Campbell announces move to CAA
Wed August 3, 2022 | Press Release | University
College Women Campbell
RICHMOND, Va. — The Colonial Athletic Association announced Wednesday that Campbell University has accepted an invitation to attend the conference as a full member on July 1, 2023.
“We are pleased to welcome Campbell University as the newest member of the Colonial Athletic Association,” said CAA Commissioner Joe D’Antonio. “Campbell is an outstanding academic institution with a successful and competitive sports program. These two attributes fit perfectly with the conference’s vision, which calls on our members to work together to advance nationally competitive sports programs—coupled with outstanding academic programs—that empower student-athletes as whole individuals to strive at the highest level in every aspect of their lives lives. The CAA remains focused on making decisions that ensure its membership is a competitive and sustainable model.”
The addition of Campbell brings the CAA’s membership to 14 for the 2023-24 academic year. They will be affiliated with the College of Charleston (Charleston, SC), University of Delaware (Newark, Delaware), Drexel University (Philadelphia, Pa.), Elon University (Elon, NC), Hampton University (Hampton, Virginia), and Join Hofstra University (Hempstead, NY), Monmouth University (West Long Branch, NJ), North Carolina A&T State University (Greensboro, NC), University of North Carolina Wilmington (Wilmington, NC), Northeastern University (Boston, Mass.) , Stony Brook University (Stony Brook, NY), Towson University (Towson, Maryland) and William & Mary (Williamsburg, Virginia).
CAA Football’s membership will expand to 15 in 2023 with the addition of Campbell. They join the University at Albany (Albany, NY), University of Delaware (Newark, Del.), Elon University (Elon, NC), Hampton University (Hampton, Virginia), University of Maine (Orono, Maine ), Monmouth University (West Long Branch, NJ), University of New Hampshire (Durham, NH), North Carolina A&T State University (Greensboro, NC), University of Rhode Island (Kingston, RI), University of Richmond (Richmond, Virginia), Stony Brook University (Stony Brook, NY), Towson University (Towson, Md.), Villanova University (Villanova, Pa.), and William & Mary (Williamsburg, Virginia).
Located in Buies Creek, North Carolina near one of the nation’s fastest growing metropolitan areas, Campbell University is a private university with more than 5,600 enrolled students. Founded in 1887, Campbell currently enrolls more native North Carolinians than any other private college or university in the state.
With programs in osteopathic medicine, pharmaceutical sciences, nursing, physician assistants, physical therapy and sports medicine, Campbell has grown over the past decade to become a leader in health science education in North Carolina. Campbell is also home to the state’s newest undergraduate engineering program, its first undergraduate degree in homeland security, and the nation’s only four-year undergraduate program in trust and wealth management.
“The leadership team at Campbell University is grateful to the Colonial Athletic Association for the invitation to participate in this outstanding sports conference,” said Campbell University President J. Bradley Creed. “Campbell’s sports teams have shown that we can compete with some of the best teams in the country. This move to the CAA is an excellent fit for Campbell in terms of the profile of sports and athletics, as well as the academic reputation of these highly respected teams at colleges and universities.”
Campbell is home to more than 600 student-athletes who compete in 21 Division I sports – baseball, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s cross country, football, men’s and women’s golf, women’s lacrosse, men’s soccer and women, softball, women’s swimming, men’s and women’s tennis, men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor track and field, and women’s volleyball. Wrestling remains a member of the Southern Conference.
In the past five years, Campbell has won four Big South Conference men’s sports trophies and twice the Sasser Cup as Big South overall sports champion.
In the same five-year span, Campbell has won 42 regular season and tournament titles in the Big South and Southern (wrestling) Conference. Fighting Camel teams won a school-record 13 conference regular-season and tournament titles in 2021-22 – winning championships in women’s soccer (regular season), men’s soccer (regular season and tournament), volleyball (tournament), women’s basketball (regular season) , men’s indoor track and field, baseball (regular season and tournament), softball (regular season and tournament), women’s golf and men’s tennis (regular season). Campbell also won the 2022 Southern Conference Wrestling Tournament Championship.
Fighting Camel teams and individuals have made 49 postseason appearances over the past five seasons, including 13 berths in 2021-22. The women’s golf team has earned 10 consecutive NCAA regional berths, while the baseball team has competed in the last four NCAA regionals.
Campbell University acting director of athletics Hannah Bazemore called the move “one that will be extraordinary for our institution.”
“I would like to thank Commissioner Joe D’Antonio and the Board of Directors of the CAA for extending this invitation and giving this tremendous opportunity to Campbell University, our students, athletes, coaches and staff. It’s an exciting time for Campbell,” Bazemore said. “Academically, culturally and athletically, the CAA will be an outstanding home for Fighting Camel Athletics for decades to come. Our goal is to give our student-athletes and coaches the opportunity to compete with the nation’s leaders, and joining the CAA at this time provides us with that opportunity.”
The CAA includes many of the nation’s largest metropolitan areas with a geographic footprint that stretches from Boston to Charleston, SC. The conference has produced 18 national team champions in five different sports, 33 national individual champions, 15 national player of the year, 15 national coach of the year and 13 Honda Award winners. Equally impressive, however, are the honors accumulated outside of competition, including five Rhodes Scholars and 25 NCAA Postgraduate Scholars. In 2021-22, more than 2,700 of the league’s student-athletes received the Commissioner’s Academic Award after achieving at least a 3.0 grade point average in writing in a varsity sport.
The CAA runs championships in 24 sports. Male athletes compete for championships in baseball, basketball, cross country, soccer, golf, lacrosse, soccer, swimming and diving, tennis, and indoor and outdoor track and field. Female athletes compete for conference titles in basketball, cross country, field hockey, golf, lacrosse, rowing, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, indoor and outdoor track and field and volleyball.
For more than a decade, CAA Football has established itself as one of the premier FCS power conferences in the nation because of its success on the field, national prominence, and the achievements of its student-athletes in the classroom, in the community, and at the next level. The league has had multiple teams in the playoffs for the past 31 years, three or more teams in 14 of the last 16 seasons, and at least one team in the semifinals for nine straight years. A CAA team has played in the FCS championship game nine of the last 17 seasons.
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