(11-27-2020 01:05 PM)Purple Wrote: (11-27-2020 09:39 AM)JMUNation Wrote: Some of our posters want JMU to handle athletics like a professional sports team would.
Really?
"Some of our posters," including me, simply want to see our alma mater play our peers and get away from 50-point, blowout wins against the likes of STFU.
How you get from that clear goal all the way to us wanting "JMU to handle athletics like a professional sports team" is beyond me.
I’ve also never seen any posters claiming JMU should be handled like a pro sports team.
Insinuating that somehow JMU is more interested in academics than most other universities is silly. If we were an IVY league school, then maybe that argument holds water. There are so many examples of large state universities that prioritize academics (obviously) and also they get more for their athletic money than JMU does.
Check out our national athletic spending peers.
60 Memphis AAC $55,815,109
61 South Florida AAC $55,045,769
62 San Diego State Mt. West $54,731,404
63
James Madison CAA $52,704,654
64 Nevada-Las Vegas Mt. West. $50,784,275
65 Boise State Mt. West $50,599,483
66 Fresno State Mt. West $49,772,999
We shouldn’t point to an Olympic sport like Golf and say our programs are fully funded and are performing better than ever! That is a misplacement of priority.
And this is coming from someone who loves golf.
The $1.1 million spends on golf programs annually is not beneficial to the greater cause. As an example much of that money could be reallocated to revenue generating basketball and FBS football (not FCS football because that is a money loser).
4 years ago Bourne said, "The viability of the FCS model is something we are looking at now. How long will that model continue to be viable for JMU and other FCS schools?" His words, not mine.