When the dust settled, for the time being, with teams jumping around from one conference to another during conference realignment, the America East lost Boston University to the Patriot League, but picked up Massachusetts Lowell, formerly a Division II school from the Northeast 10. One would think that the America East would have sought to add an additional team to have an even ten teams in the league, but that did not come to fruition. And, according to commissioner Amy Huchthausen, that’s okay.
Huchthausen told Ryan Restivo of Big Apple Buckets:
The America East has been locked at nine teams since the 2005-06 season, and have been able to make it work. Prior to that year, Northeastern was in the league before heading off to the Colonial Athletic Association.
What is dangerous is if other schools from the America East begin to look for greener pastures. Earlier in August, Shades of 48, a blog about William & Mary athletics, released an investigative article with email dialogues from Tom Yeager, the commissioner of the CAA, to people associated with the other schools in the conference. The topic? Among several things, poaching Albany and Stony Brook from the America East.
Both of these schools became associate members of the CAA over the summer as they are set to embark on their first year in the league for football. Stony Brook, in particular, is a school that has made a serious commitment to athletics and is on the rise. One would think that the CAA presents them more opportunities to elevate their program than the America East, but they maintain they are content in the nine team league.