We play 10 clunkers every year now—seems like a win to me.

(11-21-2020 09:45 AM)brizzock Wrote:  We play 10 clunkers every year now—seems like a win to me.

Plus no access to the access bowl or any bowl right now. And zero ability to have a FBS play at JMU. The downsides of going Indy seem pretty good to me.

(11-21-2020 10:11 AM)Curtisc83 Wrote:  

(11-21-2020 09:45 AM)brizzock Wrote:  We play 10 clunkers every year now—seems like a win to me.

Plus no access to the access bowl or any bowl right now. And zero ability to have a FBS play at JMU. The downsides of going Indy seem pretty good to me.

And you have no access to the access bowl now as FBS.

(11-21-2020 10:11 AM)Curtisc83 Wrote:  

(11-21-2020 09:45 AM)brizzock Wrote:  We play 10 clunkers every year now—seems like a win to me.

Plus no access to the access bowl or any bowl right now. And zero ability to have a FBS play at JMU. The downsides of going Indy seem pretty good to me.

But that sounds like we would basically be doing the same thing as now, but with more costs. So why would the downsides of Indy seem pretty good?

Spoke with a D1 AD today who is a friend. The Knight Commission is coming out out with some sort of statement or ruling about conference affiliation to allow movement among conferences without exit fees. Conference commissioners may try to block it.

ASUN long range goal as a conference is FBS football. The commissioner is courting JMU. No word on if JMU is interested.

(11-22-2020 12:24 AM)JMUNation Wrote:  Spoke with a D1 AD today who is a friend. The Knight Commission is coming out out with some sort of statement or ruling about conference affiliation to allow movement among conferences without exit fees. Conference commissioners may try to block it.

ASUN long range goal as a conference is FBS football. The commissioner is courting JMU. No word on if JMU is interested.

Take a peek at the Knight Commission website.

Can’t help wondering whether if founding fathers had run into NCAA autobid rule, Title IX, and exit fees they’d have called off the Continental Congress as being a bridge too far. We’d probably all still be British subjects.

(11-22-2020 12:24 AM)JMUNation Wrote:  Spoke with a D1 AD today who is a friend. The Knight Commission is coming out out with some sort of statement or ruling about conference affiliation to allow movement among conferences without exit fees. Conference commissioners may try to block it.

ASUN long range goal as a conference is FBS football. The commissioner is courting JMU. No word on if JMU is interested.

An actual rumor, this good.

1) Seems to me like any commissioner trying to block movement between G5 leagues would cause that commissioner to be vilified immediately by any group of school interested in making a move for travel costs reasons...1 step closer to public fighting within the g5s which is good.

2) Is the ASUN courting ODU and/or any other mid Atlantic g5s? If not, this seems like the Sunbelt all over again sans an App State type draw.

3) Is the future state ASUN a football only option?

This rumor just reminds me of how disappointing the Joey D era has been for the CAA. I get that when he took over the conference has experienced some big losses due to expansion in other conferences but IMO the Caa from a hoops and Football perspective had an opportunity to go on offense and expand and perhaps become a FBS football league as well. He’s shown no interest in that. The commissioner in a way takes direction from the members but he also has to have vision. Even media rights - I was mistaken in thinking that a guy with a Big East pedigree would think big- instead he seems like a guy perfectly ok with the CAA just being middle of the road at that.

People call for Alger and JMU leadership to be replaced/ what about Joey D- Tom Yeager accomplished a ton in his time at the helm. The CAA is going to die a slow death if he keeps being reactive instead of proactive. None of these other conferences from Acc to mid major A-10 cared about their peers interests when they expanded/ they expanded because they had vision and because they had to in order to survive. The Caa should have had this mindset years ago into today.

Another great thing about a Knight Commission or similar media chats about conferences is the fanning of the flames on the quad. I sense that even traditional admin supporters are finding it harder to defend deafening silence from Godwin Hall on anything besides political correctness.

Que apologist posting: Covid will prevent any football considerations by the admin for the next 20 years!

JMU already spends the money, if money is the concern, the better debate would be if JMU can continue paying mid level fbs money for fcs product and continue asking alum/students to pay for it after having done so for the past 15 years of being more or as ready as programs reaping the benefits of fbs football; better paydays, better OoC scheduling options, better PR, and thanks to Coastal, Liberty, App and Marshall, proof that G5s can make noise.

(11-21-2020 01:19 PM)AssyrianDuke Wrote:  But that sounds like we would basically be doing the same thing as now, but with more costs.

How much are these “more costs”? The answer is “not much”. You already are paying FBS G5 costs for an FCS product. You have already invested in the facilities. Your already paying the costs without receiving any of the benefits.

ASUN? That’s not even worthy of a rumor. Look up their membership. You want that as your football schedule? The Indy path is yours for the taking. Create your own best schedule with regional P5, G5, and Indy games plus a few travel buy games to balance the books.

Tom Yeager at least had a vision. He did approach the NCAA about the CAA having a FBS division. He lacked the support of the members and ability To get it done. He accepted no for an answer. But at least he saw the vision of schools moving up together as FBS instead of having the CAA being a stepping stone for individual programs ascending one at a time.

Liberty, on the other hand, rightly looked at the “no Indy” rules as anti-competitive and unenforceable. They challenged the “no” and just did it.

The great miss by JMU is their slow reaction to this change. Indy is better than FCS and it’s better than G5. JMU is unique and well positioned to succeed as FBS Indy. Others, including past JMU leaders, have built a foundation for the move and opened the door. The current leadership just needs to step through the open door, not just monitor. If you are truly monitoring, you should see that the door is wide open.

Are the alumni too introverted to let them know what the monitors are missing?

(11-22-2020 09:28 AM)FBS Dave Wrote:  Tom Yeager at least had a vision. He did approach the NCAA about the CAA having a FBS division. He lacked the support of the members and ability To get it done. He accepted no for an answer. But at least he saw the vision of schools moving up together as FBS instead of having the CAA being a stepping stone for individual programs ascending one at a time.

Liberty, on the other hand, rightly looked at the “no Indy” rules as anti-competitive and unenforceable. They challenged the “no” and just did it.

The great miss by JMU is their slow reaction to this change. Indy is better than FCS and it’s better than G5. JMU is unique and well positioned to succeed as FBS Indy. Others, including past JMU leaders, have built a foundation for the move and opened the door. The current leadership just needs to step through the open door, not just monitor. If you are truly monitoring, you should see that the door is wide open.

Are the alumni too introverted to let them know what the monitors are missing?

I agree, but indy is not a popular option among JMU faithful. Even on this board, where dwell the hardest of hardcore Dukes fanatics, you will find very few advocates of the indy route to FBS. Only me and a few others openly support going FBS indy.

I have no idea why. It seems that many have some need to cling to a conference like a security blanket. To me, indy is a very exciting prospect, far superior to being in any available conference, even the AAC. The flexibility in scheduling and the upside potential that Liberty has proven is all the evidence you need. Yet, most still cannot see it.

With the FBS label, we will routinely be able to schedule P5 teams that turn us down today because we are FCS and those teams can't afford the humiliation of losing to an FCS team.

I am only one voice here, but I say go FBS indy NOW!

The alumni that care aren’t introverted, but they are permissive. We are where we are because it has been allowed to happen. Some are even happy with where we are at, enjoying spending a FBS type $52 million per year and dumbfoundingly staying in FCS while the other 16 JMU sports compete at the highest level.

I’m not a fan of the Indy route because our administration Has a track record of struggling just to schedule 3 OOC games a year. “It’s soooooo hard” is the stock line. That only gets exacerbated by them trying to schedule 12 games. Their heads may explode like it is some kind of Mensa calculus. If we had a different AD that had clout and connections in the FBS world then I would be more inclined to endorse the Indy route and have confidence a good schedule could be created annually.

Does anyone have an ounce of belief that Alger would hire a strong, power broker AD when Bourne retires? Nope.

That is a very interesting point and everything mentioned is valid. Absolutely deserves monitoring of the situation :)

(11-22-2020 10:15 AM)Hart Foundation Wrote:  The alumni that care aren’t introverted, but they are permissive. We are where we are because it has been allowed to happen. Some are even happy with where we are at, enjoying spending a FBS type $52 million per year and dumbfoundingly staying in FCS while the other 16 JMU sports compete at the highest level.

I’m not a fan of the Indy route because our administration Has a track record of struggling just to schedule 3 OOC games a year. “It’s soooooo hard” is the stock line. That only gets exacerbated by them trying to schedule 12 games. Their heads may explode like it is some kind of Mensa calculus. If we had a different AD that had clout and connections in the FBS world then I would be more inclined to endorse the Indy route and have confidence a good schedule could be created annually.

Does anyone have an ounce of belief that Alger would hire a strong, power broker AD when Bourne retires? Nope.

There are other transitions to new leadership than just retirement.

(11-22-2020 10:15 AM)Hart Foundation Wrote:  The alumni that care aren’t introverted, but they are permissive. We are where we are because it has been allowed to happen. Some are even happy with where we are at, enjoying spending a FBS type $52 million per year and dumbfoundingly staying in FCS while the other 16 JMU sports compete at the highest level.

I’m not a fan of the Indy route because our administration Has a track record of struggling just to schedule 3 OOC games a year. “It’s soooooo hard” is the stock line. That only gets exacerbated by them trying to schedule 12 games. Their heads may explode like it is some kind of Mensa calculus. If we had a different AD that had clout and connections in the FBS world then I would be more inclined to endorse the Indy route and have confidence a good schedule could be created annually.

Does anyone have an ounce of belief that Alger would hire a strong, power broker AD when Bourne retires? Nope.

There are other transitions to new leadership than just retirement.

(11-22-2020 10:15 AM)Hart Foundation Wrote:  The alumni that care aren’t introverted, but they are permissive. We are where we are because it has been allowed to happen. Some are even happy with where we are at, enjoying spending a FBS type $52 million per year and dumbfoundingly staying in FCS while the other 16 JMU sports compete at the highest level.

I’m not a fan of the Indy route because our administration Has a track record of struggling just to schedule 3 OOC games a year. “It’s soooooo hard” is the stock line. That only gets exacerbated by them trying to schedule 12 games. Their heads may explode like it is some kind of Mensa calculus. If we had a different AD that had clout and connections in the FBS world then I would be more inclined to endorse the Indy route and have confidence a good schedule could be created annually.

Does anyone have an ounce of belief that Alger would hire a strong, power broker AD when Bourne retires? Nope.

Alger is nothing but an impediment to anything besides political correctness speak. When Bourne retires, its the next state employee seniority list that will decide whom is the next AD, the JMU way. We already know the next AD's name.

(11-22-2020 10:15 AM)Hart Foundation Wrote:  The alumni that care aren’t introverted, but they are permissive. We are where we are because it has been allowed to happen. Some are even happy with where we are at, enjoying spending a FBS type $52 million per year and dumbfoundingly staying in FCS while the other 16 JMU sports compete at the highest level.

I’m not a fan of the Indy route because our administration Has a track record of struggling just to schedule 3 OOC games a year. “It’s soooooo hard” is the stock line. That only gets exacerbated by them trying to schedule 12 games. Their heads may explode like it is some kind of Mensa calculus. If we had a different AD that had clout and connections in the FBS world then I would be more inclined to endorse the Indy route and have confidence a good schedule could be created annually.

Does anyone have an ounce of belief that Alger would hire a strong, power broker AD when Bourne retires? Nope.

Our difficulty scheduling right now is because of the stench of the FCS label. FBS teams don't want to play us because they can't afford to lose to an FCS team. FCS teams don't want to play us because they don't like getting clobbered. Who can blame them.

The FBS label makes all the difference. Then, FBS teams will see us as a peer and losing to a peer isn't intolerable. Thus, it will make it easier to schedule them. We will likely still play an FCS team once or twice a year. FCS teams losing to FBS teams is expected and doesn't hurt their playoff chances. Thus, they too will be easier to schedule. Of course, playing the other indies is a no-brainer.

I just don't see the mind-numbing difficulty in scheduling that others see. And, if it is harder, so be it. It isn't impossible. Just get it done!

Go FBS indy NOW!

I'm past ready for an Indy home skej of ND St, Appy, ECU, Liberty, Army and NM. I see no reason why that skej wouldnt result in increased donations and a sold out Bridgeforth every week. I'm tired of OOC cupcakes and mediocre CAA contests where I wind up more interested in the halftime show and beating the traffic.