For those that didn't want to rewatch the introductory Press Conference, Bourne listed several reasons why he pulled the trigger firing Brady after 21 wins and hiring Rowe.
He wanted...
1- Someone to relate to the players
2- Someone to engage in the community
3- Someone to maintain academic progress
4- Someone who is a terrific recruiter
5- Someone who can return energy and attendance to the current Convo
6- Someone to help build a new Convo
7- Someone to have success in the postseason

He did NOT mention having a team with a strong record and being competitive in the top tier of the CAA.

He finished by saying "the decision was an easy one and we are in a good place."

He also praised the unpaid committee who helped him find a coach... Charlie King, Joe Funkhouser, Mike Battle, Dr. Roger Soenksen. Their work was made simple by the crack services of Eddie Fogler Consulting who provided a strong list of candidates and finalists. In the end, Rowe met every single criteria they were looking for.

Seems like the vetting process was severely lacking or we have an AD with extremely poor judgement on what constitutes a good basketball coach. Being asleep at the wheel eventually leads to a wreck.

are you done yet?

Hart,

Bourne did not single handily hire Rowe. The decision was made by a committee. Kenny Brooks, Charlie King, Mike Battle sat on the committee along with Jeff Bourne and together hired Rowe. Do I wish they had hired someone with head coaching experience? Yes - but it appears King and Alger were not going to pay the mid to high range of the CAA payscale AND offer stipends.

I find that all of these posts are somewhat related- for example this thread and the thread about the new convo.

One of the first things that an up and coming coach would balk at (the same way FBS conferences and consultants have pointed this out) is the lack of a basketball arena. The JMU Basketball facilities are not commensurate with the rest of the athletics facilities and they stand out like a sore thumb. Unlike JMU Football coaches aren't lining up to take the JMU MBB job. It's far from a sure thing.

I think getting a coach to come to JMU MBB without a history of winning, without a big salary, and showing him those facilities was probably a tall order. Maybe you can criticize Bourne and JMU for overestimating the potential pool of candidates. Maybe there were more openings across the country than they anticipated. Who knows. The role of the consultant is often to work back channels to see who is interested without publicly putting their name out there when they already have a job. Rowe was known to the group, he's an alum who wanted his first head coaching opportunity and he had enough vision to see past some of the things that guys who really don't know JMU or the program could probably see past. For example- he knew he could recruit to JMU- someone who didn't know better may have questioned that and whether they could recruit/compete quick enough before the promise of the new arena was realized. Either way it's clear that JMU knew they had to move on from Brady and they couldn't bring Brady back as a lame duck coach and have him responsible for filling 8 scholarships in the next recruiting cycle. Rowe wound up being the best fit for the job. Who knows what happened in between but it's irrelevant at this point because the alternatives(keeping Brady, extending Brady) were not going to happen.

As I see it, Rowe had two great reasons to accept the position:

1. A chance to coach your alma mater, who wouldn't want to do that!?
2. Lack of options, had to take it.

As I see it, Bourne had two great reasons to offer the position to Rowe:

1. He knew he would say yes, due to said lack of options.
2. He could get Rowe on the cheap.

As I see it, JMU Nation has two great reasons to be upset with his hire:

1. Alger
2. Bourne

(03-08-2017 11:06 PM)Deez Nuts Wrote:  are you done yet?

Bro, even I'm weary of this conversation but unfortunately we have months until football season saves us from this cluster.

(03-09-2017 10:23 AM)2Buck Wrote:  

(03-08-2017 11:06 PM)Deez Nuts Wrote:  are you done yet?

Bro, even I'm weary of this conversation but unfortunately we have months until football season saves us from this cluster.

Thank goodness for positive baseball and softball news! Hopefully some WBB news to keep us going for 2 more weeks.

It has only been 5 days since the end of the season. Plenty to talk about still.

I understand that certain people don't want to talk about what happened because it wasn't peaches and cream which is depressing.
Are we only allowed to discuss things when the program is winning?

(03-08-2017 10:42 PM)AllForDukes Wrote:  

(03-08-2017 08:17 PM)Hart Foundation Wrote:  

(03-08-2017 02:47 PM)class90 Wrote:  Jury is out...most of the other hires have all worked out...most better than ever expected. Give him a few years to get his guys in

Which begs the question, is the jury still out on Mike Houston after one year? He had question marks coming into his first year and answered them quickly and emphatically.

If the jury isn't out on the Houston hiring, then why should it be on the Rowe hiring? And we know it is much harder to quickly improve a football program than a basketball program due to the number of players. The 10-23 hoops record equates to a 3-8 football record coming on the heels of 2 good seasons. Would we be okay with Houston putting up a 3-8 stinker in his first year? Nope.

You don't get throw away years when you are managing a $44 million athletic budget and get paid in the top 10 of JMU employees. The football coaching hire and the basketball coaching hire matter more than the rest of the sports combined and even moreso now with the Convo funding drive.

There is little to compare here. Mike Houston took over a team with tons of talent and a great quarterback that beat out a former SEC starter. Houston credits most of their success to senior leadership and his coaching staff. If Lou Rowe had inherited an emerging all star point guard and a BB team with the kind of talent our football team had this thread would never exist. Completely different scenarios.

So we have a dearth of talent on the team, and the plan is to augment that with an inexperienced H Coach?

Odd plan.

(03-09-2017 06:11 PM)JMUDunk Wrote:  

(03-08-2017 10:42 PM)AllForDukes Wrote:  

(03-08-2017 08:17 PM)Hart Foundation Wrote:  

(03-08-2017 02:47 PM)class90 Wrote:  Jury is out...most of the other hires have all worked out...most better than ever expected. Give him a few years to get his guys in

Which begs the question, is the jury still out on Mike Houston after one year? He had question marks coming into his first year and answered them quickly and emphatically.

If the jury isn't out on the Houston hiring, then why should it be on the Rowe hiring? And we know it is much harder to quickly improve a football program than a basketball program due to the number of players. The 10-23 hoops record equates to a 3-8 football record coming on the heels of 2 good seasons. Would we be okay with Houston putting up a 3-8 stinker in his first year? Nope.

You don't get throw away years when you are managing a $44 million athletic budget and get paid in the top 10 of JMU employees. The football coaching hire and the basketball coaching hire matter more than the rest of the sports combined and even moreso now with the Convo funding drive.

There is little to compare here. Mike Houston took over a team with tons of talent and a great quarterback that beat out a former SEC starter. Houston credits most of their success to senior leadership and his coaching staff. If Lou Rowe had inherited an emerging all star point guard and a BB team with the kind of talent our football team had this thread would never exist. Completely different scenarios.

So we have a dearth of talent on the team, and the plan is to augment that with an inexperienced H Coach?

Odd plan.

Coaches recruit against each other and they also talk to other coaches. Do you think it's possible that the talent on the roster and the glut of scholarships played a role in coaches interest? Take for example Kelsey- he had a consensus # 1 team coming back at Winthrop including 2 first team players and a forward who was picked pre season as conference player of the year. Established coaches may have been weary of having to fill that many scholarships at once. For him even though the Caa is a step up from the Big South it may have made better sense to coach his guys this season get to the NCAA and position himself for a better job than Jmu. In trying to save his job Brady didn't do Jmu Mbb that many favors in terms of the uneven classes. Also recruiting misses - like entire classes where he missed- added to this years roster imbalance.

JMU is where MBB go to die. If you lose, you're fired and leave the next guy with an empty cupboard. If you win, you're lame ducked, mis-managed and leave the next guy with an empty cupboard. It is a black hole, has been for 20+ years.

(03-10-2017 08:50 AM)Dadgum Wrote:  JMU is where MBB go to die. If you lose, you're fired and leave the next guy with an empty cupboard. If you win, you're lame ducked, mis-managed and leave the next guy with an empty cupboard. It is a black hole, has been for 20+ years.

I said exactly this to a coworker - his response: "Wait, didn't you guys JUST got to the tourney a couple of years ago?"

"Yeah, we did."

"So what happened to that coach?"

"Oh we fired him after a 20 win season."

"....wow"

How many quality/prominent wins did JMU actually have in all of those 20 win seasons under Brady? How many wins over VCU/GMU/UR? Winning the CAA tourney in a year when a significant portion of the teams weren't even eligible doesn't equate to success for me, personally--others may differ.

We give football crap all the time when we're playing CCSU, etc.....MBB was certainly no better, and IMO significantly worse.

(03-10-2017 09:32 AM)brizzock Wrote:  How many quality/prominent wins did JMU actually have in all of those 20 win seasons under Brady? How many wins over VCU/GMU/UR? Winning the CAA tourney in a year when a significant portion of the teams weren't even eligible doesn't equate to success for me, personally--others may differ.

We give football crap all the time when we're playing CCSU, etc.....MBB was certainly no better, and IMO significantly worse.

How many bad losses did we have this season?

Believe me, I have no delusions that we're better off now than we were before---just stating that, IMO, our "success" previously was fools gold.

(03-10-2017 09:46 AM)brizzock Wrote:  Believe me, I have no delusions that we're better off now than we were before---just stating that, IMO, our "success" previously was fools gold.

Compared to a normal program? Sure. Compared to our dismal program? No. Fools gold is valuable to a fool. Now we have dirt.

(03-10-2017 09:48 AM)DirtyDukes Wrote:  

(03-10-2017 09:46 AM)brizzock Wrote:  Believe me, I have no delusions that we're better off now than we were before---just stating that, IMO, our "success" previously was fools gold.

Compared to a normal program? Sure. Compared to our dismal program? No. Fools gold is valuable to a fool. Now we have dirt.

There's no evidence that we ever had anything more than "average at best" for the last 2 decades. The 2013 Moore and Davis show could beat anyone in a 7-team CAA and make it entertaining at least. VCU, ODU, probably Mason, and almost UD would have shown us the door that year. Quarterfinals exits for 4 seasons now is no gold stamp whatsoever.

I miss Lefty. That 1996-1997 team in his final season deserved to be in the NCAA tourney. Robbed.

20 win seasons are 20 win seasons.

9 win seasons are 9 win seasons.

You are what your record says you are.

(03-10-2017 08:11 AM)NJDuke97 Wrote:  

(03-09-2017 06:11 PM)JMUDunk Wrote:  

(03-08-2017 10:42 PM)AllForDukes Wrote:  

(03-08-2017 08:17 PM)Hart Foundation Wrote:  

(03-08-2017 02:47 PM)class90 Wrote:  Jury is out...most of the other hires have all worked out...most better than ever expected. Give him a few years to get his guys in

Which begs the question, is the jury still out on Mike Houston after one year? He had question marks coming into his first year and answered them quickly and emphatically.

If the jury isn't out on the Houston hiring, then why should it be on the Rowe hiring? And we know it is much harder to quickly improve a football program than a basketball program due to the number of players. The 10-23 hoops record equates to a 3-8 football record coming on the heels of 2 good seasons. Would we be okay with Houston putting up a 3-8 stinker in his first year? Nope.

You don't get throw away years when you are managing a $44 million athletic budget and get paid in the top 10 of JMU employees. The football coaching hire and the basketball coaching hire matter more than the rest of the sports combined and even moreso now with the Convo funding drive.

There is little to compare here. Mike Houston took over a team with tons of talent and a great quarterback that beat out a former SEC starter. Houston credits most of their success to senior leadership and his coaching staff. If Lou Rowe had inherited an emerging all star point guard and a BB team with the kind of talent our football team had this thread would never exist. Completely different scenarios.

So we have a dearth of talent on the team, and the plan is to augment that with an inexperienced H Coach?

Odd plan.

Coaches recruit against each other and they also talk to other coaches. Do you think it's possible that the talent on the roster and the glut of scholarships played a role in coaches interest? Take for example Kelsey- he had a consensus # 1 team coming back at Winthrop including 2 first team players and a forward who was picked pre season as conference player of the year. Established coaches may have been weary of having to fill that many scholarships at once. For him even though the Caa is a step up from the Big South it may have made better sense to coach his guys this season get to the NCAA and position himself for a better job than Jmu. In trying to save his job Brady didn't do Jmu Mbb that many favors in terms of the uneven classes. Also recruiting misses - like entire classes where he missed- added to this years roster imbalance.

How did this happen? Could placing him in a lame duck situation contributed even a little bit? I guess you covered yourself by using the word "added" in you final sentence.