What Is CAA Top Tier?

[Deleted]

So What is a CAA top tier program? My contention is that a "program" consists of more than just wins over the immediate season. A top tier "team" certainly could be judged purely on the immediate season's wins. A top tier "program" IMO should take into account other issues such as coaching, facilities, institutional support, community and student support, recruiting, playoff appearances, playoff wins and National Championships, which gleans a little of all of the above.

So, looking purely at playoff wins over time, I constructed the table below. To say a top tier team should be based on all time wins doesn't take into account the most recent performance. Eg. a top tier program 20 years ago may not be a top tier program today. However, what has happened over the past 12-24 months, to me, is more what the recent "team" has done, not the overall program. Personally, I think it's reasonable to consider the past 5 years of playoff performance as a major indicator of a top tier team. So my ranking based on playoff appearances, playoff wins and National Championships would be something like this:

JMU
New Hampshire
Richmond
Villanova
Stony Brook
Elon
Maine
William & Mary
Delaware
Towson
Rhode Island
Albany

Tell me what you think.

No, I don't have too much time on my hands. I'm just wasting it on this.


* In 2018 Playoffs

	All Time	2009-2018	2014-2018	2017-2018
	A - W - NC	A - W - NC	A - W - NC	A - W - NC
Albany	1-0-0	1-0-0	0-0-0	0-0-0
Delaware*	16-22-1	2-3-0	1-0-0	1-0-0
Elon*	3-0-0	3-0-0	2-0-0	2-0-0
JMU*	15-16-2	6-8-1	5-7-1	2-3-0
Maine*	8-3-0	3-1-0	2-0-0	1-0-0
New Hampshire	16-14-0	9-10-0	4-5-0	1-2-0
Rhode Island	3-2-0	0-0-0	0-0-0	0-0-0
Richmond	11-15-1	4-6-0	3-5-0	0-0-0
Stony Brook*	4-3-0	4-3-0	2-1-0	2-1-0
Towson*	3-3-0	3-3-0	1-0-0	1-0-0
Villanova	12-12-1	5-8-1	2-2-0	0-0-0
William & Mary	10-7-0	3-3-0	1-1-0	0-0-0

[euphoenix99]

Interesting question. I agree with your points about not being able to assess based on immediate season alone and you need to consider program history. I will say, based on how I personally perceive programs, a win over certain teams means more no matter how poorly they may be doing that season.

With that said, I'd break them into 4 tiers in my mind. No particular order within a tier.

Tier 1
Big public schools with big stadiums/followings and at least one national title. A decade of bad seasons could change this perception, but it would take a lot to see them move out of the top tier. Interestingly, JMU wouldn't have been tier 1 a few years back, but now that they are it seems it would take a lot for them to not be considered.
-JMU
-Delaware

Tier 2
Private schools that have a national title and decent tradition. Less fan support but are propped up by hoops money or other money.
-Richmond
-Villanova

Tier 3
Schools who have had some success over the years, but never really seemed to get over the hump. I know UNH had a ton of playoff appearances and had they won a title I would probably put them in tier 2. They seem more like a Richmond or Villanova than JMU or Delaware despite being a public school. Same would be true for Maine and W&M if they ever won a title.
-Maine
-New Hampshire
-William & Mary

Tier 4
All relatively new schools to the conference or schools without any sustained success. I know Towson played in a national championship game recently, but they never feel like a consistent threat in the conference. They are obviously up this year. Stony Brook feels very similar. If any of these teams won a national title I'd bump them up to tier 2.
-Albany
-Elon
-Rhode Island
-Stony Brook
-Towson

Anyhow, just my personal opinion when I think of the teams in the conference.

I was a little surprised Delaware had only won one national title. I was thinking it was more than that. Even App and Montana who it felt like dominated FCS for years over different decades only have 3 and 2 titles respectively. Makes what NDSU has done all the more remarkable. They are really the only tier 1 nationally right now. Could argue for JMU, but just not the same level.

Hopefully Cignetti will take Elon to new heights.

Go Phoenix!