Apr 14 / Todd

The Infamous Strategic Plan

good-duke-dog-JLet’s start with what has to be a [very happy, if somewhat unexpected] JMUSB first, a second note on the Softball Dukes in just over a week. #23 Softball destroyed another CAA opponent last weekend in cruising past UNCW and ran their overall record to a gaudy 32-6 overall (a cool 11-0 in the CAA) as their assault on the major polls seems likely to keep plugging along. JMU is scheduled to be back in action at ECU tonight (Wednesday) before traveling to face a Delaware team that just fired their coach under odd circumstances this weekend. While we know very little about softball, we do know when we’re looking at a potentially historic season and a Dukes’ team with a real shot at a serious postseason run. Check out what ESPN had to say about the Dukes last week. (see #4 in the article).

Now, onto exactly the kind of midweek morning reading many of you are sitting in your cars or on the Metro dreading about an hour from now. You know, the ever-thrilling world of consultants delivering reports to management! Just think, you could be out enjoying some spring weather, but really wouldn’t you rather listen to a guy in a knit tie give a Powerpoint presentation? Or in our case, read the JMU Athletics Strategic Plan!

Seriously, before you go nuts one way or another, do yourself a favor and if you really care about JMU Sports (and you probably do if you’re willing to read us for any length of time), take a few minutes and check this thing out. This has been cannon fodder for message board trolling for months. We usually try and keep this spot a bit more positive than the boards, but even we have been skeptical – me because I rightly assumed there wouldn’t be anything conference-related and Rob because he actually works with these things for a living and figured it would be filled with corporate nonsense and double-speak. But to our surprise, it ain’t that bad. In fact, Rob’s comment to me when we first discussed it was “it’s really pretty good as these things go” and even I have to admit the same after some time to ponder. A few highlights and notes from our first pass:

– New Convo – this is the highlight and while it’s been discussed, and even approved in Richmond, it’s great to see it in ink.

– Pretty solid measurables for revenue numbers, academics, and most notably on the field/court, how many conference titles (5) and NCAA berths (7) are expected each year to show whether the AD and the coaches are meeting their goals. Needless to say, those are strong numbers and JMU hasn’t been anywhere close to meeting those lately so it’ll be interesting to see how Bourne addresses this in the next two years.

– Focus on revenue. To us, if nothing else this means they’ve got to think long and hard about which conference serves this need best.

  • Implement comprehensive plan to strengthen JMU Athletics brand nationally – 06.30.2015 (Hey, I can dream and speculate, right?!)
  • Develop and implement a comprehensive crisis management plan – 08.1.2015 (or I can come back to earth and just be happy with #CAA4Lyfe)

Despite our joking around, we seriously encourage you to peruse the plan itself before making judgments so we can at least be on the same page when we’re either drinking purple kool-aid or bashing away next time we’re tailgating or caravanning.

That said, here’s a collection of REALLY disconcerting items:

Liberty’s announced they’re going all-in on full cost of attendance. Needless to say, that’s gotta be attractive to FBS Conferences and it cannot be good for recruiting Dukes. Combined with the playoff loss that still stings, hard not to conclude that JMU is falling further down the list of Virginia football destinations.

– William & Mary released quite a clear strategic plan (with a lot less MBA-speak) of their own last week.

– Eastern Kentucky’s new AD says his goal is FBS this year (2015). No idea if it’s possible, but another school clearly stating intentions makes you wonder. Even if it doesn’t work, it’s refreshing to see an Athletics Administrator come clean about the super-tough proposition of sustainability of an entire program while staying at the FCS level for football.

Like we said above, reallllllllly hope their is some substance to that 06.30.15 date. If that date doesn’t involve FBS or a complete revamp with all available resources and fundraising being thrown towards Men’s Hoops, then whatever is announced by then is complete and utter bullshit.

Go Softball!

4 Comments

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  1. Patrick / Apr 15 2015

    Interesting that you start and end your blog congratulating JMU SB and then criticize JMU for not doing enough with regards to Football and Men’s Basketball. First, there is no evidence that they have been invited to an FBS conference. And second, if they do get invited it won’t be by a conference that is as deep in women’s basketball and olympic sports thus women’s hoops program will suffer as will softball and you will no longer write about how well softball is doing and neither will ESPN. About the COA reference for LU, they are a non-profit organization, so they have to spend a certain percentage of their revenue, not much JMU can do about that. JMU already provides COA for football and basketball. As a former student and as much as I love football and men’s basketball, I don’t want to see olympic sports suffer.

  2. FormerDukeBlocker / Apr 15 2015

    Reading this gives me mixed emotions. One I admire the goals for the athletics department and especially the vision for the student athlete experience. The accountability item for 7 teams in the post season is weak as it should only include accountability for Football and Men’s and Women’s Basketball (sorry,the reality is that success in other sports just doesn’t move the needle). The part that makes me exasperated (once again) is that this is all a pipe dream if we do not move to FBS for football. Anyone who is paying attention knows that even men’s college basketball is being overshadowed by FBS football…by a long shot, so throwing all of our resources at that sport is not smart either. I am also looking forward to the 6-30-15 announcement but anything short of a goal of full funding (including COA) and a 100% commitment to moving to FBS for football with accountability metrics will make all of this a waste of time, money and energy.

  3. Todd / Apr 15 2015

    Duke Blocker – For once, we completely agree on this one! Sorry if I wasn’t clear. Unfortunately, I don’t expect anything out of the 6.30.15 date other than a repackaged version of what we’ve seen before. Would be great to be wrong.

    Patrick – I just wanted to include some positive news to bracket my complaining. Also, we love some Olympic Sports (see our long history of Field Hockey support in particular) but the simple fact is that Olympic Sports belong wherever FB and Hoops allow them to exist. If that’s not the case, JMU shouldn’t even be competing and spending at their current levels.

  4. Bhagavan / Apr 18 2015

    The convocation center is embarrassing, particularly when compared to the football stadium. I dont know how they’re able to recruit anybody to play men’s basketball. Probably just spend time outdoors looking at the mountains. William and Mary’s Kaplan arena was built in 1970 and is significantly better than JMU’s facility.

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