CAA Football Welcomes Bryant University As Its Newest Member In 2024

CAA Football’s Board of Directors has approved Bryant University as the conference’s newest member. Bryant will join CAA Football on July 1, 2024.

Aug 10, 2023 by Leanza Pieroni

CAA Football Welcomes Bryant University As Its Newest Member In 2024

CAA Football’s Board of Directors has approved Bryant University as the conference’s newest member. Bryant will join CAA Football on July 1, 2024, and increase the league’s membership to 16.

See you in 2024, @BryantUFootball 👏#CAAFB pic.twitter.com/KsO5kxdFL0
— CAA Football (@CAAFootball) August 10, 2023

“We are excited to welcome Bryant University as the newest member of the CAA Football Conference,” CAA Commissioner Joe D’Antonio said. “Bryant is an outstanding academic institution that features a successful and competitive football program. Both of those attributes fit perfectly into the conference’s vision that calls for our membership to work together to advance nationally competitive athletic programs – coupled with outstanding academic programs – that empower student-athletes as whole persons to strive at the highest level in every aspect of their lives. The CAA continues to be focused on making decisions that ensure its membership a competitive and sustainable model.”

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Bryant, which is located in Smithfield, Rhode Island, is a member of the Big South-OVC Football Association.

Entering its 25th season of football, Bryant has posted an all-time record of 130-120 (.520 winning percentage), while going 82-78 (.513) at the Division I level.

The Bulldogs have won seven or more games five times at the Division I level and reached as high as No. 21 in the national rankings during the 2014 season.

🔊 @PrezGittell

A new look to 2024 #CAAFB with @BryantUFootball pic.twitter.com/zDkhwQ9ce6
— CAA Football (@CAAFootball) August 10, 2023

Bryant plays its home games at 4,400-seat Beirne Stadium, which features a FieldTurf playing surface. The Bulldogs also can practice and train at the Conaty Indoor Athletic Center, an 80,000-square-foot facility that includes a full 120-yard turf field.

Bryant Vice President of Athletics & Recreation Bill Smith, a former president of the FCS ADA, called the move “transformative for our university and our student-athletes.”

“I would like to thank Commissioner Joe D’Antonio and the board of directors in the CAA for extending this invitation and giving our football student-athletes this incredible opportunity,” Smith said. “This move aligns with Bryant University’s bold vision for the future and will provide our student-athletes the opportunity to compete in what has proven to be one of the best FCS football conferences in the country.

Get to know the newest member of #CAAFB

👋 @BryantUFootball pic.twitter.com/0tYCoB7cC7
— CAA Football (@CAAFootball) August 10, 2023

“I’d also like to thank former Big South commissioner Kyle Kallander, current commissioners Sherika Montgomery and Beth DeBauche, and the rest of the Big South-OVC staff for giving us the opportunity to compete in such an incredible conference. We are grateful for our time as an associate member.”

CAA Football has established itself as one of the premier FCS conferences.

Twelve of the league’s 15 current members have made the playoffs since 2015. CAA Football has sent multiple teams to the playoffs for the past 31 years and has had three or more squads in the field in 15 of the past 17 seasons.

The conference has had at least one team reach the semifinals nine times in the past decade and has had a squad competing in the national championship game nine times in the last 18 years.

Who Is In The CAA?

Institutions in CAA Football are located along much of the Atlantic Coast, with the geographic footprint stretching across 10 states from Maine to North Carolina.

Full members now include:

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.)
University of North Carolina Wilmington (Wilmington, N.C.)
Northeastern University (Boston, Mass.)
Stony Brook University (Stony Brook, N.Y.)
Towson University (Towson, Md.) and
William & Mary (Williamsburg, Va.)

About the CAA

The CAA has established itself as one of the nation’s top collegiate conferences, both athletically and academically, for nearly four decades.

The conference has produced 18 national team champions in five different sports, 33 individual national champions, 15 national players of the year, 15 national coaches of the year and 13 Honda Award winners.

Just as impressive, however, are the honors accumulated away from competition, which include five Rhodes Scholars and 25 NCAA post-graduate scholars.

During the 2022-2023 campaign, more than 3,400 of the league’s student-athletes received the Commissioner’s Academic Award after posting at least a 3.0 grade point average while lettering in a varsity sport.