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Starting in 2003, The American East conference will not feature southern participants Delaware, Drexel, Towson and Hofstra, but those teams may still be able to participate in postseason play until they leave.
“Membership is membership until it is not anymore,” Maine Athletics Director Suzanne Tyler said about the obligation that America East has to let the above four members participate in the postseason.
Tyler and athletics directors from the remaining America East schools will meet this Thursday in Boston to discuss conference membership issues and how the teams defecting to the Colonial Athletic Association will be handled. With only six hours to meet, pressure is on the athletics directors to work quickly in the face of the change. Tyler added that the respective school presidents must approve any proposal that radically alters the landscape of the conference.
Men’s basketball coach John Giannini notes that while contractual obligations bind the teams and the league, it would not be a positive situation for the league to have one of the four leaving teams receive the automatic NCAA tournament berth for basketball.
“It would be unfortunate for them to represent America East in the NCAA tournament,” Giannini said. “They shouldn’t receive prestige playing in our most important events, namely the conference tournament and receiving the NCAA berth.
Giannini also added that the talk during such events would focus on the impending move and not shed positive light on the conference as a whole. Meanwhile, Albany and Stony Brook continue to be mentioned as teams that could be added to America East.
A proposal to expand America East with the remaining Colonial teams did not receive enough conference support in September and it was printed that the move was imminent. While Tyler admits that assimilating the Colonial teams would have raised the competitive nature of the conference due to the quality of Colonial athletics, Dr. John Giannini, head coach of UMaine men’s basketball, has another view. He thinks that a smaller conference would benefit his team’s chances of postseason play.
“It makes a conference championship more possible,” Giannini said previously describing the situation.
Giannini also pointed out that revenue and postseason NCAA tournament berths are the same for any mid-level or lower-level conference outside the top ten in the country. Tyler and Giannini agree that recruiting could take a major hit because the southern schools are leaving America East because UMaine will no longer be a presence in those states. Potential recruits from southern states who were able to play in front of home crowds every year will no longer have that luxury.
Another hit UMaine athletics could take with an America East exodus may be felt directly on the playing field because there are fewer strong schools left in the conference to play, possibly because the schools that are remaining do not rank as high nationally as the ones that left.
“There’s a different impact for each sport,” head field hockey coach Terry Kix said before the move. “In field hockey, Delaware is a top 20 program. We’d hate to lose a competitive team.”
