The move will take effect July 1st, meaning VCU basketball will go into scheduling overdrive to prepare for Atlantic 10 play this coming November.

By leaving, VCU will forfeit as much as $5 million in NCAA tournament shares owed, a loss President Michael Rao was willing to swallow, going on to say, “the expected returns are far greater than the short-term losses”.

Rao also commented on the Universities desire to be “premier across the board…and that includes athletics”.

Coach Smart wasn’t on hand to comment, but in an emailed statement said, “We are extremely excited by the opportunity to join the Atlantic 10 Conference. It is a phenomenal league, made up of programs with both rich traditions and recent track records of success. We are very appreciative of the time we spent in the CAA, the experiences we had and the relationships we gained. We plan to maintain our key rivalries with CAA teams, now and in the future. We are enthuasiastic about attacking the challenges that lie ahead. Our number one goal remains to move our student-athletes forward, both on and off the court.”

The following video is part 1 of a series of videos of the press conference.

VCU announces move to Atlantic 10 from VCU Ram Nation on Vimeo.

RICHMOND, Va. (May 15, 2012) – Virginia Commonwealth University announced today it will join the Atlantic 10 Conference effective July 1, 2012.

VCU examined several options, including remaining in its current conference home, the Colonial Athletic Association, and multiple factors led to the decision to leave the CAA and begin competing in the 21-sport league that is considered one of the best conferences in the country.

“VCU believes the A-10 represents the best opportunity to meet our long-term aspirations for national academic and athletic achievement,” said VCU President Michael Rao. “As a Division I, nationally competitive athletics program, it is critical that VCU seizes the opportunity to further elevate its athletics as it raises its overall academic profile as a national research university.”

Rao said that VCU’s Quest for Distinction strategic plan calls for excellence in everything the university does, including athletics – and moving to the Atlantic 10 Conference supports that quest for higher standards of excellence in VCU’s athletics program.

“The Atlantic 10 is a conference that gives us an opportunity to not only build our national brand, but also be associated with and compete against great institutions with tremendous profiles, both athletically and academically,” said David Benedict, VCU’s interim director of athletics. “We believe that the transition to the A-10 allows us to enhance the experience of all of our student-athletes.”

Rao and Benedict said the university’s 17-year membership in the Colonial Athletic Association was mutually beneficial to the CAA institutions and to VCU. However, with tremendous changes in the college athletics landscape, affiliating with the Atlantic 10 Conference at this time best supports VCU’s long-term strategic goals.

“It is my privilege to be able to announce the addition of VCU to the Atlantic 10 Conference. It is an institution rich in tradition, academic excellence and broad-based athletic success,” said Atlantic 10 Commissioner Bernadette V. McGlade. “One of the driving forces and priorities of the A-10 is to further enhance our national prominence in men’s basketball, build our brand and strengthen our current footprint. In addition to bringing in well-rounded sports programs across the board, VCU solidifies the A-10 academically and athletically.”

Rao said the financial considerations involved in the move to the A-10 are not insignificant, but that any financial analyses or projections prepared now are based on projections and highly variable factors. Offsetting these costs are several potential financial benefits to VCU by joining the A-10, including increased annual revenue sharing.

“VCU has made substantial investments in its athletics programs in recent years, and a strategic facilities plan is under development,” Rao said. “Moving to a major, basketball focused conference will enable VCU to build on its commitments and successes while also continuing its rise on the national sports scene.

“The addition of Virginia Commonwealth University to the Atlantic 10 further strengthens us as the nation’s premier basketball-driven conference,” said Father Michael J. Graham, Xavier University President and Chair of the Atlantic 10 Council of Presidents. “Accepting VCU’s application makes sense on two important levels — their emphasis on the quality of the student experience of their student-athletes, especially in the classroom, and their commitment to the highest levels of competition. Both ideals square perfectly with the identity of the A-10 and all of its member institutions.”

Other members of the Atlantic 10 Conference are the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, the University of Dayton, Duquesne University, Fordham, George Washington University, La Salle University, the University of Massachusetts, the University of Rhode Island, the University of Richmond, St. Bonaventure, Saint Joseph’s University, Saint Louis University, Temple University and Xavier University. Butler University will join the conference in 2013-2014.

The change would move VCU from the Colonial Athletic Association, of which they have been members since 1995, to the now 14-team Atlantic 10 conference, a conference that includes parennial power Xavier, crosstown rival Richmond, and the newly added Butler Bulldogs, who VCU last faced in Houston, Texas as a part of the 2011 Final 4.

The recent additions fill holes left by the departure of Temple to the Big East and Charlotte to Conference USA.

Rumors of a possible switch surfaced as far back as this past October with a New York Times mention, but Brett McMurphy of CBS Sports officially gave those rumors some depth when he reported this past March that VCU, Butler and George Mason were all in talks with the league, and that the VCU BOV has already met twice to discuss the move.

Many Ram fans hope the jump allows VCU a little extra room for error come hoops season, as the CAA has often struggled to get at large bids for their top teams come NCAA tournament time. VCU was one of those bids in 2011, just barely, but ended up taking that invite all the way to the Final 4. This past season however the Drexel Dragons were an example of why VCU may have wanted out, going on a 19-game win-streak before falling in the conference final to the Rams, and failing to make the big dance with 27 regular season wins.

Since Richmond left the CAA for the A10 themselves back in 2001, the Atlantic 10 has received 18 at-large bids to the CAA’s four.

The Rams will leave a Virginia-heavy conference (5 in-state schools) for the A10 which stretches from as south as Richmond, to the northern most UMass in Amherst, Massachusetts, to as far west as St. Louis, Missouri although most schools are located along the East coast.

VCU will also leave behind a hometown conference tournament, saying goodbye to the Richmond Coliseum and hello to the newly built Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn, NY (home of the newly named Brooklyn Nets of the NBA) for the 2014 Atlantic 10 tournament.

Baring any further additions, the A10 will consist of VCU, Butler (Indianapolis, IN), Xavier (Cincinnati, OH), Dayton (Dayton, OH), UMass (Amherst, MA), St. Joe’s (Philadelphia, PA), St. Louis (St. Louis, MO), Richmond (Richmond, VA), La Salle (Philadelphia, PA), Rhode Island (Kingston, RI), George Washington (DC), Fordham (New York, NY), Duquesne (Pittsburgh, PA), St. Joseph’s (Philadelphia, PA) and St. Bonaventure (Allegany, NY).

VRN: A lot of people know you for your news breaking tweets about college realignment, but what they don’t know is you’ve actually been nominated for a Pulitzer in that category (breaking news, not Tweets). How great of an honor was that for you?

McMurphy: “That was certainly unexpected. I never could have envisioned when I first got the tip that former USF coach Jim Leavitt hit a player in the locker room during a game that it would mushroom into what it did. It was never my intention for anyone to lose their job, but because of Leavitt’s actions first in the locker room and then his lies during the investigation and tampering with witnesses, the school had no choice. Reporting that story also was unlike any other I’ve experienced because instead of other media outlets “confirming” my story after I initially broke it – which is commonplace now – all of the follow up local and national media reported my story was inaccurate and false. This went on for a month until the school concluded its investigation – launched by my initial report – and the school concluded what I reported was accurate.”

VRN: You’ve been covering college sports for just around 20 years now, have you ever seen a more volatile environment with all the recent realignment?

McMurphy: “Nothing even close. Teams are changing conferences these days like some people change socks. And, surprise, it’s about money.”

VRN: You recently Broke the news of the Atlantic 10 potentially adding Butler, VCU and Mason. One down, two to go…do you have any updates on the remaining two?

McMurphy: “I reported two months ago those three schools were in discussions with the A-10 to join the league. I thought it was comical how the next day or so VCU and Mason issued statements that they had not “accepted an offer” or “received an offer” to join the A-10. I never reported that. Of course, they didn’t have a “formal” offer, they were still in the kicking tires stage. Then soon after that the CAA held a teleconference to dispute my report and said there was no truth to it. Obviously my report was accurate. Butler is gone to the A-10 and VCU, Mason may not be far behind. Ironically on Thursday, Tom Yeager is quoted by the Richmond Times Dispatch saying: “I’d love to know, but I’m not going to call them every 10 minutes and say, ‘Have you made your mind up yet?” Huh? Yeager said in the teleconference my story was inaccurate – he also texted me saying the same thing – but now he’s quoted wondering if those schools have made up their mind on if they’re staying or leaving?”

VRN: How do you think the recent Big East news effects potential A10 realignment?

McMurphy: “I really don’t. I’ve read the speculation about the Big East basketball schools breaking away from football. I realize the basketball schools don’t like the new make up of the league, but the reality is those schools are worth more when they’re in a FBS football league. I seriously doubt they will break away – unless they want to make a lot less money in their media rights deal as a basketball only league.”

VRN: Do you think Big East basketball teams will ever break away and form their own conference?

McMurphy: “Ever is a long time. Anything is possible, but not in the near future. It just doesn’t make financial sense.”

VRN: You’re definitely someone who has embraced social media, approaching 20,000 Twitter followers. How do you think the social media revolution has benefited journalism, and what challenges do you think it’s also presented?

McMurphy: “And I remember the good old days when I only had 1,000 followers. I realize that what is put on Twitter can be interpreted as news, so I try – emphasis the word try – not to speculate on teams leaving conferences or coaches getting fired. Because someone can take it as a “report,” that I’m reporting Team X is going to Conference Y or Coach A will be fired. I do try to have fun, though, and make probably too many attempts at humor. Hopefully my average for my entertaining one-liners is north of the Mendoza line.”

VRN: Favorite thing about covering college sports?

McMurphy: “My favorite thing is what I get to spend the least time doing – actually covering and reporting on the games, players and events. Hopefully all the off the field news, tragedies, scandals, etc., that plagued college football the past two years can subside in 2012, so the focus can go back to the players and teams for their on-field accomplishments.”

On money: “The biggest misconception in all this conference realignment discussion is the comment that it’s all about the money…It’s about competing at the highest level they can compete at…We’re about providing opportunities to compete at the highest level…Everybody talks about VCU leaving money on the table, yeah they would, and it’s tough, tough in a public school situation to leave money on the table even though you think you’re going to earn more later…But do you know how much we’re talking about? We’re talking just about 4% of the athletic budget. A million bucks is a lot of money but when you’re budgets $25 million and you’re making the decision not based on ‘gee it’s all about the money’ you’re making the decision about competing at the highest level you can compete…We were willing to risk failure in that quest for success. We want to compete at the highest and most successful level we can compete.”

When asked about joining the A10 themselves, and the step up in competition possibly negatively effecting UofR: “We didn’t make a decision about a conference about ‘will it get us in the tournament more often?’, that’s kind of a secondary thing. We want to compete at the highest level, and I’m sure that Butler, when they made their decision, wanted to compete at the highest level. And I’m sure that everything you read in the paper about VCU and George Mason thinking about what they want to do, I’m sure that’s a part of their deal. Do they perceive that this is a good move to compete at the highest level possible?”

When asked if he thought VCU and George Mason are going to join the Atlantic 10: ”Let me say this, first of all I don’t have any inside knowledge that’s it’s going to happen or not going to happen, I know there’s a lot of talk about it, but when the A10 started looking at this thing probably two years ago…Butler was an important target, they played in the national championship game two years in a row, they were an important target and we thought it was important for them to join us. Once we got going with that we just said, you know, we already believe that we are in the last 6, 8, 10 years…we have consistently been the No.1 non-BCS basketball conference when you measure by power ratings and all that…actually we’ve been better than some of the BCS conferences…how can we make us unquestionably the best basketball conference in America that’s not primarily a football conference, and we look at what the Big East was when they first started out you know many many, I don’t know, 20-30, whenever it was, long time ago… that everybody said ‘man they are the basketball conference’ and we said…that’s what we want to do. It’s not about poaching schools from one league or a different league or grab this grab this, we said we want to be the best league out there and who might want to join us to help make that happen. We haven’t issued a bunch of invitations out to people…we just said who makes sense, and we made it known that that’s what our goal was, and that’s what we wanted to do….If one of those two schools or both those schools that you just mentioned want to be a part of that exciting adventure, I’d hope they would apply. Because I think that’s where we’re gonna end up and that’s where our goal is. Do I think they’ll do it? I really honestly don’t know, I imagine the decisions are being made now, they’ve collected a lot of information.”

On Big East uncertainty possibly effecting A10 in the future: ”We think that the Atlantic 10, particularly if it gets even better than it is right now, if a couple of schools join…the better we are, we may be more attractive. We’re not trying to put a cap on how good we can be.”

On ODU moving to CUSA: “Old Dominion I understand is most likely to accept a bid to Conference USA, I think that’s immanent from everything I’ve heard, that they’re making an announcement on Monday. I haven’t heard that from any ODU folks, but that’s what I understand is right around the corner.”

Tons of autographed stuff, and that’s great (who doesn’t love an autograph), but there are two items in particular that made this blog worthy for me.

In order of awesomeness:

1) Two tickets in the Tommy J. West Club and One Parking Pass to Next Season’s Home Game Against Alabama – Generally I’m shooting the games, so don’t really get a chance to enjoy VCU hoops in the lap luxury (don’t get me wrong, my courtside seat is amazing, but there isn’t much padding between my bony butt and the hardwood floor I sit on the few hours I’m there, sandwiched between a couple of other media folks). I did however get a chance to make it up top one game day, all be it briefly, thanks to the famous but generous Chris “Pav” Crowley, who donated four tickets to Ram Nation for last year’s banner raising festivities. I’m a VCU superfan, and love being among the people, but I gotta say…damn nice up there. It was the most “big time” the Siegel Center has ever felt to me. In my opinion, there may be no better seat than ponied up to the TJW bar tops that face the Siegel Center court. Throw in the fact that this is against ALABAMA, lead by former VCU head coach ANTHONY GRANT, and this is a serious item to win. Bidding starts at $150.

2) Four Ball “Person” Passes and Game Tickets – There is a certain level of professionalism that I’m sure is expected when you serve as a ball “person” (not sure why that’s in quotes), but how fun/hilarious would it be to get some grown ups doing that during the game? Love when the kids do it, laugh when it’s an adult. The major perk of this though…not the ability to sit courtside, but the chance to shoot some buckets on the court when there’s no action on the floor. The kids do it, why can’t you? Bidding starts at $100 for this (hell, it’s about that much to get four people into a game anyway, let alone eight).

Coach Smart will serve as host for President Obama’s reelection rally to be held at the Siegel Center this Saturday at 2PM, which will also include an appearance by the first lady, Michelle Obama.

The last time these two crossed paths were at last year’s White House Correspondents dinner where Coach Smart was invited after leading VCU to a historic run to the 2011 NCAA Final 4.

This will be the forth time a recent Ram has mingled with the President, the others being the aforementioned Correspondents dinner, a trip from former point guard Joey Rodriguez to last year’s Cinco De Mayo festivities at the White House, as well as a recent trip to play ball with the President as former VCU great Eric Maynor joined OKC Thunder teammates Kevin Durrant and James Harden on the presidential hardwood.

What was announced however, were three giant stories that will effect VCU’s future in one way or another:

1) VCU officials named Dave Benedict as interim Athletics Director for the Rams. Benedict has served as Executive Associate AD since 2010. VCU President Michael Rao said he will appoint a committee this week to conduct a national search to fill the position on a full-time basis.

2) ESPN’s Andy Katz reported Butler will join the Atlantic 10 conference for the 2013-2014 season. Rumors have linked the Bulldogs with VCU and Mason as the three teams likely to expand the A10 to sixteen following the loss of Temple to the Big East and the impending loss of Charlotte to Conference USA (reported today by CBS Sports). Two things we like about this news (as in VCURamNation.com staff, who are all in favor of the move) it 1) means there’s actually something to some of these rumors — after conference commissioners have denied these things for months now — and 2) it makes the A10 a more attractive future home for the Rams.

3) CBS Sports reported Old Dominion is headed to Conference USA. The thought is ODU — made uneasy from the VCU and Mason rumors — decided to make the jump to FBS football a bit earlier than originally planned and to not be left in greatly depleted CAA conference. It was later reported that this has yet to become official, but the loss of ODU would further push the Rams toward the A10, which has now become even more attractive with the addition of Butler and the subtraction of our main rival in the Colonial.

Outgoing AD Norwood Teague recommended to President Rao and the Board of Visitors that VCU remain in the CAA, but we can’t help but wonder if he had any idea that CAA would be without one of it’s top programs in ODU.

Burgess followed up his second-consecutive NCAA tournament appearance — the third in his four years as a Ram — by impressing NBA scouts at this year’s Portsmouth Invitational.

The graduating senior will take the next few weeks to focus on just that…graduating. After that, it’s off to chase his hoop dreams as a professional basketball player, hopefully joining former teammates Eric Maynor and Larry Sanders in the NBA.

Ram fans will miss the soft-spoken Midlothian native who will be remembered as one of the all-time greats to play on Broad St., but the Burgess legacy will continue, as Bradford passes the torch to younger brother Jordan, who in the spirit of sibling rivalry will no doubt attempt to leapfrog his older brother in every stat category, a tall order for even a top-100 rated player like Jordan.

Burgess throws out first pitch from VCU Ram Nation on Vimeo.

Late Sunday, Jeff Goodman of CBS Sports reported Teague was the lone finalist for the position. Teague flew to the Minnesota campus today but Goodman reported the deal was done prior to the trip.

Elizabeth Conlisk of the Big Ten Network is also reporting Teague will be introduced as the Minnesota AD live at 3:45PM EST on that network.

Norwood had served as AD at VCU since July of 2006 where he grew the program to new heights.

The Carolina native managed to hire, and almost more miraculously, retain Shaka Smart after VCU’s historic run to the Final 4 and encore performance in this year’s NCAA tournament. He oversaw the construction of the new luxury Tommy J. West suite section to the Stuart C. Siegel Center, grew VCU’s annual fund over 119%, and most recently put forth a plan to build a brand new 10 million dollar practice facility.