October 19, 2005

Seasons of Change

Addition of University of North Carolina at Charlotte and Saint Louis University Promises Enhanced Athletic Competition and Increased Visibility

BY JULIA JACOELLI

The Atlantic 10 Conference welcomed the addition of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and Saint Louis University for the 2005–06 season, expanding the conference to 14 teams. With the addition of the new members, the league also has abandoned divisional boundaries for baseball and basketball, as well as introduced some changes in the conference schedules and championship eligibility. The two universities officially became members of the conference this past July, after announcing their decision to leave Conference USA for the A-10 in November 2003.

“We are adding two new members who will greatly enhance the national profile of all our sports and expose our programs to two new markets in which our universities actively recruit,” said Linda Bruno, commissioner of the A-10 since 1994. “The A-10 has never been as strong as it is now.”

Brad Bower, sports information director at The George Washington University, agrees with Bruno.

“The addition of Charlotte and Saint Louis is fantastic for the league,” said Bower. “Not only does it get the A-10 into two new sizeable media markets, it improves the overall strength of the conference.”

The conference is likely to experience increased national media coverage as a result of the addition of these two teams due to the improvement in the league, according to executive director of athletics and recreation for GW, Jack Kvancz. With the addition of these two schools, the A-10 has schools in 12 of the top 61 television markets in the country, accounting for 19.7 percent of television households across the nation.

Saint Louis boasts a strong soccer program, with the men’s team qualifying for the NCAA Tournament 42 times in the 46 years of the event. The team also has won a record 10 NCAA national championships. The women’s team ended this season as defending regular season league champion, despite competing at the varsity level for only four years. Saint Louis’s men’s basketball team has qualified for postseason action in seven of the past 12 years, while its women’s team made its first postseason appearance in 2003. The Billikens also will compete in baseball, men’s and women’s cross country, field hockey, men’s golf, softball, men’s and women’s swimming and diving, men’s and women’s tennis, and women’s volleyball.

“Saint Louis University, its alumni, and fans are extremely enthusiastic regarding the Billikens’ inaugural year in the Atlantic 10 Conference,” said Cheryl L. Levick, director of athletics at Saint Louis. “The profile of the A-10 membership is the best fit that Saint Louis University has enjoyed in the history of Billiken athletics. Plus, the A-10 provides new major market media exposure for our program and also opens the East Coast for undergraduate student recruitment for the institution. We look forward to a long, exciting and successful tenure in the A-10.”

University of North Carolina at Charlotte also enjoys a successful soccer program; in 1996, the men’s soccer team reached the Final Four. It is basketball team that has brought UNC-Charlotte the most acclaim, having been to 11 NCAA Tournaments, advancing to the Final Four in 1977 led by future Boston Celtics star Cedric Maxwell. Charlotte also will compete in men’s and women’s cross country, men’s golf, baseball, softball, men’s and women’s tennis, women’s volleyball, and men’s and women’s outdoor track and field.

“We are delighted to be joining a conference with institutions that have similar academic and athletic priorities,” said 49ers Director of Athletics Judy Rose. “We are looking forward to being a strong contributing member with hopes that our membership will help to further enhance the Atlantic 10.”

Joe McKeown, head coach of women’s basketball at GW, feels that both teams will raise the competitive bar, but it is Charlotte’s team which should provide the biggest challenge for GW’s program.

“Charlotte can compete with the best teams in the league,” said McKeown. However, he feels that he has plenty of time to study Charlotte and become familiar with their players, considering GW’s women’s team does not play Charlotte until the last game of the season.

Karl Hobbs, coach of GW’s men’s basketball team, agrees with McKeown’s assessment of Charlotte’s basketball program.

“Carolina will probably be favored to win the conference,” said Hobbs. Both coaches expressed their opinion that the conference has benefited from the addition of these two schools.

Tanya Vogel, coach of GW’s women’s soccer team, trusts that her team will prevail against the new programs.

“There is no question that both schools will be a challenge to GW on the field. That being said, it is not anything that we haven’t seen with Richmond, Dayton, and other A-10 schools,” said Vogel. “Still, GW is an outstanding place to go to school and we will continue to recruit the best athletes in the country. GW has something special to offer student-athletes, so I don’t foresee us losing students to either of those schools on a regular basis.”

The addition of the two schools also has resulted in some changes in how the A-10 runs championships. In basketball, the division between the East and West has been discarded, and while the teams still play a 16 game schedule, only 12 of the 14 teams will make it to the championship. Divisions also have been abolished in baseball. Baseball teams will play a 27 game schedule, where before they had played 24 games. Although there are no changes in the soccer championships, their conference schedule has been reduced to nine games from 11.

One thing that won’t change is the conference’s name, despite the fact that there are no longer only 10 teams. In fact, the A-10 has not had 10 teams since the 1990–91 season, and according to Linda Bruno the league feels that there is too much “equity” to change the name now.

The A-10 Conference began in 1975 as a collegiate basketball conference with only eight members. Later that year the NCAA officially recognized the Eastern Collegiate Basketball League, which was later abbreviated to the Eastern 8 as men’s baseball, cross country, golf, swimming, and tennis were added. Following the departure of Pittsburgh and Villanova in 1981, the Eastern 8 grew to become the Atlantic 10 when Rhode Island, St. Bonaventure, St. Joseph’s, and Temple joined founding institutions Duquesne, George Washington, Massachusetts, Penn State, and West Virginia. The conference also added women’s basketball, gymnastics, softball, tennis, and volleyball. Eventually Penn State and Rutgers left, and Xavier was added, at about the same time that women’s cross country, field hockey, and swimming and diving were added. This period also saw the addition of men’s and women’s soccer and men’s and women’s indoor track and field. Under the guidance of Commissioner Bruno, women’s rowing, lacrosse, and men’s and women’s outdoor track and field were added to the list of sports represented. Prior to the addition of Saint Louis University and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Dayton, Fordham, La Salle, and Richmond were the newest members of the conference.

“We’re pleased that such attractive institutions have accepted our invitation to join the A-10 Conference,” President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, president of the A-10 Conference Presidents Council, said in a statement following the schools’ membership acceptance. “Saint Louis shares with our member institutions a strong commitment to academics, as well as athletics. They also further solidify the conference’s national reputation and prestige. We believe that Charlotte is an institution cut from the same cloth. Along with the other members, we are pleased and proud to welcome them to the A-10 family.”

Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu