I liken the current situation at Richmond to the situation that happened in the 1960's at Tulane University in New Orleans. Originally a charter member of the SEC, Tulane deemphasized their sports programs and pulled out of the SEC (as did Georgia Tech).
Like Richmond, they had (and still have) high academic standards which they mistakenly thought precluded them from competing in the SEC. Vanderbilt had similar standards and, though not a power house on Fall Saturday afternoons, they are competitive and today thrive in the other SEC sports they compete in.
Meanwhile Tulane tore down it's 80,000 on campus stadium and has haplessly been part of some awful second and third tier conferences -- Metro, CUSA, Big East, and they were a an Independent for many years. Also, Tulane became a launching pad for some pretty well-known college coaching staples: Mack Brown, Rich Rodrigues, Tommy Bowden. But because college athletics has been the a stepchild of the University, it had virtually no chance of keeping them. Sound Familiar?
Only today, almost 60 years later, does the program seem to be on the upturn. The new administration at Tulane built a new on-campus stadium, made some selective academic concessions to be competitive and found a coach who genuinely seems to have bought in to the program. They are now a member of the AAC, but, I would bet a million dollars to a donut, that they rue the day they pulled out of the SEC. Think of all the millions of dollars they have lost by giving up its charter membership.
Forgive me for writing about Tulane, but I think there is an unmistakable parallel between Tulane and Richmond that ought not be ignored. Don't leave the CAA no matter what.
