How that’s a nice step for them. Bryant football joining the big south is a nice jump too.
My heart goes out to CCSU faithful. Really need to get out of the NEC but athletics budgeting is likely the contributing factor that’s screwing them over.
NEC is flat out depressing right now. CCSU has been there since 1997 and isn't going anywhere soon. Mount St. Mary's is expected to join the MAAC and St. Francis Brooklyn is not far from following Hartford to D-III. The Northeast Conference is looking more like the D-II Northeast-10 Conference.
Central's $17M budget would be on the low end of the AE with NJIT and UMBC, but we would compete in most sports. Almost all of that $$$ is tied up in salaries, scholarships, and overhead costs - we don't have much to use for recruiting or operating expenses and our facilities are on the low end for sure. The level of play in the AE isn't too much higher than the NEC, but the profile of the schools (public research universities) are a huge improvement over the small private colleges.
With tuition at less than half of any NEC or MAAC school, CCSU just needs some capital investment in campus housing and Athletics. We should be able to increase enrollment by a few thousand which would bring in additional athletics fees. However, without visionary leadership at the Presidential level and support and funding by the Board of Regents, Governor, and Legislature, nothing like that will ever happen.
