Campbell University will leave the Big South Conference for the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) upon the conclusion of next season.
The CAA announced Wednesday that Campbell accepted an invitation to join the conference and would become a full member as of July 1, 2023.
Exciting NEWS for the future of Campbell Athletics!
We will join the @CAASports
in 2023.Story ⤵️
🔗 https://t.co/y2rTpFBFJn | #RollHumps 🐪 pic.twitter.com/4mJtsrDzFb— Campbell Athletics (@GoCamels) August 3, 2022
“We are excited to welcome Campbell University as the newest member of the Colonial Athletic Association,” CAA Commissioner Joe D’Antonio said. “Campbell is an outstanding academic institution that features a successful and competitive athletic program.”
The Big South Conference does not sponsor swimming & diving. Campbell University’s women’s swim & dive team currently competes in the Coastal College Sports Association (CCSA), along with other Big South schools Gardner-Webb and UNC Asheville.
When Campbell becomes a full member of the CAA in 2023, the Lady Camels’ swim & dive team will join eight other schools in the conference that sponsor women’s swimming & diving.
CAA WOMEN’S SWIM & DIVE TEAMS
- Delaware
- Drexel
- Monmouth
- Northeastern
- Stony Brook
- Towson
- UNC Wilmington
- William & Mary
- Campbell*
*Effective July 1, 2023
Monmouth and Stony Brook only accepted invites to join the CAA this past January and as a result, did not race at the 2022 Swimming & Diving Championships (won by William & Mary).
Last season, the Campbell women finished fifth out of 11 teams at the CCSA Championships.
Campbell does not have a men’s swim & dive team. Six of the schools listed above also sponsor a men’s team: Delaware, Drexel, Monmouth, Towson, UCNW and William & Mary.
Overall, the CAA will now have 14 members in 2023-24:
- Campbell University (Buies Creek, N.C.)
- College of Charleston (Charleston, S.C.)
- University of Delaware (Newark, Del.)
- Drexel University (Philadelphia, Pa.)
- Elon University (Elon, N.C.)
- Hampton University (Hampton, Va.)
- Hofstra University (Hempstead, N.Y.)
- Monmouth University (West Long Branch, N.J.)
- North Carolina A&T State University (Greensboro, N.C.)
- University of North Carolina Wilmington (Wilmington, N.C.)
- Northeastern University (Boston, Mass.)
- Stony Brook University (Stony Brook, N.Y.)
- Towson University (Towson, Md.)
- William & Mary (Williamsburg, Va.)
14 strong in 2023. A full look at #CAASports with the addition of @GoCamels pic.twitter.com/hrSVCP0ul5
— Colonial Athletic Association (@CAASports) August 3, 2022
Campbell is a private university located in Buies Creek, North Carolina with an enrollment of more than 5,600 students, over 600 of them being student-athletes. They sponsor a total of 21 Division I sports.
How many of those 14 schools have dropped swimming in the last 10 years or so?
College of Charleston? Think they used to have both men’s and women’s swimming.
Did Hofstra have swimming and diving (they have an 8-lane indoor 50m pool on campus)?
North Carolina A&T, any of the other schools?
I just looked into Hofstra because I was curious…
That’s embarrassing they don’t have a team. They have a really impressive facility, complete with 2 1 meter boards and 2 3 meter boards! It’s a sunk cost, they already have the facilities.
I suppose they’d need to add a men’s sport to be able to start a women’s swim team.
Just add both men’s and women’s swimming and diving. Easy fix