Hey guys, I don't know if any of you use Reddit, but their college football section sends people to various conference media days, and I've been given the opportunity to go to the CAA media day tomorrow. If anyone has any questions they want me to ask, post them here. I'll also post an update tomorrow after the event

Here's a list of everyone attending: https://caasports.com/news/2019/7/15/med...eason.aspx

Obviously I won't be the only reporter there, and each team only has ~12 minutes, so I won't realistically be able to ask a ton of questions, but I'll do my best.

Do you intend to continue JL’s tradition of playing one FBS team per year, mostly from the ACC, or do you have a different scheduling philosophy?

(07-22-2019 04:48 PM)TDenverFan Wrote:  Hey guys, I don't know if any of you use Reddit, but their college football section sends people to various conference media days, and I've been given the opportunity to go to the CAA media day tomorrow. If anyone has any questions they want me to ask, post them here. I'll also post an update tomorrow after the event

Here's a list of everyone attending: https://caasports.com/news/2019/7/15/med...eason.aspx

Obviously I won't be the only reporter there, and each team only has ~12 minutes, so I won't realistically be able to ask a ton of questions, but I'll do my best.

Are you concerned about attendance trends for your sport? Do you think students will turn out for games? Do you believe you can successfully compete with video gaming going forward?

Do you think you have the horses to run your wide open offense this season, or will it take another year or two of recruiting?

Thanks! As I said, I'll do my best. I think everyone is going to have a lot of questions for London, but I'll get in what I can

Already posted, but the question about engaging the student population to come out is huge. London strikes me as a guy that can get that done, but seems to have never been a focus in the past (beyond basic attempts). Sports still hold the interest of people I think, it's just no longer the forgone conclusion that you're going to the game each week.

They may discuss this separately, but I'd ask the commissioner about why we have no games on regular TV, with the result being no national exposure on outlets like NBCSports Channel, CBS Sports Channel, Comcast Sports Networks,Fox, etc. They can talk all day about our streaming deal, but we're not on when many other like conferences have games on every week.

“Linear TV” is an option for schools that pursue it. The FLO deal only gives FLO online streaming rights. Those games can still be picked up by linear TV. I know at least all of JMU’s home games are also going to be on linear TV in addition to either FLO streaming or our own MadiZone streaming.

(07-22-2019 08:11 PM)billymac Wrote:  Do you think you have the horses to run your wide open offense this season, or will it take another year or two of recruiting?

Okay to ask this question, especially in preseason before the true answer becomes obvious to everyone, but there is no way that you would get an honest answer IF the honest answer was "no, we do not currently have the horses".

Looks like we are preseason #11 pick with 2 on the preseason all conference team - (Crist at FB and Laster at S) and 3 at Honorable Mention - Williamson (OL), Murray (DL), and Parker (S)

https://tribeathletics.com/news/2019/7/2...onors.aspx

Good, nobody is giving us a chance. Time to sneak up on folks.

Maine and Elon will not be that high: they are both breaking in new head coaches. UR will be below us. Was last year the start of a new (downward) trend for New Hampshire? (Probably not, since they have a great coach). Was last year a fluke for Rhody? I won't believe in them until they sustain it for at least two years.

JMU had only one first teamer on offense (a lineman) but had four on defense (plus a special team punt returner)!

(07-23-2019 02:26 AM)hktribefan Wrote:  Already posted, but the question about engaging the student population to come out is huge. London strikes me as a guy that can get that done, but seems to have never been a focus in the past (beyond basic attempts). Sports still hold the interest of people I think, it's just no longer the forgone conclusion that you're going to the game each week.

Answer: just win, baby.



(and then keep winning, every year)

As usual, no real info in the broadcast. Anything to report?

(07-23-2019 03:36 PM)nogretheogre Wrote:  As usual, no real info in the broadcast. Anything to report?

Nothing super crazy. I think they kinda changed the program a bit due to the rain, instead of the schedule they had posted everyone just sat at tables and you talked to people when they were free. Worked out well enough, but there was no Flo Sports presentation, which was a bummer.

London was maybe the most popular coach there, so I was only able to grab him for a few minutes.

- He liked Marion due to his innovative offensive scheme, since London is a defensive minded guy he wanted a good partner

- He obviously didn't want to talk much about the QB situation and tip his hand

- I asked about transfers, since there seemed to be more this year than in the past. London basically said it was just due to the transfer portal opening up, it provided us with more opportunities, while acknowledging that it's not always easy for us because they do need to be academically eligible

- Overall, I thought he had a good grasp on William and Mary (He put a heavy emphasis on culture, academics, and school fit), which was nice, since this regime definitely is doing things different than the last

- I did have to ask about recruits saying 'William and Mary University' instead of 'The College of_.' London reacted in a kind of surprised manner that recruits would call us UWM/WMU, but said it was probably just the excitement of getting an offer, and once they got on campus it would take care of itself

(07-23-2019 04:10 PM)TDenverFan Wrote:  - I did have to ask about recruits saying 'William and Mary University' instead of 'The College of_.' London reacted in a kind of surprised manner that recruits would call us UWM/WMU, but said it was probably just the excitement of getting an offer, and once they got on campus it would take care of itself

Of course, the issue is not with the athlete himself; of course it will take care of itself for him. The issue is with all the myriad other people who read those announcements and who don't know any better (and, therefore, it will not take care of itself with them).

Here's my overall write up of the whole day: https://old.reddit.com/r/CFB/comments/ch...media_day/

(07-23-2019 07:45 PM)TDenverFan Wrote:  Here's my overall write up of the whole day: https://old.reddit.com/r/CFB/comments/ch...media_day/

Interesting info, thanks!

You wrote: "Schools brought their media guides for reference, as you can tell there’s a decent range. The higher budget teams had spiral bound notebooks with glossy covers, other teams just had pieces of paper stapled together." I don't see W&M's in the photo. What did it look like?

(07-24-2019 09:41 AM)Zorch Wrote:  

(07-23-2019 07:45 PM)TDenverFan Wrote:  Here's my overall write up of the whole day: https://old.reddit.com/r/CFB/comments/ch...media_day/

Interesting info, thanks!

You wrote: "Schools brought their media guides for reference, as you can tell there’s a decent range. The higher budget teams had spiral bound notebooks with glossy covers, other teams just had pieces of paper stapled together." I don't see W&M's in the photo. What did it look like?

Ours was one of the worst, to be honest, which was kinda surprising to me. About 20 pages of plain paper. I put Villanova's next to it for comparison - spiral bound, color cover, glossy paper throughout the whole thing, and over 70 pages.

Not that I'm defending or absolving the Tribes handouts, but it appears that the Villanova book is the official football media guide and the W&M one is a printout especially for the CAA media day. My guess is the W&M official guide wasn't ready yet.

with the talent we have, imo, an 11th place projection is very disrespectful. i could understand the placement because of the new coach, but this team will not be finishing 11th when the season ends. good to see the team already using it as bulletin board material.