By Jim Stout
D3sports.com

CENTERVILLE, Mass. — Just when you thought things couldn't get any worse for the Freedom Football Conference, they did.

Fortunately for the FFC, they're not entirely alone.

Just two months after Coast Guard, Kings Point and WPI announced their decision to abandon the Freedom and join the Upstate Collegiate Athletic Conference, it now appears that Norwich and Springfield are pulling out as well.

In a move that would eventually create another new automatic qualifier for the NCAA Division III tournament, Norwich and Springfield are expected to leave the FFC within the next three years and join Alfred, Hartwick, Ithaca, St. John Fisher and Utica in the Empire Eight.

The merger in 2004 of Coast Guard, Kings Point and WPI with Hobart, Rochester, RPI, St. Lawrence and Union will also give the UCAA the seven teams needed for an AQ.

Should Norwich and Springfield depart the Freedom and join the all-private institution Empire 8, they would leave charter members Plymouth State and Western Connecticut State as the sole survivors of the 10-year-old FFC.

"While we as a conference would be disappointed if Norwich and Springfield join the Empire 8, we can appreciate the fact that they both have to do what is in the best interest of their football programs and of their institutions," said Freedom Conference commissioner Steve Bamford.

"In the meantime, we've had three new schools make presentations to us for possible membership in the our conference and we'll continue to explore other options."

Bamford, who is also the assistant commissioner of the ECAC, said that Division III independents Buffalo State, Brockport State and Mount Ida had recently made favorable expansion presentations to the Freedom, and that talks would continue with those three in coming months.

He also said the Freedom had received an inquiry from the remaining members of the Atlantic Central Football Conference — Frostburg State, Salisbury and Wesley — about pursing expansion possibilities. Newport News, an associate member of the NCAA, would be considered in the latter talks as well.

The ACFC lost most of its membership after last season, when the Dixie Conference opted to become a football-playing conference and took back Chowan, Ferrum, Greensboro and Methodist from the Atlantic Central.

"Right now, we want to do whatever we can to keep the lines of communication open," said Salisbury athletic director Mike Vienna.

"These are difficult times, particularly if you're a state institution, and we don't want to be in a situation of having to scramble for games and a conference in the future if we can avoid it. I don't know if it's feasible to have a Division III football conference that stretches from the mid-Atlantic to New England to western New York, but we're interested in looking at all available options."

Another state school that might be looking for a new home in the future is Cortland, which for the purpose of football is presently a member of the New Jersey Athletic Conference. The relationship between Cortland and the NJAC has been an uneasy one since its outset in 2000, and the conference, which placed just champion Montclair State in the football postseason last year, isn't even sure if it wants to remain at seven teams and maintain its AQ.

Cortland, however, is in the midst of a search for a new athletic director, and is not in a position to make any major changes at the present time.

While the Atlantic Central never qualified for an automatic bid because it was formed after the cutoff date for single-sport conferences, the Freedom will remain a full seven-team playing conference through the 2003 season.

Bamford said he expects a final decision on the status of Norwich and Springfield by Oct. 1, when the FFC holds its fall meeting here in conjunction with the annual ECAC convention.

"We're still hoping that the friendships and loyalties and commitment to excellence that have developed over the years in the Freedom will keep Norwich and Springfield with us," said Bamford.

"But the trend we're looking at today is clear; private institutions want to be involved in conferences with only other private institutions of similar profiles. Quite frankly, the opportunity that the UCAA and Empire Eight are making available to our members is an attractive one. They both have the potential to be fine football conferences.

"We've had 10 great years of competition and friendship and camaraderie in the Freedom Football Conference," Bamford added, "and I know we're going to have at least three more. After that, we'll have to see."

NEFC SITTING PRETTY: If Norwich and Springfield leave the FFC for the New York-based Empire 8, the New England Football Conference would emerge as the only conference in New England playing for an automatic qualifier.

Just three years ago, the NEFC was a dead-end operation, competitive within itself but with no real chance of ever gaining an invitation to the NCAA tournament.

But with the introduction of automatic qualifying bids in 1999 and the recent attrition in the FFC, the 13-team New England Conference is suddenly an opportune place to be. State schools have a stable home, a guaranteed schedule, and even a postseason conference championship game at Worcester State.

Bridgewater State has earned the NEFC's first two automatic bids to the NCAA tournament while Salve Regina and Nichols have played in the last two ECAC Northeast championship games against teams from the Freedom.

The other conference in New England, the New England Small College Athletic Conference, does not compete for a NCAA tournament bid; teams play only an eight-game schedule.

OFFICALS EXPANSION: With the exception of the NESCAC, all East Region conferences serviced the ECAC officiating board will go to six-man officiating crews for the 2001 season.

The addition of a second back judge — technically there will be a side judge and field judge — will help address the fact that Division III teams are throwing the ball more often than in past years. Most conferences used five-man crews in 2000.

"Division II and III teams are putting the ball in the air an average of 61 times per game," said John Collins, the ECAC's director of football officiating and a former Division I official.

"We've been getting a lot of complaints from coaches who say that one official in the back can't see everything that's going on these days, given the way the game is being played, and with the increased size and speed of Division III athletes. Some kids are getting cut and injured on pass coverage, and that raises the safety factor. A sixth official with make for a better, safer game, and allow players to better utilize their skills."