ODU formally announced they are accepting their invitation to Conference USA today. They will be joining in all sports except football beginning Summer 2013 and for football in 2015. Obviously this is disappointing, concerning, disturbing, and largely just plain sad for JMU fans. To watch a school we wouldn’t wipe our feet with academically that just started football three years ago pass us by and leave us holding our shiny new stadium (and our dicks) just makes you feel like some big meathead kid stole your middle-school girlfriend.
There are a million JMU angles to cover from this story and we need to credit the following Twitter folks (schools they cover or are associated with in parens) in advance for ripping off some of today’s best material: @BGMull (UNCW), @defiantlydutch (Hofstra), @caahoops, @MarkRSelig (JMU), @ChrisMottram (GMU), @CAArleigh (JMU/CAA), @SeanDKennedy (CAA Norfolk angle), @batogato (W&M), @Brian_Ewart (Nova), @Gheorghetheblog (W&M), @FairbankDP (ODU), @Dukie95 (JMU), @ry_hudson (JMU), @CurtDudley (JMU), @NUHF (Northeastern), @D1scource. Thanks to all of you for making today a little more light-hearted than it otherwise might have been.
Here are the important links for your consideration:
The Norfolk view of the move. What this story fails to mention is that in addition to the $250,000 exit fee for the CAA, ODU is on the hook for a $2.5M entrance fee to CUSA, and you know, the added forty five or so scholarships (jump in football from FCS to FBS plus accompanying jump in women’s schollies to remain compliant with Title IX). So that’s really nice that ODU claims they’ve raised $3M in private donations and won’t be raising student fees, but that’s close to $5M a year increase for a fledgling program already in the hole from startup costs who plays in an ancient p.o.s. stadium with no parking and little chance of short-term expansion or increased revenue streams. Good Gosh! Bet the Virginia General Assembly’s going to be thrilled if ODU comes looking for a handout ten years from now!
For reference’s sake, here’s an amazing chart from USA Today that breaks down the finances of 227 schools. That “% subsidized” column on the end represents the percentage of that school’s athletics budget that comes from student fees. You will notice that the Virginia schools have some of the highest percentages in the nation. But before you go freaking out and calling your local Tea Party rep, you need to hear the whole story. As it turns out Virginia is one of the only states that doesn’t allow it’s public schools to pad their athetic budgets with money from the university’s general fund (i.e. tuition). In other states, schools just steal from their academic funds to pay for sports and don’t have to tell anyone. At least at JMU it’s honest and transparent that thet is where your student fees are largely going. You can always vote with your feet by going somewhere else, but you’d be a dumbass because even after these fees, JMU is one of the best values in public higher education in the country when you compare it with the tuition at other schools (tuition, by the way, that is presumably inflated by having to unknowingly subsidize athletics).
The CAA’s statement on the matter from Commissioner Tom Yeager. The highlight here are that he believes the dust has finally settled for this year and the CAA can now aggressively pursue new members. Those rumored to be at the top of the list include Stony Brook (solid football in a solid location for growth and would please the football-only affiliate members up north), Davidson (has football and more suited academically to CAA than their current conference, but why would they leave the cushiness they enjoy in hoops?), UNC-Greensboro (no football, but would be a solid and appeasing rival for UNCW with a large enrollment in a metro area), Coastal Carolina (has football, sucks academically, would be natural rival for UNCW), and College of Charleston (not gonna happen though would make for a nice road trip occassionally).
Yeager also provided the comment that led to my favorite part of the day. The CAA has a rule in place that when you leave the conference, you are no longer eligible for the CAA Hoops tourney. He stated that the remaining members would vote on whether to lift the rule for ODU for this year because ODU requested they be allowed to compete since they’ve been such a long-time member. WAAHHHH, WAAHHHH! Said @defiantlydutch: ODU wants to be allowed to compete in CAA Hoops tourney next year. Related: I want $40M dropped from a plane onto my lawn. That’s chutzpah from ODU. Like dumping your wife for a trophy blonde and asking if you can still store your stuff at home.
Here is the statement from JMU today and if you read nothing else, read this one. It’s appropriate and says basically all the things we want to hear. Of course, one could also snark that what it doesn’t say is “we’re all committed because we’ve got no place else that want our sorry asses.” It’s also nice that we want to maintain our high standards on the academic side, and if you told me something like, say, JMU and W&M were going to the Patriot League and deemphasizing football, it would be hard to say that’s entirely wrong. But then again, there’s that shiny new $70M stadium that says that was never the plan but we’ve been derailed by the lack of a television market.
On that note, rest assured we’ll have plenty of time for the knashing of teeth and to debate the merits of the FireJeffBourne crowd this summer and presumably on the occasional fall Saturday without even an internet feed at ghetto Bailey’s/Big Al’s for years to come so we’d kindly ask that we all back off of our Gingrichian reactionary statements and let this breathe for a day or so. After all, JMU isn’t doing shit this year except trying in vain to convince football recruits JMU remains a better option than the school in Norfolk they don’t have to study to attend. And it’s not that a long history of things like “@ Eastern Kentucky” don’t make it extremely difficult to trust our AD’s competence, it’s just that there are a lot of ways to look at this and not all of them involve football. (wait, what the f did I just say?!)
Finally, I loved this from @D1scource today and I think it was echoed well in JMU’s statement on our own mission: “The three most powerful forces in conference realignment are fear, greed, and a myopia that fails to recognize nothing is permanent.” That last one in particular is what stands out. If ODU is sure that a nationwide conference of mostly financial losers is going to be around for them in the 2015 college football season, then good for them. But if JMU wants to consider our own academics, the academics of our conference brethren, and the long-term plan for the university (you know, the EDUCATIONAL institution we all attended), then I’m going to give them a little longer leash to explain JMU’s position and direction.
Okay, that wasn’t the end. One last thing: I friggin’ hate ODU now. I fake hated them before, but this is damn miserable and I hope they bankrupt their entire athletic department and they get their ass handed to them every time their women’s basketball team makes an overnight flight to San Antonio or Ruston, Louisiana (as Curt Dudley said, Kenny Brooks’ teams finally ran them right out of the league!). As always It’s also going to be this blog’s mission from now until this year’s game in the ‘Burg to make ODU’s fans’ trips for that tilt as miserable as humanly possible. Monarchs: GFY dbags!
Just when we started to believe that the CAA might somehow survive this summer intact, news broke that VCU is on its way to the Atlantic 10 in 2013. That figures. We write a post about the CAA weathering the storm, and then the boat starts rocking almost immediately. In this latest report, CBS Sports’ Brett McMurphy states that the announcement that VCU is leaving will be made on Tuesday, May 15. We’ve been down this road before, only to have reported announcement dates come and pass without as much as a peep. For whatever reason people seem to be taking this latest report as truth. Maybe it’s because we haven’t had any half-hearted or rushed denials from the CAA or VCU since the report broke. And we still have yet to see how ODU’s flirtation with C-USA plays out. Never a dull moment in the CAA.
When the original VCU to the A10 rumors broke, it seemed like a no-brainer to us. However, the longer things dragged on without the Rams leaving, the more we thought they’d stay. With the addition of Butler and now VCU, the A10 could have dramatically improved as a hoops league. Of course any conference is just one move away from being raided. With the rumor machine working over-drive on potential ACC and Big East changes, several A10 programs could be in the crosshairs in the near future. The CAA is anything but stable lately though, so apparently VCU believes the risk exceeds the reward. Financially, it’s certainly no sure thing. As Mike Litos explained, the financial upside to VCU’s leap to the A10 depends almost entirely on the Rams’ getting NCAA tournament bids. And as countless others have pointed out already, VCU won’t have home court advantage in the A10 tourney like they’ve had for the CAA tourney.
That’s all well and good. However, the real tasty nugget in McMurphy’s report as far as we’re concerned, was this little bit about George Mason’s decision to stick with the CAA.
On Friday, George Mason, which along with VCU and Butler had discussions with the Atlantic 10, announced it was staying in the CAA. However, sources told CBSSports.com at the present time the Atlantic 10 was looking to add only one more school and VCU got the nod over Mason.
Well now. That’s certainly a different spin than the one that Mason put on the news last Friday. As fans of a JMU hoops program that can’t sniff CAA Saturday tourney play lately, let alone draw interest from other leagues, we’re in no position to mock Mason. If we were more petty however, we might point out that Mason’s “decision” to remain in the CAA was not a decision at all. When Mason AD Tom O’Connor said “We felt it was in our best interests to stay,” he really meant it. Because they had no offers to go anywhere else. It would be a little bit like the producers of the forthcoming cinematic travesty Battleship, announcing that they had “decided” to remove the picture from Oscar consideration. Or if I announced that I’d “decided” not to sleep with Kate Upton. Or if Nickleback “decided” not to headline Coachella. Of course since we’re not that petty, we won’t point that out. But maybe you will.
…for now. With the news last Friday that George Mason has decided to stay in the CAA for now, the gloom-and-doom clouds we felt with the news that ODU has a Conference USA invite on the table the week before began to clear a bit. With VCU still weighing the A-10 and ODU a couple weeks from a decision, it’s entirely possible this is just the eye of the storm and we’re not actually in the clear, but gotta admit Mason acted downright rational and responsible in this case.
I’m certainly guilty of immediately thinking GMU and VCU would almost have to go A-10 when presented with an opportunity. As anyone who follows CAA hoops can tell you, it’s absolute bullshit that in the CAA, a conference with TWO Final Four appearances in the last six years, a team can win the regular season, go 16-2 in conference, lose a virtual road game in the conference tourney, and still be jilted come selection Sunday (see Drexel two months ago). Whereas the A-10 almost always pulls down three to four bids. But here’s the question we may have been missing: even at the FCS level, is it possible a conference with football in its portfolio is better than one w/out it? At least from a non-football members’ point of view? Most of us assumed the A-10 was in better position because of their standard multi-bid status, but the news we’ve been hearing lately is that financially they’re just not setup as well as the football conferences, possibly even including conferences like the CAA with their freshly inked NBCSports deal. And when that means abandoning a conference you founded and all the regional and traditional rivalries that go with it to absorb higher travel costs for everything (not just men’s hoops, but also women’s tennis), GMU seemed to make one of the first sensible decisions we’ve seen in that regard these past few months.
What does it mean? Who knows. VCU’s position is different and of course they’ve got an old rival in the University of Richmond in the A-10 already. And ODU is dealing with an entirely different decision altogether. Their stated goal is to move up to FBS, but they never knew an opportunity would come so quickly and is this really the right opportunity? Will they regret a few years from now if, as we’ve been discussing here, FCS falls apart entirely, with a few of the stronger teams/conferences, of which many CAA brethren might be grouped, becoming the bottom of FBS, and the rest fading back to something like D2 status?
And then there’s JMU. Still left holding the bag and seemingly at the mercy of the CAA’s fortunes. Largely due to the unfortunate fact of geography, but also hard to let our current administration off the hook entirely. But at least for the moment, Dukes should be thanking Patriots! Now that’s something you don’t hear everyday. Might even have to revise our position on Doc Nix.
Over 3,500 graduates joined the ranks of JMU alumni last Saturday. And to each of you, we say congratulations. It’s only been a few days, so we’re sure things haven’t really sunk in yet. You’re probably still bumming around with your friends, drinking heavily, and paying the tab with money dear old mom and dad put in your pocket. Over the past 4 (or 5) years, you were blessed to be a part of the pleasant little utopia in the Shenandoah Valley known as JMU. We were there once to and we loved it. Like you, we had grown accustomed to the rather comfortable little JMU lifestyle. We left campus anyway and marched out into world confident that JMU had prepared us for all the future could throw at us, convinced that the good times would never end. Only we were wrong. JMU did not prepare us for the real world. At all. And it didn’t prepare you for it either. It actually set you up to be disappointed. Very, very disappointed. And that’s because JMU is awesome and the real world sucks. In the real world you can’t just walk into a house, grab a beer, drink yourself silly, and stumble home with an attractive member of the opposite sex. That doesn’t happen. In the real world the drinks are expensive and most people are ugly.
By now you’re probably sick of old people giving you the terrible advice and pumping you full of sunshine. You should be sick of it because old people suck. Trust us. We are old people. And like all other old people, you will find us insufferable. Because we are. We are tired and worn out and we’ll try very hard to act young and hip when we meet you. It will come across as very sad. Because it is. And once we realize that you pity us, we will lash out and start raving about insignificant things like how you young people just don’t get it. Or we’ll lecture about how all those pictures on Facebook and Twitter are going to prevent you from getting a job. Which is ridiculous, because those pictures should help you get a job. Provided of course that you find out who else is interviewing for the same jobs as you and you tag them in every single incriminating photo you can find. It’s a tough job market. Dog eat dog.
And about those job things. Most of you probably don’t have one. Those of you that somehow did manage to secure an offer are about to be very disappointed. You are not going to be on the fast track working on important projects. You are going to do the same old boring sh*t everyone else does. And you’re going to do it the same way it’s always been done, because that’s how the world works. And you’ll do it every day. For 8 to 10 hours a day. For the next 45 years. You thought that having two classes on Fridays that one semester was bad? You’ll long for those days when you’re in the third hour of a 115 slide presentation on “synergies” being given by a guy in short sleeves and a knit tie. Oh, and that project that you work your ass off to complete because they tell you it’s “high visibility” and it will serve as a “launching pad” for success? They lied. Great job though. In exchange for all this, you might get a whole 2 weeks of vacation your first year. Which means that you’ll be the one stuck in the office by yourself between Christmas and New Years while everyone else takes off. Getting paid to sit around all day and do nothing for a week might sound OK. But once you finish reading the internet (yes, the whole damn thing) by the second day, you will come to experience boredom the likes of which you can’t imagine.
So you know we’re old. I mean, we say it all the time. And normally something like the Call Me Maybe phenomenon would be completely over our heads. But thanks to a few younger co-workers and the always entertaining Twitter account @DukeDogLax, somehow we stumbled onto this treasure trove of JMU wonderfulincredibleness! Plus these women deserve way more than the 387 YouTube views they’ve garnered so far for this stellar effort.
Since it was graduation weekend, also seemed a good time for a nostalgic tour of the ‘Burg and not I’ve seen a better one (and definitely haven’t seen a more humorous one) than this. Enjoy!
Anyone who attended last night’s Coaches Caravan in Arlington expecting to be entertained by Mickey Matthews, went away pretty pleased. Coach Matthews was in rare form and he had the room chuckling with his Texas twang and Mickey-isms. And then he unleashed the big one, telling the crowd “I’ve never even seen a twat…or tweet whatever you call it.” It’s fair to say he brought the house down with that one little comment. He also pondered the wisdom of scheduling a game against JMU explaining how he was much more excited, BEFORE he watched the Mountaineers play Clemson. As he put it, “The numbers on the scoreboard were flipping over so fast it looked like a pinball machine.” If you put all of Mickey’s humor aside, it was clear he is really excited about this year’s team. He pumped up the younger players and the quality of the coaching staff. Hitting both points he told the crowd that he thought Defensive Backs coach Tony Lezotte (an all time great Duke) got off easy because he got to Dean Marlowe in his first coaching stint. Matthews said it made it too easy on Tony, “We should have given him some guy who was 5’7″ and ran a 4.9 40″ to see if he could really coach. And after referring to Justin Thorpe’s “sabbatical” and it’s impact on the team, he informed everyone that he’s pretty confident the NCAA is going to grant Justin a 6th year of eligibility.
Kenny Brooks, head coach of the women’s hoops team, was also outstanding. As an alum and former basketball player himself, Brooks definitely bleeds purple. His enthusiasm is overwhelming and his passion for taking on bigger programs (and beating them) is unmatched. He had the crowd laughing almost as much as Mickey did, particularly with his comments about scheduling. He insisted that bigger programs are on the run from JMU and that “We’ll play anyone…except UConn.”
If you went to last night’s event expecting to get a bunch of facts on the state of the CAA and JMU’s conference alignment, you’d probably be disappointed. I’m sure most of you have already seen the email from AD Jeff Bourne. Last night he essentially stuck to that script and tried to calm the masses. And honestly, I don’t know what else the man can do at this point. While he certainly didn’t say it, I don’t how he can trust any of the other CAA schools at this point. Everyone is out for their own interests and playing things close to the vest. While many fans would have loved to hear a definite plan or list of options (including yours truly), letting the cat out of the bag probably wouldn’t help behind the scenes. So we’ve got nothing really to report as far as conference alignment. It’s patently obvious that Bourne and the rest of the AD are working hard to put JMU in the best possible position going forward. We’ll need to wait and see if they’re successful.
According to Lenn Robbins of the NY Post, today was supposed to be the day that VCU and GMU headed to the Atlantic 10. It’s after 10:00 PM as I type this and I think it’s safe to say that prediction is going to be proven false. Of course today could end up being a pretty important day in the CAA’s history anyway thanks to the news that ODU could be on its way to Conference USA. Robbins’ May 1 deadline might have been off, that doesn’t mean VCU and GMU still won’t end up in the A10 eventually. Butler apparently is on its way, which will bring the league to 14 teams. Adding VCU and GMU would bring it to 16 and solidify the A10 as the cream of the mid-major crop. If Charlotte jumps ship for C-USA, that A10 would have to add a third school. You can bet it won’t be JMU because the A10 doesn’t play football and JMU basketball, well, you know.
It’s All In How You Look At It
There are a million ways to look at these latest developments. When you get down to it though, it basically comes down to either believing the sky is falling or refusing to believe anything at all until official announcements are made. With most things JMU related, I try to take the long view and stay away from the doomsday preppers. It’s pretty hard to do that after the ODU news though. This could be bad for JMU. Really bad. VCU and Mason leaving for the A10 would definitely hurt CAA hoops. As much as I love college basketball, I’ve always believed that football was driving the ship for JMU athletics. I guess I’ve been resolved to the notion that sooner or later, JMU would make a move for football and leave the CAA behind anyway. And for whatever reason, I guess I also let myself believe in this myth that ODU and JMU had some sort of alliance and would be looking to move up together. Clearly, that isn’t the case. And it probably was foolish to ever believe it was.
The Positive Spin
If ODU bolts, they’ll be ineligible to get the CAA’s FCS playoffs autobid. That’s the best I can do folks.
read more…
All three days of the NFL draft came and went without any JMU Dukes getting picked this year. Two players were fortunate to sign deals as free-agents though. D.J. Bryant signed with the Houston Texans and Mike Allen signed with the Cleveland Browns. Contrary to some reports, Kerby Long has not signed with the Redskins however.
As the cliche goes, it’s often better to for a player to take his chances as a free-agent than to get drafted in the late rounds. By doing so, Bryant and Allen were able to sign with teams that they believed fit their style and gave them the best shot to make a roster. Bryant played Defensive End for the Dukes, but he’ll be attempting to follow in Arthur Moats’ footsteps and transition to outside linebacker in a 3-4 system. He had a strong year last year, with 12 tackles for a loss and 5.5 sacks. He was named First Team All CAA. While he was a long a shot to get drafted, he was the probably the Dukes’ top prospect and he garnered interest from the most teams.
Mike Allen had an excellent year at Cornerback for the Dukes. As a member of JMU’s secondary, he played a key role for a Dukes’ defense which ranked second against the pass in the CAA. Allen had 36 tackles, 2 sacks, and 2 picks, including one he brought all the way back for a TD. He’s got good athleticism and ran a 4.4 40. He wasn’t as heralded as Bryant, but with speed like his, he could surprise folks.
Kerby Long’s agent is continuing to pursue free-agent deals for him. Rumors were flying that he had signed with the Redskins, but they turned out to be premature. He told Matthew Stoss of the DNR that he’s been in contact with Washington and Tennessee and is hoping to get an offer from at least one of them.
Each NFL team will bring 90 players to camp, before cutting all the way down to 53 for the final roster. It’s a long shot for some of the drafted players to make the final roster, let alone undrafted guys like Bryant, Allen, and Long who flew mostly under the radar. I would count any of them out though, especially Bryant. That guy is just crazy (in a good way) and I can’t imagine too many guys entering camp with as much intensity and determination as he will. And besides, sometimes undrafted free-agents from FCS programs not only make a roster, but they go on to become contributors. Just ask Victor Cruz.
Not a ton to report on this week from the ‘Burg. It’s exam week and other than the Women’s Lax team, who Rob still refuses to recognize due to lack of a men’s program, heading to the CAA Tourney this weekend as a solid favorite, there’s not much else jumping out right now.
Don’t forget to sign up for the Nova/DC Duke Club Coach’s Caravan next Thursday, May 3 at The Boulevard Woodgrill in Arlington, VA. That’s where you find gems like this one from last year:
We’re also holding out hope for at least some Uundrafted Free Agent signee news for a couple of last year’s football Dukes by the end of and the the weekend, but it seems unlikely there will be anything to report from the actual selections.
But one thing that did catch our attention in the midst of all the trickle-down of conference realignment and the CAA sky is falling talk the last few weeks is the news that the FBS is finally headed for a playoff. Here’s a solid breakdown of the possibilities for 2014 and beyond from CBS Sports’ Brett McMurphy.
The two obvious questions from a JMU standpoint are:
1) Under the “non-restricted” conference champs, or “straight top four ranked teams” plans the possibility certainly exists for a non-BCS conference team to someday make the playoffs. It remains a true long-shot possibility unless you’re from South Bend, but at least a couple of these Boise/TCU/Utah teams of the past decade would’ve had a shot. Does this possibly increase the incentive for investing in non-BCS FBS football for other schools?
2) If you’re Syracuse, Texas A&M, Missouri or West Virginia, are you kicking yourself for bolting too early now that the grass is not necessarily greener? All left their traditional homes for reasons beyond championships (mainly conferences with larger tv deals), but all of them turned their backs on years of rivalry with proximate neighbors that made sense. And ALL of them would’ve had infinitely better opportunities to turn in a 13-0, top-four, conference championship type seasons that would’ve put them in the mix in the new system than they currently do today. For example, soon-to-be-Dukes-victim WVU is likely to begin this season in the top five nationally, but if you’re a Moutaineers fan, would you rather try to maintain that position by running through the Big East or the Big 12? Or will TAMU even be in contention in the SEC after decades of relevance in the Big 12? Just something to think about in the event JMU ever does move up and then we all start debating the relative merits of a perceived “power” conference in the event that “BCS conference” doesn’t mean what it once did.
It’s that time of year again folks. The traveling JMU sports extravaganza known as the Coaches Caravan hits the road. And it makes a stop in our neck of the woods next Thursday, May 3 at the Boulevard Woodgrill in Arlington. The event consists of a happy hour, silent auction, and speeches from Mickey Matthews, Matt Brady, and other members of the JMU sports family. Todd and I look forward to this event every year and it never disappoints. The beer specials are always solid (last year it featured Bell’s Oberon), the buffet is full of tasty and unhealthy goodness, and everyone there is a Dukes fan. What could be better? I’ll tell you what could be better, all of those things with plenty of Mickey-isms thrown in. If you’ve ever heard Coach Matthews speak then you know exactly what I’m talking about. And if you haven’t, then trust me when I tell you his talk will be worth the price of admission.
It’s only 10 bucks, so fork over the cash and meet us there. And maybe if you show up and introduce yourself to your favorite bloggers they’ll buy you a beer. And if you’re favorite bloggers aren’t there, then maybe me and Todd will buy you one instead. Sign up here and we’ll see you next Thursday.