CIAA says expansion in its plans
LUT WILLIAMS
BCSP Editor
The 12-member conference's Board of Directors completed a strategic plan
at its May 11-12 meeting in Duck, N.C., that effectively set the table for the league
to attract more teams.
Along with increased television and media exposure and academic enhancement, the Board identified expansion as a major priority for the immediate future. The vote for expansion was unanimous.
"We thought we needed to strengthen the conference and position it for more success and growth," said Dr. Mickey Burnim, chancellor of Elizabeth City State University and chairman of the CIAA Board of Directors.
Burnim said the conference is looking at adding up to four institutions.
"We want to attract institutions that will add value to and contribute to the long-term viability of our conference," he said. "As we evaluate potential members, the conference will only consider inviting institutions who share similar academic standards, athletic progress and values."
With a significant alumni base spanning the East Coast, expansion plans will be focused geographically northward as far as Pennsylvania and as far south as Georgia. Burnim added that gaining a foothold in markets like Atlanta, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia would fit the profile.
"We currently have one of the most successful basketball tournaments in the NCAA Div. I or Div. II," said Burnim. "Most of our tournament games and some of our regular season games are already on television. If we want to be more attractive to TV networks, we need more games in more populated markets."
The CIAA is comprised of 12 colleges and universities located in Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia.
At least two conference schools, North Carolina Central University in Durham, N.C., and Winston-Salem State University have publicly expressed interest and an intention to pursue NCAA Div. I classification, which would include I-AA status in football. That would effectively end their association with the CIAA which plays at the Div. II level.
The plans of those schools did not really effect the decision to pursue expansion, said Burnim.
"We've been working on the strategic plan for over a year. We watched the ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference) last year as they actively recruited schools that they thought would add value to their conference. They had specific criteria. "Rather than react, we wanted to be proactive. Over the last decade we've lost two great institutions, Hampton and Norfolk State. We realize that other schools are looking to move up to I-AA, but the main thing for us is to know where we're going and how we're going to get there."
Burnim noted that there have been inquiries by other institutions about joining the CIAA.
The proposed expansion may spark the interest of several Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) that are similar to CIAA institutions.
The University of the District of Columbia in Washington, D.C., Lincoln University or Cheyney University in Pennsylvania and Benedict College in Columbia, S. C., could be at or near the top of that list.
Barber-Scotia, a member of the Eastern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (EIAC), may also be interested. Benedict reportedly sought membership in the CIAA before joining the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC), another Div. II conference, in 2002.
© 2004 Azeez Communications, Inc.