Another domino falling in the seemingly never-ending Mid-Atlantic shuffle. The Middle Atlantic Conference is looking more and more like the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference, and the PAC is looking more like the North Eastern Athletic Conference.
The Skyline is looking NEAC-y as well, though, aside from Mount St. Mary at the top, it will be better balanced in most sports.
As the pieces shuffle in the middle, you have to wonder about some of the schools remaining in their original conference. The MAC’s Lebanon Valley, Messiah and Elizabethtown have seen the shape of their league change significantly in the past couple of years. Similarly with the PnAC and Cabrini and Gwynedd-Mercy. The NEAC … well, maybe not there. There weren’t many fully staffed athletic departments in the league before, and with Villa Julie gone, there are going to be fewer.
Is there another change in store for the teams mentioned? Is the area finally going to be at peace?
Say what? Eastern to the MAC … wonder how many of us saw that coming. 🙁
Ummm … I sure did!
Shoulda warned us, Coach C. Then it wouldn’t have been such a shock. 😉
You sure have your ear close to the ground.
Keystone and Philly Bible joining the PnAC.
“The World Turned Upsidedown.” The Redcoat band played this tune after the final act of the Revolutionary War.
That just about sums it up for the MAC and the PnAC. [What’s next? Bob Jones University initiating intercollegiate athletics, Grove City accepting Federal dollars, and Mt. Union dropping football?]
Strange days, I tell ya.
As the NEAC seems to have failed at staunching the departures, their only hope is to add new programs. The only provisionals and exploartory schools in the area that I can find are Briarcliffe NY, SUNY-Cobleskill, Lancaster Bible College PA and PSU-Harrisburg.
I have not been able to find the NCAA website that has the dates for the classes of these prospective members. One wonders if the NEAC will survive now.
I understand that Lake Erie is going D2. Might the AMCC want to add Cazenovia, D’Youville and Keuka? (Of course, they weren’t invited with Hilbert and Medaille in the first place.)
D3Hoops.com reported today that D’Youville, Buffalo NY, is going to the AMCC in 2009-10. Franciscan (Steubenville, OH) is joining the AMCC in 2008-09 as a second year provisional. These replace Lake Erie.
This places even greater pressure on the NEAC to add members. I think that Cazenovia (Cazenovia NY) and Keuka (Keuka Park) should start looking at ways to bring their athletic departments up to standards that look attractive to the AMCC. Two more schools in the north would help with an AMCC divisional split, and the AMCC acquisition of the NEAC would be complete.
As we look at the geography of the AMCC, Frostburg (MD) State is the southernmost campus in the AMCC. As a football school, it might look attractive to a Capital Athletic Conference, which will have Salisbury and Wesley playing football. (Capital AC member Galluadet seems to have cast its lot with the North Atlantic Conference, when it starts football.)
PSU Harrisburg is in the NEAC.
http://www.hbg.psu.edu/
Lancaster Bible College is still an independent.
http://www.lbc.edu
Briarcliffe Patchogue is going D-II. I found no other substantive evidence that a Briarcliffe campus (either Bethpage or Queens) is exploring D-III
http://www.bcpat.com/athletics.asp