Conference.”
Maine kicks off the 2012 season Saturday, Sept. 8 at Boston College. The Black Bears play their home opener on Saturday, Sept. 22 against future conference rival Albany at 6 p.m. on Morse Field at Alfond Stadium.
Both teams made the NCAA playoffs by default because of their weak conf auto bids is more like it. Neither of these programs will sniff an at-large bid for the remainder of this decade most likely, and that is what is not being said, cause’ like it or not that’s the only way they get in
I grant you that argument on the NEC, or Rhode Island wouldn’t be headed there. But the Big South…. that was a tough job for Stony Brook to prevail with all those long road trips, and not having the high school feeder system that southern schools have.
Stonybrook is a program rapidly improving and will get some prospects out of that NY-NJ-Philly area that used to be easy pickings for Cozy. Albany has already shown they can compete .This so called northern extension of the CAA benefits UNH more than Maine and probably is intended to keep them both on board. I wonder if URI will reconsider or if Bryant or Sacred Heart (Conn) will make the move .