(11-05-2021 11:45 AM)Longhorn Wrote:  

(11-05-2021 08:03 AM)The Ghost of Terry Holland Wrote:  Greetings JMU Nation.
I've been enjoying retirement more and more as I get older. Some of the fondest moments are when my colleagues and friends take the next big step in their journey. While your leader, Jon Boy Alger, has rejected my offers of partnership many times over the years, I still am proud to see James Madison University finally take its rightful place in Division 1 FBS collegiate tackle football. I did not take his slights personally as I knew that he was out of his element and knew not what he was doing. Everybody has strengths and weaknesses and his shortcomings just happen to be in the arena of athletics. Hats off to the alumni and the persistence of Jeffrey Bourne for constantly pressuring Jon Boy to do the right thing. Your will to overturn Jon Boy's wrong thinking and have him concede to the will of JMU Nation is impressive from afar. You did it!

Selfishly, I would have loved to welcome you to the AAC along with Marshall, ODU, and Southern Miss. That would have been the premier G5 conference ongoing and it would have been everything ECU could ask for. in terms of regional, like-minded programs mixed with national, highly invested programs. Unfortunately, our 8 university Presidents and Chancellors voted to protect our existing revenue by finding 6 schools willing to accept much lower annual payouts of $2 MM while the original members kept our annual payouts much higher than that. While none of the 6 new programs raise the profile of the AAC, I do have to be thankful that they are allowing us to maintain the highest level of media revenue outside of the P5 conferences. Sometimes, money just matters more than anything else in business decisions.

Going forward, perhaps the JMU Nation can lead your decision makers to the next big step of your journey. If you are interested, I will do my very best to bring you into the fold with the next iteration of the AAC which could have a lot of similarities to our shared affiliations of the past. Think about our years together in the ECAC South and what that would look like on the gridiron - ECU, JMU, ODU, Navy. Mix in a few former Southern Conference schools like Appalachian State, Georgia Southern, Marshall and you have what we all want with a close kinship off the field and a heated rivalry on the field every week.
Greater things are yet to come and greater things are still to be done in this cityyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.
Enjoy and celebrate today as you embark on a fantastic voyage into division 1 FBS collegiate tackle football.
p.s. if you need a home and home series, we are now willing to listen to your offers.

Your Buddy,
Terry Holland

Good “Buddy” glad you’re alive and enjoying retirement. Don’t forget to take your dementia meds.

LMFAO!!! good to hear from Terry Holland and happy he is doing good in retirement. Now go schedule that home-and-home vs ECU!
.

(11-05-2021 11:45 AM)Longhorn Wrote:  

(11-05-2021 08:03 AM)The Ghost of Terry Holland Wrote:  Greetings JMU Nation.
I've been enjoying retirement more and more as I get older. Some of the fondest moments are when my colleagues and friends take the next big step in their journey. While your leader, Jon Boy Alger, has rejected my offers of partnership many times over the years, I still am proud to see James Madison University finally take its rightful place in Division 1 FBS collegiate tackle football. I did not take his slights personally as I knew that he was out of his element and knew not what he was doing. Everybody has strengths and weaknesses and his shortcomings just happen to be in the arena of athletics. Hats off to the alumni and the persistence of Jeffrey Bourne for constantly pressuring Jon Boy to do the right thing. Your will to overturn Jon Boy's wrong thinking and have him concede to the will of JMU Nation is impressive from afar. You did it!

Selfishly, I would have loved to welcome you to the AAC along with Marshall, ODU, and Southern Miss. That would have been the premier G5 conference ongoing and it would have been everything ECU could ask for. in terms of regional, like-minded programs mixed with national, highly invested programs. Unfortunately, our 8 university Presidents and Chancellors voted to protect our existing revenue by finding 6 schools willing to accept much lower annual payouts of $2 MM while the original members kept our annual payouts much higher than that. While none of the 6 new programs raise the profile of the AAC, I do have to be thankful that they are allowing us to maintain the highest level of media revenue outside of the P5 conferences. Sometimes, money just matters more than anything else in business decisions.

Going forward, perhaps the JMU Nation can lead your decision makers to the next big step of your journey. If you are interested, I will do my very best to bring you into the fold with the next iteration of the AAC which could have a lot of similarities to our shared affiliations of the past. Think about our years together in the ECAC South and what that would look like on the gridiron - ECU, JMU, ODU, Navy. Mix in a few former Southern Conference schools like Appalachian State, Georgia Southern, Marshall and you have what we all want with a close kinship off the field and a heated rivalry on the field every week.
Greater things are yet to come and greater things are still to be done in this cityyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.
Enjoy and celebrate today as you embark on a fantastic voyage into division 1 FBS collegiate tackle football.
p.s. if you need a home and home series, we are now willing to listen to your offers.

Your Buddy,
Terry Holland

Good “Buddy” glad you’re alive and enjoying retirement. Don’t forget to take your dementia meds.

LMFAO!!! good to hear from Terry Holland and happy he is doing good in retirement. Now go schedule that home-and-home vs ECU!
.

(11-05-2021 11:57 AM)Dukester Wrote:  

(11-05-2021 11:47 AM)JMad03 Wrote:  

(11-05-2021 11:37 AM)hburg Wrote:  

Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk

I guess Liberty found a conference dysfunctional enough to accept them.
Does Liberty have any regional opponents they can drive to or their fans?
Their closest opponent is MTSU I believe. That's over a 7 hour drive. Yikes.
They do have a history of playing New Mexico State. I believe they played them twice in a single season.
Hard to imagine these schools are saving money with travel costs. Very spread out conference.
Making decisions based on desperation is always a bad move.

Travel and lack of rivals is going to be painful for that conference. I think LU would of been better to stay as an independent. I guess they just wanted to be accepted by someone.

Yeah we can put to rest all that spin about LU being perfectly happy as an independent, not really caring about conference affiliation, etc. That's about as ugly a setup for them as you can get.

(11-05-2021 12:10 PM)POTUS#4 Wrote:  

(11-05-2021 11:57 AM)Dukester Wrote:  

(11-05-2021 11:47 AM)JMad03 Wrote:  

(11-05-2021 11:37 AM)hburg Wrote:  

Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk

I guess Liberty found a conference dysfunctional enough to accept them.
Does Liberty have any regional opponents they can drive to or their fans?
Their closest opponent is MTSU I believe. That's over a 7 hour drive. Yikes.
They do have a history of playing New Mexico State. I believe they played them twice in a single season.
Hard to imagine these schools are saving money with travel costs. Very spread out conference.
Making decisions based on desperation is always a bad move.

Travel and lack of rivals is going to be painful for that conference. I think LU would of been better to stay as an independent. I guess they just wanted to be accepted by someone.

Yeah we can put to rest all that spin about LU being perfectly happy as an independent, not really caring aobut conference affiliation, etc. That's about as ugly a setup for them as you can get.

Indeed. As much as Purple wants to think Indy is just the best thing in the world, it's so terrible that Liberty is forgoing being Indy to join one of the worst (if not the worst) FBS conference setup in history.

(11-05-2021 12:10 PM)POTUS#4 Wrote:  

(11-05-2021 11:57 AM)Dukester Wrote:  

(11-05-2021 11:47 AM)JMad03 Wrote:  

(11-05-2021 11:37 AM)hburg Wrote:  

Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk

I guess Liberty found a conference dysfunctional enough to accept them.
Does Liberty have any regional opponents they can drive to or their fans?
Their closest opponent is MTSU I believe. That's over a 7 hour drive. Yikes.
They do have a history of playing New Mexico State. I believe they played them twice in a single season.
Hard to imagine these schools are saving money with travel costs. Very spread out conference.
Making decisions based on desperation is always a bad move.

Travel and lack of rivals is going to be painful for that conference. I think LU would of been better to stay as an independent. I guess they just wanted to be accepted by someone.

Yeah we can put to rest all that spin about LU being perfectly happy as an independent, not really caring aobut conference affiliation, etc. That's about as ugly a setup for them as you can get.

Also looks like WKU/MTSU might be on the way out still. There is a MAC meeting today where this is likely the topic. If so, CUSA will need to find another team yet.

(11-05-2021 12:15 PM)jmufan2008 Wrote:  

(11-05-2021 12:10 PM)POTUS#4 Wrote:  

(11-05-2021 11:57 AM)Dukester Wrote:  

(11-05-2021 11:47 AM)JMad03 Wrote:  

(11-05-2021 11:37 AM)hburg Wrote:  

Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk

I guess Liberty found a conference dysfunctional enough to accept them.
Does Liberty have any regional opponents they can drive to or their fans?
Their closest opponent is MTSU I believe. That's over a 7 hour drive. Yikes.
They do have a history of playing New Mexico State. I believe they played them twice in a single season.
Hard to imagine these schools are saving money with travel costs. Very spread out conference.
Making decisions based on desperation is always a bad move.

Travel and lack of rivals is going to be painful for that conference. I think LU would of been better to stay as an independent. I guess they just wanted to be accepted by someone.

Yeah we can put to rest all that spin about LU being perfectly happy as an independent, not really caring aobut conference affiliation, etc. That's about as ugly a setup for them as you can get.

Indeed. As much as Purple wants to think Indy is just the best thing in the world, it's so terrible that Liberty is forgoing being Indy to join one of the worst (if not the worst) FBS conference setup in history.

Yep. I think it shows that Liberty would rather be in a garbage conference than Independent.
Even with the amount of money LU has, they still see a conference better than no conference.

If this happens, who joins CUSA next? Tarleton? They would be one short to keep FBS status.

Down to four indy’s

Notre Dame
Army
Uconn
Umass


2 of those are in big trouble.

(11-05-2021 12:19 PM)JMad03 Wrote:  ...

Even with the amount of money LU has, they still see a conference better than no conference.

And I think they're probably making the right call, as unfortunate as it is. They can obviously afford the extra travel expenses and so forth. Living as an independent is risky. There's a lot of stuff beyond your control. And there's no guarantee that the LU money machine will always run quite so hot as other schools continue to grab a piece of the online business.

(11-05-2021 12:19 PM)JMad03 Wrote:  

(11-05-2021 12:15 PM)jmufan2008 Wrote:  

(11-05-2021 12:10 PM)POTUS#4 Wrote:  

(11-05-2021 11:57 AM)Dukester Wrote:  

(11-05-2021 11:47 AM)JMad03 Wrote:  I guess Liberty found a conference dysfunctional enough to accept them.
Does Liberty have any regional opponents they can drive to or their fans?
Their closest opponent is MTSU I believe. That's over a 7 hour drive. Yikes.
They do have a history of playing New Mexico State. I believe they played them twice in a single season.
Hard to imagine these schools are saving money with travel costs. Very spread out conference.
Making decisions based on desperation is always a bad move.

Travel and lack of rivals is going to be painful for that conference. I think LU would of been better to stay as an independent. I guess they just wanted to be accepted by someone.

Yeah we can put to rest all that spin about LU being perfectly happy as an independent, not really caring aobut conference affiliation, etc. That's about as ugly a setup for them as you can get.

Indeed. As much as Purple wants to think Indy is just the best thing in the world, it's so terrible that Liberty is forgoing being Indy to join one of the worst (if not the worst) FBS conference setup in history.

Yep. I think it shows that Liberty would rather be in a garbage conference than Independent.
Even with the amount of money LU has, they still see a conference better than no conference.

sure. scheduling. bowl access, others... but I don't get why y'all are so programmed to be against Liberty? Yeah, they got their warts... but what about Penn State? or Baylor? why not so out-spoken about them? If Penn State want't to join the Sun Belt, would you freak out like you do about Liberty?
.

Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk

(11-05-2021 12:27 PM)Duke Dawg Wrote:  Down to four indy’s

Notre Dame
Army
Uconn
Umass


2 of those are in big trouble.

Yep - Uconn and Umass will be fine, but poor ND and Army.

(11-05-2021 12:19 PM)JMad03 Wrote:  

(11-05-2021 12:15 PM)jmufan2008 Wrote:  

(11-05-2021 12:10 PM)POTUS#4 Wrote:  Yeah we can put to rest all that spin about LU being perfectly happy as an independent, not really caring aobut conference affiliation, etc. That's about as ugly a setup for them as you can get.

Indeed. As much as Purple wants to think Indy is just the best thing in the world, it's so terrible that Liberty is forgoing being Indy to join one of the worst (if not the worst) FBS conference setup in history.

Yep. I think it shows that Liberty would rather be in a garbage conference than Independent.
Even with the amount of money LU has, they still see a conference better than no conference.

We could put that to rest a few years back when Liberty offered CUSA $24M just to join in 2017. They have proven on multiple occasions that even if a school can afford to be independent, it isn't ideal. JMU couldn't afford it and knew it wasn't the right path to FBS. Those that point to Liberty as an example that JMU should have gone Indy just to be FBS are delusional.

(11-05-2021 11:57 AM)Dukester Wrote:  

(11-05-2021 11:47 AM)JMad03 Wrote:  

(11-05-2021 11:37 AM)hburg Wrote:  

Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk

I guess Liberty found a conference dysfunctional enough to accept them.
Does Liberty have any regional opponents they can drive to or their fans?
Their closest opponent is MTSU I believe. That's over a 7 hour drive. Yikes.
They do have a history of playing New Mexico State. I believe they played them twice in a single season.
Hard to imagine these schools are saving money with travel costs. Very spread out conference.
Making decisions based on desperation is always a bad move.

Travel and lack of rivals is going to be painful for that conference. I think LU would of been better to stay as an independent. I guess they just wanted to be accepted by someone.

for all of those that advocated jmu go independent, even Liberty knows you need to be in a conference.

(11-05-2021 12:35 PM)Dukester Wrote:  

(11-05-2021 12:27 PM)Duke Dawg Wrote:  Down to four indy’s

Notre Dame
Army
Uconn
Umass


2 of those are in big trouble.

Yep - Uconn and Umass will be fine, but poor ND and Army.

UMASS heading back to the CAA, they just don't realize it yet... All for that A10 conference about to lose St. Louis and Dayton to the Big East Expansion coming up as their TV deal expires... terrible leadership if you think Jeffrey Bourne was bad. Deleware equally impotent.

(11-05-2021 12:43 PM)PGJMU2 Wrote:  

(11-05-2021 11:57 AM)Dukester Wrote:  

(11-05-2021 11:47 AM)JMad03 Wrote:  

(11-05-2021 11:37 AM)hburg Wrote:  

Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk

I guess Liberty found a conference dysfunctional enough to accept them.
Does Liberty have any regional opponents they can drive to or their fans?
Their closest opponent is MTSU I believe. That's over a 7 hour drive. Yikes.
They do have a history of playing New Mexico State. I believe they played them twice in a single season.
Hard to imagine these schools are saving money with travel costs. Very spread out conference.
Making decisions based on desperation is always a bad move.

Travel and lack of rivals is going to be painful for that conference. I think LU would of been better to stay as an independent. I guess they just wanted to be accepted by someone.

for all of those that advocated jmu go independent, even Liberty knows you need to be in a conference.

To be fair........all the indy advocates were for a *temporary* move to Indy so that we could be top of the list when the dominos start falling. Nobody was pushing for life as an Indy forever. It was all to add to our shine - ends up we didn't need it, but no way we could have really expected things to go THIS DAMN WELL

Lol assuming MTSU and WKU leave, look at this horrendous conference map:

I recommend that everyone watch the replay from the athletics committee.
While I am sure that JMU will say similar things, I doubt they will go into the level of detail that King went through today.
It truly showed the level of preparation they had and all the things that need to be considered for the move up.

I CANNOT wait for the official announcement and especially the introduction press conference.

I want a SBC shirt!!!

I dont know what it is, but the entire northeast sucks when it comes to football and university common sense. BC sucks, UCONN sucks, UMASS Sucks, Syracuse Sucks, Rutgers sucks.... all of it. terrible football period. James Madison the best of it all, but I think thats because you are not that far northeast. Virginia like the buffer zone.

https://newsadvance.com/sports/college/l...88cbf.html

There are some quotes in there from Liberty that look absolutely awful right now.

Quote:“I think there’s still some continuing moving pieces in realignment, and as that continues, we’ll continue to monitor the situation and again see if there’s a situation that would enhance our athletic program,” McCaw said Saturday at Apogee Stadium. “It would have to be very attractive because we like independent."

So yeah Liberty thinks the new CUSA is "very attractive" compared to independent. Yuck.

Quote:McCaw was a vocal proponent for the Group of Five leagues, namely the AAC, C-USA and Sun Belt, regionalizing into three new leagues that prioritized rivalries and condensed travel. “One of the things that’s becoming clear is the incremental revenue from television agreements at the Group of Five level is just not going to be there,” McCaw said. “I think it’s incumbent upon schools to explore regional opportunities where you create better rivalries, which enhances ticket sales and you also minimize expenses. I think any models that provide schools with opportunities that are regional will be certainly welcome.”

So yeah Liberty is going to join the least regionalized G5 conference?