TIME FOR UR FOOTBALL TO MOVE ON

 

So the University of Richmond finally caught on … that the CAA has 

become only a reasonable facsimile of what it was … and no longer is 

viable for SpiderNation. What Chuck Boone, Tom Yeager et al 

created 44 years ago with UR a charter member has become a hodge-

podge of schools that, for the most part, generate zero interest here.

We’ve got to believe UR knew what the conference originally called 

ECAC South then Colonial (now Coastal) had become after Yeager 

retired as its first commissioner and watched successor Joe D’Antonio 

open the CAA’s borders to anyone and everyone. Come one, come all. 

You might have thought he was being paid by the school the way 

growth got out of hand.

Of course, all college athletics, especially at the top, have changed … 

not for the better, we should add. Maybe Richmond will wise up some 

more and recognize what Boone, then UR athletic director, thought 

best lo those many years ago.

To wit: Build a conference around schools no more than a short bus 

ride apart … where rivalries flourish … and make every game must-

see … on-site. What a novel idea! 

In other words (to bring the whole thing up to date), don’t be a slave to 

television and a financial return that has grown less and less as the big 

guys get more and more … and amateur no longer applies. 

Originally, the plan was to restrict membership to Virginia only … and 

only VMI kept it from becoming reality. Then-athletic director Tom 

Joynes wanted no part of it, presumably after checking with the 

people who signed his check … as well as influential alumni still 

under the spell of legendary coach John McKenna … and dreaming 

of the big time.

As a result, East Carolina U., in faraway (by comparison) North 

Carolina, became the sixth member, a minimum requirement for 

conference designation, of the ECAC South … born in 1979 and, six 

years later, grew into the CAA … with Yeager in charge from the 

beginning until he left in 2016.

Of course, as much fun it would be, generating all sorts of continuing 

interest … a league restricted to Virginia, the commonwealth of – 

including UR and fellow-CAA original William & Mary -- no longer 

is practical. That is, until U.Va., VaTech, ODU and JMU, in particular, 

come to their senses and stop pouring good money after bad into 

dreams of perpetual national attention that are guaranteed to become a 

nightmare of red ink and embarrassment.

Best advice: Don’t hold your breath.

In the meantime, UR and W&M will have to look elsewhere to play 

football. The Southern Conference perhaps (and come full circle). 

Anything, it says here, would be better than standing pat. To be 

determined.

Until next time ...