Conference USA or CAA? Either option could prove perilous for ODU

[Harry]

Old Dominion, through no fault of its own, is in a jam, and don't let anyone con you otherwise. The Monarchs can remain in a conference many believe is on life-support, or join a league of scattered wannabes that requires a premature upgrade to the Football Bowl Subdivision.

The Colonial Athletic Association or Conference USA. A long-time home that soon may lose your two fiercest rivals, or picked-over remnants frantically adding schools to remain viable.

Would you like liver or sardines for dinner, Mr. Selig?

OK, perhaps ODU's impending choice isn't that bleak. Maybe, just maybe, either road could prove golden.

If university president John Broderick, athletic director Wood Selig and the Board of Visitors elect to stay put, perhaps VCU and George Mason, the CAA's other basketball powers, curb their wanderlust and commit long-term. A stable CAA is the best-case scenario for all the Monarchs' programs, and were VCU and George Mason not flirting with the Atlantic 10, ODU wouldn't be contemplating such a radical change.

If Broderick and company opt for Conference USA, perhaps football recovers from initial batterings and develops compelling rivalries against East Carolina and Charlotte, replacing those already in place against neighboring Hampton, Norfolk State and, especially, William and Mary. Maybe men's basketball thrives as it did in the old Sun Belt Conference, which included far-flung opponents such as Alabama-Birmingham, South Alabama, South Florida and Jacksonville.

But there's no denying the peril along both paths.

Read more: http://www.dailypress.com/sports/dp-spt-teel-column-odu-cusa-20120506,0,4331219.column