Returning to POP Account

I have 4 different email accounts that were created over 10 years ago. They are all POP accounts. In the past, when I've (rarely) had trouble with any of them, I would back up the account, then trash it and reopen it as a new account and restore the backed up files. A few months ago I did that with my most frequently used account, but when I created a new account, it opened as an IMAP account instead of a POP account. I know that's the newer (better?) type of account and shouldn't be a problem...but it is. Here's why.

After Apple launched Mavericks, people discovered that the new Apple Mail program has a bug. The new version will not automatically connect with the mail host server to check new incoming mail...even if it is set up to do that in the preference settings. Apple has provided a crude workaround: Manually go offline and when Mail is reopened or back online, it will then check.

All of my old POP accounts still are autochecking without that workaround. It is only the new IMAP account that is now unable to be autochecked and that I have to use the manual workaround for.

My question is: Can I close the new IMAP account and restore it as a POP account?