News and Notes from East Carolina, Conference USA and Beyond

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07.31.04: ECU's first foe ranked 11th in coaches poll ... New bowl, legal squabble on Big East agenda ... More...

07.30.04: ECU hires Georgia. Southern's McClellan as media boss ... Fox Sports Net bolsters college football ties ... More...

07.29.04: WVU top dog in Miami-less Big East ... ACC pushes to replace redshirt year with 5th year of competition ... More...

07.28.04: ACC partial to long-term home for football title game ... Houston, Memphis stars on Maxwell list ... More...

07.27.04: Chopper ride for hearing-impaired will have a 'Voice' ... Fulmer shuns SEC gathering in hostile Alabama ... More...

07.26.04: Boyce to ride herd on Pirates' classroom pursuits ... IU fans' suit over Knight firing gets new life ... More...

07.25.04: Controversy-ridden Clemons seeks exile at Livingstone ... USM honors grad with N.C. business ties ... More...

07.24.04: ECU harrier coach hired by Longhorns ... .. Tulane, Florida A&M pair up for Superdome extravaganza ... More...

07.23.04: Future Pirate sprints to glory at World meet ... .. Legendary 'Big O' subs for sidelined Huggins ... .. Rattlers' I-A vision buried under avalanche of penalties ... More...

07.22.04: NCAA panel endorses major recruiting reforms ... Clemens honor gives Weaver sweep of baseball awards ... More...

The conference East Carolina once called home is adding some new tenants, and one of them will move in sooner than anticipated.

Northeastern University will join the Colonial Athletic Association in 2005, a year earlier than previously expected, the CAA announced Thursday.

The America East Conference waived a 2-year waiting period in its bylaws and accepted Northeastern's resignation effective June 30, 2005. Northeastern is a member of the America East for all sports except football.

"As a conference that has been on both sides of the issue, once the decision to change conferences has been made it is usually in everyone's best interests to facilitate the transition as soon as possible," CAA commissioner Tom Yeager said.

ECU played all of its sports except football in the CAA until 2001, when it became a full member of Conference USA. The Pirates joined C-USA in football in 1997.

In the CAA, Northeastern will compete in 12 sports, including basketball, but will remain in the Atlantic 10 Conference for football. The CAA does not conduct a football championship, but the addition of Northeastern gives it a sixth football-playing institution.

Northeastern will reunite with Delaware, Drexel, Hofstra and Towson, which departed America East for the CAA after the 2000-01 athletic season. Other CAA members are George Mason, James Madison, UNC Wilmington, Old Dominion, Virginia Commonwealth and the College of William and Mary.

Georgia State will expand the CAA's membership to 12 when it joins on July 1, 2006.

FAYETTEVILLE, AR — The University of Arkansas has announced that Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones will be inducted this September into the school's Sports Hall of Honor along with eight other former Razorbacks.

This year's honorees are former Arkansas football players Harry Jones, Wayne Martin, Jerry Jones and Brandon Burlsworth; basketball players Jerry Carlton, Lee Mayberry and Tracy Webb Rice; track and field standout Seneca Lassiter; and tennis player Peter Doohan.

The university said the group combined to win 20 All-America distinctions, 36 all-conference accolades and played a part in 13 individual or team national championships.

Honorees were elected to the UA Sports Hall of Honor by a vote of former letterwinners in conjunction with the "A" Club. Burlsworth was elected posthumously.

The honors will be presented Sept. 3 at the Northwest Arkansas Convention Center in Springdale.