The America East Conference expanded to 10 schools Tuesday, adding the University of Maryland, Baltimore County to its membership. UMBC will officially join the conference in all sports beginning in the 2003-2004 academic year, said Commissioner Chris Monasch, who announced the change on Tuesday.
“The schedule was difficult with an odd number of teams because someone is always not playing,” said Boston University athletic director Gary Strickler. “One of the good things is [UMBC] will bring an even number of schools so we have travel partners.”
The Retrievers have more than 400 student athletes and will compete in 20 of the 21 sports in which America East sponsors championship competition. The women’s lacrosse team is expected to be UMBC’s most formidable threat in conference play.
“I think it’s a great addition and it’s nice to get a southern school,” said BU lacrosse coach Liza Shoemaker. “I know they have a really strong schedule so there will be some good competition.”
A member of the University System of Maryland, UMBC impressed the commission with a strong resume that includes four straight Northeast Conference Commissioner’s Cups as the top overall athletics program in the conference.
“We’ve been looking for a 10th member for some time,” said America East assistant commissioner of communications Matt Bourque. “UMBC fit athletic and academic requirements best in that they are a mid-sized research-driven institution, similar to the state schools as well as BU and Northeastern.”
In adding UMBC to America East, Monasch not only established an even number of teams but also ensured certain sports within the conference would continue to be eligible for automatic NCAA tournament bids.
“Before this, if another school dropped out we would not be eligible for an automatic bid, which would have been a huge blow to field hockey, for instance,” Bourque said. “Having 10 allows you to lose some [schools] along the way as has happened in the past.”
Ironically, the addition will have no impact on the automatic bid in men’s basketball, which could be in jeopardy if the rumored defection of Northeastern University comes to fruition. In men’s basketball, the NCAA requires six teams to be together in a conference for at least five years in order to earn an automatic bid.
The acceptance of UMBC to the America East stretches the geography of the conference further south, and would seemingly cause travel problems for schools further up north.
“Travel is obviously a concern,” Bourque said. “We didn’t want to stretch much farther than [Washington,] D.C., but we felt they fit into the geographic print. If you go back a few years, we had Towson [University] and the University of Delaware, so it felt natural to move back into that area.”
The BU athletic department appeared unfazed by the new traveling layout.
“We can stop off at other schools on the way there,” Strickler said. “It’s good to travel into the Baltimore area because there are lot of alumni and we do a lot of recruiting out there.”
Shoemaker agreed.
“We go to Maryland a lot because it’s a good recruiting spot,” Shoemaker said. “And we’ve got three girls next year coming from there, so it’s really not a problem.”
UMBC has a total enrollment of 11,711, with 9,549 undergraduate students. The campus stretches 500 suburban acres across Baltimore, just 15 minutes from the Inner Harbor and 30 minutes from Washington, D.C.
“They are a good team, right on the cusp of greatness,” Shoemaker said. “I know they’ve been in a weaker conference for a while so it will be nice to have them with us.”
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