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RE: The Future of JMU Athletics
(04-23-2019 11:41 AM)ShadyP Wrote: (04-23-2019 11:17 AM)Dukester Wrote: (04-23-2019 10:44 AM)ShadyP Wrote: (04-23-2019 10:33 AM)Dukester Wrote: (04-23-2019 10:10 AM)PGJMU2 Wrote: outside of a vocal minority, I believe most fans believe football is in the right place. Winning Nat Champs and positioned for a move when it makes sense. Even if you dont agree with our conference, it is hard to say football is in a bad spot.
so that really leaves one issue, which is mens basketball on which we all agree. Some believe we have not made an investment, while I and others believe we are making prudent decisions. Some look at the hiring of Lou as going cheap and not making an investment. I believe it was the unwillingness to over pay for unproven coaching talent available when Lou was hired. as I understand it, the pool was not strong and "name / sizzle" coach (Sanchez - 8 wins @ UNCC) wanted to be overpaid due to lack of facilities. $90 million facility is quite an investment. If Lou does not succeed, lets see what the admin does.
lastly, we talk about peers. Stanford, UVa, UNC, Michigan, Florida, Texas, etc all have strong athletic programs from top to bottom, men and woman. A10, CUSA, Sunbelt, App State, Ga Southern, Marshall, Charlotte, GW, Duquesne, St. Bonnies, VCU, Dayton, etc. Do not.
turkey and mashed potatoes without Gravy, just seem dry to me.
I believe it was unwillingness to pay for proven coaching talent when Lou was hired. That continues to be the problem.
I hate even commenting on this thread, because I think the future is bright, of course that will be subject future Presidents and ADs.
So you pay for one kid to go to W&M, one to go to Harvard, and the third one you won't even pay for NOVA. Does that mean the kid that you won't even pay to go to NOVA should be fine based on the success of the other two?
Two Premier programs. One well managed, the other couldn't be much worse.
Ratings Based on potential
Football = 10
Men's Basketball = 1
Softball = 10
Women's Lacrosse = 10
Women's basketball = 9
Baseball = 2
Everybody hits and misses on coaches. But hiring Lou was hardly even trying. Not one of the other 350 division 1 schools wanted him as head coach. Lou can be a very good assistant coach. He was put in a position to fail, much like the position we put Dillard in by holding onto him for so long.
We expect a successful Men's program at the same cost of our Women's program.
Anyone think that makes sense? PG, make sense to you?
And which of the 350 division 1 schools wanted to hire Matt Brady after he was fired, zero.
Would have been the right move to over pay for Sanchez who won 8 games and also lost to JMU this past season. I mean if Sanchez was so great beating JMU at home for him should have been a gimme.
Let's just let bball play out for another season and it will be crystal clear if Lou stays/goes.
As for baseball while it is a must that Ike make the CAA tournament to remain this season. Anyone that says this team is not way better than what Spanky has not seen this team play. The baseball team is poised to success if they can stay healthy. The FR SS out with a broken leg does not help and the FR 3rd basemen missing 1.5 weeks after a fastball to the noggin hurt. The position players on the baseball team are young and the pitching staff ERA is like half of what it was in Spanky's last season.
"Better than Spanky".
Better than Keener.
You and I have different goals.
Baseball and Basketball should be top 4 most years and #1 or #2 at least every three years.
Baseball and Basketball have tremendous potential at JMU.
I'm looking for coaches that have the experience and results to suggest they will be will succeed at JMU.
Football coaches - Matthews, Withers, Houston, Cig. All had had success and/or bigger positions running programs.
How does that compare to what we got for Men's basketball or Baseball?
With Ike we got VMI's coach that was out of coaching for a year. The best we can do in baseball is getting a coach that VMI no longer wanted? Really? Oh yeah, but Dukester "he's better than Spanky".
And by the way - Spanky made it to the CAA tourney 4 of his last 5 years. How is that better than 0-3 Ike?
It is always cute that some folks mis-state things to make some point. Ike made the CAA tournament once, has missed twice. Yes, it should be a rare instance when JMU misses the CAA tournament.
I don't think what we want is that different. I just think your expectations for rapid turnarounds of 2 programs (Mbball and baseball) that have been neglected in unrealistic. JMU with both programs was not in a position to land immediate recruits that were college ready to come in and turn around on a dime. With baseball pitching is KEY and JMU had very little when Spanky left. And contrary to what some folks think, JMU cannot sign freshman that make an immediate, significant impact as a starting pitcher (position players yes, pitchers no) those kids go the P5 programs or get drafted out of HS. JMU has to develop pitchers and pitching depth. JMU recruiting was a joke the last couple of years under Spanky...........JMU did NOT go to the major showcase tournaments, every other school in VA would be there, but JMU was absent. In recruiting out of sight out of mind, that is what Ike had to deal with and correct when he got here.......what any coach would have had to deal with.
My expectation is for JMU to regularly be a top 4 conference team in all sports and win conference titles. But I am not unrealistic and expect a program to go from bad to good in a year or 2.
The good news for some is that if Ike cannot get it done this year he will be gone, same as Lou.
JMU is patient with coaches for good reason and is NOT gonna waste money on a buyout for baseball, not buy out a coach with multiple years remaining.
But we're not talking about "a year or 2" with either MBB or BB. It's year 4 for Ike and LR's 4th coming up.
Patience is a virtue, but both MBB and BB have been languishing for years. I place the blame on the administration for being "patient" with HC's that should have been let go much, much earlier when it became evident that they weren't going to succeed at JMU.
Hope also springs eternal, and I'm hopeful the new United Arena does wonders for recruiting, and Ike somehow turn things around, and LR has a breakout year this Fall. That said, I don't believe either Ike or LR are the right guys to lead their respective programs forward. The bar is higher, and in that regard regard I'm in the same corner as Dukester.
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