Not trolling, just wish this were you guys!
http://www.theadvertiser.com/story/sport.../71349570/

(08-28-2015 08:38 PM)JMUDuke25 Wrote:  

(08-28-2015 05:12 PM)bridgeforthduke Wrote:  I think what frustrates people is the wasted potential and "smoke" that JMU was going to move up. Many people have invested a lot of money and time into the athletic department only to see our rivals and peers move on while we sit idle. Many of us just want a clear picture of what our leaders plan to do. I've heard some of you say if you reach out to Bourne he'll respond. I've emailed him a few times about this topic and have never gotten a response. Maybe I don't give enough money. Who knows?

JMU doesn't have to outwardly say they will do anything to get out of the CAA, but it would be nice to hear communication about where they want to go besides vague "national exposure" talk. A lot of us hoped the strategic plan released a few months ago would tell us something but even that was vague.

I love JMU and still support them at events the same way I would if they were playing Ohio State. But the constant silence and lack of vision is very frustrating.

They've been pretty clear. Many just don't want to accept it.

Purplehazed was right and was crucified on this board for a willingness to say it, Jeff Bourne and Jon Alger have been spreading a purple lie for years.

(08-28-2015 01:28 PM)BDKJMU Wrote:  

(08-28-2015 09:13 AM)arkstfan Wrote:  My experience (your mileage may vary) is that bowls are much more fun than the playoffs. With the playoffs you find out Sunday if/where you play on Saturday and have to arrange accordingly. If it is a long way to go, you are far less likely to go.

Players and team arrive at the game site (if it is road) the night before, do a walk through and play. It is just another road trip in the season. Players maybe get rings even if not conference champs.

Bowl games you have at least 13 days to plan, sometimes many weeks. Both teams are traveling except in rare cases. They are at the bowl site for at least four days. Players get to do luncheons, they will have fun events for them and tours.

Fans with more time to prepare, are more likely to go. There will be school events to mix and mingle and you get the experience of being in a different city and seeing fans wearing your logo that you've never met.

The bowl is an event and the players pick up around $300 in swag out of the deal. The school gets face time at events with happy donors. It works very well.

The problem with a lot of bowls that even playoff games don't have is weekday games. So like you laid out for the lesser bowls you have about 2-3 weeks to plan.

Now with 2 6-6 to 8-4 G5 teams in a toilet bowl:

-On pretty short notice get 1, 2, or 3 vacation days off mid to late Dec. Even for a weekend game might need a day or 2.
-Right in the middle of the Christmas season when people have office parties, Christmas parties, family gatherings, and all the other stuff people do around Christmas, NY..
-Usually either flying or a long drive. For flying often purchasing airfare around the holidays on less than 3 weeks notice which can = more expensive tickets.
-Rental car, hotel nights, parking, tailgates or pregame, tickets, concessions, etc.
And if its a crappy winter destination like Boise or Detriot (well Detriot would be crappy any time) forget about it.

OR:
Just watch a home maybe with family, friends, sitting in your comfy lazy boy, watching on your big screen HD TV with home theater surround sound.

Thats why your bowl attendance isn't very good.

Sun Belt bowl attendance has been good but then we've had AState going to Mobile (8 hour drive) post-Christmas, South Alabama going to Montgomery and ULL going to New Orleans.

The two pre-Christmas games have had the benefit of local teams.

(08-28-2015 08:48 PM)truthahn Wrote:  My guess is Coastal for all sports and that is it. That gives them the 12 in football to have the championship game, and I guess 13 for basketball, but I don't think that really matters. Coastal is half the program we are, but I think they will actually grow up pretty soon.

It also allows JMU to basically join whenever we want, even this spring if we pull our heads out of our rears. So, this is probably good news (if it is just Coastal) or at least neutral. IMO, this will make the Sun Belt an even more obvious choice for us. The main negative is that Coastal is probably further away from JMU desired peers than almost any other Sun Belt school.

But by the end of this season, I think the Sun Belt will be looking a lot better to us than it does right now. They finally have several good teams that can attract (for them) a good amount of attention. They will be way ahead of the CAA by December.

Sun Belt if we add one, and it isn't NMSU, will have 12 football and 12 basketball. Ark-Little Rock and Texas-Arlington don't play football, NMSU and Idaho football only.

From this point on Sun Belt likely only expands if we lose someone or we dump Idaho and NMSU football only and add two full members.

(08-29-2015 10:15 AM)BleedingPurple Wrote:  

(08-29-2015 06:46 AM)NJDuke97 Wrote:  I've been pretty patient and had faith that JMU was working on something better than the Sun Belt but I have to admit that with news that there is a 12th spot out there and a quick look at the other conferences, the current system, etc. I think JMU should seriously reconsider their position on this. The Sun Belt doesn't get my excited in terms of the teams that are in the Conference (no offense to Sun Belt members) but maybe we share JMU's believe that we are a little better than we actually are. I believe that if we were to go to the Sun Belt we would challenge for conference titles within a short period of time- if not immediately but maybe it's the step we need to take to prove to the bigger conferences what JMU is all about- I think they sleep on us because we are a relatively new, growing University in the Shenendoah Valley. I'm just not convinced that a bigger conference will take a chance on us even though we have the budget, support, facilities, and overal chops to be a good addition to a conference like the MAC or AAC. At a minimum now that it's out there JMU should gather their coaches (Withers, Brooks, etc.) and really kick the tires on this- if they collectively decide that it's not the right fit for good reason they should communicate why to the Fan Base and what the next step is. Use this as an opportunity to get the word out Publicly once and for all of what our intentions are.

You can tell from the majority of my posts that I'm a hoops guy more than a Football guy but I would be excited by the prospect of a Bowl, an FBS schedule and the chance long term for JMU to be ranked Nationally and on TV more Nationally. The Sun Belt isn't much of an upgrade in terms of Basketball but I think the FBS move would create a greater opportunity to see the new Convo come to fruition quicker. This hoops season would be tough in that they would need an at large bid if they stole the Sun Belt spot but it's a sacrifice that I think the JMU fan base would be cool with.

Let's light up Bourne and Alger on email and twitter. Make sure that they know that JMU fans would want them to make a late push for the Sun Belt spot.

I believe 3+ years ago there were few JMU fans interested in the SB. It wasn't a good fit back then. Even when they first invited GA State it almost solidified that it would not be a good deal for us.

Then along came GA Southern and Appy. Our thought process changed. The foot print of the conference immediately became palatable. These two adds were the type of schools we like to compete against. We watched them compete last year and most have said, we can do this.

We took notice of the other possible conferences in play and there is no room in the inn. After educating ourselves on some of the top teams in the SB, it has become apparent that an association will be a good thing. Our issue is that our admin doesn't seem to have opened their eyes and witnessed the SB transform itself into a good fit for JMU.

It is not perfect, but I can make a one sentence statement about the other nine FBS conferences regarding their short comings (or lack of a fit) for JMU as well. They simply need to re-evaluate this thing and open their eyes.

This is the email that I sent to Dr. Alger this morning. I will let you know if he responds. I encourage others to send emails to Alger and Bourne today as it looks like the Sun Belt vote is tomorrow. They can still make a late push if they are motivated to. At a minimum let's put their feet to the fire and make them uncomfortable about the status quo.

algerjr@jmu.eduFull Headers Printable ViewDr. Alger, I respect that you and the JMU leadership team have a vision and a plan for the University and that Sports are merely a part of your strategic plan. The JMU fan base is anxiously awaiting bigger and better things and a greater opportunity to compete with peer Institutions on a National stage. As a loyal JMU alum my concern is that the current system and landscape in college athletics may not allow JMU to achieve our goals based on our current conference affiliation and a general perception of JMU by other conferences. The Sun Belt Conference is on record as looking for a 12th member so that they can sponsor a Football Championship game. The other Conferences that would be a fit geographically and from a peer Institution standpoint (Mid American, American Athletic, and Conference USA) are already at this level. Barring a shake up in the BCS conferences and a trickle down there are no open spots in these other FBS conferences nor any incentive
in the current system to bring an upstart like JMU into the conference. I think that we should seriously reconsider our position on the Sun Belt, engage our coaches and conduct additional due diligence before their 12th spot is filled with another Institution that currently plays Football Championship Series level Division 1 football.

In order to reach our goals as a National University we need to take steps toward competing at the highest levels in all sports. Everything is in place (Title IX compliance, Facilities, Athletics Budget) for JMU to compete immediately at this level and invigorate our great Fan Base. This will help us fund the new Convocation center and grow our overall Endowment. Recently an online poll of JMU fans garnered commitments of over $500,000 (over a 5 year period) in additional donations if JMU was to commit to FBS football. This is a small example of the groundswell of pride and giving that would occur if JMU made the next step. If you compare your prior Institution (Rutgers) with JMU Rutgers made moves in football in line with growing their National footprint however they had a couple of key advantages over JMU. They are one of the oldest Institutions in the Country (first College Football game) therefore they have a larger Alumni base and older Alumni base
than JMU and they have access to the largest media market. They were also already in a Division 1 FBS football conference. JMU is a relatively young Institution and not associated with a large media market. My point is that JMU may need to take an intermediate step as part of our overall goal in order to get to where we want to be. The Sun Belt represents that step and I have no doubt that if we made the move that we would be immediately successful, and that the nation would take notice of JMU and everything that we represent as an Institution.

Please reconsider taking a step towards our goals. At a minimum please communicate with our fan base and alumni on why the Sun Belt is not the right step for JMU to take and what the next step is.

You might as well have printed that out and thrown it against your wall. You'd have a better chance of get any type of substantive response if any at all. Trust me, the administration is very well aware of these boards and I know for a fact that they read them regularly. They know what people want, they just really don't care.

(08-28-2015 10:45 PM)91Alum Wrote:  

(08-27-2015 04:27 PM)NYJMUPIKE Wrote:  I try to go to a bowl game every year. I personally don't care if it's a "lower-tier" bowl. The fans/alumni from both teams are always having a good time, and it sure as **** seems like it matters to the players and coaches.

It absolutely matters to the players and coaches. Not so much that winning or losing the game itself is all that big a deal, but being in a bowl game - even a lower tier bowl game - gives the players and coaches basically another month of practices.

Any coach in the country will say yes to that 100% of the time.

True, but JMU isn't going to get more practice time as a good G5 making low tier bowls the majority of seasons than they would as a powerhouse I-AA making playoff runs most seasons.

-I-A regular season typically ends a week later than I-AA, T-Giving weekend, which is the 1st week of the I-AA playoffs, so + 1 week of extra practice there.

-If in lower tier bowl game in mid-late Dec:
Either 3-4 weeks till bowl game or 1 week till league Champ game then 2-3 more weeks till bowl game. Either way its 3-4 weeks more

So now you're up to 4-5 weeks more practice in those bowl making seasons. If you make lower tier bowls in around 3/4 of your seasons your going to avg about 3-4 weeks extra practice.

If a powerhouse I-AA, (like JMU hasn't been the last 6 seasons but should have been, and would be if remained I-AA), if range between the 2nd round (round of 16) & the NC game almost every season that ranges between 2-6 extra weeks of practice right there (maybe avg around 4 weeks). (NDSU has gotten an extra 6 weeks of practice a year for 4 straight years).

Bottom line is between a powerhouse I-AA making playoff runs most seasons and and a good G-5 making bowl games most seasons the difference in extra practice time isn't much.

Same thing with games. I-A 12 game regular season, plus if a good G5 program & can make a bowl majority of seasons and a league champ game once every several years that's 12-14 games a season, avg about 13. I-AA 11-12 game regular season (12 game 1/3 of seasons) + if a I-AA powerhouse & can avg 2-3 playoff games a season that's going to avg about 14. (NDSU the last 4 seasons has avg 15+).

JMU needs to move up but its not to get extra practice time or games.

(08-29-2015 12:18 PM)DoubleDDuke Wrote:  You might as well have printed that out and thrown it against your wall. You'd have a better chance of get any type of substantive response if any at all. Trust me, the administration is very well aware of these boards and I know for a fact that they read them regularly. They know what people want, they just really don't care.

+1. They just don't care, for example, they refuse to be transparent and when forced to say something, they lie, Jeff Bourne, Jon Alger and now Geoff Polglase is jumping on that wagon with the DC Reps.

They are really just a bunch of ******* if you want to be honest about it.

FWIW poster BirdofParadise who is deeply dialed in the Louisiana Lafayette says the first vote won't produce a new team for the Sun Belt, then it becomes a question of whether arm twisting or horse trading gets a team in. Clock may not have run out just yet.

(08-29-2015 02:19 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  FWIW poster BirdofParadise who is deeply dialed in the Louisiana Lafayette says the first vote won't produce a new team for the Sun Belt, then it becomes a question of whether arm twisting or horse trading gets a team in. Clock may not have run out just yet.

Again, if no one is in agreement, why the hell are you all bothering to add anyone? The sbc seems desperate to marry anyone who'll take them.

(08-29-2015 02:31 PM)Potomac Wrote:  

(08-29-2015 02:19 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  FWIW poster BirdofParadise who is deeply dialed in the Louisiana Lafayette says the first vote won't produce a new team for the Sun Belt, then it becomes a question of whether arm twisting or horse trading gets a team in. Clock may not have run out just yet.

Again, if no one is in agreement, why the hell are you all bothering to add anyone? The sbc seems desperate to marry anyone who'll take them.

It does come off a bit like that but you need a 75% vote so I wouldn't say that's no one being in agreement. They'd have to get 9 out of the 11 votes. I've got to think these guys talk about this stuff all the time so you'd think they would basically know before hand. It's such a shame because I think JMU would be a lock and they might just round out the conference with a school that's not nearly as valuable but that's JMU's fault.

(08-29-2015 02:31 PM)Potomac Wrote:  

(08-29-2015 02:19 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  FWIW poster BirdofParadise who is deeply dialed in the Louisiana Lafayette says the first vote won't produce a new team for the Sun Belt, then it becomes a question of whether arm twisting or horse trading gets a team in. Clock may not have run out just yet.

Again, if no one is in agreement, why the hell are you all bothering to add anyone? The sbc seems desperate to marry anyone who'll take them.

The AD mentioned more balanced scheduling, particularly in hoops.

(08-29-2015 02:41 PM)JMUETC Wrote:  

(08-29-2015 02:31 PM)Potomac Wrote:  

(08-29-2015 02:19 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  FWIW poster BirdofParadise who is deeply dialed in the Louisiana Lafayette says the first vote won't produce a new team for the Sun Belt, then it becomes a question of whether arm twisting or horse trading gets a team in. Clock may not have run out just yet.

Again, if no one is in agreement, why the hell are you all bothering to add anyone? The sbc seems desperate to marry anyone who'll take them.

The AD mentioned more balanced scheduling, particularly in hoops.

This is all about all the other sports and not FB.

(08-29-2015 02:44 PM)BleedingPurple Wrote:  

(08-29-2015 02:41 PM)JMUETC Wrote:  

(08-29-2015 02:31 PM)Potomac Wrote:  

(08-29-2015 02:19 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  FWIW poster BirdofParadise who is deeply dialed in the Louisiana Lafayette says the first vote won't produce a new team for the Sun Belt, then it becomes a question of whether arm twisting or horse trading gets a team in. Clock may not have run out just yet.

Again, if no one is in agreement, why the hell are you all bothering to add anyone? The sbc seems desperate to marry anyone who'll take them.

The AD mentioned more balanced scheduling, particularly in hoops.

This is all about all the other sports and not FB.

I don't think you are being sarcastic- but it's about Football. There is $ in hosting a conference championship game in football- enough to help offset the cost of travel for Olympic sports in a conference that spans from NC to Texas.

(08-29-2015 12:53 PM)NovaDuke Wrote:  

(08-29-2015 12:18 PM)DoubleDDuke Wrote:  You might as well have printed that out and thrown it against your wall. You'd have a better chance of get any type of substantive response if any at all. Trust me, the administration is very well aware of these boards and I know for a fact that they read them regularly. They know what people want, they just really don't care.

+1. They just don't care, for example, they refuse to be transparent and when forced to say something, they lie, Jeff Bourne, Jon Alger and now Geoff Polglase is jumping on that wagon with the DC Reps.

I don't think a conference has ever publicly stated that they were looking to expand before. To date JMU has been able to hide behind the fact that they have never been offered or weren't aware or ready to move. Post the Carr Report and if the Sun Belt votes and announces that they are going to add a school tomorrow JMU will no longer be able to use the lack of clear opportunity to move up as an excuse. We should hold the leaders accountable. This is something like the UAB situtation where a grassroots social media led initiative can make an impact.

Here are a couple of tweets on this subject- retweet this and make this viral.

randy_nj
@randy_nj 8h
@jmusports @bournejeff Speaking of dialogue- is #JMU in dialogue with the #SunBelt over the 12th spot? 282 miles to travel partner App State

randy_nj
@randy_nj 18h
@BourneJeff take a harder look at The Sun Belt. You owe it to JMU Nation to do another round of due diligence. Travel partner with App State

There are at least two schools that can get a majority (6 votes) the question is can anyone get three-fourths (9 votes).

Championship game question is likely moot if deregulation passes, so the football element isn't as critical.

Being able to go to App on Thursday and somewhere else easily on Saturday in basketball (or Friday then Saturday in volleyball) is the big deal right now.

It's always about football, but just another indicator that JMU isn't even trying. If the scales weren't tilted enough, you think the renderings of a $100mil new basketball facility wouldn't get anyone in that conference's attention?

(08-29-2015 02:31 PM)Potomac Wrote:  

(08-29-2015 02:19 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  FWIW poster BirdofParadise who is deeply dialed in the Louisiana Lafayette says the first vote won't produce a new team for the Sun Belt, then it becomes a question of whether arm twisting or horse trading gets a team in. Clock may not have run out just yet.

Again, if no one is in agreement, why the hell are you all bothering to add anyone? The sbc seems desperate to marry anyone who'll take them.

It has been more than two years since WKU announced they were leaving and we would no longer have 12. I'd say that not jumping on any option available in what is about to be 30 months is not being desperate. If the Sun Belt were desperate we would have pulled the trigger within a month or two of WKU leaving.

(08-29-2015 02:58 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(08-29-2015 02:31 PM)Potomac Wrote:  

(08-29-2015 02:19 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  FWIW poster BirdofParadise who is deeply dialed in the Louisiana Lafayette says the first vote won't produce a new team for the Sun Belt, then it becomes a question of whether arm twisting or horse trading gets a team in. Clock may not have run out just yet.

Again, if no one is in agreement, why the hell are you all bothering to add anyone? The sbc seems desperate to marry anyone who'll take them.

It has been more than two years since WKU announced they were leaving and we would no longer have 12. I'd say that not jumping on any option available in what is about to be 30 months is not being desperate. If the Sun Belt were desperate we would have pulled the trigger within a month or two of WKU leaving.

Yeah but look at these schools they're talking about. They're nowhere near as ready as App. State and Ga. Southern were. JMU is really the only school out there that's ready and yet we sit there and don't do ****. I think if you looked at your conference a few years ago and someone told you that you were going to add App. State, Ga. Southern, and JMU, you'd have to be really excited. Ga. State was a mistake. Either of these two schools would be another.