JMU will someday learn that it takes exactly one bad coaching hire to undo years of success. It has happened to all of us, they are not immune. Napier will get another P4 shot soon enough, and the dice will have to be rolled again to hit it right on the replacement hire. At some point they will miss, and the recovery time will take years.

We are all train stations on the midway point of the track of college athletics. Not just for players, for coaches too. And we all have no room for error.

(10-08-2026 01:02 PM)rbarthle17 Wrote:  JMU will someday learn that it takes exactly one bad coaching hire to undo years of success. It has happened to all of us, they are not immune. Napier will get another P4 shot soon enough, and the dice will have to be rolled again to hit it right on the replacement hire. At some point they will miss, and the recovery time will take years.

We are all train stations on the midway point of the track of college athletics. Not just for players, for coaches too. And we all have no room for error.

You guys have all told us this so - many - times …we get it

It also seems that you are rooting against our success, despite how it has helped the SBC and everyone’s coffers and SOS.

If JMU fans said half the BS yall do, there would be a riot.

As an institution the trajectory has always always been “more, better, bigger, and grow even as the underdog” - that’s never changing and we don’t hire Presidents, coaches or make BOV appointments unless they are on the train.

(10-08-2026 01:26 PM)bcp_jmu Wrote:  

(10-08-2026 01:02 PM)rbarthle17 Wrote:  JMU will someday learn that it takes exactly one bad coaching hire to undo years of success. It has happened to all of us, they are not immune. Napier will get another P4 shot soon enough, and the dice will have to be rolled again to hit it right on the replacement hire. At some point they will miss, and the recovery time will take years.

We are all train stations on the midway point of the track of college athletics. Not just for players, for coaches too. And we all have no room for error.

You guys have all told us this so - many - times …we get it

It also seems that you are rooting against our success, despite how it has helped the SBC and everyone’s coffers and SOS.

If JMU fans said half the BS yall do, there would be a riot.

As an institution the trajectory has always always been “more, better, bigger, and grow even as the underdog” - that’s never changing and we don’t hire Presidents, coaches or make BOV appointments unless they are on the train.

Not rooting against you at all, unless it's the head to head meeting.

But we've seen the bluster from your fan base that just assumes this ride will go on and on, and we know what's coming for you. In no small part because 10 years ago we WERE you. Riding high and having taken the SBC by storm, continuing what for us was a nearly 30 year run of success with few bumps in that road. We dominated the Sun Belt in football from the second half of our first season on for the next 5 years. We were loud and brash and many thought we would keep on keeping on. Then Satterfield left, Drinkwitz had a good year with returning players but did nothing to help the long term success, and then we made the hire that ended up being the wrong one. The downturn began, and it's taken 5 years to bottom out and start to right that ship so far.

You haven't yet, but you're going to miss on one. That is a rock solid guarantee. Then we see how good your program is in terms of how long the bottoming out and rebound take.

What you call "rooting against you" is in fact something very different. It's called lived experience. We know what's coming for you eventually. Nobody at this level is immune from it. Except maybe Boise, but you're not that. Nobody in the SBC is.

Enjoy this ride you are on now, for sure. It's been a good one.

The College Sports Commission is currently investigating 5-10 P4 schools for violation of NIL and bypassing the revenue sharing cap. This is probably going to become a very normal thing going forward. I am sure some very creative ways to skirt the rules have been and will continue to be created.

(10-08-2026 04:05 PM)islandTROYtrojan Wrote:  The College Sports Commission is currently investigating 5-10 P4 schools for violation of NIL and bypassing the revenue sharing cap. This is probably going to become a very normal thing going forward. I am sure some very creative ways to skirt the rules have been and will continue to be created.

The Commission will be so angered and appalled by the actions of certain Cartel schools that they will put Kennesaw St on 3 years probation to send a message.

(10-08-2026 05:48 PM)olddawg Wrote:  

(10-08-2026 04:05 PM)islandTROYtrojan Wrote:  The College Sports Commission is currently investigating 5-10 P4 schools for violation of NIL and bypassing the revenue sharing cap. This is probably going to become a very normal thing going forward. I am sure some very creative ways to skirt the rules have been and will continue to be created.

The Commission will be so angered and appalled by the actions of certain Cartel schools that they will put Kennesaw St on 3 years probation to send a message.

Good laugh. So true. The ones being investigated will probably be on the warpath to have the CSC disbanded or curtailed in some way. How dare they try to enforce rules brought on by power conferences to regulate the purchase of the best team. The audacity of it all!!

(10-04-2026 05:45 AM)Tech80 Wrote:  Miami's QB Mensah, started at Tulane, went to Duke, and is now the highest paid player, close to $7 million in total compensation, in the nation. My brother is a Tulane grad and HUGE fan, of course, and he tells me about all the former Tulane players now making $bucks playing elsewhere. Same thing has happened, and will continue to happen, to all G6 schools. Recently, in a news conference Coach Cumbie rattled off a list of now former Tech players, being paid, who could have actually made us pretty darn good this year...had they stayed.

As some have lamented, it's the reality of the purposeful separation of the haves and have-nots.

True. JMU has an even longer list.
-Cignetti took 15 JMU players to IU. Most of them were recruited by an FCS JMU. 7-8 were starting 2 years ago. 3 were drafted (2nd, 4th, 7th rounds) in this past draft.

For this year 20 JMU players ended up at P4.
-11 UCLA. 1st game notes 8 on 2 deep/7 starting.
-2 Iowa
-2 Colorado
-1 UCF (QB Barnett, last yr‘s SBC Offensive POTY)
-1 Auburn
-1 UF
-1 OK St
-1 PSU

JMU is losing these guys (40+ since moved up) since don‘t have the NIL resources to keep them. And I’m pretty sure JMU isn’t tops in the East in NIL. Have only 3 returning starters + a 4th from 2024. Have reloaded this season with a mix of FCS, DIV II and Div III all stars, G6 and P4 cast offs. Even have 2 starters on the OL that started out at Div III.

"The NCAA exists to foster student-athlete well-being, ensure fair and inclusive competition, and create opportunities for academic and athletic achievement. We champion integrity, access and student success across all sports and divisions."

This is the core mission of the NCAA. Maybe they have a very narrow view of fair competition and limited to the rules are the same for each team on the field/court, but I believe it should be broad and encompass the entirety of the sports programs. For example, you have teams like Ohio St receiving $91.7 million per year in conference distributions, while stAte is only receiving around $2.8 million per year. Is that fair competition? Does this help create equal opportunity?

In the NBA, each team receives an equal share of National media deals, league wide sponsorships and licensing. The NFL equally shares national media deal amongst all teams, and 40% of all ticket sales are also equally distributed. The MLB equally distributes national media deals, league wide sponsorships and licensing, and 48% of local media deals.

Having the grossly uneven national media deals between conferences has perpetuated the disparity between leagues and has been an unfair practice. All teams have the same qualification and classification, but the "G6" conferences are treated as second class. They have historically not had the same representation on committees or access to playoffs. I've long thought there should be a class action of the "Group of" conferences to sue the "Power" conferences and the NCAA for this unfair practice and discrimination. I'm no legal expert, and know this would be a huge uphill battle, as we would likely not get a fair shake due to the "Power" bias. Additionally, I could see the "Group of" schools be very hesitant to jump on board with this, due to their presidents possibly being alums of "Power" schools, or worried that signing on could prevent them from ever being hired at a "Power" school, or even local government pushback to protect the "flagship" universities.