Would Marist to the NEC Make Sense?
I mentioned recently that we’ll be adding Marist to our magazine coverage in 2026, which unfortunately kicked off a little bit of speculation (and I mean really minor- I got asked about it on Twitter a little) that Marist might be considering a move to the NEC. I’m flattered, but I possess no conference realignment news other than, as far as I know, all expectations are for the league makeup in the NEC both for football only and for all sports to be stable for the time being.
But it did set off a thought experiment for me- could Marist succeed in the NEC, and would the move make sense for the Red Foxes?
This is obviously for football only. Marist plays in the MAAC and with the current balance of power I wouldn’t anticipate an MAAC team making an all sports move to our league. But in football, there is no MAAC and even if there were, Marist plays in the non-scholarship Pioneer League. It was formed after a pretty bizarre ruling that if you have, say, a Division I basketball team, your football team must therefore be Division I. It left schools like Dayton and Marist in the Division I ranks for football but with no desire or room to begin offering scholarships. So the Pioneer league- which is coast to coast and throughout the country- was born.
College sports aren’t really in the same place now as they were at that time, though. At the mid-major level- our level- we’re seeing things like the split (or rather, new creation) of the United Athletic Conference and the Atlantic Sun. The football playing members are moving to the UAC, which was the WAC until recently; those with different ambitions are remaining in the A-Sun. There’s some geographic advantages here, too.
I agree that Marist in the MAAC makes the most sense for the Red Foxes; my question is, does Marist in the Pioneer league make the most sense?
The Red Foxes joined the Pioneer League in 2009. Since that time, they have had two winning seasons and one PFL co-championship. They have never made the FCS playoffs. So we can’t begin with the expectation that they’ve had a consistent level of success and need to remain in the Pioneer League to compete. It’s interesting, but the opposite may end up proving true. So far in 2025, Marist is 2-1, but those 2 wins were both against NEC schools. So from a competition standpoint, I really think it’s reasonable to suspect that Marist may be able to compete in the NEC now, without changing their scholarship rules. It’s not a slam dunk and the sample size here is obviously low. But with 2 wins against NEC foes (Marist went 1-10 overall last season), it’s at least worth considering if the Red Foxes necessarily would have to change much to compete. I’m not certain they’d be on a collision course with the title frequently, but, well, the NEC is a funny thing, and once again this is a program that has not had much success in many of its prior seasons.
The travel looks pretty good. Every one of these trips is a bus ride:
Poughkeepsie to New Haven: 77 miles
Poughkeepsie to New Britain: 90 miles
Poughkeepsie to Brookville: 97 miles
Poughkeepsie to Staten Island: 105 miles
Poughkeepsie to Easton: 206 miles
Poughkeepsie to Pittsburgh: 393 miles
Poughkeepsie to Erie: 398 miles
Of course, in the Pioneer League, the closest competitors are in Dayton, OH (653 miles) and Davidson, NC (690 miles).
The Red Foxes must be on planes pretty often to play their football games. Which makes me raise the question: well, why?
If a similar level of success can be experienced with close-by opponents, would it be worth considering? Are there really natural rivalries with Dayton and Davidson, at least compared to in state with LIU and Wagner and just down the road with New Haven and New Britain?
In other words, can a move to the NEC decrease travel expenses, travel time for students, add natural rivalries, provide road trips for fans, with every prospect of not changing the athletic outlook for the football program?
Yes.
So, no. I’ve got no information at all that Marist is realigning to the NEC.
But is there any good reason for them not to?
