CAA Media Day on the World Wide Web

For reasons that will be spared from the reader, yesterday's post was somewhat rushed.  It was awesome seeing an ODU football alum signing with an NFL team, even if it's just as an undrafted rookie free agent.  Basketball has been Old Dominion's dominant sport for most of its existence, and while I'm proud of the team and support it, my passion is football.  I needed to post just to share the excitement of that.

Beyond Mayo's signing, I briefly discussed the CAA Football Media Day.  I'm using this post to share online articles from a wide range of media who are paid to write.  (Might yours truly be included in such a group some day soon?  Stay tuned...)

There is an official CAA Football YouTube account.  They have a slew of video interviews with the head coaches posted.  Of course I'll share the direct link to the interview with the head coach of Old Dominion, Bobby Wilder. 

Coach Wilder instructs the special teams unit during last season's finale.

Starting with the news outlets local to Hampton Roads, Rich Radford provides a report from the CAA Media Day.  Another local paper, The Daily Press, had separate stories on William and Mary, Old Dominion and James Madison. 

A bit further north of Hampton Roads, the Richmond Times-Dispatch had an article examining the fluidity of CAA Football as a conference.  They also had an analysis of the Richmond Spiders.  There is probably a story on James Madison at DNROnline but there's a subscription fee.  What local, online newspaper charges for access to news?  Honestly?

The Baltimore Sun took a look at the rebuilding project that Coach Rob Ambrose undertook two years ago, and how far they've come to this point.  They should triple their win output from last year of one victory.  As a Baltimore resident, I'm just happy there's a CAA team 15 minutes down the road.




Will Coach Ambrose's program turn it around in Year Three? (Photo credited to Jed Kirschbam of the Baltimore Sun)

One online Delaware news source discusses the respect that conference foes have for Delaware's program, voting them third in the preseason poll.  The Hens bring back proven talent at all positions except the starting QB and the secondary.  The Hens' long-time football rival Villanova Wildcats were picked to finish seventh in the conference this season.  Head Coach Andy Talley was more than a little surprised by this.

I couldn't find local coverage of Rhode Island's experience at the media day.  The Rams have already announced they're leaving the CAA following the 2012 season.  The Sports Network put up a solid post about the program's prospects for the season.

UMass is beating Rhode Island out the door by leaving at the end of this season.  I'll focus on them as we lead up to the game at the end of October, but I won't spend time on them for now.  There was no local coverage for Maine, but I found a release from their official sports web page.  Lastly, The Union Leader took a look at New Hampshire, who was picked to finish fourth in the CAA.  If the Wildcats do finish fourth with at least seven wins, you can expect to see them in the FCS playoffs once again.

So what does it all mean?  The CAA Football Conference is pretty bad ass for being the first FCS conference to get its media day broadcast on ESPN(3).  A lot of local newspapers are taking notice and expressing interest in providing substantial coverage.  In the next post, we'll take a look at which CAA teams have the best chances to defeat their 2011 FBS opponents.