Post-Mortem on the Dukes
Thanks! Now bye bye.
Well, that wasn’t so fun now was it? From a season that started with middling expectations to one that finally showed a bit of offensive innovation and hope (at least in first halves till someone emasculated O’Cain whenever the Dukes got the tiniest of leads) to a hope-restoring Homecoming performance against what we thought would be a solid Villanova team, to the last two absolute shitshows to kill the season, only one thing really stands out: It’s time for a change at the HC spot.
Yesterday I was hopeful enough to rally for one last trip to the ‘Burg. I wanted to see some friends I don’t get to see that often in the offseason and I wanted to be there for Robertson’s and Scott’s last game. And of course I couldn’t help but think of two years ago when it all seemed lost at this point only for the Dukes to close out the season with two W’s and get all the help they needed in order to earn the chance for the “dynamic” duo of King and Bourne to flub the bidding for a home game. So when I left the gray mist of NoVa and made it to a sunny day in the Valley my spirits were high. Met some friends, made a holiday shopping stop at the bookstore and settled in for one last tailgate. And then what happened? Weeelllll, then a current player happened to be tailgating with his family next to some friends of ours mentioned that the team wanted Mickey out, had practiced horribly and half-assed this week, and had no interest in playing hard. I didn’t recognize the kid, he wasn’t dressing, and his name barely registered, so I assumed he’s a fringe player. In other words, you never know whether to take these things seriously, especially second-hand. (Editor’s Note: this post previously speculated that the player may have been a walk-on and commenters were absolutely correct in pointing out that that was disrespectful and unfair to walk-ons, many of whom are the heart of the program and deserve much better from us fans. For that I apologize. As for the second and third hand rumor reporting, maybe we have become as bad as the boards, but we are not, and never have been, a news source. All you really need to know is that the only posts that get any real traction involve boybands and suntan-lotion spokespeople but that’s never deterred us from doing this for the last four years because we love supporting the Dukes). But…
…Who knows whether the story was legit or the kid just had a personal axe to grind, but that’s sure what it looked like out there. By a wide, wide margin, that’s the worst effort I’ve seen from a Dukes team in a “serious” game (i.e. not Bloomsburg, CCSU, etc.) in many years. There’s really no use breaking down the x’s and o’s in this one (other than more horseshit, fraidy-cat FG’s on 4th and short on the first drive of the game and the fact that Stony Brook’s QB and TE seemed amazing) because the only thing that mattered was this game was clearly lost before it began. No matter how much purple Kool-Aid us fans were drinking (thanks UR by the way!) Mickey appears to have lost the locker room and the players had already packed it in for the offseason. We’ve wondered about the “soft” moniker on this team all season (no wins over teams with winning records, no road wins, etc.) but maybe it’s even deeper than that. Just maybe it really does start at the top.
In any case, it’s time. As we said earlier this week and will always maintain, there’s a difference between advocating for a coaching change (or a conference change for that matter) and acting like an asshat. That said, I didn’t blame the “Fi-re Mickey” chanters yesterday, especially after his embarrassing mismanagement of timeouts, again, and his ridiculous behavior with officials, again. But when you make your signs for the national at Towson next week, maybe a “Thanks for the memories! Now just don’t let the door hit you on your way out” would strike the right tone.
As the season finishes ignominiously next week, we’re left with two ENORMOUS questions for the JMU Administration headed into the winter. The conference question and now “are you willing to buy out Mickey’s last year or will you continue to be penny-wise, pound-foolish on these decisions?” Always the optimists, we’re betting on Alger pulling the trigger on the move and the buy-out, but who knows.
Finally, a few notes unrelated to this most recent debacle. First, Rob may be back with some thoughts on men’s hoops, but we’ll be transitioning to hoops on a more consistent basis very soon. Another game tonight, then travel, then the CAA banner-raising home opener on Tuesday!
Also, thanks for all of the comments on the “End of the MM Era” post this week! It’s so rewarding for Rob and I that JMUSB has become a spot for so many thoughtful and engaged Dukes to share their views. We all may disagree on any number of issues, just as I’m sure the JMU community at-large does, but that doesn’t mean we all don’t want the best for JMU.
As an anonymous player, Mickey hasn’t lost the locker room, he never had it. We players have a STRONG disconnect with our entire coaching staff. Hardly any relationships and we sure do not play for them, we play for ourselves. We want a coach who we would lay everything on the line for, is energetic and seems to sincerely care about us. I post this in hopes for people to understand we have vast talent on this team, but the player you overheard was right, half assed practice this week, guys praying for mickeys removal, and guys ready for the off season led to yesterday’s result.
Wow, Bill! I figured there was some discontent amongst the players. It shows. And you are right. I have been saying it all season. JMU has a superior collection of individual talent, but the team lacks chemistry and cohesiveness. The game coaching is horrendous! Blown time-outs, poor clock management, constantly blowing a gasket with officials, inability to adjust or adjusting way too late. We need a man at the top who has the confidence of the entire team.
I hope President Alger won’t go all cheapo on us here. A $222,000 buyout is peanuts with respect to our $34 million athletic budget. Everyone knows a lame duck coach is a bad situation. If the Mick comes back next year, look for another decrease in attendance, to continue the trend we have seen over the past two seasons. A new HC will reverse that trend, and (hopefully) with success, will have BFS jammed and hopping again.
What a bad state of affairs! How can we even consider a move to the FBS under these conditions?
Very disappointing. Bill, please do us a favor and make your views known to the athletic administration, especially Mr. Bourne.
Not sure who this Bill guy is but clearly he is not and has not been on the team. The team had a great practice this week and we have all the respect in the world for coach. Stony Brook had a great game plan but we also played really poorly. There is no excuse for the game we had but don’t place all of the blame on the coaching staff. We knew what was in store for us and we just didn’t perform up to the level we expect of ourselves.
I said this last week, and I was scoffed at…as a former player, I can assure you that more and more stories will come out about Mickey and the way he treats his players. I’ve seen him make a future CFL guy leave the field with tears in his eyes from the way Mickey berated him during a practice. He is not an effective leader. The locker room was not a happy-go-lucky place when I was there, and I doubt that it is now.
I usually look forward to your blog but some beefs on this one:
1. Disappointing season for sure but you got to quit busting on walk ons like they’re second rate. Most 1AA players are walk ons and many turn out to be better players than the scholarship guys. 2. You put that injured player in a tight spot with coaches if you didn’t tell him you were a blogger then reported what he said. He’s just a kid and even though you didn’t know his name they will. Not cool. 3. It may be time for MM to retire but he deserves a lot of credit for what he’s done for JMU and Duke football. Fans who were chanting “fire Mickey” in the stands on Saturday were an embarrassment. I expected more class from Duke fans.
Maybe we need a change but if we have players that aren’t giving their all, then THEY are as much a part of the problem as the coaching staff. You don’t play JUST for your coach. You play for the university, yourself, etc. I want players that have heart and give a damn.
As far as I am concerned, anything less than giving one’s best is shameful and a total cop out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As the current anonymous starting rb, its obvious there are coaching deficiencies. Yes, the players aren’t performing great, but we are also not getting coached, being developed, bad in game adjustments, and you can tell we are playing individually vs as a team.
Ok, so I am not DQ! Just thought it was funny to see two anonymous supposed current players post with vast differing opinions.
Hey Jake, it was an embarrassment the way the team played yesterday. As long as fans aren’t cussing and getting personal “grow a thick skin and take it” or stay at home if you don’t want to hear the feedback from other fans who pay for their tickets to when the team and more importantly the coaches don’t prepare them to perform.
I’m going to go ahead and say that any “player” that comes on here and posts anonymously doesn’t have any credibility. Stand up and put a name behind those words or sit down and shut up.
I quit this blog- always negative and we have supposed players making statements and now “Todd” is throwing out rumor : “Weeelllll, then a current injured player happened to be tailgating with his family next to some friends of ours mentioned that the team wanted Mickey out, had practiced horribly and half-assed this week, and had no interest in playing hard. I didn’t even recognize the kid, and his name barely registered, so I assumed he’s a walk-on and fringe player. In other words, you never know whether to take these things seriously, especially second-hand. But…”
Nice dude ….. I am going to the Towson game and rooting for the Dukes. Maybe I will see ya’ll at the Duke Club tailgate.
Peace and Go Dukes – let’s crush the Tigers and make a statement
I quit this blog- always negative and we have supposed players making statements and now “Todd” is throwing out rumor : “Weeelllll, then a current injured player happened to be tailgating with his family next to some friends of ours mentioned that the team wanted Mickey out, had practiced horribly and half-assed this week, and had no interest in playing hard. I didn’t even recognize the kid, and his name barely registered, so I assumed he’s a walk-on and fringe player. In other words, you never know whether to take these things seriously, especially second-hand. But…”
Nice dude ….. I am going to the Towson game and rooting for the Dukes. Maybe I will see ya’ll at the Duke Club tailgate.
Peace and Go Dukes – let’s crush the Tigers and make a statement
HEY CORY– did you notice all the *anonymous* players posting now??
Anyway, I concur with all of them. I will always appreciate Coach Matthews for giving me the opportunity to play at JMU. That being said, 99% of the team hated him. I don’t know what his problem is (actually, I do…. arrogance) but he has never been endearing to his players, and there was zero loyalty to any of us. As a former player, this is why I always felt bad for Jeff Durden. He got thrown under the bus just like the players do. Unless your name is DQS or Justin Thorpe…. then it is ok to under-perform and keep your job.
Seriously…. the (2nd) happiest I ever saw the team was in January 2004 when we had a meeting with Jeff Borne and Charlie King. We were all 100% positive they were going to announce a new coach. When they told us that MM had been given a contract extension, you would have thought someone just died. The air was sucked out of the room.
I would fire him and hire someone who was capable of making the FBS transition. That being said, I bet JMU will let him finish out his contract (which will suck for recruiting) and focus of securing an FBS conference bid first, before looking for a new coach.
And aside from the silly comments from the cheerleader about “don’t be negative” and “anonymous posters don’t have credibility”, I have to say that @Jake makes an excellent point. Stop ripping on walk-ons. Some of JMU’s best players have been walk-ons.
*cheerleaders
The tragedy of coach matthews is that if he didn’t act like such a jerk to everyone, people could probably cut him some slack. You could argue that ODU coming out of nowhere and going to FBS has really hurt JMU’s recruiting. Your could argue that the transition from the recent option-QB’s to the Pocket-passer QB has been difficult. You could even argue that losing Jim Durning as the stregnth and conditioning coach has really hurt the athletic talent of the team. Unfortunately, Coach’s personality has soured everyone to the point where none of that matters. It is really unfortunate.
Seriously…. what is with all the commenters railing against anonymous posters? Why do any of you care WHO is saying it? The point is WHAT they are saying. You can agree or disagree, but the person saying it is irrelevant. Whether the person was an all-american, a walk-on, or wasn’t even on the team, they have just as much credibility as a band member or a random fan. I really don’t get it.
I can see why I didn’t read the blogs (more so the JMU chat rooms on the Atlantic 10 site ) while I played. For starters, if a player truly said the team practiced poorly and put out a lack luster effort because of their feelings about the coaching staff; that in itself is a problem. Not a coaching problem, but a man in the mirror problem. At no point did we collectively as a unit say “Ah man, we don’t like our coach, lets play bad so he’ll get fired”…gtfoh. We went to work everyday in the face of way worse conditions than what these guys have to deal with (astro turf, a dungeon to lift in, cut off grey shirts and Russell shorts that you had to tell Pete to get 4 sizes bigger than your actual size so they’d comfortably fit to workout in, Boathouse travel gear, construction during camp, 2 tragedies that happened to a close friend and teammate, a teammate on life support, you get the point). There weren’t any big pretty stadiums filled with 20k plus people every week, all the Nike gear you could ask for, and whatever else the luxuries are that were built on our backs. I can tell you what else I remember: Mickey fun runs at 5 am (ie the JMU football track invitational combined with push ups and sit ups in standing water), Stations 3 to 5 times a week for much of winter workouts, two a days everyday for 2-3 weeks, extremely long physical practices, doing winter workouts on the snow and ice, and grueling summer workouts…you know what all that meant…we had put way too much into what we were trying to accomplish to practice poorly, play poorly, or say dumb things like there’s a disconnect between the players and coaches as a cop out. I can tell you personally that the Mickey today is much more laid back than what he used to be (to the comment about behavior towards the refs, that’s truly laughable.) Will he tell you how he feels with no filter, hell yeah. That’s Mickey. You never had to guess where you stood with him. To the comment of a guy that could easily play in the CFL leaving the field crying because he got yelled at by Mickey…come on now really?!?!?! If that’s true (which I doubt), “piss on you”! That’s a quote I’ll use, that I heard from a man I truly respect. It’s football not badminton! Hell I got yelled at during a game for missing a tackle in front of a homecoming crowd (upon which everyone was an earshot away because of what the stadium used to be). Didn’t cry or feel sorry for myself. Took it like a man, and made a play later. After that same game the opposing head coach told me he was glad I was graduating, so he didn’t have to see me making plays on the field anymore. Mickey expected our best at all times, as did all of our coaches, but more importantly we as a team expected the man lining up next to us to put out their best; no matter what personal feelings they had with a coach.
To all current and future Dukes…When you strap on that gold helmet it’s not just about you. It’s about having pride in your school, the program as a whole, and your TEAM! Have some pride in your team, and respect for what those that have come before you have done to provide the nice things you all have today. Nobody owes you anything. You have to earn it everyday. Have some accountability amongst yourselves and each other; and you will be amazed at the results. No matter who the coach is there are some fundamental things you have to do to win ball games: block, tackle, and don’t turn the ball over…PERIOD. If you don’t block, miss tackles, and turn the ball over; I don’t care if Nick Saban was the coach you’re going to lose ball games.
Here are some numbers for you 2-9, 5-7, 6-6…vividly remember the chants of the crowd during a televised game of “fire Mickey”. Then you look up we’re National Champs at 13-2! Something those of you who are Sunday/Monday morning quarterbacks didn’t expect or know because quite frankly the vast majority of you just don’t know…
anonymously signed,
JMUSS22 aka Bruce Johnson aka accountable for what I write behind the curtain of the internet
@04JMUChampion Understand how bad ass you had to be to play for JMU, however, you said it yourself… Mickey has gone soft and it shows on the field. Also, our record the past 5 years is atrocious in comparison to where we should be. Putting aside the supposed relationship between the team and Mickey, do you believe it’s time for a coaching change?
@HolyCityDuke don’t know if that comment was meant as a dig at me or the many other players that suited up for the Dukes that I’d say were pretty bad ass to anyone’s standards. At any rate my comments were mainly spurred by the current “anonymous player(s)” that posted comments on here (because that’s a no no, goes back to what I said be accountable to yourself and your teammates, keep locker room business in the locker room). As I said before, no matter who the coach is players have to block, tackle, and not turn the ball over. Also, don’t put words in my mouth. I didn’t say he’s gone soft. He was much more laid back from how he was my freshman season to how he was before we won the title in 04, but we still got the job done.
Two points:
1 – Current players and coaches should keep internal matters just that internal. That is locker room business and where it should stay. If that in fact is happening that is a HUGE problem b/c if those young men cannot stick together they will not win.
2 – Anyone else, fans, past players, students have the right to fully voice there opinion. If folks do not like hearing ‘FIRE MICKEY’ maybe they are too thin skinned. As someone else stated as long as someone if not spouting profanity in the stands they got a right to say it. Especially when this version of the JMU football team has progressively gotten worse as the season has gone on. Good teams with good coaching and game planning get better throughout the season. JMU has not progressed to any real degree in any facet of the game since Game 1. The defense has not gotten worse, it is just that every opponent knows to move the ball and score just put the ball in the air and JMU cannot stop it and refuses to make any adjustments to help a very weak secondary until it is too late. Our defense made yet another QB look like Peyton Manning this week.
JMU played one, count them one complete game this season – against Villanova.
Plus what better way to let Alger, Bourne, King know of the complete displeasure with the leadership and direction of the football team than to chant ‘FIRE MICKEY’ at the last home game of a 24K seat stadium that is empty except for about 2k people.
I want to apologize for getting on the students concerning there attendance this season. They were the smart ones for not attending. Even when we won I rarely left the stadium feeling good about the game or direction of JMU football.
These posts added by current players are probably, not what we wanted on here. I understand its happened but I’m not looking for current players comments. I just want to look at the program as a whole. Where are we headed and what is good for JMU? Each Player could probably write good or bad depending on treatment. Mickey, to me has never been a Coach that reaches out to anyone or cares what you think of him. He’s the Head Coach and had done a great job up until my assessment, the App State lost that we had won 2007 we should have been National Champs for the second time. Since then I’ve seen a slow progression down and just think its time for a change. The bigger question who can take over the program and perch it year after year on top…With our facilities we should be University of Alabama of Div. 1AA…At Towson this week it will be very tough but a good barometer for our near future. My question is “Who” can get us back on top, who will bring in the best recruits for JMU and keep them here? Any names out there that might come to JMU that we can afford? And not to be a stepping stone…
I would at this point settle for someone that spares us the sideline tirades every single game. It use to be funny, but now it is just embarrassing. MM has become the ‘old guy’ who use to be fun but now you just feel bad for b/c he is quickly becoming if not already a JOKE.
MM is a joke and needs to go! Yes a National Championship was won in 2004 but not sure how much credit he should be given. You don’t see Nick Saban win a championship then let his team slide to a losing team. If JMU is serious about FBS then we need to start thinking about it and get a coach who can coach there. MM is done and he is now looking bad and making JMU look like fools if they keep him. This Saturday it wasn’t just the students leaving at the half it was adults. I hope for all involved JMU makes the change especially if they want donations!
Jay Deck are you seriously comparing JMU and Alabama as a football programs. I honestly laughed out loud. Bear Bryant or Alex Wood. Get out of here. You have to love the internet.
Schools get have big endowments because business schools …sports is a trickle down effect. That’s why Yale, Princeton and Harvard have the biggest endowments not Alabama and Florida. Maybe we should work on getting a law school up and running and drop this D-1 farce.
Definitely on the team and on scholarship. We didn’t practice well it showed. Majority of the team agrees with me we talk about it daily. The captains speech last week which said “been here 5 years and Mickey has never put us in a position to win” . Getcha gold up after practice. It’s a fact. We need a change in leadership don’t save face on here.
2004DUKE – I did notice all the anonymous posts especially since every post on here is anonymous. You agree with all of them? So you agree with Bill that the team didn’t ever connect with MM and you agree with Current JMU football player that the team had a great week and they get along with MM just fine? That’s odd but ok.
Ugh. That’s my overall response to everything in this comment section. We’ve got fake current players, fake past players, real current player, real past players and even the creator of the blog doling out rumors from players. There is no word from JMU administrators, the real press that covers JMU daily can’t get any real answers from JMU, thebreeze only gives the facts and there are no former players stepping up and telling about their experiences at JMU (see Foster, Arian at UT).
What does it all mean? Who knows and at this point everything on here is speculation, rumors and just wishful thinking. I feel for Mickey though, imagine doing a job you love only to have anonymous idiots spouting off at the mouth how they know what is best, that you should be fired, etc. Glad I don’t have to endure that.
Cory- This is the internet. Not the Bible.
Bruce- You forgot to mention cutting the sides of our shorts open so we could actually run and lift in them. lol
To second 04JMUchampion’s comment, “At no point did we collectively as a unit say “Ah man, we don’t like our coach, lets play bad so he’ll get fired”…”
If anyone actually thinks the team would essentially take a dive to get a coach fired, you are stupid.
“When you strap on that gold helmet it’s not just about you. It’s about having pride in your school, the program as a whole, and your TEAM! Have some pride in your team, and respect for what those that have come before you have done to provide the nice things you all have today. Nobody owes you anything. You have to earn it everyday.”
What he said.
it seems wvu is calling for the head of their coach as well. the uniting theme is they have a coach that seems aloof and the program is failing to progress. at coach matthews press lunch yesterday he refused to admit that not making the playoffs 4/5 years is unacceptable with the level of talent we get every year.
he said what he will remember from this year is pass defense. they have had many injuries back there this year but they were getting smoked by the pass long before that.
even though it is only for pride we have to root fer dukes to beat towson. hopefully we can catch them looking ahead to the playoffs.
Let me first say that I am not a fan of the coaching, game planning, play calling that I have seen this year and I agree with most of the comments that a change in coaching is needed (the majority of the staff, and not just head coach), but I am not going to lay this entirely at the feet of the coaches. As some point, the players need to have a little pride and step up and EXECUTE! We have seen less quality execution and on field decision making almost every week as the season has progressed.
2004Duke – Your nonsense amuses me. Perhaps that’s just the CTE talking
2004 Duke- ahhh the cut up shorts lol or the mad dashes out of the weightroom to try and make it to the locker room to get out of the cold when that meeting door was locked.
I thought about this one when I parked in the deck for homecoming this year: The right of passage of watching the spring game at the top of the parking deck heckling all the guys, while we played “drown the liver” lol
@MRD2012, I wouldn’t expect a band geek to understand why players/former players with ties to the university are keeping their names quiet on a public domain until a decision is made.
@04JMUChampion, I never said that I was the CFL player, nor did I say that I could have made the CFL. I said that I witnessed a future CFL player being berated by MM to the point where he had tears in his eyes. MM said things to him that Mike Vick wouldn’t have said to a dog.
04JMUChampion’s trip down memory lane reminded me of the time someone was literally run over by a car on his bike, and threw the bent frame to the side of the road to literally sprint to the weight room because he was afraid of being late. I believe that smashed up bike frame was chained up outside the weight room for a number of years as a reminder to all of us that there were no excuses for being late. At all.
I get the feeling that the current team is not being held to that standard, but I can’t verify that.
I wonder if he still preaches to the DB’s about how “it takes courage to go for the pick. Gold nutted-studs go for the interception. You’ve gotta be A COMPETITOR. Like CHAMP (Bailey- coached by MM @ UGA). CHAMP was a COMPETITOR. CHAMP wanted to play every position on the field. CHAMP would stay out all night catching balls. CHAMP wanted to cover the best WR EVERY SINGLE PLAY.”
I can’t remember the last time I saw a JMU DB break on a ball for a pick 6. Maybe he did go soft.