I never understood a couple of things related to all this conference realignment stuff
why keep rehashing old conferences instead of starting a new one? the power 5 on down.
ie what does Vandy bring to the SEC? Rutgers and Maryland in the big 10, etc. Smaller is better...because you might be able to actually win once in a while. The power 5 is trying to be the NFL 2.0; who cares, that isn't going to be us.
Why does the CAA keep bailing out schools from the A10 and Big East with football? Play hardball, if they want to play football at this level join the conference in all sports
I realized Villanova and Richmond will never do this but make that the Patriots league problem. Rhody would have to at least consider if the CAA 2.0 was attractive
Let's assume we need 10 schools for a conference. Find 10 like-minded schools and stick together. State schools, in Northeast that play FCS football:
Towson
Delaware
W&M
UNH
Maine
Albany
Stony Brook
VMI
Youngstown (i'm sure they would rather come east than go to the Dakotas)
Rhody
Backups
The Citadel
Central Conn
Another option is to try and join the Missouri Valley Football Conference and break away as an all sports league with an east and west. Work out some deal for the Illinois schools to always play each other and that is a great looking conference to me. Again, sizeable state schools that play FCS football. This might even be a multi bid basketball league in some years. It's far better in MBB than the new CAA.
East:
Towson
UD
W&M
Youngstown
Murray State
Indiana State
Illinois State
Eastern Illinois (from the OVC)
West:
North Dakota State
North Dakota
South Dakota State
South Dakota
Northern Iowa
Missouri State
Western Illinois
Southern Illinois