As we gear up this effort to drive support for FBS one of the things we're going to have to do is introduce lots of alumni / fans to FBS and convince them why they should support a move. Us board members are extremely familiar with the topic and its history but most folks won't be.

In order for us to build a clear captivating and convincing message we need everyone's thoughts on why should Joe or Josephina Fan support a move to FBS. What are the pros and cons, and how will it benefit JMU and them as an alumni/fan/student/parent/etc?

So, I am a disengaged alumni. What's your "elevator pitch"? Convince me to make a pledge...

Athletics are the largest marketing arm of a university. Outside of a group of academically elite universities, such as the Ivy League, the most visible schools for potential applications are those that compete in FBS football or have had basketball programs that have had historic runs in the NCAA tournament.
President Alger has claimed he wants to be considered a national university. FBS football will be an integral part of that evolution of the school.
By attracting greater numbers of potential applications, the quality of the student will increase as they become familiar with JMU. This will also attract alumni who may have become disengaged since their graduation. With the school more prominently displayed, it is naturally easier to reengage with their alma mater.
When given a clear direction, the school's donor pool should grow as well and thus the overall value of the university.

The college landscape is changing and if we fail to change with it, we will be left behind both academically and athletically.

Most people around the country couldn't tell you who plays in a better conference between Troy and James Madison. BCS for BCS' sake doesn't make sense to me. The brand recognition argument doesn't hold water unless you're talking one of the big 5 conferences.

I think we need to say. "Division I - FBS Football".

Its incredible to me when I say to people (even JMU alumni), "we play FCS Football", they look at me like I'm speaking Swahili. Its as if they know we are not DII, but they really don't know what division we play. I think putting Division I in there gives it a little more punch to those not in the know. In addition, many don't realize FCS/FBS is applicable to only the sport of football.

(07-31-2015 10:32 AM)BleedingPurple Wrote:  I think we need to say. "Division I - FBS Football".

Its incredible to me when I say to people (even JMU alumni), "we play FCS Football", they look at me like I'm speaking Swahili. Its as if they know we are not DII, but they really don't know what division we play. I think putting Division I in there gives it a little more punch to those not in the know. In addition, many don't realize FCS/FBS is applicable to only the sport of football.

Good point.

I think you give serious consideration to the FBS, because I'm not sure the FCS is going to survive for another 10 yrs. If you look at it from a business standpoint, its a broken model that isn't generating the revenue to really support growth. TV revenue is down, really no national brand to speak of, and most schools and the alumi can't/aren't able to really support their programs to see any kind of noticeable growth. Outside of a few schools such as JMU, Montana, NDSU, most schools have given up trying to grow and improve their programs, they don't see any reason to put the necessary funding into the programs because they don't feel any growth will justify the cost. These facts have not gone unnoticed by the NCAA, lets face it, their in the business of making money, and if this continues long enough, they will eventually pull the plug on FCS football.

(07-31-2015 10:22 AM)Bluestone Wrote:  Most people around the country couldn't tell you who plays in a better conference between Troy and James Madison. BCS for BCS' sake doesn't make sense to me. The brand recognition argument doesn't hold water unless you're talking one of the big 5 conferences.

Disagree. Poll people in other parts of the country and I guarantee more people have heard of Troy than JMU. The ones that think they have heard of JMU are because they occasionally confuse us with George Mason.

Troy doesn't have the recognition of a big 5 conference but it does have more, on a national scale, than JMU does playing FCS football in the CAA.

(07-31-2015 10:02 AM)Potomac Wrote:  Athletics are the largest marketing arm of a university. Outside of a group of academically elite universities, such as the Ivy League, the most visible schools for potential applications are those that compete in FBS football or have had basketball programs that have had historic runs in the NCAA tournament.
President Alger has claimed he wants to be considered a national university. FBS football will be an integral part of that evolution of the school.
By attracting greater numbers of potential applications, the quality of the student will increase as they become familiar with JMU. This will also attract alumni who may have become disengaged since their graduation. With the school more prominently displayed, it is naturally easier to reengage with their alma mater.
When given a clear direction, the school's donor pool should grow as well and thus the overall value of the university.

The college landscape is changing and if we fail to change with it, we will be left behind both academically and athletically.

+1 took the words right out of my mouth. As FCS we get maybe 1 nationally televised game a year. Moving up to FBS will give us 2-3 or more nationally televised games a year. Hard to build a national reputation if people on the west coast have ZERO exposure to the name JMU.

Here is another reason. If other conferences follow suit, the lack of payday games may well sink a ton of FCS programs.

http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com...-fcs-foes/

As part of JMU's mission and vision, a national university requires a number of things to be successful. First and foremost, a national university needs students that are willing to call JMU home for 4 years as an undergrad or for grad school. When students are reviewing their options, they want and need a place they can brag about. If they choose to come to JMU, they want to brag about academic programs and sports. It's much easier for a high school senior to talk about coming to JMU in 2016 because he or she will be in the Honors College when comparing the other places his or her classmates are attending. It's also easier to talk about JMU sports as a reason when the football team is playing other peer schools in Virginia, like UVA and Virginia Tech. JMU will have a large pool of smart students to draw on if we are FBS. Second, we will be able to retain our great faculty and be able to attract other great faculty because there will be more money coming into the university. Donations will increase with FBS participation from a large donor group. We cannot sustain FBS with the same people just giving more money. That will parlay into JMU Development working the athletic donors for academic gifts.

If JMU believes in the vision and mission, a move to FBS is as logical as creating an Honors College in 2016.

Marshall, Middle Tennessee, Western Kentucky, Old Dominion, Arkansas State, and fresh-in-memory Georgia Southern and App State. These are schools JMU has competed with as peers in the past and are now included in the public market of "College Football". FCS has not reached it's marketing potential and the football landscape is changing so that non-HBCU FCS will have even less exposure.

I can tell you there were many at Georgia Southern against the move with many of the same concerns your alumni/fans have. We should've done this in the early 90's.

(07-31-2015 11:37 AM)moehler Wrote:  I think you give serious consideration to the FBS, because I'm not sure the FCS is going to survive for another 10 yrs. If you look at it from a business standpoint, its a broken model that isn't generating the revenue to really support growth. TV revenue is down, really no national brand to speak of, and most schools and the alumi can't/aren't able to really support their programs to see any kind of noticeable growth. Outside of a few schools such as JMU, Montana, NDSU, most schools have given up trying to grow and improve their programs, they don't see any reason to put the necessary funding into the programs because they don't feel any growth will justify the cost. These facts have not gone unnoticed by the NCAA, lets face it, their in the business of making money, and if this continues long enough, they will eventually pull the plug on FCS football.

No, TV revenue is up for the sole reason is that is was virtually non existent for I-AA back in the 80s- early 00s. You can't 'be down' from zero. Used to be the only game nationally televised was the NC game. Course it is peanuts to what G5 gets, and what G5 gets is peanuts to what P5 gets.

People have been saying I-AA wasn't going to last for 30+ years and its still here. Its not going anywhere. Doesn't change the fact that JMU has outgrown it..

(07-31-2015 10:32 AM)BleedingPurple Wrote:  I think we need to say. "Division I - FBS Football".

Its incredible to me when I say to people (even JMU alumni), "we play FCS Football", they look at me like I'm speaking Swahili. Its as if they know we are not DII, but they really don't know what division we play. I think putting Division I in there gives it a little more punch to those not in the know. In addition, many don't realize FCS/FBS is applicable to only the sport of football.

We had a 'Division 1' in the name until the idiots at the NCAA decided to throw in the confusing (to the casual watching general public) FCS/FBS. Add on top of that you had:
-FCS
-FBS BCS
-FBS non BCS.

Now you have
-FCS
-FBS G5
-FBS P5.

We all get it, but the casual viewer might not. And now that FBS has playoffs and a Championship, it makes little sense to keep calling it FCS & FBS. I said in 2007 that I thought this FCS/FBS was stupid and I was gonna keep calling it the simpler I-A/I-AA, and I still do. End of rant....

FBS football allows for the opportunity to play 12 games every year instead of just once every few years.
The Out-of-Conference games in FBS allow for an IMMEDIATE upgrade in scheduling to include universities that have a national appeal. Don't get too caught up in which conference JMU moves to. The most upside is in the 4 Out-of-Conference games JMU can strategically schedule every year. We've seen JMU play one national opponent (at most) in previous years i.e. Virginia, Virginia Tech, Maryland, North Carolina. In FBS, it would be possible to play all of those programs in the same year.

Finally, JMU competes at the highest level of NCAA athletics in all of its sports except football. The time is long overdue for the football team to step up to the level of the rest of the athletic department.

(08-06-2015 08:15 PM)Hart Foundation Wrote:  FBS football allows for the opportunity to play 12 games every year instead of just once every few years.
The Out-of-Conference games in FBS allow for an IMMEDIATE upgrade in scheduling to include universities that have a national appeal. Don't get too caught up in which conference JMU moves to. The most upside is in the 4 Out-of-Conference games JMU can strategically schedule every year. We've seen JMU play one national opponent (at most) in previous years i.e. Virginia, Virginia Tech, Maryland, North Carolina. In FBS, it would be possible to play all of those programs in the same year.

Finally, JMU competes at the highest level of NCAA athletics in all of its sports except football. The time is long overdue for the football team to step up to the level of the rest of the athletic department.

You stole the words right out of my playbook.

Great ideas in the various posts. I will include it in this section on the website. We have a working draft but it needs some of this detail. We can use more volunteers to help us with this grassroots effort. Please e-mail me at sbrown5683@gmail.com or sbrown@islerdare.com if you can help. Many hands will make light work.

If nTelos is giving away T-Shirts to the people who give them the basic information they collect down on Godwin Field, I wonder if they'd have an interest in using our designed Shirt. They normally have a nice shirt with their logo only on the sleeve. Does anyone have a contact with them? This could be a free or low cost method of getting JMU to FBS shirts on people.

(08-07-2015 08:10 AM)BleedingPurple Wrote:  If nTelos is giving away T-Shirts to the people who give them the basic information they collect down on Godwin Field, I wonder if they'd have an interest in using our designed Shirt. They normally have a nice shirt with their logo only on the sleeve. Does anyone have a contact with them? This could be a free or low cost method of getting JMU to FBS shirts on people.

NTelos would definitely consider that- JMU would never allow it though ... Would threaten relationship ntelos has had w jmu

(08-07-2015 09:04 AM)jmu-fan-1981 Wrote:  

(08-07-2015 08:10 AM)BleedingPurple Wrote:  If nTelos is giving away T-Shirts to the people who give them the basic information they collect down on Godwin Field, I wonder if they'd have an interest in using our designed Shirt. They normally have a nice shirt with their logo only on the sleeve. Does anyone have a contact with them? This could be a free or low cost method of getting JMU to FBS shirts on people.

NTelos would definitely consider that- JMU would never allow it though ... Would threaten relationship ntelos has had w jmu

After I wrote it, I sort of thought that could be the case; however, we are not in a power struggle, or competing with, JMU. I'm pretty sure JMU receives no royalty payments for the shirts nTelos gives out. As I remember, they say something like "Purple Power" with no mention of JMU.

As I said in an earlier post, I'm convinced that JB has been needing something like this movement to assist him in pushing through FBS. Though, I will admit that we are probably a year or two late to the party.

Because you get better teams to come to your place.

http://hamptonroads.com/2015/08/unc-odu-...rfolk-2017