By Andrew Scharff

Having George Mason advance to the Final Four in the NCAA Tournament was kind of like having the cherry on the top of the cake. The Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) was finally getting its national recognition that it deserved, but for one man, the conference is just opening a new door.

That man is CAA Commissioner Tom Yeager. Yeager, 55, is in his 21st year of being the only commissioner in CAA history, and he has transformed what was once known as a Virginia/North Carolina conference to one that has enhanced its reputation as one of the most respected and well-run leagues in the nation.

“Tom is a fine person and very honorable man,” said University of Delaware athletic director Edgar Johnson said. “He has done a wonderful job of promoting the conference and getting our name out there.”

Yeager, a native of Allentown, Pa., attended Springfield College in Massachusetts. After becoming a youth athletic director, he chose to back to graduate school, where he visualized being a college administrator. In 1976, he interviewed with the NCAA and got a job in Kansas City, where he was part of the enforcement department. In 1981 he was promoted to assistant director of legislative services, and in 1984, was named director.

Along with being commissioner, Yeager has many more important NCAA duties. He is the chair of the Division I Committee on infractions and was also a member of the NCAA Council and chaired the NCAA Interpretations Committee.

Yeager is a former executive vice president of the Collegiate Commissioners Association and a member of the National Letter of Intent Steering Committee, and his most recognized achievement came in 1994, when he was named “NIT Man of the Year.” Other notable winners of the award include Hall of Fame coaches John Wooden and Bobby Knight.

But once the Colonial was formed, he knew that was where he wanted to go. “I wanted to go back to the East Coast,” Yeager said.

However, success did not come right away for Yeager. In 2000, three schools left the CAA, causing the America East and CAA to merge. The merger brought over schools such as Hofstra, Towson, Drexel and Delaware. The merger and recent additions of Northeastern and Georgia State were able to place the CAA in the nation’s top nine media markets, from Boston down to Atlanta.

“We’re building a presence in major cities and major markets,” Yeager said.

Now with the formation of the conference set, Yeager can concentrate on increasing the profile the CAA. “We have some of the best lacrosse, basketball and baseball in the country, but we weren’t getting the national exposure,” he said.

That is not a problem anymore. With the CAA sending men’s basketball teams to the Final Four of three major events (Mason to the NCAA Tournament, Old Dominion in the NIT and Drexel in the Preseason NIT) this season, the CAA is building a fan base of credibility.

“People will want to see the CAA. Television [coverage] will improve,” Yeager said.

It already has, as Yeager’s office now regularly receives calls from ESPN to schedule games with CAA teams facing big name schools that will be aired on national television and in other big spots. The CAA wasn’t getting those types of calls a few years ago.