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Post by ramone99 on Jun 18, 2014 14:45:01 GMT -5
Hi everyone. First time post, long time viewer. With Elon athletics joining the CAA right around the corner, I was just wondering what everyones thoughts where on Elon joining the CAA. Expectations for football, worries, etc.
I am not sure if this has been discussed in detail, but with the new season around the corner, I would like to revisit it if possible?
For me, when I first heard Elon was joining the CAA I was excited. However over time as I thought about it, I started to realize that it might be a bad move for Elon Athletics, especially football. I know we joined basically due to a large part of our current students being form and many of our alumni residing in the CAA Northeast region.
It just seems that it would have made sense to stay in the SoCon for a few more years, especially for some of our money revenue sports. Two of the top teams that we always had trouble with in basketball has moved out of the SoCon, the same with football. Two teams that we seemed too always have trouble with left for bigger conferences. It just seems that it would have been smart to stay in the SoCon and compete and win some SoCon Championships in your big sports for a few years, build up your reputation, and then make a jump to a stronger conference.
I believe that Elon is joining a stronger and better football conference, than what they have competed in during the last 2-3 years. I believe that over the next couple of years, football will take a beating on the gridiron, as well as on some other playing fields with joining the CAA. Then again I could be wrong, but this is just my opinion. I would just like too hear other opinions on this with our first CAA athletic game in any sports being a little over two and a half months away.
You never know how good you actually had it, until you no longer have it. |
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Post by euphoenix99 on Jun 18, 2014 18:57:47 GMT -5
I basically had the opposite reaction as you. When it was announced last May, I was apprehensive about the move, but over the course of the year I have grown to not only accept it but prefer it over the SoCon.
Agreed, the competition will be tougher pretty much across the board, but you have to act when the offer is there. If you wait 3-5 more years, someone else could take your place. There is no guarantee that you do have success in the "new" SoCon. Secondly, Elon has never been accepted, for the most part, in the SoCon and all this season has done is reminded me of that. I don't have an issue with all schools, but look forward to parting ways with the likes of WCU and The Citadel. We seem to be well received by the southern half of the CAA for the most part, aside from JMU fans who probably wouldn't be content with any addition at this point given their aspirations.
All in all, I'm a lot more excited this year than I have been in previous years. For football you have Richmond, UNH, W&M, JMU, Delaware, Maine, Towson...you really can't beat that slate. Not going to be easy, but it's about as good as you can get in FCS. The other sports should be ok as well. Soccer will have it tougher, but should be competitive. Basketball had no sustained success in the SoCon either, so not worried about it getting any worse. CAA baseball has been on par if not better than the SoCon the past two seasons.
Hopefully we build some rivalries and are competitive quickly.
Go Phoenix!
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Post by elon_phan on Jun 18, 2014 20:55:14 GMT -5
I like the move. It seems the SoCon has lost so many of its top programs it is no longer a very attractive conference. But I am concerned with the travel burden on the athletes.
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Post by whoanellie on Jun 18, 2014 21:03:44 GMT -5
good solid points all the way around :
this is our 4th move in Div.1-aa From Indy to Big South, SoCon & Now the CAA. All along the way We have grown and been on an improvement course. So now our facilities and commitment to not tolerate losing has been applaud-able. We made changes in personnel and upgraded so this will always be the school of perpetual motion.
Our key will be to make sure the new, last 25 years of Alumni support Elon and show up and shell out. It will always be challenging but aren't all things worthwhile? Without Us DC, CofC, ASU & GSU the big south looks stronger. But look at all the OOC games We can schedule. Long Live Elon
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Post by fc4life on Jun 18, 2014 21:28:32 GMT -5
I'll make this short. I know the SoCon was falling apart and the move had to be made. However, this is a horrible move overall. We will be at the bottom of overall standings for a long time. Mark my words.
Out administration has no idea what it is going to take to be competitive. Elon does not have anywhere near the resources to be competitive. We do not have the money to put to use. In addition, we don't even have the funds to put towards marketing in those new markets to our alums.
I am a die-hard supporter. However, I know where we are at and were we are going. It's not bright.
Blank is a fraud and needs to go.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 19, 2014 9:18:16 GMT -5
I liked it when I heard about it, and have a proponent of the move all along. I think football will be the biggest beneficiary in the medium and long term. Basketball also will gain significantly more exposure. We will no doubt take our lumps for the first few years, but I think we get out of the cellar, especially in football, a lot sooner than some expect. Really looking forward to new and renewed rivalries with W&M, UR, C of C and UNCW. From every aspect a great move IMO.
Regarding Blank, I don't know that he needs to go but he certainly needs a couple of lieutenants just under him with some creativity & desire for the program to grow rather than thinking about their own behinds.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 19, 2014 9:40:53 GMT -5
I'll make this short. I know the SoCon was falling apart and the move had to be made. However, this is a horrible move overall. We will be at the bottom of overall standings for a long time. Mark my words. Out administration has no idea what it is going to take to be competitive. Elon does not have anywhere near the resources to be competitive. We do not have the money to put to use. In addition, we don't even have the funds to put towards marketing in those new markets to our alums. I am a die-hard supporter. However, I know where we are at and were we are going. It's not bright. Blank is a fraud and needs to go. Aren't the sports teams playing in these markets part of the marketing? That's certainly the way I see it. |
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Post by fc4life on Jun 19, 2014 9:49:59 GMT -5
I have traveled to many, many away games over the years. Our students don't care for the most part. They are not going to instantly start going.
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Post by ramone99 on Jun 19, 2014 12:47:29 GMT -5
I appreciate all of the opinions, both pro and con. Everyone has some good things to ponder about as Elon makes this transition.
I would have to agree with elon_phan, the travel will definitely be a burden on the student athletes. Along with the travel aspect, I also have too agree with fc4life as far as lack of resources, which also ties into travel, equipment, and the area I am a little worried about recruitment.
Obviously with Elon joining the CAA, you would think recruitment areas would have to change as well, especially for football. If I am not mistaken, Elon is the southern most football team in the CAA. I believe that are football coaches will start recruiting the Mid-Atlantic/Northeast more in the coming years, rather than the Southeast. All because of the location of the CAA. I know that there will be some players here and there that will be brought in (mainly as a walk-on) from outside of these two areas, but I just don't see us recruiting as hard anymore in the states of SC, GA, and FL.
I know some kids don't mind going off and playing across country or far from home. But alot of kids, especially at the FCS level stay around and play at a school that their parents can come and watch them play. I just don't see alot of kids from the Southeast wanting to come and play at Elon, when their closest game will be only when they play at home, and that could be over a six hour trip for some parents just to come to a game in NC.
I can only speak for football with this example and not alot of other sports, but I see if Elon changes their recruitment areas and start recruiting up north, I could see their level of talent go down a bit. No insult to northern football, but it just seems that the south has better football talent than the north, just as the north thrives in certain sports that the south doesn't. I believe that Elon will have to start recruiting up north, for the fact that players will want to play in a conference closer to thier home, so that parents will not have to drive 8-10 hrs. or fly to watch a game.
But I alo will have to agree with euphoenix99, fightinchristian, and whoenellie. I believe that over time Elon will be competative across the board in many of their sports. But for this to happen like a few of you have stated, they will need the resources, equipment, and financial backing for them to be successful. I believe that this is not only where the athletic administration (not just Blank, but all of the big wigs in the department) has too do their part, but this is also an area that the Board of Trustees and the President of the University has to make sure that athletic department is recieving the funds that they need to be successful.
Supposedly there was research done and the athletic department along with the board of trustees came to estimate, that it was only going to cost an extra million dollars a year for recruitment, travel, equipment, etc. for Elon to join the CAA. Depending on how you look at it that can be alot of money, but in this case I feel that it is lacking a few million more for Elon athletics to be successful in the CAA.
From what I was told by people who worked in the athletic department, Elon was barely getting by with their funds to compete at the SoCon level. Many teams could not even afford game socks, they had to wear socks donated by a local business in the community. Some teams were not even able to afford practice gear for their teams. The athletes had to wear their own personal clothing to practice in. Alot of teams, including a big male athletic team, would have their players wearing the same practice & travel gear 4-5 years in a row.
I am not saying every team should get brand new gear every year, but to have athletes wear the same workout and practice gear during the course of an athletes college career, is a little lacking.
One of the big revenue sports could not spend the night in hotels while they where out recruiting. They pretty much would drive so far in one day, do their recruitment and have to drive back home that evening.
Hopefully Elon will be successful in the CAA, but the university is going to have too give athletics the funds to be successful. Hopefully in moving forward, Elon athletics will not be moving backwards.
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Post by elonfirefighter on Jun 19, 2014 14:01:34 GMT -5
More for personal reasons I did not like the move. I hate not being able to wake up one Saturday and decide to go to a road game. Other then that I feel its the right move. The SoCon is falling apart and has lacked leadership, ie no TV deal, PBS, reactive instead of proactive at getting Teams. Moving to the CAA spreads our exposure.
I understand that we will be one of the bottom teams, but look at it this way. We were early into our football slide when this came on the radar, could of even been in Lembo's days. This was in discussion for years ie trying to partner with Davidson, CAA looking at APP. The level our team is at was and should never been brought into consideration. We will gain better recruits due to TV and the CAA.
Travel is another mute point. Football is really the only sport affected. All our other teams make extended road trips.
All and all I think we will benefit from this move.
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Post by phoenix2008 on Jun 19, 2014 14:01:44 GMT -5
I couldn't be more excited about the move. That said, I don't see how we win more than 3 football games this year (and that might be generous). Elon is climbing a mountain to becoming a national university (the likes of a William and Mary or Wake Forest) and the only way to get to the top is to keep pushing...it would have been nice to stick around in the gutted SOCON for a couple years - maybe make the NCAA basketball tourney, but that's not going to get us to our ultimate goal of being a national university. My one concern about the new conference is that I feel like attendance at home games could drop for away fans, being further away from schools we wont get the benefit of having the likes of App State fans pouring into campus...that might be for the better though  Elon has always been able to figure out how to win, when we were in the NAIA we won two national football championships, in the SOCON we struggled at first but rose to the top of the league after a few years, and now, short term, we will struggle perhaps in a much more competitive CAA - but will rise again! Long Live Elon! Also, regarding Blank, am I missing something? Our athletic's programs and facilities are better than ever (upgrades to football with the new field house, beautiful new softball facility, upgraded Alumni gym and now have regular sellouts for men's basketball - this year was a disappointment for Men's bball, but only because we actually had the talent for once to be a true contender) plus look at how many coach of the year and SoCon player of the year awards we've had of late...Baseball made it to regional finals last year, playing UVA tough, Soccer beat Clemson in front of more than 3,500 rowdy fans in the first round of the NCAA tournament (plus have won 3 SOCON championships in a row) Tennis is coming off a SOCON Regular and tournament championship, track and field is setting new program records every race it seems...what is Blank doing wrong? I've never met him, so please tell me... |
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Post by phoenix2008 on Jun 19, 2014 14:18:02 GMT -5
Not to mention, Blank got a a school that has won a total of 5 football games over the past two year's into the best FCS football league in the country...If you ask me, he's a magician...
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Post by fc4life on Jun 19, 2014 22:16:27 GMT -5
Blank did not hire Lembo. White did. Along with Darren Powell and Mike Kennedy.
Blank has hired Swepson - fail. Matheny - Jury still out.
He has no connections in the community or with alums. The guy is anti-social.
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Post by phoenix2008 on Jun 20, 2014 7:27:47 GMT -5
Who hired Paul Hamilton? (6-16 record)...White. Maybe Skrosky is Blank's version of a Pete Lembo.
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Post by phoenix2008 on Jun 20, 2014 7:30:40 GMT -5
Do others believe the jury is still out on Matheny? I think he is a huge asset to Elon, but maybe that's just me. Looks like he has pulled together some strong recruits coming in this year too, should be competitive in the CAA with an extremely young group.
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