After going to watch Davidson play Marquette last night I think they & VCU are a good fit for the Big East. They were well coached up to the last minute. They were as physical and talented as Marquette (a Big East team).

They are in the Charlotte area and in the middle of ACC country. They have a nice 6,000 seat arena (I have watched Duke play there several times) and great fan support (or at least they did last night in Lexington KY). Plus they are a regular in the NCAA.

I tend to think VCU would be a better pick for the non-football slot -- if there is a non-football slot.

(03-22-2013 08:48 AM)Native Georgian Wrote:  I tend to think VCU would be a better pick for the non-football slot -- if there is a non-football slot.

Navy will be a football only member IIRC.

(03-22-2013 08:48 AM)Native Georgian Wrote:  I tend to think VCU would be a better pick for the non-football slot -- if there is a non-football slot.

All of the Big East is non-football so that would work perfect if it were to happen.

Bobby McKillop is a great coach, but judging by the grey hair, his tenure will be coming to an end within the next few years. I wouldn't roll the dice on Davidson without him.

(03-22-2013 09:10 AM)DexterDevil Wrote:  

(03-22-2013 08:48 AM)Native Georgian Wrote:  I tend to think VCU would be a better pick for the non-football slot -- if there is a non-football slot.

All of the Big East is non-football so that would work perfect if it were to happen.

Point taken.

But in that case, I don't think the Big East is interested in going that far south. I also don't think they want to go past 12 members for basketball. But who knows. Crazier things have happened.

I have said the Davidson should be approached by the A-10 with slots coming open and Charlotte leaving. But it appears that because Davidson plays FCS football in the Southern Conference, they don't want to leave and have to park their football somewhere else. They were offered by the CAA when VCU left and declined...College of Charleston did accept.

If Richmond and VCU remain in the A-10 I think Davidson could be a good member fit there, but I think they like the bus rides in the Southern Conference.

(03-22-2013 10:16 AM)HP-TBDPITL Wrote:  I have said the Davidson should be approached by the A-10 with slots coming open and Charlotte leaving. But it appears that because Davidson plays FCS football in the Southern Conference, they don't want to leave and have to park their football somewhere else. They were offered by the CAA when VCU left and declined...College of Charleston did accept.

If Richmond and VCU remain in the A-10 I think Davidson could be a good member fit there, but I think they like the bus rides in the Southern Conference.

Davidson participate as a member of the Southern Conference in most sports except FCS football in the Pioneer Football League, men's and women's swimming and diving in the Coastal Collegiate Swimming Association, Field Hockey in the Northern Pacific Field Hockey Conference, and women's lacrosse in the National Lacrosse Conference.

In 1988, the trustees voted to move the football program into NCAA Division III, eliminating all football scholarships. Many players threatened to transfer, and some thought that the team would not have enough players and coaches to even have a season the following year. That year, Davidson moved into the NCAA Division I-AA Independent League on a non-scholarship basis and then to the Pioneer Football League in 2001.

Davidson should be in the Ivy League (not the Big East).

Davidson has had some great coaching talent over the years:
Lefty Driesell
Larry Brown
Terry Holland
Matt Doherty
Rick Barnes

just to name a few.

(03-22-2013 10:48 AM)bpenson Wrote:  In 1988, the trustees voted to move the football program into NCAA Division III, eliminating all football scholarships. Many players threatened to transfer, and some thought that the team would not have enough players and coaches to even have a season the following year. That year, Davidson moved into the NCAA Division I-AA Independent League on a non-scholarship basis and then to the Pioneer Football League in 2001.

That was right around the time the NCAA stopped permitting D-I schools to park one or two sports in a lower division.

http://www.pioneer-football.org/pfl/default/

Quote:The 2012 season marks the 20th year for the Pioneer Football League – the nation’s only non-scholarship, football-only NCAA Football Championship Subdivision conference.

The PFL is one of only two conferences that sponsor football as its only sport (the Missouri Valley Football Conference being the other). However, the PFL is a truly national conference with members on each coast and throughout the nation’s heartland. The league still retains four of its charter members – Butler University, the University of Dayton, Drake University and Valparaiso University, plus the University of San Diego (joining in 1992) – which were joined in 2001 by Davidson College, Jacksonville University and Morehead State University. Campbell University joined the PFL in 2008, its first season of intercollegiate football. Marist College, which joined for the 2009 season, further extended the league’s footprint into the northeast.

In January 1991 the NCAA passed legislation to require Division I institutions to sponsor all intercollegiate sports at the Division I level. The five charter members (Evansville the fifth before dropping football in 1997), each dedicated to the enhancement and sound management of intercollegiate football as an integral part of the student-athletes’ collegiate experience, joined together to form the Pioneer Football League. From the league’s inception it has been a proponent of the creation of a non-scholarship football classification within Division I and adopted the moniker of Pioneer based on the intent to become the first league in that new division. The PFL’s original membership was comprised of NCAA Division I universities that previously sponsored intercollegiate football at other levels.

(03-22-2013 10:16 AM)HP-TBDPITL Wrote:  I have said the Davidson should be approached by the A-10 with slots coming open and Charlotte leaving. But it appears that because Davidson plays FCS football in the Southern Conference, they don't want to leave and have to park their football somewhere else. They were offered by the CAA when VCU left and declined...College of Charleston did accept.

If Richmond and VCU remain in the A-10 I think Davidson could be a good member fit there, but I think they like the bus rides in the Southern Conference.

Davidson's football team doesn't play in the Southern Conference

When you play football in the Pioneer, you are for all intents and purposes a non-football school, at least as it comes to realignment. The PFL is D-1FCS in name, but D3 in practice, as a non-scholarship league. I can't imagine that playing football there would preclude them from playing in the Big East/C7.

(03-22-2013 06:08 PM)Journeyman22 Wrote:  When you play football in the Pioneer, you are for all intents and purposes a non-football school, at least as it comes to realignment. The PFL is D-1FCS in name, but D3 in practice, as a non-scholarship league. I can't imagine that playing football there would preclude them from playing in the Big East/C7.

but the Pioneer League does get an auto-bid to the FCS playoffs

(03-22-2013 08:48 AM)Native Georgian Wrote:  I tend to think VCU would be a better pick for the non-football slot -- if there is a non-football slot.

It's all non-football. Youre confusing the BIG EAST with the conference formerly known as the BIG EAST.

(03-22-2013 06:26 PM)Theodoresdaddy Wrote:  

(03-22-2013 06:08 PM)Journeyman22 Wrote:  When you play football in the Pioneer, you are for all intents and purposes a non-football school, at least as it comes to realignment. The PFL is D-1FCS in name, but D3 in practice, as a non-scholarship league. I can't imagine that playing football there would preclude them from playing in the Big East/C7.

but the Pioneer League does get an auto-bid to the FCS playoffs

That's new, but true. With the expansion of FCS playoffs to 24 teams, the PFL was finally included in the FCS playoffs. They had previously been uninvolved.

But the key point remains, as at least one other C7 school plays FCS football ('Nova). They're not FBS, though, so it should not be an issue.

FGCU should be in the Big East!

(03-22-2013 11:40 AM)Rabonchild Wrote:  

(03-22-2013 10:16 AM)HP-TBDPITL Wrote:  I have said the Davidson should be approached by the A-10 with slots coming open and Charlotte leaving. But it appears that because Davidson plays FCS football in the Southern Conference, they don't want to leave and have to park their football somewhere else. They were offered by the CAA when VCU left and declined...College of Charleston did accept.

If Richmond and VCU remain in the A-10 I think Davidson could be a good member fit there, but I think they like the bus rides in the Southern Conference.

Davidson's football team doesn't play in the Southern Conference

So I guess they would be free to go to the A-10.

Davidson is an academic first school that can play SoCon basketball and make the tourney every two to three years and not spend money on other sports. They like the tight footprint of the SoCon and are content.

They turned down the CAA last fall.

(03-23-2013 06:58 AM)Saint3333 Wrote:  Davidson is an academic first school that can play SoCon basketball and make the tourney every two to three years and not spend money on other sports. They like the tight footprint of the SoCon and are content.

They turned down the CAA last fall.

You mean....you mean....Davidson is an educational institution! My grandpa said he saw one of those when he was a little boy. I thought they were something like Bigfoot or the Noch Ness monster. Lol