— Jeff Ward, Lehigh Valley News Briefs
Villanova University is joining the Patriot League as an associate member for football.
The Wildcats are the third member of the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) to join the Patriot League for football in the last year, joining the University of Richmond and the College of William & Mary.
The Philadelphia-area school will start playing in the Patriot League in the 2026 season.
The CAA is a spread-out league that has had a lot of additions and subtractions. It’s become more of a parking lot than a league.
Sort of an “Island of Misfit Teams.”
The Patriot League plays football at the FCS level, one step below the big-time.
Villanova played top-level football until 1980.
The school dropped the sport in April 1981. Six of its players transferred to Lafayette.
Nova brought football back in 1985 at what was then the 1AA level.
The CAA noted that movement is common in college sports these days.
“While the departure of members is always disappointing, it has become an unfortunate part of the landscape of college athletics during a period of unprecedented change,” CAA Commissioner Joe D’Antonio said.
Patriot League football-playing members include Lafayette College, Lehigh University, Colgate University, Bucknell University, Fordham University, College of the Holy Cross and Georgetown University, not counting the three CAA teams.
The CAA was known earlier as the Colonial Athletic Association.
Lehigh Valley News Briefs 