As you can imagine, Athletic Directors are by nature extremely competitive individuals. We want to win at everything, which means that our constant pursuit of success often comes at the expense of our colleagues.

Although we spend the entire year competing against one another, we all face similar challenges and impediments. Fortunately there is a tremendous amount of respect that exists among my peers in the CAA and America East, and it was alive and well at the recent league meetings.

It is imperative that we work together to advance our conferences forward which, of course, benefits our respective institutions. There are several critical issues that each of us are managing on our respective campuses, and they dominated the conversation at both meetings.

CAA - Hilton Head, South Carolina



The CAA meetings were momentous because they were the last for Commissioner Tom Yeager, who is retiring after 31 years at the helm. Tom is one of the classiest individuals in college athletics and he will definitely be missed. It was great to spend time with incoming Commissioner Joe D'Antonio, who made a point to emphasize how important football is to him. That was definitely music to my ears!

The athletic directors and head football coaches met separately on Sunday before coming together on Monday. One of the primary topics was instant replay, which will be in place at 11 of the 12 CAA stadiums (including LaValle Stadium) during the 2016 season. The unanimous sense is that the use of replay will lead to a better product on the field. Nothing comes for free, however, and the enhancement means additional costs for equipment and replay officials for all of our institutions. It is definitely a worthwhile investment, so you will see the use of instant replay in action when we take the field against North Dakota on September 1.

America East - Burlington, Vermont



After wrapping up in Hilton Head on Monday afternoon, I made the journey north to Burlington, Vermont for the start of America East meetings. The conference is in excellent hands with Commissioner Amy Huchthausen, and I am excited about the direction that we are headed under her leadership. We began the discussions on Tuesday morning with the men's and women's basketball coaches, who held their own meetings the day before.

There was a great deal of conversation that revolved around such issues as scheduling, the postseason format, cost of attendance and the increasing (and troubling) trend of transfers. When the ADs met later in the day, we were presented with several new opportunities that will be rolled out over the course of the next few months. Although I can't share the details yet, I am excited about what it will mean for the America East and Stony Brook.



On Tuesday evening, the conference hosted its annual awards dinner. For the second year in a row, a Stony Brook student-athlete was honored as the America East Man of the Year. After Eric Speakman took home the award last year, Alejandro Fritz was our honoree for 2016. Alejandro is an amazing young man who, in addition to being a standout on our men's soccer team, made an indelible mark on campus through his academic work (3.73 GPA while earning a double major in mathematics and statistics and economics) and his volunteer work. Alejandro joined us in Burlington for the dinner and it filled me with such pride to hear him speak about his new job with Northwestern Mutual. He's come a long way - literally and figuratively - since arriving on campus from Budapest in 2012. Alejandro wasn't the only Seawolf to be recognized as Lo Hathaway and Gabe Vazquez were honored as part of the America East Helping Hands Team, which recognizes two student-athletes from each school for their work in the community. We have amazing student-athletes and I was so proud to see them honored.

One other topic of note that warranted significant discussion was the future of our relationship with ESPN. The conference has had a good relationship over the years but it is about to take an exciting step forward. Stay tuned because this will have far-reaching benefits for all of our teams over the next few years.

In the end, all of the dialogue that took place over the last few days means very little if there isn't action to back it up. I honestly believe that there is tremendous energy in both the CAA and America East, and I want to ensure that Stony Brook is well positioned to win championships in both leagues. As the athletic directors and administrators return home from conference meetings, we must all continue our work on campus to provide an unparalleled experience for our student-athletes. At Stony Brook, our work to transform the lives of our student-athletes drives us every day and I am excited to get back to campus on Friday. That's where the real energy is!

Seawolves United Race to 500



With June 30 rapidly approaching, I encourage you to join Seawolves United today and help us eclipse our goal of 500 donors. I can't accurately articulate the importance of these contributions to our program so let me just say thank you in advance for your consideration.

Together We Transform!


Warm regards,



Shawn