Category: Rhode Island Rams
Rhode Island Leaving CAA Football in 2012?
Rhode Island is studying a possible departure from Colonial Athletic Association Football, effective for the 2012 season.
The Rams may be bound for the Northeast Conference, a logical move considering geography, that league’s new automatic bid to the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs, URI’s extended lack of success as a Colonial member, and the school’s budget concerns.
CAA Football Launches CAAFootballBlog.com
RICHMOND, Va. (May 28, 2010) – CAA Football has ventured into the world of blogs as the league launched caafootballblog.com earlier this week. The blog, along with CAASports.com, will both serve as usable extensions of the CAA Football brand and all of its information publicity.
- 213 words - CAA, Rhode Island Rams, New Hampshire Wildcats, Massachusetts Minutemen, Richmond Spiders, Hofstra Pride, Delaware Blue Hens, Villanova Wildcats, James Madison Dukes, Towson Tigers, William & Mary Tribe, Northeastern Huskies, Maine Black Bears CAA Football Academic All-Conference Team Announced
Villanova linebacker Osayi Osunde, the 2009 CAA Football Student-Athlete of the Year, headlines a list of 106 CAA Football Academic All-Conference honorees for the 2009 season.
- 1548 words - CAA, Rhode Island Rams, New Hampshire Wildcats, Massachusetts Minutemen, Richmond Spiders, Hofstra Pride, Delaware Blue Hens, Villanova Wildcats, James Madison Dukes, Towson Tigers, William & Mary Tribe, Northeastern Huskies, Maine Black Bears CAA Teams Feeling Better
A meeting with the commissioner addresses travel concerns for four New England schools.
Tom Yeager, the Colonial Athletic Association commissioner, traveled to Boston this week to bridge the gap with the athletic directors at the universities of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Rhode Island following the loss of two Northeast football programs.
Northeastern and Hofstra dropped their 70-plus-year-old programs on Nov. 23 and Dec. 3, respectively, leaving the remaining members of the North Division increasingly isolated from the Southern-heavy conference.
Ultimately the Monday meeting quelled fears that the New England schools would have to fend for themselves, either by finding another school or two to join the league, or by leaving to protect their interests.
Football Arms Race Engulfs the CAA
Conference revels in rising stature, but costs prompt two of its programs to fold.
William & Mary will play Villanova on Friday night in the division I-AA football semifinals, with the winner becoming the sixth Colonial Athletic Association team in seven years to reach the national championship game. The bid will serve as further evidence that the CAA has established itself as the preeminent conference in the country at its level.
Yet the success comes just eight days after Hofstra dropped its football program, becoming the second CAA school to discontinue football in as many weeks (Northeastern dropped football Nov. 23). Although the impetus for the two schools was different, both were byproducts of the increasing costs associated with maintaining college football teams – even in college football’s second tier.
The two contrasting fates come at a critical time for the conference, with the dominance at the top and the desertions at the bottom threatening to create a landscape of haves and have nots.
Four Teams Here, All the Rest There
With two CAA teams dropping football, Maine and three other schools find themselves isolated.
They are fierce rivals on the football field.
Off the field, the universities of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Rhode Island are about to come together like never before.
In the wake of the news that Northeastern and Hofstra have dropped football, athletic directors from the four programs will meet Dec. 21 with Tom Yeager, the Colonial Athletic Association commissioner, to advocate for themselves in a league whose alignment and dynamic has changed dramatically.
UMass athletic director John McCutcheon says football program is not in jeopardy
Saying the news caught him by complete surprise, University of Massachusetts athletic director John McCutcheon said Thursday that Hofstra’s decision to drop football was disappointing, but not a harbinger that UMass might follow suit.
McCutcheon reiterated the response he gave to Northeastern’s decision to cut football on Nov. 23. The UMass AD had expected the Northeastern announcement, but not the decision at Hofstra, which was announced Thursday morning.
Wire reports that said the move at Hofstra came at the end of a two-year study, but it still startled the football community.
UNH Football Notebook: CAA Expansion Won't Affect 'Cats Short-Term
DURHAM — There are numbers CAA commissioner Tom Yeager has a pleasure trying to crunch, and others that present more of a challenge.
Start with the tough ones. Two years from now, the CAA will welcome its 13th football-playing member, Old Dominion, which will be lodged in the league’s South Division and unbalance an unbalanced league schedule even more.
In 2012, Georgia State will bring the membership to 14, and play as a nominal member of the North Division, but with a specially-crafted schedule.
Can Richmond give CAA another title?
In some people’s minds, defending national champion Richmond is one of the favorites to win the 2009 title. But the reality of the Colonial Athletic Association is that the Spiders might not even survive their own division, let alone the NCAA playoffs.
- 3447 words - FCS News Articles, CAA, Rhode Island Rams, New Hampshire Wildcats, Massachusetts Minutemen, Richmond Spiders, Hofstra Pride, Delaware Blue Hens, Villanova Wildcats, James Madison Dukes, Towson Tigers, William & Mary Tribe, Northeastern Huskies, Maine Black Bears Defending National Champion Richmond And Villanova Selected As CAA Favorite In 2009, All-CAA Teams and TV Package Announced
Richmond, which returns 18 starters off last year’s NCAA National Championship team, and Villanova, which returns 16 starters from 2008, are picked to share the overall CAA Football Championship in 2009. New Hampshire, last season’s North Division winner, was also picked to repeat in the North according to a vote of the league’s 12 head coaches and selected media. The results of the poll, along with the Preseason All-Conference squads, were announced during Wednesday’s CAA Football Media Day at the ESPNZone in Baltimore, Md.
- 1760 words - CAA, Rhode Island Rams, New Hampshire Wildcats, Massachusetts Minutemen, Richmond Spiders, Hofstra Pride, Delaware Blue Hens, Villanova Wildcats, James Madison Dukes, Towson Tigers, Northeastern Huskies, Maine Black Bears Opinion: Additonal FB Expansion Could be Coming Soon to CAA
The Colonial Athletic Association will swell to 14 football schools in 2012, when Georgia State joins.
Too many? Too few? Or just right?
Rather than fret about growing too big too fast, maybe the league will say what the heck and just super-size it.
If it does, there are two schools that would be a geographic fit for the league - surely more of a fit than Georgia State. Adding them would be cost effective at a time when schools everywhere are looking to save wherever they can.
The Carothers Years: Despite High Hopes, Football has Remained a Losing Program at URI
SOUTH KINGSTOWN – When he moved into the president’s office at the University of Rhode Island in 1991, Robert L. Carothers inherited a football program that had suffered through five consecutive losing seasons.
When he finishes moving out of the president’s office on June 30, he will leave his successor, David Dooley, a football program that has suffered through seven consecutive losing seasons.
Winning football is not part of Carothers’ legacy at URI. The Rams played 200 games during his 18-year tenure, won 66 and lost 134, a winning percentage of .330. Only three teams enjoyed a winning season: 1991 under Bob Griffin (6-5), 1995 under Floyd Keith (7-4), and 2001 under Tim Stowers (8-3).
URI Rams Finish Spring Ball with Blue Topping the White
Junior quarterback Chris Paul-Etienne accounted for 252 yards of total offense and two touchdowns as he helped lead the Blue team past the White team in the annual Blue and White game at Meade Stadium Saturday afternoon.
Maine Suspends Volleyball, Men's Soccer; Cutting Football Not a Consideration
In an effort to preserve the overall integrity and competitiveness of University of Maine athletics during these difficult economic times, athletics director Blake James on Wednesday announced his decision to suspend the women’s volleyball and men’s soccer programs.
The cuts, which become effective June 30, were made to help the athletic department achieve its share ($253,000) of a university-mandated $8.8 million budget reduction for fiscal year 2010.
CAA Eyes Odd Slate
HARRISONBURG - Currently, not every football team in the Colonial Athletic Association plays every other member. In 2011 - for one season only - a school might not even face everyone in its own division.
Old Dominion will become the seventh team in the CAA’s South Division in 2011, while the North will remain at six teams. CAA commissioner Tom Yeager said Wednesday that four of the South teams will play all six divisional foes, while three will play only five.
- 798 words - CAA, Rhode Island Rams, New Hampshire Wildcats, Massachusetts Minutemen, Richmond Spiders, Hofstra Pride, Delaware Blue Hens, Villanova Wildcats, James Madison Dukes, Towson Tigers, William & Mary Tribe, Northeastern Huskies, Maine Black Bears, Old Dominion Monarchs, Georgia State Panthers UT Chattanooga Loses Coordinator Elko to FBS Bowling Green
Less than two weeks before the start of spring practice, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football coach Russ Huesman is looking for a new defensive coordinator.
After a little more than two months on the job, Mike Elko resigned from UTC last week to accept the defensive coordinator position at Bowling Green under coach Dave Clawson, Elko’s and Huesman’s old boss at Richmond. Elko also coached with Clawson at Fordham University before joining him at Richmond.
Elko will take over for Joe Trainer, who left Bowling Green to become the head coach at Rhode Island. Huesman, who hired Elko away from Hofstra on Jan. 4, said he was surprised by the move.
At Last, a Big Game to Rile Delaware
Proximity, history could charge UD-DSU meetings.
The University of Delaware and Delaware State University have some catching up to do.
Football rivalries don’t form overnight. But UD and DSU already have many of the ingredients to make this one special.
On Tuesday, the schools announced their first regular-season meeting will take place Sept. 19, followed by three annual games beginning in 2012.
Joe Trainer Named Rhode Island Head Football Coach
Joe Trainer, who spent the 2008 season as the Rhode Island football associate head coach/defensive coordinator, has been named the school’s 19th head coach.
Rhode Island Head Coach Darren Rizzi Steps Down
Rizzi accepts assistant coaching position with the Miami Dolphins
Maine’s Canary Earns CAA Football Student-Athlete Of The Year; Academic All-Conference Team Announced
Maine senior offensive lineman Ryan Canary, the 2008 CAA Football Student-Athlete of the Year, headlines a list of 107 CAA Football Academic All-Conference honorees for the 2008 season.
- 1556 words - CAA, Rhode Island Rams, New Hampshire Wildcats, Massachusetts Minutemen, Richmond Spiders, Hofstra Pride, Delaware Blue Hens, Villanova Wildcats, James Madison Dukes, Towson Tigers, William & Mary Tribe, Northeastern Huskies, Maine Black Bears 
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