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Formerly | Colonial Athletic Association Football Conference |
---|---|
Conference | NCAA |
Founded | 2007 |
Sports fielded |
|
Division | Division I |
Subdivision | FCS |
No. of teams | 16 (15 in 2025) |
Headquarters | Richmond, Virginia |
Region | East Coast |
Official website | caasports.com |
Locations | |
The Coastal Athletic Association Football Conference, formerly the Colonial Athletic Association Football Conference, branded as CAA Football, is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I whose full members are located in East Coast states, from Maine to North Carolina. Most of its members are public universities, and the conference is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. The conference is run by the same administration as the multisport conference Coastal Athletic Association (CAA; formerly the Colonial Athletic Association) but is legally a different entity. [1]
CAA Football was formed in 2005, although it did not begin play until 2007, as a separate conference independent of the CAA, but administered by the CAA front office. In the 2004–05 academic year, the CAA had five member schools that sponsored football, all of them as football-only members of the Atlantic 10 Conference. In 2005, Northeastern accepted the CAA's offer of membership, giving the CAA the six football-playing members it needed under NCAA rules to organize a football conference. At that time, the CAA announced it would launch its new football conference in 2007. Next, the CAA invited the University of Richmond to become a football-only member effective in 2007. Once UR accepted the offer, this left the A10 football conference with only five members, less than the six required under NCAA rules. As a result, the remaining A10 football programs all decided to join the CAA for football only, ending A10 football. Since the CAA football conference had the same members as the A10 the previous year, it can be said that the CAA football conference is the A10 football conference under new management.
The CAA football conference's earliest roots are in the New England Conference, founded in 1938 by four state-supported universities in that region plus Northeastern; three of the public schools are currently in CAA Football. However, neither the multi-sports CAA nor CAA Football includes the New England Conference in CAA Football history. [2] After the departure of Northeastern in 1945, the remaining members joined New England's other land-grant colleges, Massachusetts State College (now the University of Massachusetts Amherst) and the University of Vermont, to form the Yankee Conference under a new charter in 1946, with competition starting in 1947. That conference eventually dropped all sports other than football in 1975. Starting in the 1980s, it expanded to include many schools outside its original New England base. After the NCAA voted to limit the influence of single-sport conferences, the Yankee merged with the A-10 in 1997.
CAA Football went through many changes during the early 2010s with the loss of Georgia State, Massachusetts, and Old Dominion and the addition of Albany, Elon, and Stony Brook. Stability was maintained for a decade before the departure of James Madison in 2021 leading to the addition of Campbell, Hampton, Monmouth, North Carolina A&T, and Bryant from 2022 to 2024.
Institution | Location | Founded | Joined | Left | Type | Enrollment | Nickname | Colors| | Subsequent Football Conference | Current Football Conference |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Hofstra University | Hempstead, New York | 1935 | 2007 | 2009 | Private | 10,871 | Pride | none (dropped football) | ||
Georgia State University | Atlanta, Georgia | 1913 | 2012 | 2013 | Public | 32,082 | Panthers | Sun Belt (FBS) | ||
James Madison University | Harrisonburg, Virginia | 1908 | 2007 | 2022 | 21,227 | Dukes | ||||
University of Massachusetts | Amherst, Massachusetts | 1863 | 2012 | 28,635 | Minutemen | MAC (FBS) | FBS Independent (MAC in 2025) | |||
Northeastern University | Boston, Massachusetts | 1898 | 2009 | Private | 21,627 | Huskies | none (dropped football) | |||
Old Dominion University | Norfolk, Virginia | 1930 | 2011 | 2013 | Public | 24,932 | Monarchs | CUSA (FBS) | Sun Belt (FBS) |
Current members Former members Other Conference Other Conference
* | Denotes a tie for regular season conference title |
† | Denotes team failed to qualify for FCS Playoffs |
Bold type | Denotes national champion in the same season |
School | Championships | Outright championships | Years |
---|---|---|---|
James Madison ‡ | 6 | 4 | 2008, 2015,2016, 2017, 2019, 2021 |
Richmond | 5 | 0 | 2007, 2009, 2012, 2015, 2023 |
Villanova | 4 | 0 | 2009, 2012, 2021, 2023 |
New Hampshire | 3 | 1 | 2012, 2014, 2022 |
William & Mary | 3 | 0 | 2010, 2015, 2022 |
Maine | 2 | 2 | 2013, 2018 |
Delaware | 2 | 1 | 2010, 2020 a [25] |
Towson | 2 | 1 | 2011, 2012 |
UAlbany | 1 | 0 | 2023 |
Massachusetts | 1 | 0 | 2007 |
Co-championships are designated by italics.
BOLD denotes the team won the National Championship
‡Former member of CAA Football
School | Championships | Finals appearances | Won | Lost |
---|---|---|---|---|
James Madison | 2 | 4 | 2004*, 2016 | 2017, 2019 |
Delaware | 1 | 4 | 2003* | 1982†, 2007, 2010 |
Villanova | 1 | 1 | 2009 | |
UMass | 1 | 3 | 1998* | 1978, 2006^ |
Richmond | 1 | 1 | 2008 | |
Towson | 0 | 1 |
†Delaware was an NCAA I-AA independent in the 1982 season.
*Won as a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference.
^UMass became a football-only member in the MAC in 2013, and an independent football member of FBS beginning with the 2016 season.
Departing members in pink. Future members in gray.
School | Football stadium | Capacity |
---|---|---|
Albany | Bob Ford Field at Tom & Mary Casey Stadium | 8,500 |
Bryant | Beirne Stadium | 5,500 |
Campbell | Barker–Lane Stadium | 5,500 |
Delaware | Delaware Stadium | 18,500 |
Elon | Rhodes Stadium | 11,250 |
Hampton | Armstrong Stadium | 10,000 |
Maine | Harold Alfond Sports Stadium | 8,419 |
Monmouth | Kessler Field | 4,600 |
New Hampshire | Wildcat Stadium | 11,015 |
North Carolina A&T | Truist Stadium | 21,500 |
Rhode Island | Meade Stadium | 6,580 |
Richmond | E. Claiborne Robins Stadium | 8,700 |
Stony Brook | Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium | 12,300 |
Towson | Johnny Unitas Stadium | 11,198 |
Villanova | Villanova Stadium | 12,500 |
William & Mary | Walter J. Zable Stadium | 12,259 |
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The name change will carry over to the league's football conference, which will be officially recognized as the Coastal Athletic Association Football Conference but continue to be referred to as the CAA Football Conference.
The conference [CAA Football] celebrated 75 years in 2022, with its roots tracing back to the Yankee Conference (1947-1996) and the Atlantic 10 Football Conference (1997-2006) before CAA Football begin (sic) in 2007.
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