Scott is definitely the ultimate team player. If I were in his position, it would kill me to be as positive & professional as he has been throughout this ordeal.

(02-28-2017 03:23 PM)RamDawg Wrote:  

(02-27-2017 06:23 PM)JMUETC Wrote:  

(02-27-2017 02:54 PM)RamDawg Wrote:  

(02-27-2017 07:53 AM)JMUNation Wrote:  Our administration is pretty good. Not perfect but pretty good. I have seen that demonstrated time and time again. If you ever speak face to face with Charlie you will find him to be a straight shooter. I don't always agree with his decisions but he doesn't run from them in conversation. I do respect what he has accomplished for our university. It is substantial and he will be sorely missed when he retires. That is not brown nosing. That is a statement of fact.

Since you used "Charlie" I will assume there's a relationship?

There are people of influence outside athletics that feel the opposite, thinks 20 years is way too long and Mr. King and a small group of his friends on the BOV should have "retired" years ago. He has "the ear" of many people but not always the correct ear. I don't know the man so I can't give an opinion but from what I've heard, he sounds like the kind of guy you either love or you hate.

Regardless of how they spin all this MRD/Pep Band stuff, it's unprofessional how it was handled. In my line of work, people lose their jobs over that kind of stuff.

It wont happen but I think it would be great for roughly half the MRD members not to show up for one of those high school recruiting trips.

Apologize if it has been discussed, but can you summarize the issue of how it was handled? Did they commit for everyone to go and then at the last minute say only a subset could go?

Most of the story is discussed earlier in the thread but a few key points

JMU doesn't send any band to the NDSU game because they are saving the money so they can go to the NC game

Admin say's they will only send 200 to Frisco with no reason given.

Admin says Frisco didn't give enough seats for band, adds 50 spots because enough people complained.

Admin says 250 max is due too cost.

Groups of people offered money to send more MRD's Some MRD's offered to pay their own way to free up funds for others. Admin ignores everyone.

MRD's take a lot of personal time to market JMU. Members feel unappreciated and used by AD decision regarding the NC trip.

No official statement issued by the Admin or Alger to the MRD's other than saying they couldn't afford it.

I understand Scott Rikers is going out of is way to try to paint the Admin is a positive light but these kids pretty much know what happened and who is responsible for the decisions.

Thanks for the summary.

(02-28-2017 04:10 PM)JMUETC Wrote:  

(02-28-2017 03:23 PM)RamDawg Wrote:  

(02-27-2017 06:23 PM)JMUETC Wrote:  Apologize if it has been discussed, but can you summarize the issue of how it was handled? Did they commit for everyone to go and then at the last minute say only a subset could go?

Most of the story is discussed earlier in the thread but a few key points

JMU doesn't send any band to the NDSU game because they are saving the money so they can go to the NC game

Admin say's they will only send 200 to Frisco with no reason given.

Admin says Frisco didn't give enough seats for band, adds 50 spots because enough people complained.

Admin says 250 max is due too cost.

Groups of people offered money to send more MRD's Some MRD's offered to pay their own way to free up funds for others. Admin ignores everyone.

MRD's take a lot of personal time to market JMU. Members feel unappreciated and used by AD decision regarding the NC trip.

No official statement issued by the Admin or Alger to the MRD's other than saying they couldn't afford it.

I understand Scott Rikers is going out of is way to try to paint the Admin is a positive light but these kids pretty much know what happened and who is responsible for the decisions.

Thanks for the summary.

Don't take the bolded too seriously. Instead of "Admin ignores everyone." it could say "Admin decided JMU Duke Club members deserved to purchase their entire orders versus providing extra seats to allow overflow seating for MRDs that went above and beyond what the NCAA had gifted to the schools. This decision would be at the cost of the seat JMU paid for plus the revenue that was forgone to allow the band to sit there for fee plus incurring additional travel costs. So even if individuals stepped up to cover the "cost" (that they didn't know what it truly was) the Admin made a decision that Duke Club members deserved first right at the seats."

(02-28-2017 05:55 PM)DoubleDogDare Wrote:  

(02-28-2017 04:10 PM)JMUETC Wrote:  

(02-28-2017 03:23 PM)RamDawg Wrote:  

(02-27-2017 06:23 PM)JMUETC Wrote:  Apologize if it has been discussed, but can you summarize the issue of how it was handled? Did they commit for everyone to go and then at the last minute say only a subset could go?

Most of the story is discussed earlier in the thread but a few key points

JMU doesn't send any band to the NDSU game because they are saving the money so they can go to the NC game

Admin say's they will only send 200 to Frisco with no reason given.

Admin says Frisco didn't give enough seats for band, adds 50 spots because enough people complained.

Admin says 250 max is due too cost.

Groups of people offered money to send more MRD's Some MRD's offered to pay their own way to free up funds for others. Admin ignores everyone.

MRD's take a lot of personal time to market JMU. Members feel unappreciated and used by AD decision regarding the NC trip.

No official statement issued by the Admin or Alger to the MRD's other than saying they couldn't afford it.

I understand Scott Rikers is going out of is way to try to paint the Admin is a positive light but these kids pretty much know what happened and who is responsible for the decisions.

Thanks for the summary.

Don't take the bolded too seriously. Instead of "Admin ignores everyone." it could say "Admin decided JMU Duke Club members deserved to purchase their entire orders versus providing extra seats to allow overflow seating for MRDs that went above and beyond what the NCAA had gifted to the schools. This decision would be at the cost of the seat JMU paid for plus the revenue that was forgone to allow the band to sit there for fee plus incurring additional travel costs. So even if individuals stepped up to cover the "cost" (that they didn't know what it truly was) the Admin made a decision that Duke Club members deserved first right at the seats."

This is incorrect. JMU sold alloted tickets to individuals not in the Duke Club, no tickets would have been taken from Duke Club members. Besides, the game wasn't even a sell out. Did you notice how YSU was able to find more tickets after they sold out of their allotment and none were available for students to purchase? They made the corner by the construction zone available as their student seating. The opposite section was completely empty. I'm certain that JMU could have purchased those seats had they asked/pushed.

(02-28-2017 06:14 PM)Top Dawg Wrote:  

(02-28-2017 05:55 PM)DoubleDogDare Wrote:  

(02-28-2017 04:10 PM)JMUETC Wrote:  

(02-28-2017 03:23 PM)RamDawg Wrote:  

(02-27-2017 06:23 PM)JMUETC Wrote:  Apologize if it has been discussed, but can you summarize the issue of how it was handled? Did they commit for everyone to go and then at the last minute say only a subset could go?

Most of the story is discussed earlier in the thread but a few key points

JMU doesn't send any band to the NDSU game because they are saving the money so they can go to the NC game

Admin say's they will only send 200 to Frisco with no reason given.

Admin says Frisco didn't give enough seats for band, adds 50 spots because enough people complained.

Admin says 250 max is due too cost.

Groups of people offered money to send more MRD's Some MRD's offered to pay their own way to free up funds for others. Admin ignores everyone.

MRD's take a lot of personal time to market JMU. Members feel unappreciated and used by AD decision regarding the NC trip.

No official statement issued by the Admin or Alger to the MRD's other than saying they couldn't afford it.

I understand Scott Rikers is going out of is way to try to paint the Admin is a positive light but these kids pretty much know what happened and who is responsible for the decisions.

Thanks for the summary.

Don't take the bolded too seriously. Instead of "Admin ignores everyone." it could say "Admin decided JMU Duke Club members deserved to purchase their entire orders versus providing extra seats to allow overflow seating for MRDs that went above and beyond what the NCAA had gifted to the schools. This decision would be at the cost of the seat JMU paid for plus the revenue that was forgone to allow the band to sit there for fee plus incurring additional travel costs. So even if individuals stepped up to cover the "cost" (that they didn't know what it truly was) the Admin made a decision that Duke Club members deserved first right at the seats."

This is incorrect. JMU sold alloted tickets to individuals not in the Duke Club, no tickets would have been taken from Duke Club members. Besides, the game wasn't even a sell out. Did you notice how YSU was able to find more tickets after they sold out of their allotment and none were available for students to purchase? They made the corner by the construction zone available as their student seating. The opposite section was completely empty. I'm certain that JMU could have purchased those seats had they asked/pushed.

There were definitely empty seats scatter around, I might guess about 1K. Enough of those could have been purchased and give the kids who had to use them guidelines on when and where they needed to be for the half time show or what ever else needed. They wouldn't have been on the stage, but all would have been satisfied.

That's what Jacksonville State did, rather than disrespect their program. And they put on a legit halftime show!

(03-01-2017 07:01 AM)HyperDuke Wrote:  That's what Jacksonville State did, rather than disrespect their program. And they put on a legit halftime show!

What I am about to say is not meant as derogatory in any way, so I'll say it again, when accountants are running the show, creativity is not a strength unless the goal is to hide or save money. It's just the way it is. It's no different than going over to the art department to find someone to balance your checkbook. In addition, I'm sure JB had his plate full and didn't want any additional responsibility leading up to the event.

(03-01-2017 12:58 PM)BleedingPurple Wrote:  What I am about to say is not meant as derogatory in any way, so I'll say it again, when accountants are running the show, creativity is not a strength unless the goal is to hide or save money. It's just the way it is. It's no different than going over to the art department to find someone to balance your checkbook. In addition, I'm sure JB had his plate full and didn't want any additional responsibility leading up to the event.

To add: The money was a very small piece of the problem. The biggest problem was and likely remains the lack of desire to solve the problem. Every time "we can't" was used, someone came up with a solution. This went on until the clock expired.

I try to teach my kids that every problem has a solution, results not excuses, stand up for what you believe is right, deflection/finger-pointing is a set up for failure, sleep in the bed you made, nothing is free, ect... I'm not convinced some at JMU are leading by example.

This thread of 450 posts (damn... it's one for every band member) boils down to one thing; an unprepared situation. The band staff wasn't ready for it, the administration wasn't ready for it, and the budget wasn't ready for it. When people stepped up to help, they (decision makers) weren't ready for that either. I understand that the decision makers are prepared for next time if this happens, and that's good enough for me to move on from this thread.

(03-01-2017 01:54 PM)Deez Nuts Wrote:  I understand that the decision makers are prepared for next time if this happens, and that's good enough for me to move on from this thread.

Interesting...would love to hear about the plan!

(03-01-2017 03:48 PM)HyperDuke Wrote:  

(03-01-2017 01:54 PM)Deez Nuts Wrote:  I understand that the decision makers are prepared for next time if this happens, and that's good enough for me to move on from this thread.

Interesting...would love to hear about the plan!

Agreed - if the school can just let everyone know that they know they made a mistake but it will not happen again, it will go a long way to making everything right.

For the 6 years I was in the MRDs, I always had to keep Thanksgiving weekend open. I could not book flights home until the team was officially eliminated from the playoffs - which cost me hundreds of dollars extra each year. (Eventually, I just stopped going home.) But I was fine with that. In the one year that we did actually make the playoffs, the band did not travel (to Troy State) due to logistics - but again, I understood since it would have been pretty last minute.

This year, there was no good excuse. They did not have to travel for the 1st 2 rounds. They did not take any band to Fargo, so they didn't spend any money that way. They had time to plan this out, but they didn't.

But again, hopefully, the administration can make the commitment to send the band to the next championship.