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It's not 'business as usual' with Richmond and CAA Football

I believe the Athletics Department's stated objective used to be having football and basketball playing in the best conferences possible that gave us the best competition possible.

I can understand the concern about the recent direction of the CAA. I'd like to know if our AD put the concerns on the table with the Commissioner and colleagues. Did we offer some of the sensible alternatives to address the concerns?

If we still stand by being in the best conference possible for our football program, the Southern stands well above the Patriot from my perspective.

Go Spiders!
I think PL has redshirt restriction (could be wrong). If that is the case, Huesman has stated he prefers building the FB team via HS recruits and filling a few holes with transfers.
Southern Conference puts team on airplanes a whole lot more than CAA after the additions, though Elon, W&M, and Spiders if they all went over probably give Southern Conference another playoff berth each year and move CAA to a two-bid conference most years, especially if Nova went to Patriot or elsewhere.
Plus, I do not know but someone might have to ask the SoCon if they want anyone else, they are set right now with each team playing all conference teams. That conference might be happy as they are. I personally do not like the unbalanced scheduling right now in CAA, but does a conference change fix the problem? IDK, but might be something to consider.

My personal hope is UR does not make a hasty decision and lets the new schools first prove they are not able to come up to a competitive level. I believe some of them will, but in the meantime the Spiders stay put for a little bit and in a three or four bid conference while those schools have time to build CAA rosters. Might give Spiders more shots at playoffs the next two or three years while the newbies catch up, problem IMO is are they tested enough to advance past the second round?
 
Just info, but this discussion now has its own thread on Any Given Saturday, if anyone wants to see what a few other FCS fans are thinking.
 
Man, remember when you guys won a national champioship in 2008 and then downsized your stadium? Feels like this is just the natural progression of that.

Sucks to suck, y'all should just fold football and go all in on Lacrosse.
 
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Peer academic schools.Fits profile.Will be 8 team league including UR.

We know who we’re playing every year unlike CAA.7 league games.

Visiting team fans will actually attend UR games.

No more Albany,Maine,Stonybrook,URI,Bryant,NCA&T,New Hampshire,Campbell,Hampton,Monmouth,Towson.Who really cares?

Likely keep Elon and WM on schedule.

We’ll continue to play 1 big boy on schedule

Coverage on ESPN platforms not FloSports.

Domino effect may include Villanova as well.Unknown.

I see it as a positive all the way around.

Am sure UR and WM will continue to play its season ending rivalry game.
 
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This isn't the UR of the seventies any longer guys. Academics and Associations matter more now. Not saying that is a bad thing either.
 
Richmond_Shield.png



Dear Spider Community,


We are excited to let you know that, earlier today, the University of Richmond accepted an invitation to join the Patriot League as an associate member for football beginning in the 2025 season. No other conference affiliations for other sports are impacted by this change. Spider Football will compete in the CAA Football conference in the 2024 season and begin the transition to the Patriot League after the FCS playoffs.


After an extensive analysis following the 2023 football season, we concluded that a move to the Patriot League for football was right for Richmond for several important reasons, all of which affirm our strong commitment to Spider Football and the success of our student-athletes.


Athletically, Patriot League football provides an outstanding opportunity for our team to compete annually for league championships and FCS playoff appearances. Academically, the schools of the Patriot League are among the top institutions in the country and share Richmond’s commitment to academic excellence. Geographically, many of our alumni live in close proximity to Patriot League schools, and this will provide more opportunities for our fans to support Spider Football.


The past few years have been marked by significant change in the college football landscape, while the Patriot League’s football membership has remained remarkably stable. This is a testament to the strong leadership of their Council of Presidents and the great care they take in supporting a highly competitive athletic and academic environment for their student-athletes. The Patriot League began allowing athletic scholarships in football in 2013 and allows its schools to award the FCS maximum of 63 equivalencies in athletics scholarship support.


We are committed to continuing our annual tradition and rivalry game with William & Mary. The Spider community recognizes the importance of ‘The Oldest Rivalry in the South,’ and having the chance to win the Capital Cup will continue to be an integral part of the Spider Football experience.


As an added benefit of both the Atlantic 10 and Patriot League broadcast agreements with ESPN+, Spider fans will soon be able to watch competitions across all of our 17 NCAA Division I sports in one place.


Thank you all for your continued support of Spider Athletics and Spider Football.



Go Spiders!



All the best,



John P. Hardt

Vice President & Director of Athletics



Kevin F. Hallock
President
 
Peer academic schools.Fits profile.Will be 8 team league including UR.

We know who we’re playing every year unlike CAA.7 league games.

Visiting team fans will actually attend UR games.

No more Albany,Maine,Stonybrook,URI,Bryant,NCA&T,New Hampshire,Campbell,Hampton,Monmouth,Towson

Likely keep Elon and WM on schedule.

We’ll continue to play 1 big boy on schedule

Coverage on ESPN platforms not FloSports.

Domino effect may include Villanova as well.Unknown.

I see it as a positive all the way around.

Am sure UR and WM will continue to play its season ending rivalry game.
Stop making sense. The "It's still the 1970s, bring back Virginia students and General Spidey" crowd must be obeyed!
 
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Man, remember when you guys won a national champioship in 2008 and then downsized your stadium? Feels like this is just the natural progression of that.

Sucks to suck, y'all should just fold football and go all in on Lacrosse.
We could drop down to play tiddley-winks and hopscotch and never have to dress in purple and yellow. Purple and yellow. Damn.
 
Man, remember when you guys won a national champioship in 2008 and then downsized your stadium? Feels like this is just the natural progression of that.

Sucks to suck, y'all should just fold football and go all in on Lacrosse.

Welcome back DD

CSACE4wWUAAuTyx.jpg
 
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We barely beat Colgate a few years back in a home and home series with Lauletta.

We lost to Fordham 5 years ago at Rose Hill.

I think that Holy Cross could have handled us in the past few years.

And so why are we complaining about this move?

The AQ should be ours every year and we should be highly ranked.
 
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We barely beat Colgate a few years back in a home and home series with Lauletta.

I think that Holy Cross could have handled us in the past few years.

And so why are we complaining about this move?

The AQ should be ours every year and we should be highly ranked.
I like you optimism about the AQ, but it’s only true if we can continue to recruit an occasional Lauletta, Turner, Wheeler and the solid FCS players we have attracted over the years.

Our coaching staff will have a big challenge overcoming the PL’s long standing reputation as a lower level League and keeping our current team motivated in our CAA lame duck season.

Looking forward to seeing how this all unfolds in the long run.

Go Spiders!
 
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Football to Move to Patriot League
Interesting about the recruiting we do against PL. I wonder how many of those recruits we won in the past due to CAA vs PL affiliation. He was careful with his answer.
He all but said the coaches recruiting now were in a lesser position trying to sell without CAA as part of the package. Thats the way I took the answer anyway.
He also mentioned the PL traditionally is a one bid league.
 
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I like you optimism about the AQ, but it’s only true if we can continue to recruit an occasional Lauletta, Turner, Wheeler and the solid FCS players we have attracted over the years.

Our coaching staff will have a big challenge overcoming the PL’s long standing reputation as a lower level League and keeping our current team motivated in our CAA lame duck season.

Looking forward to seeing how this all unfolds in the long run.

Go Spiders!
I doubt we end up being good in the patriot after the first few years. We’ll have enough talent early on but after recruiting inevitably drops off and with that support of football we’ll be toast. This is the excuse the administration needs to completely push football off to the side and neglect it. I’ve heard people say that level of investment won’t change but I have a hard time believing that. If anything I expect us to eventually not offer scholarships or at least cut the amount of them in half. You don’t make this move if you’re actually serious about football.
 
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I doubt we end up being good in the patriot after the first few years. We’ll have enough talent early on but after recruiting inevitably drops off and with that support of football we’ll be toast. This is the excuse the administration needs to completely push football off to the side and neglect it. I’ve heard people say that level of investment won’t change but I have a hard time believing that. If anything I expect us to eventually not offer scholarships or at least cut the amount of them in half. You don’t make this move if you’re actually serious about football.
Do you think staying in the CAA at it's current state and twiddling our thumbs as it continues to erode would show 'seriousness' about our football? I don't.
 
Do you think staying in the CAA at it's current state and twiddling our thumbs as it continues to erode would show 'seriousness' about our football? I don't.
Current CAA is better than the patriot league and it’s not even close. So yes I would have stayed there until either we left for the SoCon, or started a new league with nova, William and Mary, Towson, Elon, those type of schools.
 
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Huesman was questioned about recruiting and stated out of 60 2025 recruits, 50 were also
recruited by Patriot League teams. Now if W&M, Nova or Elon was joining us, then it would
make a lot more sense.
 
Current CAA is better than the patriot league and it’s not even close. So yes I would have stayed there until either we left for the SoCon, or started a new league with nova, William and Mary, Towson, Elon, those type of schools.
Been a busy day for you. Your fingers must be sore.
 
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I think 50 of the 60 we recruited also had PL offers. I do not think we or PL teams got them all.
He was really trying to be careful what he said when talking about recruiting.

True. But you get my point. How many of those 50 recruited by a respected CAA team like Richmond are going to wind up in the Patriot League? If the over/under is 5 players, I'm betting the under.
 
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A kid today can easily get 5-10 verbal offers.Our offerees have Ivy and BCS / G5 offers/CAA(Nova,WM,rarely Elon or any other CAA team)as well
 
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I doubt we end up being good in the patriot after the first few years. We’ll have enough talent early on but after recruiting inevitably drops off and with that support of football we’ll be toast. This is the excuse the administration needs to completely push football off to the side and neglect it. I’ve heard people say that level of investment won’t change but I have a hard time believing that. If anything I expect us to eventually not offer scholarships or at least cut the amount of them in half. You don’t make this move if you’re actually serious about football.
No truer words were spoken.
 
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