Colonial Athletic Association Totally Explained

Everything about The Colonial Athletic Association totally explained

The Colonial Athletic Association, also known as the CAA, is a NCAA Division I college athletic conference whose members are located in East Coast states from Massachusetts to Georgia. Most of its members are public universities, with five in Virginia alone, and the conference is headquartered near Richmond, Virginia. The CAA is considered one of the stronger mid-major conferences in the country.
The CAA was founded in 1983 as the ECAC South basketball league. It was renamed the CAA in 1985 when it added championships in other sports (although a number of members maintain ECAC affiliation in some sports). As of 2006, it organizes championships in 21 men's and women's sports. The addition of Northeastern University in 2005 gave the conference the NCAA minimum of six football programs needed to sponsor football. For the 2007 football season, all of the Atlantic Ten Conference's football programs joined the CAA football conference, as agreed to in May 2005.
The CAA has expanded in recent years, following the exits of longtime members such as the United States Naval Academy, University of Richmond, East Carolina University and American University. In 2001 the 6 member conference added 4 northeastern schools: Towson University, Drexel University, Hofstra University, and the University of Delaware. Four years later the league expanded again when Georgia State and Northeastern joined, further enlarging the conference footprint.
On the playing field, the CAA has produced 16 national team champions in five different sports, 33 individual national champions, 11 national coaches of the year, 11 national players of the year and 12 Honda Award winners. In 2006, George Mason became the first CAA team to reach the Final Four, and was the first team designated as a true mid-major to make it that far since the tournament expanded to 64 teams.

Members

The league currently has 12 full members:

Institution	Location	Team Name	Founded	Affiliation	Enrollment	Year Joined
North Division
Hofstra University	Hempstead, New York	Pride	1935	Private/Non-sectarian	13,000	2001
Northeastern University	Boston, Massachusetts	Huskies	1898	Private/Non-sectarian	22,942	2005
South Division
University of Delaware	Newark, Delaware	Fightin' Blue Hens (Football)	1743	Public	19,067	2001
Georgia State University	Atlanta, Georgia	Panthers	1913	Public	27,267	2005 2012 (Football)
James Madison University	Harrisonburg, Virginia	Dukes	1908	Public	16,241	1985
Old Dominion University	Norfolk, Virginia	Monarchs and Lady Monarchs (Men's basketball)	1930	Public	21,625	1991 2011 (Football)
Towson University	Towson, Maryland	Tigers	1866	Public	18,111	2001
The College of William & Mary	Williamsburg, Virginia	Tribe	1693	Public	7,700	1985
Non-Football Members
Drexel University	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Dragons	1891	Private/Non-sectarian	17,000	2001
George Mason University	Fairfax, Virginia	Patriots (Men's basketball)	1957	Public	29,728	1985
University of North Carolina at Wilmington	Wilmington, North Carolina	Seahawks	1947	Public	12,000	1985
Virginia Commonwealth University	Richmond, Virginia	Rams	1838	Public	30,381	1995

NOTE: Old Dominion and Georgia State are starting football programs; Old Dominion signed its first recruiting class in 2008 for the 2009 season, while Georgia State will sign its first class in 2009 for the 2010 season.

Associate members

Binghamton University (wrestling)
Boston University (wrestling)
Campbell University (wrestling)
University of Dayton (women's golf)
University of Maine (football)
University of Massachusetts (football)
University of New Hampshire (football)
University of Rhode Island (football)
University of Richmond (women's golf, football)
Rider University (wrestling)
Robert Morris University (men's lacrosse)
Sacred Heart University (men's lacrosse, wrestling)
Villanova University (men's lacrosse, football)
Xavier University (women's golf)

Former members

American University - (1984-2001)

East Carolina University - (1982-2001)

United States Naval Academy (Navy) - (1982-1991)

University of Richmond - (1982-2001)

Men's Basketball Champions

Season	Regular Season Champion	Tournament Champion
1983	William & Mary (9-0)	James Madison
1984	Richmond (7-3)	Richmond
1985	Navy (11-3)	Navy
1986	Navy (13-1)	Navy
1987	Navy (13-1)	Navy
1988	Richmond (11-3)	Richmond
1989	Richmond (13-1)	George Mason
1990	James Madison (11-3)	Richmond
1991	James Madison (12-2)	Richmond
1992	Richmond (12-2)	Old Dominion
1993	James Madison (11-3)	East Carolina
1994	Old Dominion (10-4)	James Madison
1995	Old Dominion (12-2)	Old Dominion
1996	Virginia Commonwealth University(14-2)	Virginia Commonwealth University
1997	Old Dominion (10-6)	Old Dominion
1998	William & Mary/UNC Wilmington (13-3)	Richmond
1999	George Mason (13-3)	George Mason
2000	George Mason / James Madison (12-4)	UNC Wilmington
2001	Richmond (12-4)	George Mason
2002	UNC Wilmington (14-4)	UNC Wilmington
2003	UNC Wilmington (15-3)	UNC Wilmington
2004	Virginia Commonwealth University(14-4)	Virginia Commonwealth University
2005	Old Dominion (15-3)	Old Dominion
2006	UNC Wilmington/George Mason (15-3)	UNC Wilmington
2007	Virginia Commonwealth University (16-2)	Virginia Commonwealth University
2008	Virginia Commonwealth University (15-3)	George Mason

Note: The conference was known as the ECAC South from 1983-1985.

History of the Tournament Finals

Year	Winner	Score	Opponent	Venue
1983	James Madison	41-38	William & Mary	Robins Center (Richmond, VA)
1984	Richmond	74-55	Navy	Convocation Center (Harrisonburg, VA)
1985	Navy	85-76	Richmond	William and Mary Hall (Williamsburg, VA)
1986	Navy	72-61	George Mason	Patriot Center (Fairfax, VA)
1987	Navy	53-50	James Madison	Hampton Coliseum (Hampton, VA)
1988	Richmond	73-70	George Mason	Hampton Coliseum (Hampton, VA)
1989	George Mason	78-72	UNC Wilmington	Hampton Coliseum (Hampton, VA)
1990	Richmond	77-72	James Madison	Richmond Coliseum (Richmond, VA)
1991	Richmond	81-78	George Mason	Richmond Coliseum (Richmond, VA)
1992	Old Dominion	78-73	James Madison	Richmond Coliseum (Richmond, VA)
1993	East Carolina	54-49	James Madison	Richmond Coliseum (Richmond, VA)
1994	James Madison	77-76	Old Dominion	Richmond Coliseum (Richmond, VA)
1995	Old Dominion	80-75	James Madison	Richmond Coliseum (Richmond, VA)
1996	Virginia Commonwealth University	62-58	James Madison	Richmond Coliseum (Richmond, VA)
1997	Old Dominion	62-58	James Madison	Richmond Coliseum (Richmond, VA)
1998	Richmond	79-64	UNC Wilmington	Richmond Coliseum (Richmond, VA)
1999	George Mason	63-58	Old Dominion	Richmond Coliseum (Richmond, VA)
2000	UNC Wilmington	57-47	Richmond	Richmond Coliseum (Richmond, VA)
2001	George Mason	35-33	UNC Wilmington	Richmond Coliseum (Richmond, VA)
2002	UNC Wilmington	66-51	Virginia Commonwealth University	Richmond Coliseum (Richmond, VA)
2003	UNC Wilmington	70-62	Drexel	Richmond Coliseum (Richmond, VA)
2004	Virginia Commonwealth University	55-54	George Mason	Richmond Coliseum (Richmond, VA)
2005	Old Dominion	73-66 OT	Virginia Commonwealth University	Richmond Coliseum (Richmond, VA)
2006	UNC Wilmington	78-67	Hofstra	Richmond Coliseum (Richmond, VA)
2007	Virginia Commonwealth University	65-59	George Mason	Richmond Coliseum (Richmond, VA)
2008	George Mason	68-59	William & Mary	Richmond Coliseum (Richmond, VA)

Football conference

The CAA football conference was formed in 2005, although it didn't begin play until 2007. In the 2004-05 academic year, the CAA had five member schools that sponsored football, all of them as football-only members of the Atlantic 10 Conference (A10). In 2005, as previously noted, Northeastern accepted the CAA's offer of membership, giving the CAA the six football-playing members it needed under NCAA rules to organize a football conference. At that time, the CAA announced it would launch its new football conference in 2007. Next, the CAA invited the University of Richmond to become a football-only member effective in 2007. Once UR accepted the offer, this left the A10 football conference with only five members, less than the six required under NCAA rules. As a result, the remaining A10 football programs all decided to join the CAA on a football-only basis, spelling the end of A10 football, at least under that conference's banner. Since the CAA football conference had the same members as the A10 the previous year, it can be said that the CAA football conference is the A10 football conference under new management. With that in mind, the CAA football conference's oldest ancestor is the Yankee Conference, which began play in 1938, eliminated sports other than football in 1975, and merged with the A10 in 1997. Every school that was in the Yankee Conference at the time of the A10 merger and still fields an FCS-level football team (10 out of the final 12 members of the Yankee Conference) is in the CAA football conference. On May 31, 2006, Old Dominion University announced that it would start a footbaall team to begin play in 2009. Old Dominion will join the CAA football conference in 2011. On April 17, 2008, Georgia State University announced that it'll start a football team to begin play in 2010 and join the CAA football conference in 2012. The team will play in the 70,000 seat Georgia Dome.
The CAA football conference has the following members:

North Division

Hofstra

Maine

UMass

New Hampshire

Northeastern

Rhode Island

South Division

Delaware

James Madison

Old Dominion (Program begins 2009 and joins CAA in 2011)

Richmond

Towson

Villanova

William & Mary

Georgia State (Program begins 2010 and joins CAA in 2012)

Former members

Former members of the CAA football conference's ancestors include:

Boston U.: 1971-1997, dropped football

Connecticut: 1938-1999, moved up to Division I-A (now FBS), joined Big East Conference in 2004

Holy Cross: 1971, became independent, now in Patriot League

Vermont: 1938-1973, dropped football

Conference facilities

School	Football stadium	Capacity	Basketball arena	Capacity
North Division
Hofstra	James M. Shuart Stadium	15,000	Hofstra Arena (The "Mack")	5,124
Maine	Morse Field at Alfond Stadium	10,000	See America East Conference	-
Massachusetts	Warren McGuirk Alumni Stadium	17,000	See Atlantic 10 Conference	-
New Hampshire	Mooradian Field at Cowell Stadium	8,000	See America East Conference	-
Northeastern	Parsons Field	7,000	Matthews Arena (The "Freezer") (men's) Cabot Center (women's)	6,000 2,500
Rhode Island	Meade Stadium	6,580	See Atlantic 10 Conference	-
South Division
Delaware	Tubby Raymond Field at Delaware Stadium	22,000	Bob Carpenter Center (The "Bob")	5,000
Georgia State	Georgia Dome	TBA based on size	GSU Sports Arena	4,500
James Madison	Bridgeforth Stadium/Zane Showker Field	14,000	JMU Convocation Center (The "Convo")	7,156
Old Dominion	Foreman Field	20,000	Ted Constant Convocation Center (The "Ted")	8,650
Richmond	University of Richmond Stadium	22,000	See Atlantic 10 Conference	-
Towson	Minnegan Field at Johnny Unitas Stadium	11,198	Towson Center	5,250
Villanova	Villanova Stadium	12,500	See Big East Conference	-
William & Mary	Walter J. Zable Stadium at Cary Field	12,259	Kaplan Arena at William & Mary Hall	8,600
Non-Football Members
Drexel	-	-	Daskalakis Athletic Center (The "DAC")	2,300
George Mason	-	-	Patriot Center	10,000
UNC-Wilmington	-	-	Trask Coliseum	6,100
Virginia Commonwealth University	-	-	ALLTEL Pavilion at the Stuart C. Siegel Center (The "Stu")	7,500

Note: Old Dominion won't reinstate its football program until 2009, but already has a suitable on-campus stadium. Georgia State will start football in 2010, and will use the Georgia Dome. The stadium seats 70,000 but the school will likely reduce seating for their games except for the occasional FBS team playing in the stadium because of its size.

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