Thursday, March 5, 2009

MEAC finally set to welcome Eagles

After almost a two-year wait, N.C. Central University is about to get its wish. On Feb. 23, the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference finally lifted its ban on membership expansion. Its Council of Chief Executive Officers has begun the application review process of the Eagles and Savannah (Ga.) State as the 13th and 14th members of the historically black Division I conference. NCCU is in the second year of its five-year reclassification process into Division I. The Eagles have been playing an independent schedule since leaving the Division II Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in 2006.

But, in reality, there's nothing to review. From the day they made the decision to leave the CIAA, the Eagles' membership was a given. The only question is, what took so long? "We have a process," Commissioner Dennis Thomas said. "First, a strategic and long-range plan was done for the future of our conference, and membership expansion was a part of that. We completed that and the board approved lifting the moratorium in January."

That's executive speak. The bottom line is the MEAC needs N.C. Central just as much as N.C. Central needs it.

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