A-10 baseball

It's about the same level of ball as the conferences you mentioned. Davidson, Richmond and Fordham are probably the best academically. All of them are decent academic colleges.

Can't speak to the coaching or academics, but quality of baseball I would place on par with Patriot League.  We played a lot of our non-Patriot League games against Ivy and the northern A10 teams (St Bonnies, UMass, URI).

Caveat - this was around the 2000 timeframe.

University of Dayton is a great academic school. They are not very good in baseball and generally at bottom of A-10.

I agree with Matt.  I'd consider the A-10 a D1 mid-major as well as the other conferences you mentioned.  Over the years, programs within the conferences go up and down, but over time they all level out somewhere from the middle to bottom of the D1 conference RPIs.  This year was not a stellar year for the A-10, but it will eventually move back up.  http://warrennolan.com/baseball/2016/conferencenpi

In 2009, my oldest son was offered by a school(s) in each of the four conferences mentioned.  That pretty much told us we were fishing in the right pond from a baseball perspective.  Academically, I think you have to look at the merits of his intended major at each separately and draw your own conclusions. 

Good luck.

Son plays in the CAA, and 4 of A10 schools are on his schedule regularly.

Some thoughts:

I had read on this site some time ago that Davidson may not be fully funded (which may have changed) and that there are no "passes" academically.  The HC has been there a while.  

VCU plays at the Diamond, home of the AA Flying Squirrels, just a few miles off campus.  Went to Regionals several years ago.   VCU has  t-shirts that say that "VCU Football - Still Undefeated"  (great basketball though.)

GW plays off site....really off site.  Like in Arlington, VA at a local park, with nice facilities.

George Mason (as well as GW) has a great location being so close to DC for government interest internships.  Oh yeah, baseball players may not have the time to do internships.

Richmond is almost in my backyard.  Although UR has had some recent bad press, it is a very good school and the hope is only good changes will come from prior 'events' .  Baseball field recently had new turf installed.  Will lights and bathrooms facilities be in the plans for the future??  Hope so.  Newer coach seems to be respected.

I agree with all the above.  2012 was offered by several A10 schools, and schools in all the other conferences the OP mentions. 

Davidson was in the Southern Conference at that time if my memory serves me so Furman and Wofford were on his list then too.

We were back at U of Richmond with our 2016.  Really like the campus and the new turf is great. 

I also liked Davidson.  Much smaller enrollment than all the others, but lovely campus IMHO.

GW is urban...and the field is off site as noted.  That was a big drawback. 

Fordham is very urban too of course. 

In my experience, the baseball was not dramatically different across the conferences mentioned.

Please feel free to PM  me my son plays at an A10 school

^^^^2014 DAD, our match up this year is April 18th!  Be sure to PM me if you all are in town!

This link was posted tonight on the other thread on Ivy's and High academics, which lists 27 "Tier One" schools, which include A-10, CAA, Ivy's, etc.

http://www.tier1athletics.org/tier-one-colleges/

thanks to all for the great feedback..

George Mason is replacing their park with a new really nice facility. GW plays in Va and the turf in Richmond is really nice. 

Any feedback on Fordham, St. Joseph's as they compare with Davidson??

I live 5 miles from Davidson.  Top notch academic school.  Very well respected coach, very calm demeanor during games.  Located in a beautiful, small town.  Interesting thing with Davidson, they have no student loans.  All need based aid is covered by grants and student employment.  Might want to check out Elon and Wofford as well, my two favorite campuses in the Carolinas...good baseball too.

nxt lvl posted:

George Mason is replacing their park with a new really nice facility. GW plays in Va and the turf in Richmond is really nice. 

That is great news about George Mason.  A couple years ago, I was talking to one of their sponsors during a Spring Break game in Fairfax.  There is so much talent in NoVA that goes elsewhere.  That is a program that could get really good really fast if they put their resources into it.

Good Info.

Any input on Rhode Island?

My RHP has committed to GW and I couldn't be more thrilled. GW is an excellent academic school and the baseball program was taken over by 1986 alum (and former Pittsburgh Pirates Batting Coach) Gregg Ritchie in 2012. True, their home field is off campus, but only a 10 minute drive, and there is a $2 million field house being built that is scheduled to be in place by the time by son gets there.

Something that impressed me the most about Coach Ritchie is the fact that if the Majors were to come calling to a College Coach, most would leave the program. Ritchie says he's "been there, done that." After years of being away, he wants to be close to family and home, who are in Northern Virginia.

For e longest time Saint Joseph's played on a horrible town field miles from the campus. It had to kill recruiting. The field would be considered a low grade high school field. They secured the Camden Riversharks field with the promise of a new on campus field. But it was a long way from the campus.

With some time to kill last spring I attended a game at the new on campus field. It's a beautiful park. They now have facilities to sell the program. The only drawback is no lights. I asked why. The person pointed to the house across the street and said, "That guy."

Glad I saw this thread. Any updated experiences or observations of this conference, 4 years later?

Don't know much about Fordham baseball but there are a lot of smart alums working in NYC.

@wildcat posted:

Glad I saw this thread. Any updated experiences or observations of this conference, 4 years later?

Pretty sure Phanatic2008WS's son played for an A-10 team and was drafted in the 8th round in 2018.  Worked out very well for him.

Birdman14's son was the same age as my oldest who graduated in 2014.   His son was a two-way player and business major at Fordham.   Everything I heard about Fordham was very, very positive from him.  I haven't seen him post in a long time, but he may be checking in every now and then.

Richmond is in my back yard, and I'm still waiting for them to have a breakthrough year.   They are due.   Before Covid-19, I'd drop by every now and then to catch a game.   The A-10 conference looks to be the same level of D1 mid-major  baseball as it was 10 years ago.   

Son was injured so had an extra year so 5 years watching :  I'd answer it this way without knowing what poster is looking for from a school.

For baseball only in  2015 VCU won A10 as 4th seed won a tough Regional vs DBU and Oregon State lost to Miami in Regionals. 2016 Rhody beat South Carolina game 1in Regionals lost next 2. In 2017 Davidson won their Regional as 4 seed vs NC ; Michigan and Fla Gulf Coast lost to Texas A&M in Super. 2018 SLU went 2 and out vs Ole Miss and Missouri State; 2019 Fordham drew WVU; Texas AM and went 2 and out.

So bad news is only 1 team from A10 makes Regionals, good news is they although they are 4 seeds not pushovers and won 2 of 5 last Regionals as 4th seed. Great Academics not a ton drafted from individual programs, as an example in my son's Junior and Senior years  grad years 2018 and 2019 there are currently 5 of them still in minors with at least 2 more playing Indy ball. The numbers might vary slightly by program but I would think that's fairly representative.

From an academic experience and prep for real world beyond baseball that is another positive at virtually all of the schools.